“Aqil and the commanders who were eliminated were among the architects of the ‘plan for the occupation of the Galilee,’ in which Hezbollah planned to raid Israeli territory, occupy the communities of the Galilee, murder and kill innocents, similar to what the Hamas terror organization carried out in the murderous massacre on October 7,” the IDF said in a statement.

Before Hamas’s October 7 murder spree in Israel, how many reactions to this statement—from Israelis, let alone from around the world—would have been something along the lines of: Oh come on, like anybody believes Hezbollah was going to invade and occupy Israeli territory. After October 7, such dismissiveness is foolish—not because Hezbollah’s grand plans are automatically realistic, but because Israel must respond to the possible, not merely the likely.

Even after it succeeded, Hamas’s plan for attack seemed insane. And those Palestinians who were told about it rolled their eyes just as much as anyone in the Israeli security establishment. But terrorist entities aren’t states, and national self-interest isn’t at or near the top of their list of guiding principles.