By Husam Dughman
Once some countries started developing weapons of mass destruction following the end of World War II, wise heads counselled restraint and warned against the possibility of a nuclear holocaust that would engulf the entire planet. The preservation of mankind became feasible as a result of a strong belief in the vital importance of mutual deterrence based on the fear of mutual annihilation. At the core of this lay the vigorous desire to survive, be safe, and thrive in this earthly life. It has so far worked like a charm. Not for much longer, one suspects.
Since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been testing the patience of many a nation through its extensive promotion of violence, oppression, religious fanaticism, and warmongering. The world has been dealing with much of that as well as it could manage, though not always that successfully. More recently, the Iranian regime has been getting very close to the development of nuclear weapons. This, combined with Iran’s massive attacks on Israel in April and October of 2024, conveys a “willing, ready, and able” mindset that would not flinch at the possibility of launching missiles with nuclear warheads at Israel, if available. This danger is ominously looming. Numerous people, especially in Western countries, have been dismissive of that scenario. They maintain that Iran is bluffing; that it is making threats to wrest some political and economic concessions for itself in the face of its own public’s discontent and a crumbling economy; that its posturing is for its own public’s consumption and for that of its proxies; that members of the Iranian regime would actually want to continue living on this planet, like everybody else, and would not risk the obliteration of their country by Israel; and that all of what Iran has been doing is no more than mere showmanship. Not everybody agrees, however. To understand why, one has to examine the ideology behind the Iranian regime’s mindset: Islamism.
Members of the Iranian regime adhere to a totalitarian ideology that derives its legitimacy from the principle of infallibility which is embodied in the existence of one supreme, divine entity: God. In their minds, theirs is the only true religion, and they see themselves as the guardians of that religion. They believe that they belong to the nation- and indeed to the sect- most favoured by God while generally dehumanizing non-Muslims by deeming them infidels who are loathed by the Almighty. For them, heaven is not a place on earth; it is a place in the world to come. They derive this belief from many verses in the Quran, especially the one that states, “Verily, (this) earthly life is nothing but a game and a diversion; surely, the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who show piety. Do you not understand?” (Al-An’am 32). In other words, given the very powerful belief that the Islamic Republic of Iran has in the words of the Quran, its literal interpretation of Quranic verses, and its unrelenting promotion of jihadism, martyrdom, and suicide attacks, it is more likely than not that Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel once it managed to develop them.
During the Cold War era, both the Soviet Union and the United States of America wanted to live. Both wanted to make heaven a place on earth, albeit from different perspectives. That is mainly why they never went to war with one another; it would have brought about a lose-lose outcome. In fact, one dares say that had the Nazi regime in Germany continued and developed nuclear weapons of its own, it, too, might not have used them knowing that other countries also had them. One says this because the Nazis, too, wanted to make heaven a place on earth, from their own perspective. For the Nazis, too, a nuclear war would have led to a lose-lose outcome. Not for genocidal Islamism as personified in the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies. For those, a lose-lose outcome in this paltry, trivial earthly existence would not mean much. The real victory for them will most certainly take place in the hereafter where Muslims will go to heaven and infidels will go to hell. Consequently, those genocidal Islamists would have no qualms about launching a nuclear war if it was within their capability to do so. In his 2001 Al-Quds Day sermon at Tehran University, the president of Iran at that time - Ali Akbar Hashimi Rafsanjani- said that a nuclear war with Israel would leave nothing on the ground (in Israel) but would merely damage the Muslim nation. If that is the view of a “moderate” Iranian president, what views might the Iranian hardliners hold on this matter?
Israel has consistently argued that it is fighting genocidal Islamism not only for itself, but also for the Western world. This has so far mostly fallen on deaf ears. Many Western people do not seem to be aware of the Middle Eastern saying, “After Saturday comes Sunday,” namely that after doing away with the Jews, the Muslims will come after the Christians. Although it appears that this saying originated among the Maronite Christians of Lebanon many years ago, it seems that it has been appropriated by numerous Islamists who have been using it regularly without batting an eyelid. This saying has certainly been applied on a large scale to religious minorities who have been ethnically cleansed in the Middle East and North Africa. That first happened to the Jews and- in the last two or three decades- it has also been happening to the Christians in that region. Likewise, a nuclear-armed Iran would in all likelihood have the intention of attacking the Great Satan (the US) after finishing off the Little Satan (Israel). Even the Nazis were not that extreme. Throughout the 1930s, Hitler and his regime wanted the Jews out of Germany. Many emigrated, but many others could not. The door was not open for Jews to most countries back then, and the Great Depression made it harder for countries- including the US- to accept a high number of Jewish immigrants. The Holocaust happened during World War II after Hitler was unable to find an alternative way of getting rid of the Jews. That is why one is tempted to think that had the Jewish state existed during the time of Hitler, he would probably have been satisfied with all of the German and other European Jews moving to that country, and it does not seem that he would have attacked Israel militarily as long as the Jews stayed away from him and as long as a country (Israel) was willing to welcome and take all of them. However, this is not the case with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a political regime that is most intent on annihilating the Jews living in their own Jewish state.
Israel’s golden opportunity is now. In the past, Israel did not have a convincing enough excuse to inflict a knockout blow to Iran’s nuclear capabilities. However, following this year’s two massive attacks by Iran on Israel using hundreds of suicide drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles, Israel now has both the legitimate justification and the right set of circumstances to demolish Iran’s nuclear program. The Israeli resourceful mongoose must do away with the venomous Iranian cobra.
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Husam Dughman is a Libyan Canadian political scientist, religious thinker, linguist, and an expert on immigrants and refugees. He received his formal education in Libya and the UK. Mr. Dughman later worked as a university professor of political science in Libya. Due to confrontations with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position and subsequently worked in legal translation. Mr. Dughman has been working with new immigrant and refugee services in both Canada and the US since 2006.
Husam Dughman has published a book entitled Tête-à-tête with Muhammad. He has also written numerous articles on politics and religion. He has just completed the full manuscript of a book which he hopes to have published in the near future. The new book is an in-depth examination of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the non-religious school of thought.