In the early hours of June 13, the world woke up to a dangerous new chapter in the Middle East conflict. Israel, under the long-discredited leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, launched a massive and unprovoked bombing campaign on Iran. This act of aggression, executed under the now-familiar cloak of “preemptive self-defense,” marks a new low in the region’s descent into chaos, one engineered not by necessity, but by political desperation and propaganda fatigue.
Netanyahu claims the strikes were aimed at neutralizing an imminent nuclear threat. But no credible intelligence agency, including those of Israel and the United States, asserts that Iran currently possesses nuclear weapons. In fact, nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran were scheduled to resume just days after the attack, further underlining the recklessness and illegality of Israel’s action. The echoes of 2003 are unmistakable. Just as George W. Bush falsely claimed Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction, Netanyahu is now manufacturing another phantom threat to justify a war of aggression, an offense that is the supreme international crime under the UN Charter.
But this was no simple precision strike on nuclear infrastructure. Among the targets were Iran’s top military leaders, Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and Revolutionary Guard Commander General Hossein Salami, killed in a decapitation-style strike reminiscent of Israel’s tactics in Gaza and Lebanon. These assassinations, carried out in a sleeping civilian population, are part of Israel’s long-standing strategy: target leadership, destabilize, and provoke a disproportionate response.
What makes this latest campaign particularly sinister is Netanyahu’s Orwellian framing of it as an act of peace. In his official press briefing, he claimed that Israel is only targeting “the dictatorship” in Tehran and that ordinary Iranians are not the enemy. This disingenuous rhetoric, offered in the same breath as war crimes, mirrors the delusions of past tyrants. Israel’s action is not a defense of peace, but an overt and illegal act of war, in complete violation of international law.
Western reaction has, once again, been shamefully muted. European capitals are already issuing their usual empty calls for “both sides to de-escalate”, as though it were not Tel Aviv that launched the first missile. The familiar moral cowardice of the EU is on full display: they will not condemn Israel, not because they are ignorant, but because they are complicit.
So why now? What triggered Israel’s decision to strike?
The answer lies not in Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions, but in Israel’s crumbling global narrative. In recent months, the tide of public opinion, especially across Europe, has shifted dramatically. Massive pro-Palestinian protests now routinely flood Western capitals. The Freedom Flotilla, international condemnation of the Gaza genocide, and increasing calls for sanctions against Israel have put Netanyahu’s apartheid regime on the defensive. The “victim card” that Israel has played so effectively for decades is no longer working.
Desperate to regain control of the narrative, Netanyahu needs a dramatic escalation. He needs to provoke Iran into retaliating. If even one Israeli dies in a counterstrike, Tel Aviv can once again scream “existential threat,” invoke the Holocaust, and rally Western governments to its side. Already, Netanyahu has invoked Nazi comparisons, framing Iran as the new Hitler, echoing a well-worn script designed to manipulate guilt and silence dissent.
What Netanyahu seeks is not deterrence, it is total war. A war that would drag the United States, the United Kingdom, and perhaps NATO into yet another bloody Middle Eastern quagmire. A war that would erase the growing international sympathy for Palestinians and redirect global media toward a new theater of conflict. A war that would re-legitimize Israeli brutality under the cover of defense.
This is not a defensive campaign; it is an offensive to reclaim psychological and political dominance. But Israel’s desperation is showing. The global public is no longer so easily fooled. Even in the United States, traditional bastions of pro-Israel sentiment are being challenged by growing voices of dissent, from students to faith leaders to members of Congress. The Israeli state knows that if it loses the West, especially Europe, it loses its impunity. And losing impunity means facing accountability.
Iran, for its part, has promised a proportional response, not reckless escalation. Yet, if pushed further, it has both the capability and the strategic depth to retaliate with overwhelming force. Iranian officials have already revealed possession of sensitive Israeli intelligence, including locations of nuclear facilities. They’ve successfully tested ballistic missiles with two-ton payloads and have placed their armed forces on the highest alert. This is not Iraq or Libya, Iran is a formidable regional power, not a helpless target.
The implications of this moment cannot be overstated. If Europe and the U.S. continue to coddle Tel Aviv’s crimes under the illusion of shared democratic values, they will not only be complicit in yet another illegal war, but they will also further unravel the fragile fabric of international law, multilateralism, and global peace.
Israel’s bombing of Iran is not about security. It is about salvaging a genocidal regime’s collapsing image. It is about dragging the world into a war of their own making, where truth is the first casualty, and human life a distant concern. The international community must reject this manipulation. Anything less is a surrender to tyranny.
By Hon. Chimazuru Nnadi-Oforgu
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