Watchwords: Tuesday, March 31

The war’s architects declared “completion” while the war’s enemies — diplomatic, legal, and kinetic — declared nothing of the sort.

Israel's defense establishment used the word completion this week, and the international press translated it as mission accomplished. It means Israel finished the first target list and started building the second one — the chemical weapons lab under the Tehran university, the steel plants, the gas infrastructure are this week's strikes, not last month's. This is the week's pressure map and the five claims your Pesach table will throw at you, with the lines that hold and the traps that lose the room.

When someone tells you the war is over because the defense establishment used the word “completion” — ask them what the chemical weapons lab under the university was for.

The Israel Brief is the Mitzpe Institute's read on Israel and the region — most mornings, Sunday through Thursday. More at mitzpe.org.