It often feels like Israelis are living in a parallel universe – one where the rhythm of life is punctuated by frequent dashes to shelter as wailing sirens warn of incoming rockets. But it’s a small price to pay. The world, in any of its dimensions, is a better place without Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in it.
The elimination of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a joint Israeli-US operation on February 28 was celebrated by Iranian protesters both at home and in their widespread diaspora as much as by Israel. He is responsible for the deaths of a reported 30,000 demonstrators who bravely took to the streets recently seeking to overturn the regime.
For Israelis, Operation Roaring Lion started with sirens early on Saturday morning. Few escaped the flashbacks to the sirens on Saturday, October 7, 2023, the first warning that our lives were to change forever. There will always be a “before and after” October 7, when Iranian-backed, Hamas-led terrorists invaded from Gaza under massive rocket bombardment, slaughtering 1,200 and taking 251 hostage.
The roots of that war go back much further. And as long the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains intact, it will not be over, even without Khamenei and his closest circle.
Khamenei was evil. It is satisfying to use the word “was,” past tense. As Tim Black wrote on Spiked: “Khamenei wasn’t a minor despot like Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi, or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, desperately clinging on to power for power’s sake. He was the longest-serving tyrant in the Middle East, the head less of a nation state than of a brutal theocratic experiment – an Islamist entity founded nearly 50 years ago in lethal, cosmic opposition to the West, as represented by America and Israel.”
The tyrant for whom bleeding hearts now cry was responsible for oppression at home – targeting women, ethnic and religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. He also ruled a terrorist network abroad via proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as militias in Iraq and Syria. This wasn’t aimed only at the US and Israel – “The Great Satan” and “The Little Satan”– but against the international world order.
Despite the setbacks to the regime’s missile and nuclear program in June’s 12 Day War led by Israel with American assistance, Iran’s rulers did not turn away from violence. Even as their own economy spiraled out of control, they continued to pump money to Hezbollah in Lebanon, amounting to $1 billion since the November 2024 ceasefire. Why? To continue their work. When Hezbollah this week rejoined the fray, with multiple rocket and drone attacks on Israel, it was using ongoing Iranian funding and ideological backing.
Israel learned a painful lesson on October 7: You can’t assume your enemies are deterred; judge them by their capabilities. If Iran – or any of its terrorist proxies – ever attains military nuclear capabilities, nowhere in the world will be safe.
The Gulf States now coming under Iranian attack already knew this, but now the message is being reinforced with every falling missile.
The West struggles to respond
Unfortunately, much of the Western media took the idea of not speaking ill of the dead beyond the bounds of common sense. Media watchdog HonestReporting noted that The New York Times headlined its obituary: “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power, Dies at 86” while The Washington Post described Khamenei “as known for his ‘bushy white beard and easy smile,’ noting that he cut a ‘more avuncular figure in public’ than his predecessor.” The obituary also “highlighted his fondness for Persian poetry and classic Western novels, including Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.”
It reminded me of the obituary WaPo published in 2019 which briefly had the headline: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.” Then as now, social media had fun with similar fake obits such as: “Adolf Hitler, Austrian vegetarian and painter, dies at 56” and “Osama bin Laden, spiritual leader and architect of renewed New York skyline, dead at 54.”
The statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was almost a parody of trite mantras: “I condemn the military escalation in the Middle East today. The strikes by the US and Israel against Iran and the subsequent attacks by Iran undermine international security... Lasting peace can only be achieved through peaceful means, including genuine dialogue and negotiations. The United Nations Charter provides the foundation for the maintenance of international and security.”
I would like to know how Guterres thought the UN charter had maintained “international security” when facing Iranian threats until now, including terrorism and Houthi attacks on international shipping. “Genuine dialogue and negotiations” have their place, but as British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy in the 1930s shows, they are not infallible: It depends on whom you are negotiating with. A deal with the devil might start with good intentions but it can pave the proverbial road to hell.
Many Western leaders fell off a tightrope as they tried to present a balanced response to the Israeli-US operation led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.
While Winston Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches” speech in June 1940 has echoed throughout history, the words of current British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – if remembered at all – will always sound hollow. Having initially denied America the use of British facilities for the strike, he at first tried to distance himself from the operation – but backtracked slightly after Iran hit an RAF base in Cyprus anyway.
Note to Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez et al: A terrorist regime will hit out because it can. See Chamberlain’s “Peace for our Time” Munich Agreement and the 1938 Czechoslovakian example above.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters issued a statement confirming that the government understands that the attack by Israel and the US on Iran was a legitimate effort to prevent the Iranian threat to world peace and security, and condemned “in the strongest terms Iran’s indiscriminate retaliatory attacks on Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.” Who’s missing? Correct. The Israelis. Apparently, we don’t count.
Iran's indiscriminate missile barrages took a painful toll this week. Among the victims were nine people murdered when a shelter in Beit Shemesh sustained a direct hit. The victims included three children from the same family; a mother and son; and a mother and daughter. That is a partial list.
In Tel Aviv, the victims included a 102-year-old man who fell as he raced for shelter. It’s heartbreaking to think of a man who had survived more than a century dying from the wounds he sustained as he was forced to run in a rocket attack – propelled by his will to live, betrayed by his body, murdered by Iran.
But despite the pain and tension, Israelis reacted to the latest round of hostilities with typical humor and their own brand of Britain’s wartime “Keep calm and carry on” approach. Children who couldn’t go to Purim parades in school and kindergarten were hosted in or next to bomb shelters; online activities and costume competitions were hastily arranged; selfies – or “shelties” – were shared by neighbors gathered yet again in safe areas, one showing a barber giving free haircuts to productively pass the time; and there was a lot of buzz around an app called Hooked, helping singles know where others were sheltering. I can just imagine the pick-up lines. Only Israelis would encourage falling in love as missiles fall.
When the war is over, whenever that might be, there will be new opportunities for regional alliances and growth. Operation Roaring Lion drowned out the story of the hugely significant visit to Israel by India’s President Narendra Modi just days before, but that could be described as “a roaring success.” Linking India to the Middle East would have global benefits.
The world shouldn’t shed a tear for Khamenei, but for his victims. You can stand with the Persian people or with the Iranian regime; with those seeking freedom or those promoting jihadist religious domination at home and abroad; with those planning for peace and prosperity or those seeking nuclear capabilities and the intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver the warheads. History won’t wait while you deliberate.