There is a reliable tell in modern politics when the progressive Marxist left erupts in outrage at the use of Western power, it is often because that power has disrupted a narrative it prefers. One in which the West is always the aggressor and its adversaries are forever cast as reactive victims.

The joint pre-emptive strike by Israel and the United States on Iran reportedly conducted under the operational name Operation Epic Fury has produced precisely that reaction.

For years, Tehran has funded proxies, threatened Israel’s existence, targeted American interests, and advanced military and nuclear capabilities that unsettle not only Jerusalem and Washington but much of the region. Yet in the wake of decisive action, the loudest condemnation has not been directed at the regime in Tehran, but at the governments that moved to counter it.

This reflex reveals more about ideology than about strategy.

October 7 Changed the Equation This is a war no one wanted. But it did not appear out of nowhere.

On 7 October 2023, the terrorist organisation Hamas murdered roughly 1,200 people inside Israel and abducted around 250 hostages into Gaza. Entire families were slaughtered. Civilians were paraded through the streets. Among the dead and kidnapped were dual nationals — including Americans, Europeans, Asian among others, making the atrocity not merely an Israeli tragedy but an international one.

The attack shattered any lingering illusion that Israel could indefinitely “manage” the threat posed by Iranian-backed proxies. Tehran’s support for groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi movement is not rhetorical solidarity. It is material, financial, strategic and, as October 7 made clear, deadly.

To disconnect the current confrontation, named Operation Epic Fury from that massacre is to erase cause and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)