This is a special edition of the Daily Article podcast for Monday, October 1st, 2024.

Welcome. I'm Chris Elkins, narrating this special edition daily article written by Dr. Jim Denison.

Iran fired at least 200 ballistic missiles at Israel today, lighting the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and causing

sirens to sound across the country. People were told to stay near shelters or other protected

areas. At this broadcast, the Israeli military believes the attack is over. There were no immediate

reports of casualties. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted Israel

in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. However, Israel and the U.S.

have both warned that an Iranian attack would have severe consequences for Tehran. It is hard to imagine

that Iran's leaders think today's missile

launch will deter Israel in its fight against Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorists threatening

its people and nation. Why then did Iran provoke a wider conflict in this way?

Ross Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight. If Iran's leaders had their way,

this would be the Jewish nation's last new year. In 2015, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamene,

predicted that Israel would not exist in 25 years. He has been pledged to Israel's destruction

for many years, in large part because he and many in Iran

are convinced that the quote unquote Mahdi, their version of a Messiah, will reappear to

dominate the world for Islam only after Israel is eradicated. As U.S. officials have noted,

Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Today's missile launch, directed not at soldiers but at the nation and its civilians, makes the

point. Iran launched because Israel dared respond to the threat posed by their terrorist

proxy in Lebanon, staging what Bernard Henry Levy eloquently calls a lesson in determination and

courage. As Wall Street Journal editor-at-large, Gerard Baker reminds us, Israel is a country smaller in

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