Necessary Roughness: When War Makes Peace
On Iran, reactionaries don't grasp the actual price of peace and joy—or that Jews are the ones paying it
We can’t kumbiyah our way out of Islamic terror.
Peace is not the absence of violence. It is what remains after violence is directed at those who would otherwise destroy everything.
The US and Israel have struck Iran at last. Were my Facebook feed any indication, Iran has done nothing wrong, ever, and the US-Israeli alliance is the big bad in the world.
In other words, Iranian Regime propaganda that Haman could only dream of. And now we enter Purim tomorrow night and mark a story told for 2,500 years of victory in Persia—modern Iran—over those who would destroy us all; notably, Haman. And we do so while living that very story in current events, an unfathomable, yet familiar narrative that is framed by Jews being the strongest we have ever been in history.
Two weeks ago, Bad Bunny put on an epic, feel-good show at the Super Bowl. The outpouring of support afterward was wonderful; even many right-wing pundits—defending ICE and tweeting out racist dogwhistles days prior—said they enjoyed it and its message of joy and American pride. “We need more of this,” was the overwhelming message, a reminder of how outrage can vanish when comfort returns.
Oh, the irony of being supposedly anti-war in Gaza and Iran while insisting on “good vibes only” at home — celebrating joy while ignoring the forces that make such joy possible. The same voices praising the halftime show’s positivity often reserve their outrage for Israel while minimizing the role of regimes and movements that openly threaten both Jews and the West.
We have access to culture and celebration precisely because safety and security make them possible. Ignoring the growing threats to that security does not preserve peace — it erodes it.
The same left-wing voices who were effervescent about Bad Bunny were silent as the Iranian Regime slaughtered tens of thousands of unarmed protestors in the streets in January, and have suddenly found themselves “pro-peace” again, when an alliance seeks to rid the world, and the Iranian people, of their evil occupiers.
I’m far from alone in being struck by the fact that these same voices, both pundits and acquaintances, would be anti-war in 1939 as well. “Germany hasn’t attacked us,” they said then. (RootsMetals herself noted this immediately).
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime HAS attacked the United States, as well as people around the world, for over 40 bloody years.
Those same “anti-war” voices were posting “WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM” a few short years ago, and now are absent when the Iranians need us the most. Why is that?
Could it have anything to do with the Iranian Regime sponsoring Hamas and their October 7, 2023, invasion and genocide of not just Jews, but Arabs, Thai, and Americans in Israel? Yes, and we can thank Qatari Regime propaganda to the tune of $billions for the masses’ open support of terrorism. In fact, one such Facebooker I mentioned quoted Al Jazeera as their source. Yes, that AJ.
And I’m not just angry about this vocal 180 and support for the worst atrocities on the planet. I’m dismayed and shocked. There’s a vast chasm between people’s knowledge of Iran and the region and the ferocity of their half-formed opinions.
And at the end of the day, this moral blindspot and blatant hypocrisy can be distilled down to its core cause: Classic antisemitism, blood libel, and the eternal currency that is Jewish blood.
So, for people who don’t seem to get it, and why Jews and Israelis are so adamantly allied with the Iranian people against their oppressive theocratic dictatorship: at the bottom, find a non-exhaustive list of crimes committed by the Iranian Regime, which just celebrated 47 years in power.1 Here’s a glance:
With breathtaking ignorance, people ignore not just past and present atrocities of Iran, but:
Equate striking Iran with anything wrong Trump has ever done (two things can be true; Iran needs regime change for peace and stability, AND Trump is bad)
Ignore that precision strikes on Iranian Regime military targets resulted in the regime striking civilian areas in Israel and across the Middle East (Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan), and that Iran’s proxies were attacking Israel from 7 fronts for 2 years
And lastly, ignore the widespread protests for regime change in Iran in December and January, as well as the celebration of the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, the former Supreme Leader of Iran.
Sometimes violence is necessary to prevent more violence.
Sometimes violence is necessary to prevent more violence. This is the case here, as it was in the 1980s when the Iranian Regime should have been tackled to begin with (the Cold War prevented this).
Ask yourself, would detractors agree with Trump’s actions this weekend, were they Joe Biden's or Kamala Harris’? What if Israel weren’t even a figure or an aspect in it?
Ask yourself, would detractors agree with Trump’s actions this weekend, were they Joe Biden’s or Kamala Harris’? What if Israel weren’t even a figure or an aspect in it?
If that still isn’t enough, ask yourself this:
For those who spoke up when two protestors were killed by ICE in America, where were they when tens of thousands were killed daily in Iran? How did they talk furiously about “resistance,” yet ignore the biggest, most violent resistance in the world?
Imagine a world where that were happening in the streets of America; I know many have thought about it - they act as if it will escalate here. Then imagine the world doing nothing about it at all for FOUR DECADES.
Put yourself in the shoes of 90 million Iranians — people who love their country but not the regime that rules them, who risk everything to oppose it, and who watch the world debate whether their freedom is anyone else’s responsibility when there is zero chance of them attaining freedom without outside assistance.
Peace is not the absence of violence. It is what remains after violence is directed at those who would otherwise destroy everything.
Purim is not only a story of survival in ancient Persia. It is a reminder that joy endures because someone was willing to confront those who threatened it — then, and now.
Persia once sheltered Jews when the world would not. Today, history has turned, and the responsibility runs in the other direction.
Persia needs our help the same way they helped us millennia ago. We must listen to them and join them.
Above: Jordyn Tilchen
A non-exhaustive list of crimes committed by the Iranian Regime, which just celebrated 47 years in power:
🇱🇧🇺🇸 Killed US Military: Dual truck bombs in Beirut, Lebanon, 1983, outside US military barracks took the lives of 241 Americans and 305 total. (Hezbollah, Iranian Regime proxy)
🇮🇱 Hamas Genocide, Oct 7: Iranian Regime proxy Hamas, which brutally occupies Gaza, took the lives of some 1,200 people in the biggest murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.
🇮🇷 January Genocide: Mass protests of millions of brave Iranian civilians after complete economic collapse resulted in the regime turning off the internet nationwide and slaughtering 30-90,000 civilians in the streets and in hospitals.
🇾🇪 Yemen: The Houthi terror group, another Iranian proxy, occupies large swaths of Yemen, lobbed rockets at Israel for much of 2024-2025, and created widespread famine there.
🌎 Global terror attacks via Hezbollah:
🇦🇺 The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) identified that the Iranian government directed at least two major attacks: the arson attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney (October 20, 2024) and the firebombing of the Adas Israel synagogue in Melbourne (December 6, 2024).
🇦🇷 Mar 17, 1992 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Israeli Embassy bombing. Suicide bombing killed 29 and injured hundreds; Argentine investigations and later international reporting have long linked the attack to Hezbollah operating with Iranian direction/support.
🇦🇷 Jul 18, 1994 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - AMIA Jewish community center. A truck bomb killed 85 and injured 300+. In April 2024, Argentina’s highest criminal court formally blamed Iran, describing Hezbollah as the executor under Iranian political/strategic direction; U.S. statements also describe the attack as Iran-backed Hezbollah.
🇧🇬 Jul 18, 2012 - Burgas, Bulgaria - Bus bombing of Israeli tourists: Suicide bombing killed 5 Israeli civilians and a Bulgarian driver.
🇱🇧 2020 - Lebanon - Hezbollah stored munitions in Beirut improperly, resulting in the devastating explosion there in 2020, killing 218 and injuring 7,000.
🇩🇪 Nov 2022 - Bochum, Germany - attempted arson plot tied to Iran. German court findings linked a failed attack plan against a synagogue (the attacker hit a nearby school instead) to instructions routed via a figure in Iran allegedly supported by an Iranian state institution; Germany formally protested to Iran after the ruling.
🇬🇷 2023 - Athens, Greece - alleged plot targeting a Jewish center. Reuters reporting describes an alleged plan to attack a Jewish center in Athens as part of a pattern of Iran/proxy plots using hired operatives and cutouts. Reuters
🇫🇷 2024 - Germany / France - reported Iran-backed surveillance and arson targeting Jewish/Israeli-linked sites. Reporting (incl. German outlet investigations summarized in English) describes Iranian-linked networks conducting surveillance of Jewish and Israeli targets in Germany and arson targeting Israeli-linked businesses.
🇱🇧🇸🇾 These are just the known, attributed attacks via Hezbollah, which has also occupied most of Lebanon with a force larger than Lebanon’s own military, and was ordered by Iran to participate in the slaughter of Syrian civilians before regime change there in 2025.
Full table below:
As this went to the printing press, Iran attacked even more nations that did nothing to it, including Cyprus. You’d think people would realize a rogue state attacking random nations needs to be taken out. https://www.instagram.com/p/DVWXTmWEie0/?igsh=MXd0cndkbmcyaHdlZw==
“Ask yourself, would detractors agree with Trump’s actions this weekend, were they Joe Biden's or Kamala Harris’?”
No, absolutely not. These are the same people who guaranteed Democrats lost the elections by attacking Biden and Harris for supporting Israel. They would 1000% be equally opposed if it were either of them doing this.
Of course, it wouldn’t be either of them doing this. I desperately wish Kamala Harris had been elected president because Donald Trump is a complete and total disaster for this country and its domestic politics. But it’s depressing to think how Khomeini would probably still be alive now if she had been, given her tone-deaf and nuance-free statement against the attacks on the Iranian regime. It’s tough to think about how your preferred candidate would have made the country you live in a much better place, but the rest of the world a much worse one.