Last week’s attempt by a “peace” flotilla to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, along with the events since, have made one thing perfectly clear — what Israel needs right now, more than anything, is a strong ally ready to provide full support.

First, let’s make something perfectly clear. Israel’s naval blockade was not put in place in order to oppress the poor people of Gaza. Israel still allows humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. All of the aid that was on the ships in the “peace” flotilla was welcome by Israel to go to Gaza. But Israel first wants to inspect the cargo to be sure there are no weapons that would end up in the hands on Hamas — the terrorist organization currently in power in Gaza that has ties to Iran and likes to shoot rockets into Israel.

In these circumstances, Israel’s demand of inspecting cargo bound for Gaza is perfectly reasonable. If those behind the “peace” flotilla were simply interested in getting aid to Gaza, they could have easily gone through the appropriate procedure. But it is clear that this was not their simple intention. Rather, they wanted to break the naval blockade.

We know the story. Israeli commandos boarded the ships. On one of them, the “peace” activists began attacking the commandos with steel poles and clubs before they even reached the deck. The outnumbered commandos, armed with paintball guns, eventually had to resort to using handguns to defend themselves from the violent mob. But despite being attacked on a routine and legitimate naval operation, this event is being spun to condemn Israel and to build support for Hamas.

Israel has many enemies that want nothing more than to see their destruction. The President of Iran has said Israel should be wiped off the map. Iran’s proxy groups of Hamas and Hezbollah are at Israel’s doorstep. Israel is surrounded by Muslim countries, many of whose citizens do not like the Jews.

Now this has happened. Now the world is turning against Israel. The U.N. has condemned the actions of Israel and has called for an inquiry into the event. More attempts to break the blockade are coming. If the blockade is broken, there will be nothing to stop a flow of weapons and fighters from places like Iran from entering Gaza.

And wouldn’t you know it, now Iran is offering to send Revolutionary Guard naval units to escort the next convoy past the Israeli naval blockade and into Gaza.

This is a ticking time bomb that could go off anytime. Why are Israel’s enemies able to act so boldly? Because they can see that Israel is alone. They have no support. They are vulnerable.

Strong U.S. support of Israel right now is desperately needed — not just for Israel, but for the whole region. If Iran gets directly involved, and Israel is forced to defend its people, the whole Middle East could explode into war.

Rather than playing games, the Obama administration needs to stand up for Israel. It has been reported that  the White House is offering to support Israel by opposing the U.N. investigation only if they receive certain concessions from Israel in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. This should not be an occasion to negotiate. Israel is our ally. We should stand with them.

What Israel did was both justified and reasonable. The naval blockade was a solution that would protect its people while still allowing real humanitarian aid into Gaza. Yet the enemies of Israel are using this event to push against Israeli defenses and provoke them into conflict. The U.S. needs to support Israel now before we end up with a catastrophic war erupting in the Middle East.