Twisting the lion’s tail

7/20/2025 09:47

Today, it is incumbent upon all of us Iranians - regardless of our language, ethnicity, religion, or sect - to unite and stand together against the immoral and aggressive Zionist enemy, and to manage this newly imposed war on our country as a national duty. Only this way, we can give the Israeli terrorists a crushing response so that they will never again “twist the lion’s tail.”

CGIE: When I was young, I was influenced by the bipolar world order of that era and the strong sway of leftist ideologies. Anti-colonial movements were also active across many parts of the world. In many Muslim countries, Islamic movements aimed at reviving Islam and resisting Western cultural and political influence were on the rise. As a result, like many others, I was distrustful of the Western world and its model of development.

Years passed before I came to realize that Western thought is not entirely false and has much to offer. As Iranians and Muslims, it is necessary that while we preserve our independence, we also engage with the Western world. Today, I have no doubt that hostility toward the West runs counter to Iran’s national interests. However, the fact that Israel—America's puppet of imperialism—now seeks to threaten and aggress against Iran is a different story altogether and must be met with firm retaliation. We Iranians have never had any fundamental conflict with Jews throughout our history and we hold them in respect.

But the current Israeli government, perhaps the most extremist and brazen in the history of that regime, after having committed the most heinous atrocities over the past 19 months and presented apocalyptic images of Gaza to the world, is now extending its bloodstained hand toward the land of Iran. These are a scattered people who have gathered from the four corners of the world under the fabricated ideal of Zionism, imagining that merely by relying on support from the U.S. government and European states—and ignoring the sentiments of Muslims regarding Palestine and, above all, Jerusalem—they can continue to rule over the occupied lands. They fail to realize that they are situated at the heart of the Islamic world and should have acted accordingly, taking heed from the fate of the Byzantine Empire, which, once it became gradually encircled by the Islamic world, eventually fell to the Muslims.

Now Israel—hardly comparable to the Byzantine Empire—has chosen the path of war with the Islamic world. Today, it is incumbent upon all of us Iranians, regardless of our internal disputes and issues—which must certainly be addressed in due time—to unite and stand together against this immoral and aggressive Zionist enemy, no matter our language, ethnicity, religion, or sect. Only then can we respond decisively to the Israeli terrorists and teach them a lesson, so they never again dare to twist the lion’s tail.

Kāẓim Mūsavī Bojnurdī