It has been the custom at the Sun this time of year to issue an editorial on one of our favorite causes — a Nobel Prize for GI Joe. The idea is that though GI Joe is what we call our typical soldier, it’s hard to think of any institution that has done more for peace than the United States Armed Forces — in Europe, Asia, and around the globe. Hence the idea of awarding the Nobel Prize in Peace to GI Joe and GI Jane. 

This year we’re going to change our favored candidate to the Israel Defense Forces. More than a decade ago, we wrote of the “idealism of the American military mission, which has ever been not to conquer but to liberate — and to bring peace.” We reckoned that the “logic of the idea has only increased with each mission.” We haven’t lost so much as a gluon of admiration for GI Joe. This year, though, a new hero is emerging.

Call him GI Yosef — prepared to go into the tunnels and alleys of the casbahs of terror in a campaign not only to protect Israel but to liberate the Arabs in Gaza and Lebanon from occupation and tyranny of Iran-backed armies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. It is hard to imagine the personal courage it takes for that kind of campaign, yet after October 7 Israel was able to call up more than 350,000 reservists in a matter of two or three days.

The list of Nobel Peace prize winners often reads as an exercise in irony. Who can forget an unrepentant Yasser Arafat accepting the award. Or Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who after being fêted at Oslo reversed course into ignominy. This year, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has been nominated. It’s hard to know what in the world the Norwegians are going to make of that. 

We get that the Israel Defense Forces are unlikely to be granted the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow. We understand that garlanding some of the world’s most intrepid fighters with accolades of peace could strike some as a surprising choice. No one, though, has done more to prevent future wars than the army that insists on winning the current ones against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. How fitting it would be were the world to acknowledge it.

Alfred Nobel’s will stipulates that the prize be given to “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations.” Fraternity between nations is likely to be immeasurably improved by the elimination of say, Hassan Nasrallah, Ibrahim Aqil, and Fuad Shukr. Those three Hezbollah chiefs were responsible for, among other crimes, the bombings in 1983 that killed scores of American and French troops.

The IDF’s contributions to peace are global because the stakes of its fight with Iran and her proxies touch everywhere. Prime Minister Netanyahu told his country before Rosh Hashana that “Israel is facing challenging times as it battles Iran’s axis of evil.” Off-stage but in the picture are Russia and Iran. The premier declared to Congress this summer that Israel is engaged in a “clash between barbarism and civilization.” Peace lies on the far side of victory.

We get, too, that the war isn’t over. The IDF is battling in Gaza and in Lebanon, not to mention as far away as Yemen. As of this writing Israel is weighing a response to the barrage of ballistics unleashed by Tehran. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says only that Jerusalem’s response will be “lethal, precise and especially surprising.” If it works it will do more for peace than anyone else has done in this whole long war. What a moment to recognize GI Yosef.