In the altars of political debate, the Far Left has lately donned the mantle of moral superiority—until the lights go down on diplomacy and Iran’s rampant enrichment machine lights up instead. Imagine a regime that has quietly amassed uranium at near-weapons grade, buried these sites under mountains, and accelerated toward a bomb. Then picture two nations, Israel and the United States, quietly yet determinedly deciding: “Enough. We’ll dismantle it before it slips beyond reach.”

Over the past week, Israeli jets have relentlessly targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure, and as of last night, the United States joined the operation. Armed with B-2 bombers, bunker-busters, and Tomahawk missiles, the U.S. struck key facilities, including Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow—even those deep within the rock—effectively crippling any near-term weapons programme.

American officials insist this was tactical, not political—no regime removal, just the neutralisation of a nuclear threat.

Let's add a sprinkle of context. Natanz and Fordow were not quaint civilian reactors—they were deeply fortified hubs of highly enriched uranium, perilously close to the 90% threshold needed for a bomb. Diplomatic entries into this labyrinth failed when Iran dodged inspections and expanded its sites underground and off the radar. The UN watchdog repeatedly raised alarms. The years of “talks, treaties, patience” delivered nothing but more enrichment and mounting distrust.

And yet, our dear critics—deeply invested in the sanctity of the diplomatic table—recoil in horror at any overt military act. A perfect intellectual performance: mobilise indignation about “aggression”, “illegality”, while happily smoothing over Iran’s refusal to negotiate, its contempt for sanctions, its abduction of pro-democracy exiles, and its skull-crushing brutality at home. It’s as if they hope the regime will read them a bedtime story and quietly disarm in its sleep.

What’s more, when Iranian exiles—those Iranians actually yearning for freedom—demand regime change, they hear...oil-slick silence. This is a people denied a voice by a tyrannical state, and yet the Left treats them as if they were the problem.

Because apparently your hatred of Zionism should drown out the aspirations of actual Iranians.

Now, let us not descend into naive triumphalism. The strikes triggered over 80 Iranian missile launches, injured dozens, and killed hundreds on both sides. UN Secretary-General Guterres warned of escalation, as did several world leaders. Indeed, swift strikes carry risks—but so does allowing a homicidal regime to develop nuclear deterrence.

Still, let’s be clear: what we witnessed was not casual adventurism—it was the intervention of two democracies faced with a ticking nuclear time-bomb. They chose strategic disruption over procrastination. Intelligence had confirmed widespread Iranian stockpiles—many times greater and more dangerous than publicly admitted. Waiting for the next diplomatic failure? That seemed like betting democracy’s future on hope.

And so we return to the exquisite irony: The Far Left, supposedly the defenders of human rights and international justice, finds itself contorted in defense of a regime that hangs gays, jails journalists, and bankrolls terror proxies from Yemen to Lebanon. Why?

Because it helps them cling to a comforting fantasy that every conflict has a diplomatic exit, and every tyrant just needs the right incentive.

So here’s the bitter pill: moral purity is lovely in pamphlets or protest signs, but when someone is illegally dabbling with doomsday devices, virtue needs a backbone—not a pacifist placard. Antizionists moralistic wail against “illegal strikes” is meaningless if it doesn’t account for the dangers of inaction—and the yearning of real Iranians to topple a murderous theocracy that harbours no illusions about its hatred of democracies.

Thus, if we must choose, we’ll side—grimly, reluctantly—but resolutely—with preëmption over annihilation. It may not be pretty. But it might just keep civilisation from imploding under the nuclear ambitions of clerical despots.

Catherine Perez-Shakdam is the Executive Director of We Believe in Israel