Jun 20, 2025
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Between Principle and Survival: Why Israel Struck
by Magnus Toren
Arab and Persian Zionists are increasing and speaking out more and more, shown here a graffiti from Tehran. photo: brave Iranian ZionistPLEASE support our GoFundMe campaign to cover research expenses for our articles and rebuilding the cineSOURCE site.
NO NATION SHOULD RUSH TO WAR. A
preemptive strike—especially one that risks igniting a wider regional conflict—deserves serious scrutiny. Critics of Israel’s recent strike on Iran raise important concerns: the danger of escalation, the potential for civilian casualties, the violation of international norms, and the erosion of already fragile diplomatic channels.
These arguments are not without merit. War, even when undertaken with precision and restraint, has unpredictable consequences. Every bomb dropped has moral weight. Every act of force invites backlash and carries the seeds of unintended suffering.
And yet—for Israel—this is not a debate about geopolitics or legal theory. This is about survival.
The Iranian regime has not been coy about its intentions. It funds and arms proxy militias on Israel’s borders. It chants openly for the destruction of the Jewish state. It pursues nuclear capabilities while denying its aims with a wink and a smirk. And it does all this with the confidence that the world will hesitate long enough for it to succeed.
In such a reality, Israel faces an impossible choice: act and risk condemnation, or wait and risk annihilation.
No responsible government can wait idly while a sworn enemy encircles it with weapons and prepares for the day it can strike decisively. History has taught the Jewish people, in the most painful ways imaginable, what happens when threats are dismissed, when genocidal rhetoric is waved away as mere bluster.
Israel does not seek war. It does not relish confrontation. It does not operate from imperial ambition or religious zeal. It operates from necessity.
In an ideal world, peace would be negotiated in good faith, and international guarantees would offer real protection. But in this world—a world where Israel is still denied recognition by many of its neighbors, and where Holocaust denial walks hand-in-hand with nuclear ambition—there are moments when strength becomes the only path to peace.
This strike is not an act of vengeance. It is not a reckless flex of power. It is a desperate assertion of the most basic human right: to live.
Israel’s critics are right to urge caution, to warn of unintended consequences, to advocate for diplomacy. But those same critics must ask themselves—if not this, then what? And if not now, then when?
Because when survival is on the line, hesitation is not prudence. It is peril.
Magnus Toren is a world traveller, guitarist, bibliophile and director of the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, California, and can be reached Posted on Jun 13, 2025 - 11:47 AM
by Magnus Toren
Arab and Persian Zionists are increasing and speaking out more and more, shown here a graffiti from Tehran. photo: brave Iranian ZionistNO NATION SHOULD RUSH TO WAR. A
preemptive strike—especially one that risks igniting a wider regional conflict—deserves serious scrutiny. Critics of Israel’s recent strike on Iran raise important concerns: the danger of escalation, the potential for civilian casualties, the violation of international norms, and the erosion of already fragile diplomatic channels.
These arguments are not without merit. War, even when undertaken with precision and restraint, has unpredictable consequences. Every bomb dropped has moral weight. Every act of force invites backlash and carries the seeds of unintended suffering.
And yet—for Israel—this is not a debate about geopolitics or legal theory. This is about survival.
The Iranian regime has not been coy about its intentions. It funds and arms proxy militias on Israel’s borders. It chants openly for the destruction of the Jewish state. It pursues nuclear capabilities while denying its aims with a wink and a smirk. And it does all this with the confidence that the world will hesitate long enough for it to succeed.
In such a reality, Israel faces an impossible choice: act and risk condemnation, or wait and risk annihilation.
No responsible government can wait idly while a sworn enemy encircles it with weapons and prepares for the day it can strike decisively. History has taught the Jewish people, in the most painful ways imaginable, what happens when threats are dismissed, when genocidal rhetoric is waved away as mere bluster.
Israel does not seek war. It does not relish confrontation. It does not operate from imperial ambition or religious zeal. It operates from necessity.
In an ideal world, peace would be negotiated in good faith, and international guarantees would offer real protection. But in this world—a world where Israel is still denied recognition by many of its neighbors, and where Holocaust denial walks hand-in-hand with nuclear ambition—there are moments when strength becomes the only path to peace.
This strike is not an act of vengeance. It is not a reckless flex of power. It is a desperate assertion of the most basic human right: to live.
Israel’s critics are right to urge caution, to warn of unintended consequences, to advocate for diplomacy. But those same critics must ask themselves—if not this, then what? And if not now, then when?
Because when survival is on the line, hesitation is not prudence. It is peril.
Magnus Toren is a world traveller, guitarist, bibliophile and director of the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, California, and can be reached Posted on Jun 13, 2025 - 11:47 AM
