Another Wave from Iran—Day 3 Israel/Iran War

Ron Cantor
Jun 15
6 min read

Updated: Jun 17

Dear …

It's 2:30 PM here in the Holy Land, and if someone had not just called me and told me it was Father's Day, I would not have known. That is not a knock against my family members—we're just not paying attention right now. But let me start by saying happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

I'm writing from Tel Aviv. The greater Tel Aviv area has become Ground Zero for the Iranian counterattack. I'm only here for a few hours so that my daughters can gather some more things—the valuable things that you would take with you in case your apartment is destroyed. Yes, that is where we are at.

Even with the risk, it seems that the vast majority of Israelis, roughly 70-75% (ironically the same amount that want the war in Gaza to end), are 100% behind preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. They understand that our nation is at risk. Israelis know that the days ahead may be difficult, but someone must deal with Iran. And since the Ayatollahs don’t yell, “Death to England,” or “Death to France,” it is left to Israel to deal with a regime bent on genocide. It was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain, who allowed Hitler to move across Europe. Now, current British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a social media post, said we should be “engaging partners to de-escalate,” and urging “restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.” Does he not understand what even left-wing Israelis do?

Macron was only slightly better, in that he only called for desescalation after condemning Iran’s nuclear program and affirming “Israel’s right to defend itself and ensure its security.” Sadly, he added, “To avoid jeopardizing the stability of the entire region, I call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to de-escalate.” He doesn’t understand; there is no turning back until Iran’s ability to create nuclear bombs is terminated.

Bat Yam Bombing

I mentioned yesterday that an Iranian ballistic missile is about 50 times bigger than the typical Hamas rocket—and I assume 50 times more powerful based on the images we have seen. We were alerted at 2:30 AM ‏ that missiles were incoming. That gives us about 25 minutes to find a safe place. Our family gathered in our mamad (protective room). Not long after that, a ballistic missile slammed into an apartment building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv. The destruction is massive. One of my friends sent me this video.

The Times of Israel reported, “Nearly 200 hurt, three still missing, with mayor saying 61 buildings damaged in attack.” There were seven fatalities. There was another strike in Rehovot, to the south, where 42 people were injured, but thankfully, no fatalities. In Bat Yam, over 30 people were unaccounted for this morning, and that number has thankfully shrunk to three.

Tamra Tragedy

Just east of Haifa in northern Israel is the Arab town of Tamra. An Iranian missile struck a home where many were sheltering sometime after 11 PM last night. Four women: a mother, her two daughters, and another relative were killed. Ten others were injured. Unfortunately, there are not enough bomb shelters in Tamra, and while the law says that homes must have a protective room, it is very difficult to enforce.

There are 2 million Israeli Arabs, who are just as much made in the image of God as our Jewish population. We mourn their loss.

The total number of fatalities after three waves of attacks stands at 15. “Those who had taken shelter in designated safe rooms and underground bunkers were unharmed, Home Front Command officials say, while all the casualties occurred outside of protected spaces.”

What Israel Targets and Who Iran Targets

The Guardian did a breakdown of Israel’s targets in Iran. Keep in mind that the British website is definitely notpro-Israel, yet in their breakdown, it is clear that Israel had military targets. That would include scientists who were working on an Iranian nuke—a total of 14 of them have been killed.

Having lived in a war zone, I can tell you there’s nothing nice about war. It’s ugly, traumatic, and damages the soul. In every war, there is collateral damage. Israel is fighting for her very existence. That being said, Israel has been unbelievably precise in its attacks.

Below is a map that was published by the regime in the Tehran Times. The headline read, “Just One Wrong Move,” and showed “a map of Israeli targets.” Basically, the entire country.

My daughters came home and said that a friend who works at a local hospital said that there will be more missiles from Iran at 4 PM. We loaded up the car and started driving back to Ashkelon, waiting to see if there would be an alert. We were discussing how she could know that missiles were coming at 4 PM, but sure enough, right as we got home at 4 PM, we were alerted of incoming missiles.

A graphic put out by the Israeli Defense Forces explains it well.

Carnage in Iran

While Israel freely allows access to affected areas—as noted by the video from an IDF reservist above—Iran is controlling what comes out of the Islamic Republic. However, Israeli Jets have continued to attack Iran unabated. Not one Iranian jet has attempted to cross into Israel, and every UAV has been shot down before causing any damage.

X user Thomas van Linge posted a video of flooded streets in Tehran. “#Iran: Israeli strikes busted a pipe near Tajrish Square in #Tehran, causing sewage water to flood into the streets.”

Another account with half a million followers says that Iranian officials say that they have suffered $3 billion in damages. While the pictures coming out of Iran don’t appear nearly as destructive as the ones coming out of Israel, considering that Israel wiped out some of the most powerful and influential men in Iran as they were meeting together (including several top generals and nuclear sceintists), there is no question that Israel is achieving its mission.

Mossad Turned Iran into “Playground”

Iranian military leaders (who were not assassinated on the first day of the war) must be stunned to find out that Israel was planning this war from inside their borders. Mossad agents set up a drone network that not only took out Iranian defenses against Israeli fighter jets, but also set their sights on missile launchers.

“Mossad has treated Iran like its playground for years now,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and curator of the Iranist newsletter.

“From assassinating top nuclear scientists to sabotaging Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel has proved time and time again that it has always had the upper hand in this shadow war that has now been playing out in the open since the first tit-for-tat strikes in April 2024.”—CNN

Reports confirm that this has been planned for years. Some of the agents were even inside Tehran, the capital. As missile launchers were activated, the other night, drones were sent to destroy them.

Let the World Think We Are Losing

During the Six-Day War, Israel's defense minister, Moshe Dayan, declared a news blackout. He did not want the world to know that we were winning. He knew that he could count on the Arab leaders of Syria and Egypt to boast of their “great victories.” Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces set out to achieve their goals. Jordan mistakenly believed the Egyptians and attacked from Jerusalem, only to be driven back over the Jordan River, losing Jerusalem and the West Bank.

There’s an unwritten rule in diplomacy, and that is that Israel is not allowed to win—a tiny Jewish nation is expendable in an Arab neighborhood. (I would say this has changed somewhat with Israeli technological breakthroughs that countries like India, Saudi Arabia, and UAE hope to benefit from.)

It’s better for us to show freely the destruction around the nation and for Iran to feign victory. This will give us more time to achieve our goals. Eventually, as in the Six-Day War, when the world finds out that we are winning, the demands for diplomacy will increase. Diplomacy is always the best course of action. But when diplomacy is not an option—and the world needs to wake up to that fact regarding Iran’s radical regime—you must use force to protect your people.