Like many geopolitically engaged Jews, I have been following commentary that has covered the uprising in Iran since the year’s start. I’ve read of the horrific IRGC backlash that saw tens of thousands of Iranian citizens slaughtered within days under cover of near total social media blackout. So, when news broke that the US and Israel had bombed Iran again to stymie its nuclear capabilities, like most sane people, I wished fervently that this would be Trump’s and Netanyahu’s big moment to change the geopolitical landscape for the better: to free the Iranian people from the yoke of theocratic oppression and rid the region of a bully authoritarian state.
In the first days of this fledgling war, I saw not one Iranian on X weeping over the American and Israeli attempt to disarm and destabilise the Islamic Regime. Then, newspaper headlines reported the Ayatollah’s death. X filled with the joyous spectacle of celebrating Iranian diaspora, dancing in the streets of the UK and across the West, arm-in-arm with Zionist Jews.
The drab British winter was illuminated by the colours of the pre-revolution Iranian flag and the flag of Israel, fluttering merrily together in the cold wind like migratory birds from warmer climes. The golden lion, the blue Magen David, a few Union Jacks thrown in for good measure were an antidote to more than two years of seeing the Palestinian flag and the Hamas red triangle everywhere. These Iranian and Jewish joint celebrations were a metaphor for hope: Much-wished-for unity, harmony in the Middle East and by extension, increased safety in the UK and the free West.
Given the disappointing response of many in the arts to the murderous pogrom of October 7, it did not surprise me that our glitterati – who had wept performatively on social media over unverified Hamas death statistics – remained completely silent about documented Iranian suffering and death.
Of course they’d keep shtum! No Jews, no news, right? And given their reverence for Hamas’ “resistance” efforts, they were hardly going to celebrate when Hamas’ paymaster was killed.
No, their little progressive minds must have almost exploded with cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, they knew the Ayatollah had ordered the murder of teenage girls simply for removing their hijabs, and had ordered gays to be hanged from cranes as a public spectacle. On the other hand, the Iranian theocratic regime had overthrown capitalism and had been led by a kindly-looking, old devout Muslim man with a nice beard. And G-d forbid a progressive should ever allow themselves to say anything that could be misconstrued as Islamophobic, because criticism of Muslim extremism has somehow become confused with racism. Everybody hates a racist, right (unless the racism is aimed at Jews)? And illiberal progressives do desperately wish to see the fall of the bad ol’ colonial West (as long as Waitrose still operates, perhaps as a collective, when Western democratic end-times come).
So, on social media, you will likely see little commentary from artsy folk about this war, excepting opprobrium heaped on Trump and Netanyahu for seemingly having no plan beyond dropping bombs and hoping for magical regime change. But who knows what plans our allies have laid? Who knows what preparations a Persian resistance might have been making all these long years to topple the Iranian Regime? Not me. I admit I haven’t a clue what our allies’ intelligence services might have in the pipeline because I’m a British novelist, not head of the Pentagon or Mossad. But my contemporaries seem to know better, even though they likely believe Zack Polanski really can hypnotise a lady’s bosom.
On the basis of their being “kind”, my contemporaries back Starmer’s reluctance to come to our allies’ aid. They forget that we have a military base in Cyprus to defend, yet our aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has been undergoing maintenance in Portsmouth, on “very high readiness” of ten days, which doesn’t sound very highly ready at all.
Artsy vitriol, initially behind the scenes, is slowly making its way to the public domain on Bluesky, though. Many claim Trump and Netanyahu are two warmongering and venal old men, using war to distract from being made to face the consequences of their own actions. Many are accusing Trump of using war to manipulate the midterm elections, to justify ICE crackdown and to sidestep impeachment.
A whole litany of conspiracy theories are being trotted out, when a very obvious motivation for going on the offensive exists: the US and Israel seek to stall the nuclear capabilities of Khamenei’s Iran, because those capabilities are an existential threat. Ali Khamenei brought disruption to the Middle East and beyond for his entire rule, as had the Ayatollah before him. He had funded Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, also supplying Shahed drones to Putin. He had persistently called for the destruction of the US and Israel, threatening the UK too. Senior Iranian clerics have now issued a fatwa calling on Muslims worldwide to avenge Khamenei’s death. The regime remains a Hydra with many heads.
Whatever their motives, there’s an argument that Trump and Netanyahu are exhibiting strong leadership in a febrile geopolitical climate that demands strength. They say they aim to make the world safer. Let’s hope they’re right.
Marnie Riches is an award-winning, best-selling author. Her latest historical novel as Maggie Campbell, A New Era for Holcombe Hall, tackles the risk of fascism in Europe, British appeasement and antisemitism in the early 1930s
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