Israel Commits Genocide, Bombs Iran, Demands Sympathy

After months of committing atrocities in Gaza, Israel’s June 13 strike on Iran has backfired—drawing devastating retaliation and exposing Western double standards.

A young Palestinian boy stands amid the ruins in Gaza following extensive Israeli bombardments (left). (Right) Iran's retaliatory missile strikes target Israeli military sites after Israel's preemptive attack on June 13, 2025.

Israel’s June 13, 2025, pre-emptive attack on Iran in what it claimed was a move to “neutralise threats” from the Islamic Republic, was too much of the world, another blatant act of aggression by a state already embroiled in a near two-year campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Iran’s devastating retaliatory barrage days later—deliberate, targeted, and unprecedented in scope—wasn’t only predictable, but justified under international law. Yet Israel and its Western backers have since gone into overdrive, demanding global sympathy and military support, as though June 13 had not occurred at all.

The June 13, episode marks a turning point. For decades, Israel has acted with total impunity across the Middle East, destabilising Lebanon, bombing Syria, assassinating Iranian scientists, and waging a campaign of occupation and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. But in targeting Iran directly and unprovoked, Israel has triggered a new reality -its regional hegemony is now under threat.

Israel, unprovoked attack close to w a week ago—reportedly hitting targets deep inside Iranian infrastructure—were not defensive. They were a calculated provocation, conducted in defiance of international law and diplomatic norms. Iran’s military response, launched just days later, hit strategic Israeli installations, disrupting radar systems, damaging runways, nuclear power plants and oil fields - demonstrating an alarming new reality for Tel Aviv - the Islamic Republic is no longer a passive target—it can strike back with devastating force and pinpoint lethality.

Iran’s retaliation wasn’t an act of escalation, but one of deterrence. And for once, Israel’s long-standing tactic of casting itself as the eternal victim on the world stage has failed to resonate.

The hypocrisy could not be starker. For twenty consecutive months, Israel has bombarded Gaza, killing over 250,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children. It has reduced entire cities to rubble, blockaded humanitarian aid, targeted and destroyed hospitals and journalists, and conducted what multiple human rights organisations have called a genocide. All with the backing—or silence—of the US and its Western allies.

But when Iran responds to a direct violation of its sovereignty, it’s branded as the aggressor. Western headlines scream of an “unprovoked Iranian attack,” completely erasing the June 13 trigger. The selective memory and moral contortions are as revealing as they’re dangerous.

Media outlets have played a significant role in shaping this narrative imbalance. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC, The Australian, Sky News and others have flooded airwaves and column inches with concern for Israel’s safety, while failing to acknowledge Iran’s legal right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Iran is demonised for retaliating after Israel’s attack. Meanwhile, Israel is given a two-decade blank cheque to bomb, assassinate, occupy, and blockade—with no repercussions and uncritical coverage from the very media institutions that claim to uphold journalistic integrity.

Most damning is the silence around Iran’s right to defend itself. This omission is not accidental. It’s a deliberate editorial choice designed to perpetuate the narrative of Israel as the sole victim and Iran as the irrational villain.

It is Iran—along with Syria, Lebanon, and the Arab world—that has endured Israeli aggression for decades. Iran’s posture hasn’t been one of unchecked expansionism, but of regional resistance—against the very same military machine that has reduced Gaza to a graveyard.

Israel’s mistake on June 13 was in assuming its conventional military superiority would deter any meaningful response. But Tehran’s retaliation proved otherwise. And for the first time in its modern history, Israel is being forced to reckon with consequences.

The blowback isn’t limited to missile damage or disrupted air traffic. It’s strategic and symbolic. It signals to the region—and the world—Israel’s actions will no longer go unchallenged. It signals the regional bully is being brought to heel.

It's not just a military shift, but a geopolitical one. Much of the Global South, and increasingly parts of Europe, are now openly questioning the double standards governing Western foreign policy. Why is Israel allowed to strike at will across sovereign borders? Why is Iran denied the same rights of self-preservation and retaliation Israel invokes with every air raid on Gaza?

Following June 13, proceeding events have peeled back the remaining veneer of Israel’s moral legitimacy. It can’t bomb Tehran and then weep when the response comes. It can’t flatten Rafah and then clutch pearls when Iran answers with force.

The moral outrage seems to only flow in one direction. Western leaders have rushed to condemn Iran while remaining conspicuously quiet on the illegality and recklessness of Israel’s initial strike. It’s a familiar script - justify Israel’s aggression, ignore its victims, vilify its enemies, and demand global solidarity when the tables turn.

However, the script is fraying. Protests have erupted in London, New York, Kuala Lumpur, and Johannesburg—not just against the war in Gaza, but against the wider system of impunity that enables it. Israel’s actions are now seen not as isolated “defensive measures” but of a long-standing ambition to maintain unchallenged dominance in the Middle East—at any cost.

Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran will be remembered not as a show of strength, but as a fatal miscalculation. For the first time in decades, Israel is facing real resistance—from an adversary with both the capability and resolve to fight back.

The West must now decide whether to continue backing a regime responsible for genocide and regional destabilisation, or finally uphold the principles of sovereignty, self-defence, and international law—no matter who invokes them.

Until Israel is held to account, the region will remain locked in a cycle of violence—one that Israel itself set fire.