#WTH The end of Nasrallah

Plus poor Jonathan Capehart, and an answer to the question of the Adams indictment

First, a warm thank you to all the new subscribers. I love writing for this little substack, and I’m truly grateful to have you along for the ride. I also love the quality of the large majority of comments — smart and thoughtful. I’m doing my best to write more often, but have decided that in addition, I’ll occasionally share a hodge-podge of things that I believe will be of interest to you. If you have a feeling about that, good or bad, let me know in the comments. Dany

If you hate terrorists, this has been a great month thanks to Israel. Hassan Nasrallah could well have bathed in the blood of his victims, they are so numerous: Don’t forget so many Israelis, and most recently those 12 beautiful kids from Majd el Shams; and the Lebanese whose lives he took directly and indirectly, storing weapons in their gardens and schools and hospitals, building headquarters under their residences; and Lebanon’s best recent prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. Don’t forget the Shia of southern Lebanon who live in the Nasrallah-run Hezbollah dictatorship, including my friend, the dedicated democratic activist Lokman Slim, found shot in the head, likely on the orders of Nasrallah. Don’t forget the people of Syria, half a million of whom have lost their lives in the battle against Bashar al Assad and his allies, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia. And please don’t forget the 241 U.S. troops killed in the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, and the countless other Americans Hezbollah has tortured and killed.

Good bloody riddance to him and the entire remaining Hezbollah org chart.

Of course Nasrallah will be replaced, as the mournful articles in the WaPo, NYT, and on the wires note. He was a capable killer, and Hezbollah is too large and too important to Iran to remain rudderless for long. I mean, I wouldn’t take the job, which now seems to have a short tenure if we can go by Nasrallah’s successor, the late Hassan Khalil Yassin.

If the Mossad was tasked with the job of restoring deterrence after the disaster of October 7, then mission possibly accomplished. It looks like Iran has absolutely no clue what to do next. We’ll find out soon enough. But if you want a hint as to their current approach, check out this piece on my meeting with the Iranian President from last week. Marc and I also recorded a WTH podcast episode on the piece, and talked about the late Hassan Nasrallah.

Two other tidbits here.

#1: Check out this piece on the late Hamas leader in Lebanon, aka the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon. Maybe it’s time to stop funding Hamas UNRWA? Joe Biden, any comment?

#2: If you’re wondering why these killers of Americans had to be targeted by Israel, and why the White House seems uninterested in Iranian terror proxies, join the club. America seems oddly choosy about eliminating terror masters, and other than Qassem Soleimani (thanks DJT), we’ve stuck with Sunni targets for our drones.

In other news, I thought you might find my interchange with Jonathan Capehart, the regular Friday night commentator on the PBS NewsHour, interesting. We talk immigration and Ukraine, and he did not cover himself in glory. (I was subbing for the NYT’s David Brooks, who was on holiday.) (NB I’ve never embedded video, so I’m hoping this works. If not, well, just follow the link.)

And finally, I have been asked repeatedly on TV what I thought about the indictment of New York Mayor Adams. Looking at the particulars, it didn’t appear as if this was political (unlike the NY Trump prosecutions), and one likes to think about rule of law limiting a frivolous effort to take down a big city mayor. In any case, perhaps I was wrong, and this really important WSJ editorial (hopefully this is a gift link), Prosecutors Overreach in the Case Against Eric Adams lays out the details.