What has unfolded over the past days is the rarest of things in 21st-century conflicts
a just war. One in which there is moral clarity between good and evil. America and Israel did not embark on this operation in the name of economic or geopolitical interests, but because the world is in danger.… If the Iranian regime succeeds in developing nuclear weapons, as it is trying to do, the world is in danger. If it continues to advance its ballistic-missile programme, Israel and every other country in the Middle East are in danger. If the ayatollahs remain in power in Tehran, the citizens of Iran are in danger.The rule of the ayatollahs is not a “government” in the sense we ordinarily understand the term. It is a terrorist organisation that has hijacked a state. Anyone who has asked in the past 24 hours why Iran’s nuclear programme justifies going to war has been asking the wrong question. The right question is this: what would have happened if al-Qaeda had possessed nuclear weapons on September 11th 2001? Would it have used them against America and Israel? The answer is simple: of course it would have.
on this military campaign, I stand behind the government and behind the operation in Iran.
Why? Because this is not political—it is existential. All of Israel stands united in the face of the Iranian threat, united behind our soldiers and our pilots, united in gratitude to President Donald Trump for the rare leadership and courage he has shown. On this issue there is no opposition and no coalition. In all my years in politics, I do not remember such consensus on any subject.
… The cruelty with which the regime treated young Iranians who asked only for freedom and basic rights is not only heartbreaking; it is a lesson in the character of Iran’s thuggish leaders. The Iranian regime does not hesitate to kill tens of thousands of its own people. Why would it hesitate to kill Americans, Israelis or moderate Muslims in places like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain?Regimes like this always make the same mistake. They fail to understand that democracy is not a weakness; it is a source of strength. Because they themselves understand only threats and brutality, they assume that if they continue to threaten, no one will dare confront them. Instead, they have awakened the greatest military power humanity has ever known.
… Yet the question of whether this regime of terror survives does not depend only on America and Israel. The elimination of the “Supreme Leader”, Ali Khamenei, is not only justified, as befits the murderous dictator that he was; it could also be the moment when the Iranian people find within themselves the strength to change their lives. Iranian youth showed extraordinary courage when they took to the streets in January. Now we must wait and see whether they will produce their own Nelson Mandela or Lech Walesa to lead them to freedom.
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