Question

Hello Rabbi
 
I wanted to ask whether the halakhic definition of the war in the current situation is an obligatory war or an optional war. The question is directed at the situation vis-à-vis Iran and its proxies such as Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, etc. Is warfare in the cyber arena, the economy, terror attacks abroad, sending missiles, and so on defined as an obligatory war? After all, Maimonides writes: “helping Israel against an enemy who comes upon them.” Does this kind of fighting over the past months also count as “comes upon them”? Or should we say that on 10/7 and in the month that followed it was an obligatory war, and afterward we chose to go out to an optional war? After all, ostensibly we could have chosen diplomatic routes, but if we chose war (and probably justifiably), then it is not necessarily an obligatory war, because right now there is no enemy coming upon them?