Arsen Ostrovsky 
Arsen Ostrovsky 
In the early hours of Friday morning, Thursday night in Canada, Israel launched a preemptive military strike deep inside Iranian territory — targeting nuclear infrastructure, military sites and senior officials.
First, let’s be clear: this was not an act of aggression by Israel, but a lawful act of self-defence and a last resort against the genocidal regime in Tehran, which has, for decades, vowed to destroy the world’s only Jewish state — and now stood on the cusp of doing so.
Under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, every nation has the inherent right to defend itself. Iran is the only UN member state that openly calls for the annihilation of another, Israel. This is not rhetorical flourish. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the Jewish state a “cancerous tumour” that” must be eradicated.” That genocidal intent has also been matched by action.
For years, Tehran has funded and armed a global terror network: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq and Syria. These are not mere “proxies,” they are tentacles of the same regime in Tehran that have also attacked American troops, disrupted global shipping and attacked western allies in the Mediterranean, South America and Europe.
Then came Oct. 7, 2023 — the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. This atrocity was carried out by Hamas, with Iranian money, training and weapons. Just as the Nazis sought to annihilate the Jewish people, the Islamic Republic of Iran has vowed, repeatedly, to annihilate the Jewish state.
Through it all, Israel showed remarkable restraint. It absorbed blow after blow, responding proportionately while Iran raced toward nuclear breakout. In the meantime, satellite imagery and intelligence confirmed that Tehran was enriching uranium to near-weapons grade, testing long-range missiles and constructing fortified underground facilities. This week, the International Atomic Energy Agency formally declared Iran in violation of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. The writing was on the wall, and Iran was racing toward the point of no return.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon. While his administration has rightly prioritized diplomacy to avert conflict, he also warned that military action would be inevitable if Iran did not agree to a deal. Immediately after the strike, the president reiterated that, “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them (if they don’t) it would be much worse than anything they know.… It will only get worse!”
Ultimately, Israel acted not out of choice, but out of necessity. Although the cost of action may be high, the price of inaction for the world’s only Jewish state would be existential.
But let’s be clear: this is not just Israel’s war. Iran’s goal has never been limited to wiping the Jewish state off the map. Its aim is to challenge and destabilize the entire western-led world order. It doesn’t just chant “Death to Israel” — it chants “Death to America,” too. It arms and directs terror groups that have attacked U.S. forces, targeted European interests and disrupted global energy and trade routes.
For years, Israel has taken the hits so others wouldn’t have to. It has fought Iran’s terror proxies on its borders, absorbed missile fire and exposed nuclear violations — all while the rest of the world looked the other way and lectured the pesky Jewish state.
Now, with Iran on the verge of the point of nuclear no return, equivocation is not an option. In moving to eliminate the Iranian threat, Israel was not acting alone, but in defence of the West. And it is doing what much of the world has lacked the will to do: confront a genocidal regime before it is too late.
Israel just did the West a favour. The least the West can do is say “thank you.”
Published in the National Post, on June 13, 2025