My circle of friends and colleagues, it turns out, is rather unique.
In my innermost circle, the talk is about Israel’s 12-day historic attack on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure. It’s about heaping praise on Israel’s actions and pride in the United States’ bunker-buster bombs and the precision and prowess of US airstrikes.
But then again, I do live in a unique circle.
What is so very obvious to us, is not at all obvious to so very many others. Most perturbing is that it is in no way obvious – or acceptable – to leaders from around the world.
To date, fewer than a handful of world leaders have publicly supported Israel and the United States on their strikes on Iran’s nukes. Argentinian President Javier Milei is an outstanding exception to that group. Speaking shortly after returning from a trip to Israel, he clearly conveyed his point and wrote that the strikes were “a great day for Western civilization.”
Those six words signaled the Argentinian president’s ideological support for the actions of Israel, the Jewish state. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala similarly applauded the extraordinary feat accomplished by the United States and Israel. He termed it “an effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.” Then, without caveats and in clear terms, he said that he “supported Israel’s efforts.”
In the US Congress, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) raised his typically profound and lonely Democrat voice in support of Israel’s strikes and the US strikes. And then he asked that Israel and the US continue with the mission and said, “keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel.”
The support expressed by these leaders, these visionaries, stands in stark contrast to the widespread international condemnation being heaped on Israel and the United States of America.
Those who support the attacks against Iran by the United States and Israel understand that the history-making bombings were preemptive strikes. They were carried out in order to prevent future Iranian threats against Israel, against the region and against the world. They know, as should everyone else, that preemptive strikes are both legal in international law and are just or ethical in the philosophy of war.
Preemptive strikes are considered self-defense. In other words, in the laws of war and the ethics of war, a country need not be attacked first in order to defend itself.
Those who argue that Israel and the United States violated international law, simply – and sadly – do not know or understand international law. Or perhaps they just choose to ignore what they should know to be true. And that group includes the 20 foreign ministers who composed a joint statement condemning the strikes as a violation of Iran’s sovereignty.
Of all people, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should know better. Yet it was he who expressed: “grave alarm over the escalation…” It was Guterres who called the actions “a direct threat to international peace and security.”
Guterres, who after all that had transpired, the years of failed efforts, of fruitless conversation, of Iran’s flaunting of international directives, returned to his same old mantra and said, “There is no military solution; only diplomacy and peace.”
In response to the near impossible feat accomplished by Israel and the United States, I prayed that at least a respectable cross section, if not most, of the world would not just support Israel, but would actually thank them for making their futures brighter and safer by risking the lives of their military and bombing Iran’s nuclear centers for the good of all.
Turning to AI for support and gratitude
When I realized that their support would not be forthcoming, using what I thought would be their natural intelligence, I called upon artificial intelligence. AI responded that it would be a tall task to receive thanks, and that most countries have already condemned the mission. AI confirmed what I sadly know: that thanks or gratitude for destroying the threat to us all was a pipe dream. It was a far cry from reality.
The words “thank you” are not expressed as often as they should be; not by individual people, and not by the countries in which they live.
Israel – and Israelis, thanked the United States and thanked President Donald Trump. Of course they did.
Giving thanks is part of Jewish culture and Jewish prayer. As far back as the time of ritual sacrifices in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, a special sacrifice was offered. That sacrifice was known as the thankful or thanksgiving offering, the Korban Todah.
It is also part of their name. In Hebrew, Jews are called Yehudim after Yehuda, the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob. His mother Leah gave him that name because she said “this time I will thank (odeh) God” for giving her more than three sons.
American pilgrims knew about giving thanks. The holiday of Thanksgiving is exactly that. It is about assessing a situation and saying thank you.
The English word “thanks” derives from the Latin word for think or, even better, for remember. I remember and I am grateful for what you did. The Spanish word “gracias” comes from the Latin word for grateful. “Merci” in French is from the Old French, “mercit” which means kindness or grace. It is from there that our English word “mercy” was derived.
The majority of the world does not have the moral clarity to understand the lengths that Iran is willing to go to in order to destroy its enemies. They do not realize that they are – that we are, Iran’s enemies. The world interprets these strikes in Iran as illegal and acts of aggression.
Most of the world is not just ungrateful – they are simply wrong.
The writer is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Watch his TV show Thinking Out Loud on the Jewish Broadcasting Service.