The question — at least it’s being called a question — is whether Israel should retaliate. As soon as the attack began, I started listening for the tip-off vocabulary of anti-Semitic Left (that being most of it): de-escalation, restraint (restraint on Israel, that is), “diplomatic solution,” anything about Gaza, particularly if jammed in the same sentence as “humanitarian crisis,” and the old stand-by, Palestinian oppression.

I missed the term that’s jumped to the head of the line, “wider war.” We have to avoid a “wider war.” This pretends that, if you’re a Jew in that part of the world and behave with suitable (to wit infinite) submissiveness, you can avoid the “wider war”that’s been going on against you since forever. ...

I briefly heard Alan Dershowitz sum up the “question” about retaliation with a pithiness we could use to keep in mind. Why should Iran stop its behavior when it’s never been given a reason to stop?