Resistance Is Terror, But Genocide Is Self-Defence: The West’s Moral Collapse

Iran is vilified for what Israel does daily, and the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore

The West’s selective outrage machine is once again in full swing. Following Iran’s devastating retaliatory strike on Israeli military and strategic sites — in response to Israel’s illegal June 13 attack on Iranian territory — Western leaders and media have erupted in condemnation. But not of the original provocation. Rather, they are condemning Iran’s right to defend its sovereignty.

The hypocrisy is disturbingly nauseating.

For 20 months, Israel has rained bombs on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and now Iran, justifying each act as "self-defence" while civilians, hospitals, schools, and entire cities lie in ruins. More than 250,000 Gazans have been killed since October 7, 2023 — a genocide unfolding in real time — and yet, there’s been no comparable international outrage, no moral reckoning, no sanctions or global mobilisation to halt the slaughter. Western governments, particularly the US and UK, haven’t only defended Israel’s actions — they’ve enabled them militarily, diplomatically, and through blanket media narratives that vilify any resistance as terrorism.

Yet when Iran, a sovereign nation with a rich history, culture, and a population exceeding 88 million, responds with precision strikes targeting military installations — missile sites, Mossad headquarters, nuclear facilities embedded within civilian areas — it is suddenly framed as the aggressor. Iran has taken great care to avoid civilian casualties, but in any war, mistakes tragically occur. Yesterday’s accidental bombing of a hospital that killed 40 civilians in Israel was one such incident. The Western media's wall-to-wall coverage of the tragedy has been deafening.

But where was this humanity when Israel bombed over 200 hospitals and medical centres in Gaza and southern Lebanon? Where were the tears when Israeli airstrikes levelled entire residential blocks in Rafah, killing hundreds of children buried beneath the rubble?

The answer is simple: Western grief is political. It is conditional. It is racialised.

When Palestinians are incinerated by Israeli bombs, the dominant narrative focuses on Hamas, tunnel networks, or the supposed lack of “civilised” governance. When Iranians are targeted and assassinated, the story pivots to nuclear fears and “regional destabilisation.” But when Israel — a nuclear power, armed to the teeth and backed by the globe’s most powerful military alliance — finally receives a fraction of what it has long dished out, the world is expected to be shocked. We’re asked to mourn not for the victims of Israeli colonial violence, but for the aggressor who started this cycle of destruction.

Iran’s retaliatory strike was a direct response to an unprovoked act of war. On June 13, Israeli missiles struck Iranian military sites near Isfahan — a violation of international law. Tehran had every right to respond. What followed wasn’t an irrational escalation, but a calculated demonstration of power — a message that Iran will no longer tolerate Israel’s unchecked aggression.

And therein lies the real threat — not to global peace, but to Israel’s regional hegemony.

For decades, Israel has relied on overwhelming military dominance and Western protection to act with impunity. From its occupation of Palestinian land to repeated bombings of Syrian and Lebanese territory, to cyberattacks and assassinations inside Iran, Israel has viewed itself as untouchable. But Iran’s retaliation proved otherwise.

It proved the axis of global power is shifting.

It exposed the limits of US military deterrence — once feared, now diminished by overreach, failed wars, and internal decay. It showed that Israel, despite its hi-tech army and US aid, is insipidly incapable and weak. And it reminded the world that Iran is not Iraq, not Gaza, not a stateless people — but a nation with resources, unity, and the resolve to confront Zionist aggression head-on.

Which is precisely why the West is panicking.

Iran’s defiance punctures the myth of Israeli invincibility and, by extension, the myth of Western superiority. It disrupts the narrative that resistance to colonialism and occupation must be passive or futile. It shows that power can be challenged — and that those who bomb with impunity can also bleed.

While Western media wring their hands over “escalation,” they refuse to address the root cause: Israel’s unrelenting drive for regional dominance. For years, Israel has conducted strikes in Syria, assassinated Iranian scientists, bombed airports in Iraq and Lebanon, and now launched a direct attack on Iran itself. This has nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program — it’s about eliminating any competitor to Israel’s supremacy in the region.

As long as Iran exists as a sovereign, independent, and militarily capable state, Israel’s dream of unchallenged control — from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, and across much of the Middle East — remains a fantasy.

So Tehran must be demonised, sanctioned, and, if necessary, attacked. And when it retaliates, it must be painted as the villain — regardless of the facts.

But the world no longer buys the West’s lies.

From the Global South to parts of Europe, the narrative is fracturing. Mass protests in Western capitals show people are seeing through the propaganda. The days of moral monopoly by Washington, London, and Tel Aviv are ending. The post-colonial world is rising — demanding justice, multipolarity, and accountability.

Iran’s strike might not end Israel’s ambition for regional hegemony overnight. But it has delivered a dire warning: the age of impunity is over. And if the West cannot recognise the legitimacy of resistance, then it isn’t just complicit in war crimes — it is complicit in the collapse of the very international order it claims to uphold.