Israel has a new leader. One that is determined to protect her interests and not let western appeasement to rogue nations cause their own downfall. The once and now returned Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu has warned the world that the US must prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons or Israel will do so. Is this a simple matter of bluff and puff? Let Israel’s history answer that. They have proven that they will not place their safety in the hands of any others; they will protect their own people at their own cost, no matter how great.

An important lesson for our new president is offered and hopefully learned. According to former Israeli army chief of staff Ya’alon, “In this kind of conflict, your ability to stand and be determined is more important than your firepower.” Is our own national leadership willing to stand up to the extremists and thugs of the world? With the close of Gitmo, the timetable for the pullout of troops from Iraq and the latest directive to redefine the War on Terror as an Overseas Contingency Operation one has to wonder if resolve is lacking from the American leadership. This of course, demonstrates the weakness of modern liberalism, a movement giving greater weight to sound-bites and photo ops than actual accomplishments. We can have a war on hunger and a war on poverty, but a war on terror doesn’t have that feel good ring to it. Are we fighting a war? Do we still have a determine enemy? If you believe that redefining the terms is helpful then other questions come to mind. Will people still die? Will extremists sill blow themselves up, taking our brave soldiers and their own people with them? We know they will, but dying in a Contingency Operation is not as bad as getting killed in a war, even though you’re still dead.