Israel has shown the way – now it’s Iran’s turn.
For 46 long years – ever since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini hijacked a popular revolution and erected the Islamic Republic – the Iranian people have lived under a regime that feeds on fear.
In the past 48 hours that fear shifted sharply: first to the men in Tehran’s palaces, then to the missile crews who discovered what happens when Israel decides to act. Operation Rising Lion – the IDF’s audacious strike on Iran’s nuclear and military machine – has redrawn the strategic map of the Middle East, and it has given ordinary Iranians a once-in-a-generation opening.
Zionism never begged for survival, won’t start now
Zionism has never begged for survival and it will not start now. The question is whether the long-suffering citizens of Iran are ready to seize a parallel opportunity for their own freedom.
From the first pre-dawn explosions over Isfahan on Friday to the final intercept above the Galilee on Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces performed what IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir rightly called “an unprecedented achievement.”
More than 100 Israeli aircraft struck underground enrichment halls at Natanz, air force bases at Tabriz and Hamadan, and command hubs in Tehran itself. Simultaneously, Mossad agents sabotaged air-defense nodes and missile depots deep inside the Islamic Republic. Revolutionary Guard chief Hossein Salami, armed-forces chief Mohammad Bagheri, and a string of nuclear scientists were eliminated, according to Israeli assessments reported by The Jerusalem Post.
No less impressive was the speed with which Israel’s notoriously fractious politics coalesced. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz full briefings before the first jets took off.
Both men, who have sparred bitterly with the coalition on domestic matters, put out statements of unequivocal support. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Labor leader Merav Michaeli rarely find themselves in the same headline; on Friday they did, praising the professionalism of the IDF and praying for its success.
The Knesset, which only weeks ago was paralyzed by protests over domestic legislation, rose in unison to applaud the pilots. When the Home Front Command ordered citizens into shelters, they went – Left, Right, secular, haredi, Arab and Jewish alike.
That unity is a strategic asset. Israel’s greatest victories – 1948, 1967, Entebbe, the 1981 Osirak raid – were born of moments when the home front told its soldiers: “Go and we will back you.” Once again, we see the power of a society that argues ferociously on Thursday and fights shoulder-to-shoulder on Friday.
We turn now to Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, and Tabriz. The regime has invested your wealth in proxy militias from Gaza to Sana’a, in ballistic-missile factories and terror plots from Buenos Aires to Burgas. It promised glory and delivered isolation, inflation, poisoned rivers, and the world’s highest per-capita execution rate. In 2022, you chanted “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” – “Woman, Life, Freedom” – and the Revolutionary Guards answered with bullets. Now the guards have discovered that they, too, can bleed.
Rise up – seize this moment
Rise up. Seize this moment with both hands. Millions of Israelis spent Friday night in bomb shelters exchanging WhatsApp messages with friends inside Iran, offering prayers and solidarity. We are not at war with the Iranian people; we are at war with a clique that murders Syrians, Yemenis, Israelis – and Iranians – every day. Zionism teaches that dignity is never granted; it is taken. Today, after the most daring Israeli operation since Entebbe, that lesson should feel concrete.
The path will be hard – tyrannies rarely crumble overnight – but the IDF has exposed the regime’s raw nerve. Its air defenses failed; its missiles achieved little; its myths are shattered. Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei felt compelled to promise revenge “at a time of our choosing” – a formulation that almost always signals weakness.
Operation Rising Lion is not over; Netanyahu has vowed to continue “until the Iranian threat is removed.” Israeli analysts think further strikes on Fordow and Parchin are likely if Tehran rebuilds.
The hope we extend now is to the Iranian people: Do not be afraid. The 46 you have suffered is long enough. The axis of evil that linked Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Quds Force is much weaker today than it was on Thursday. Help yourselves and you will find partners across the region, from Riyadh to Rabat to – yes – Jerusalem.
“Am Yisrael Chai” – the Nation of Israel lives. May a free people of Iran soon be able to say the same about their own nation.
Jesus Christ is King
