Disclaimer: I'm using talk-to-text and letting ChatGPT write it up for me. So before any of you sleuths point out that the language sounds a bit robotic — yes, it does. I just can’t be bothered typing all this by hand. But the argument is mine, and I stand behind every word.
Anyone who compares Israel to Iran is either evil, deranged, or possibly both.
Let me go all the way to the other side and argue from the most extreme anti-Israel position — just for the sake of showing how absurd the comparison is. Let's say Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, wiping out civilians wholesale. Let's say the walk through Gaza isn’t justified. FTR I don’t agree, but let’s grant it for argument's sake.
Even then, what is Israel, fundamentally?
It’s the big strong kid in school who doesn’t go looking for a fight. He sits quietly. But if you punch him in the face, he absolutely decks you. Maybe it’s disproportionate. Maybe it’s even excessive. But there’s a very easy way to avoid that happening — don’t punch him in the first place.
Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005. It left Gaza to be. And since then, Gaza has fired hundreds of thousands of missiles into Israel. Each missile has the potential to kill civilians. Each one is a war crime on its own. Occasionally, Israel strikes back. Even if you believe every bombing campaign Israel has launched in the last 20 years was illegal — they were always in response. Never the first move.
The easiest way not to get bombed by Israel is incredibly simple: don’t attack Israel.
Then October 7 happened. A wholesale massacre. Civilians butchered, raped, burnt alive. And yes, Israel went into a rage and it laid waste to Gaza. Even if you want to call that a war crime too, it was in direct response to something monstrous.
That is not remotely the same as Iran.
Forget the theology and the death cult rhetoric for a second. Just look at behaviour. Iran, unprovoked, arms terrorist groups to attack Israel. It openly funds, trains, and supports these proxies — not as a rumour, not covertly, but publicly. Groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis don’t just attack Israel — they attack anyone, anywhere, with zero distinction. Houthis have targeted ships and civilians with no connection to any conflict. Hezbollah has spilled Arab and Muslim blood across the region, including in Syria.
And while Israel has never once said it wants to wipe a neighbouring country off the map, Iran has made that exact threat toward Israel countless times. Israel is hundreds of miles away from Iran — no border, no real interaction — and yet Iran still obsesses over destroying it.
Israel is not an inherent threat to anyone. If you leave it alone, it will leave you alone. That’s been true since 1948. Iran, on the other hand, is an inherent threat. It sponsors terrorism, destabilises the region, and if it ever gets a nuclear weapon, it’s a danger to the entire world.
You can say what you want about Israel, but there is zero risk that it would ever use nuclear weapons unprovoked. Even provoked, the chances are nearly zero. Same goes for the UK, US, and any other Western nuclear power. Iran? With nukes? There is every chance it would use them — if not directly, then by handing dirty bombs to its proxies.
So when people compare the two, I honestly don’t know what to say. It’s either evil, deranged, or both.