There is concern within Louisville's synagogues about a prolonged war involving the U.S., should America's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend lead to further conflict.
On Monday, Iran announced it had retaliated with its own missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar, though no casualties have been reported.
Louisville Rabbi Ben Freed of Keneseth Israel Congregation has loved ones in Israel and is worried for what could come next.
"I think really it's a combination of the potential for prolonged conflict, and the potential for many many more lives lost," Freed told WHAS11 on Monday. "The fear of retaliation is not just about me personally, it's about my friends, my family, my co-religionists -- my other Jews that I care for deeply. I hope that across the world, cooler heads will prevail."
Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher of The Temple hopes that Iran's latest strike on American targets was more symbolic rather than intended to inflict pain, suggesting they want to de-escalate.
My deepest hope is that's the end of the fighting and the warfare, and we can actually move on to some peace talks and de-escalation," Derrenbacher told WHAS11 over Zoom. "In wars, everyone loses, right, people on both sides die. It breaks communities apart.
Dr. Robert Farley, a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky and an expert on diplomacy and national security, tells WHAS11 that Iran's response could indicate they want an exit strategy rather than a broader conflict, but it is not yet clear whether the attacks will continue in the long term.
They also have options involving terrorism. They have militias. They have many different ways of attacking the U.S. and U.S. interests, both in the region and around the world," Farley said. "But just because they have those capabilities doesn't mean that they're going to use them.
Farley said that Iran's response to the U.S. may just be a way to demonstrate to the Iranian people that the government "cares about what happened, and that it's willing to strike back."
"So we haven't really seen everything that the Iranians could throw at the United States yet," Farley said. "There are lots of other targets that the United States has in the region, all of which are reachable by ballistic missiles like the ones the Iranians just fired."
WHAS11 asked Farley if this means there's a chance for parties to get back to the negotiating table and reach a peace deal.
"There's probably some space between what Jerusalem wants and what Washington wants at this point, I don't think that the Israelis want any kind of deal. I think they want the war to continue for as long as possible in order to inflict damage on Iran," Farley said. "The Trump administration... Trump likes deals, right? And so he wants to be able to walk away from this with a deal with the Iranians. But it's not obvious what the Iranians really have left in order to deal with, and so sort of the basis for what that deal would be is not really readily apparent at this time."
Meanwhile, debate still swirls over whether President Donald Trump had the authority to carry out the weekend bombing without congressional approval.
Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican but also a frequent thorn in Trump's side, told CNN, "The base of the MAGA party that got Trump elected, most of us were tired of the wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. And we were promised that we wouldn't be engaging in another one, yet here we see this happening."
On Truth Social, Trump called Massie a "pathetic loser," and his team even launched a super PAC solely with the mission of unseating Massie in the May 2026 primary.
At Jefferson Square Park in Louisville on Monday, people protesting against Raytheon, a major U.S. military contractor, again voiced their concerns about the fighting in the Middle East.
"The protests will continue because the genocide continues, the bombing continues," one protester said.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) condemned the Iranian attack against the U.S. air base in Qatar, saying, "I am praying for the safety of our brave troops, diplomats, and all Americans in the region and beyond. On behalf of all Louisvillians, I am fighting to ensure American safety and security and that our top priority is peace and not another endless war."
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