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This War Was Chosen

by Ram ben Ze'ev



This War Was Chosen
This War Was Chosen

As a Jew, an American, and a fervent supporter of Israel, I write this without apology: I shed no tears for Iran. The regime in Tehran has spent decades threatening Israel, funding terror, and building a regional network dedicated to Jewish bloodshed. If Iran were to launch an unprovoked attack on Israel, I would support the destruction of its military capacity without hesitation.


But that is not what this is.


What I object to, strongly and without reservation, is the attempt by Israel and the United States to dress this war up as something defensive, reluctant, or morally unavoidable. It was not. It was an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Iran, and no amount of retrospective anger, accumulated grievance, or historical resentment can transform it into anything else.

One does not get to scour the past for every sin, every threat, every act of hostility, and then use that stockpile of fury as a legal or moral justification for launching a war today. That is not self-defence. That is vengeance disguised as strategy.


After the ceasefire in Gaza, the region had entered a period of relative calm. Then, in June 2025, America attacked Iran. President Trump then declared that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been “totally obliterated”. If that statement was true, then the supposed urgency of this new war collapses under its own weight. If it was not true, then the public was misled. Either way, the narrative now being sold does not withstand scrutiny.


For the past 30 years, the United States and Israel have repeated the same warning: Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. We have been told, year after year, that the threat is imminent, that the clock is about to run out, that action must come now or never. Thirty years of the same apocalyptic language, and still the public is expected to receive every new claim with unquestioning obedience.


At the same time, we are told that negotiations were ongoing, that treaty discussions were underway, and that diplomacy was still in play. Yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House seven times in the past year, the last visit taking place immediately before the American and Israeli assault on Iran. The timing is impossible to ignore.


Now the result is plain. The region is burning. Ten nations are on fire, either directly or by consequence. Iran has struck countries tied to the United States and Israel politically, strategically, or militarily, including states hosting American bases. Predictably, the same governments that initiated the attack are now using social media to point the finger at Iran as though cause and effect have ceased to exist.


That is what makes the official outrage so grotesque.


When the Israeli Foreign Ministry posts about Iranian rocket attacks on Israel as though Iran alone bears responsibility for escalation, it insults the intelligence of the world. It is indeed tragic when civilians are killed or injured by rockets. That is always tragic. But it is morally bankrupt to begin a war, strike first, kill civilians in the opening assault, and then act shocked when the other side responds.


It is especially obscene when those initial strikes killed more than 175 people in Iran, including around 160 schoolgirls and children, most of whom were almost certainly innocent of any involvement in nuclear policy, military planning, or the ambitions of their government. Their blood, too, matters. Their lives, too, were real. Their deaths cannot simply be hidden beneath the language of pre-emption and security.


Another troubling aspect of the public narrative surrounding this war has been the attempt to cloak it in messianic language. In remarks last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel’s actions were somehow helping to prepare the conditions for the coming of the Mashiach. Such statements may excite political supporters, but they have little to do with Torah and even less to do with the actual conditions described by the prophets for redemption.


Anyone who has studied Torah knows that the coming of the Mashiach is not triggered by military campaigns or geopolitical confrontations with foreign nations. The prophets consistently teach that redemption is tied to the spiritual condition of the Jewish people themselves. The question has never been what the nations are doing; the question has always been what we are doing.


Throughout the words of the prophets and the teachings of the sages, the message is remarkably consistent. Redemption comes through תשובה (teshuvah — return to G-D), through justice, through humility, and through the restoration of righteousness among Israel. It comes when Jews return to Torah, strengthen אמונה (emunah — faith), and treat one another with unity and responsibility. The focus is inward, not outward.


For that reason, invoking the Mashiach to justify war against Iran, Amalek, or any other nation reflects a profound misunderstanding of the very concept being invoked. The arrival of the Mashiach does not depend on defeating foreign enemies. It depends on the spiritual conduct of the Jewish people themselves.


Throughout our history, whenever Jews have placed their faith in power, politics, and war, the results have rarely brought redemption. The prophets did not call the Jewish people to prepare for Mashiach by launching wars. They called us to repair our own conduct, to strengthen Torah, and to return to G-D.


If leaders truly wish to speak about preparing the world for the coming of the Mashiach, the message should not be about missiles, armies, or foreign enemies. It should be about teshuvah, unity among Jews, and renewed faithfulness to Torah. That is the path the prophets describe, and it has nothing to do with war against Iran.


I support Israel. I always will. But support for Israel does not require me to abandon truth, morality, or reason. It does not require me to pretend that every war Israel fights is just because Israel fights it. Nor does it require me to accept American participation in wars that are sold to the public through fear, repetition, and selective outrage.


Iran is a dangerous regime. That is true. But truth does not become stronger when mixed with propaganda. And war does not become righteous simply because the right people are frightened of the wrong enemy.


If Israel and the United States wanted this war, they should at least have the honesty to admit that they chose it. And when Iran strikes back, they should not pretend to be victims of a war they themselves initiated.



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