Dance of Inexhaustible Folly

Jun 21, 2025

The volume of piffle spouted by the usual suspects as Israel and Iran pound one another with savage intent might be astounding if not so predictable. Netanyahu proclaims with a straight face that Israel is repaying a debt to Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia who liberated the Jews 2,500 years ago, by “creating the means to liberate the Persian people.” He goes on to pontificate, “Freedom is never cheap. It’s never free. Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it’s up to them. But we may create conditions that will help them do it” (Bolger, From Beersheba to Babylon). These hollow words are chosen in a formulation worthy of the American president to allow Israel to claim credit if the clerical regime in Iran is replaced by democracy or some semblance of it and to lay blame on the Iranian people if the clerics remain in power or if chaos and violence follow their fall.

Speaking at a hospital that took a direct hit on one of its buildings by an Iranian ballistic missile, Netanyahu shamelessly asserted that Israel targets military sites while Iran targets a hospital. This begs the question as to how a military target is defined. The rules of engagement in Iran mirror those in Gaza with the presence of a single high-ranking intelligence officer, military leader, or nuclear scientist sufficient to designate a hospital or residential building as a military target to be struck with cynical indifference for civilian casualties suffered as collateral damage.

Netanyahu shared the sacrifice his family endured because of the war: his son Avner’s wedding was postponed for the second time. “It is,” said Netanyahu, “a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.” Somehow the postponed wedding reminds him of the spirit of the British during the Nazi bombing in World War II when 43,000 civilians died. This was not well received in Israel.

The Israeli prime minister’s remarks, solemnly delivered to the cameras against the backdrop of a missile-struck hospital building in the southern city of Beersheba, set off a howl of derision that echoed around the Hebrew-language internet, at the height of a war that Netanyahu unleashed on Friday. (Julian Borger, Quique Kierszenbaum, Netanyahu stuns Israelis)

Israel and Iran are both in the grip of religious fanatics who show no mercy toward perceived enemies and no more than grudging toleration for others whose beliefs differ from their own. Netanyahu’s counterpart in Tehran heads a brutish theocracy with a rigid interpretation of Islamic doctrine not shared by by most Muslims. Critics are dealt with harshly, often barbarically. Calls for the destruction of Israel, relentless pursuit of capability to develop a nuclear weapon, and support of violent extremist groups throughout the region are other trademarks of the regime.

Leaders of each country vow to rain destruction down on the other. Khamenei warns the US that Iran will bring “irreparable damage” if it becomes directly involved in the conflict. Iran has the ability to inflict significant loss of life and property damage but not to prevail in conflict with Israel alone, much less if the US assumes an active role. Khamenei volunteers the Iranian people for martyrdom in a war where his best hope is a face-saving diplomatic solution that will allow him to remain in power.

The outcome for Israel is not apt to be much better. The stated goal to destroy Iran’s nuclear program is delusional and carries profound risk of the opposite effect. Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, explained in her article last week at Just Security that “Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 13 are not a solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis…In the long term, Israel’s attack increases the proliferation risk and makes a nuclear armed Iran more likely for several reasons” (Israeli Strikes).

In Washington Trump maneuvers to position himself to claim credit if there is any to be claimed and to deny responsibility and blame if it all goes sideways. His latest swerve is to hold off on a decision on US intervention for up to two weeks to allow for the possibility of negotiation after previously demanding unconditional surrender that would appear to have meant no negotiation. Perhaps something in his reasoning escapes me.

Among members of Congress tepid criticism of Israel and saber rattling on its behalf both come with required affirmations of Israel’s right to self-defense and unconditional commitment to always stand with Israel. None seem to consider that standing with Israel may require taking a stand against a rogue leadership whose actions, far from making Israel and its allies safer, cultivate the next generation of recruits for countries and groups bent on Israel’s destruction.

Woodrow Wilson Center fellow Robin Wright offers perspective that appears to escape American war hawks and a vacillating president who wants what he thinks will make him look good.

Iran will come out significantly weaker from this war, no doubt. But it is more than twice the size of Texas—in contrast to Gaza, which is the size of greater Philadelphia. Israel is still at war there after 20 months of warfare. Iran is also twice the size of Afghanistan, where the U.S. fought its longest war. And it is three times the size of Iraq, where the U.S. fought an eight-year war which, as an unintended consequence, spawned ISIS, an extremist movement that forced the U.S. to reengage in Iraq. Troops are still there. There are so many recent precedents—and lessons—that should be heeded in navigating what Washington does in the hours, days and weeks ahead. (quoted in 8 Experts)

Iran’s clerical regime is widely unpopular. There exists an array of opposition groups within the country and in exile that has yet to coalesce into a united front.

Prominent figures in Iran’s movement for democracy have also come out against both the war and the regime. From his prison cell in Evin, former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh condemned the Israeli attacks and called for an immediate cease-fire. But he also called for “a peaceful transition to democracy” in Iran. The Nobel peace laureates Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi were joined by five other activists (including the director Jafar Panahi, who last month won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival) in issuing a call for an immediate end to the war and condemning the attacks on civilians by both Iran and Israel. They also called for an end to Iran’s enrichment of uranium and for a democratic transition (Azizi, This War).

Israel’s attacks have the perverse effect of killing Iranians who oppose the regime along with its supporters and directing the populace’s anger away from their oppressors and toward Israel (Iran’s missiles have a parallel effect in Israel). Arash Azizi writes about some of them in an article at The Atlantic (‘This War is Not Helping Us’).

Tehran is a dense city of 9.8 million. As Israel strikes targets across the Iranian capital as well as in other cities, it hits civil-society figures associated with the country’s protest movement alongside officials and nuclear scientists. Parnia Abbasi, 23, a poet and an English teacher, was killed together with her parents and brother on the first day of the air campaign; the target of the strike that killed them was a regime official in a nearby building. Zahra Shams, 35, was a devout Muslim who wore the hijab by choice but vocally opposed its enforcement on others, even tweeting in support of the anti-hijab protests in 2022. She was killed in a strike intended for a regime official who lived in her apartment building.

A twenty-four-year-old activist in Tehran told Azizi,

I oppose the Islamic Republic and Khamenei with all my being. I took part in many demonstrations during the Women, Life, Freedom movement. But now I can’t even think about the regime or overthrowing it. I am scared. I am worried. I fear for the life of myself and everyone around me.

Another young activist, this one in Europe, said she understood “the glee that greeted the first killings of regime military figures,” then adds that

anybody who’s seen what Israel has done in Gaza, Lebanon, and even Syria recently would know that Netanyahu is not seeking stability in the region. He is hitting Iran’s refineries and power stations, so he is clearly not thinking about our people.

Eighty-year-old human rights lawyer Mehrangiz Kar, one of Azizi’s political heroes, told him, “When I see the Israeli strikes on Iran today, I feel like I am seeing the burning of my very own house. They are targeting my homeland. This isn’t acceptable, no matter who is doing the attacks. No such attack is acceptable under international law.” She blames Khamenei for “having made an enemy of Israel of decades” (Azizi’s words).

But she made clear that Netanyahu is no friend to Iran’s freedom fighters. “Nobody I spoke to in Iran supports these attacks,” she said. “People are angry, and they hate the Islamic Republic. But they now probably hate Mr. Netanyahu and his military policies even more.”

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

Keep the faith.
Stand with Ukraine.
yr obdt svt

David Matthews Portable Bohemia

Discussion about this post