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This week on Rational Security, Alan and Quinta sat down with Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes to talk through the week\u2019s big national security news, including:

• \u201cAyatollahs and Airstrikes.\u201d In retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed several high-ranking Iranian military officers in Syria, over the weekend Iran launched a wave of drone and missile attacks against Israel. The vast majority of these were shot down by Israel and its allies, including notably Jordan, causing minimal injuries and damage in Israel. As Israel considers whether to respond, its American and European allies are putting pressure on it to deescalate. What\u2019s Israel\u2019s next move and can broader regional war be avoided?
• \u201cBeginning of the end or just the end of the beginning?\u201d It has been six months since Hamas\u2019s attack on October 7 and the start of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, which appears to be entering a new, potentially lower-intensity phase. Israel has withdrawn most of its troops from southern Gaza, although it still argues that it needs to invade Rafah, on the border with Egypt, to defeat Hamas. Meanwhile, violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank continues to increase. What\u2019s next in the ongoing conflict?
• \u201cWhat\u2019s a little obstruction between friends?\u201d Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fischer v. United States, a case challenging the government\u2019s use of a common statute used to prosecute participants in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The six conservative Justices appeared skeptical of the government\u2019s argument that a statute that makes it a crime to \u201cobstruct any official proceeding\u201d applies to physical disruptions. How is the Court likely to rule and how might such a ruling affect Donald Trump\u2019s federal trial for trying to overthrow the 2020 election?

For object lessons, Quinta recommended a throwing-the-wife-under-the-bus update in New Jersey's Senator Bob Menendez's ongoing legal troubles, and Alan and Ben both recommended excellent, if anxiety-inducing, national security themed movies: the recently released Civil War and the upcoming War Game.

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