Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: In addition to the threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons, Israel needs to make sure that Hamas and Hezbollah don’t set them up for the feared and violent “crunch.” Israel needs to avoid being positioned in the middle of the attack that is sure to come and threaten the entire country simultaneously. Instead, Israel will have to take out the enemy with strategic pinpoint attacks that disable their terror rockets and missiles. When the evil Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are all dealt a staggering blow of epic proportions, then there will be “happy days” for Israel and the rest of the world, and please G-d, true peace and the coming of Mashiach

1. 10/23/22, 7:32 AM The Iranian Malachi Crunch | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-iranian-malachi-crunch/ 1/5
THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Leadership With Heart
The Iranian Malachi
Crunch
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2. 10/23/22, 7:32 AM The Iranian Malachi Crunch | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-iranian-malachi-crunch/ 2/5
Source Photo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-demolition-derby-event-10634045/
Iran has been “playing” the Malachi Crunch for some time against Israel.
Anyone who watched the TV series Happy Days will likely remember the episode
with the Malachi Crunch. This was where in a demolition derby, the Malachi
brothers fight dirty by using two cars to slam into one. The Fonz’s girlfriend,
Pinky Tuscadero, is injured, and after that, the Foz manages to take out both the
Malachi brothers and win the derby.
Hamas and Hezbollah’s Rockets and Missiles
Iran has given hundreds of thousands of rockets and missiles to Hamas in Gaza
and Hezbollah in South Lebanon, two terrorist groups, so they can attack
Israel’s civilians and important infrastructure. On top of that, Hamas and
Hezbollah hide their weapons among the civilian Arab population, in homes,
hospitals, schools, mosques, and so on, and use innocent men, women, and
children as human shields. Hamas and Hezbollah are the modern-day Malachi
Brothers. They fight dirty with Iran, which is the number one state sponsor of
terrorism, against the Holy Land of Israel.

3. 10/23/22, 7:32 AM The Iranian Malachi Crunch | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-iranian-malachi-crunch/ 3/5
The Syrian Bridgehead and Iranian Nukes
In recent years, Iran has also tried to use the brutal civil war in Syria to set up a
third base of operations against Israel. This would extend the Malachi Crunch to
potentially three bases of attack against Israel at the same time. Israel has, of
course, been pushing back against the terrorist infrastructure taking hold
around them by taking out the weapons, militants, as well as the terror tunnels
crossing the Israeli borders in the North and South. While Iran tries to distract
Israel with terrorists on its borders, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) is hard at work developing nuclear weapons and missiles capable
of threatening Israel from over 1,000 miles away. Israel has known for years that
this is a threat to its very existence and has worked secretly to stop Iran’s
constant and determined work on making a bomb.
Russia, Ukraine, and Iranian Kamikaze Drones
With the Ayatollah and the mullahs in charge, the Iranian theocracy has been at
the forefront of claims that the Holocaust didn’t happen. It also constantly
threatens to destroy Israel and attack the West. So, while Egypt, Jordan, the
United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan (and, soon, hopefully,
Saudi Arabia as well) have moved toward peace and prosperity with Israel, Iran
continues to be hostile, wants to lead an Islamic caliphate across the whole
region, and threatens war. Is it any surprise that the corrupt Ayatollah has sided
with the tyrant Putin against the United States and NATO by arming Russia with
kamikaze drones that are destroying Ukrainian energy, sewage and water
treatment facilities, and other critical infrastructure?
Oppression of the Iranian People
Iran’s leaders are not only malevolent to their peaceful neighbors, but they also
oppress their own people who want human rights and freedom, often with the
help of the “morality police.” In the same way that Iran uses the terrorist
Malachi Crunch against Israel, it uses the Ayatollah’s security forces,
plainclothes troops, and Basij paramilitary shock troops against civilian

4. 10/23/22, 7:32 AM The Iranian Malachi Crunch | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-iranian-malachi-crunch/ 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
protesters. The protesters are caught in the middle, trying to fight for their
freedom as they are shot at and beaten from all sides.
Preemptive Strike on Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah
Iran is not alone in using Malachi Crunch tactics, as Russia itself employs
Belarus as another front from which to stage its war, missiles, and attacks
against Ukraine. As we know, when surrounded by multiple fronts, an adversary
takes an unfair advantage to pummel their opponent in the middle (similar to
what Israel’s nation-state enemies did to them in the wars of 1948, 1967, and
1973). When the time comes to take out Iran’s nuclear weapons and, hopefully,
their drone production and storage facilities as well, we can be sure that Hamas
and Hezbollah will use the Iranian Malachi Crunch to fire barrage after barrage
of deadly missiles from the North and South at the heart of Israel’s civilian
population.
So, in addition to the threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons, Israel needs to make
sure that Hamas and Hezbollah don’t set them up for the feared and violent
“crunch.” Israel needs to avoid being positioned in the middle of the attack that
is sure to come and threaten the entire country simultaneously. Instead, Israel
will have to take out the enemy with strategic pinpoint attacks that disable their
terror rockets and missiles. When the evil Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are all
dealt a staggering blow of epic proportions, then there will be “happy days” for
Israel and the rest of the world, and please G-d, true peace and the coming of
Mashiach.

5. 10/23/22, 7:32 AM The Iranian Malachi Crunch | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-iranian-malachi-crunch/ 5/5
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