Israel's Iran slam tells ALL dictators: the Free World will defend itself

New York Post

13-06-2025

Israel just did what no one else dared to do: We hit Iran before Iran could hit us — or you.
In a massive overnight operation, we struck nuclear facilities, missile launchers and the command centers of a regime that has called — openly and repeatedly — for the annihilation of the Jewish state and America.
We weren't retaliating. We were preventing.
And this wasn't 'escalation.' This was survival.
Because when your enemies march in the streets shouting 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America,' and you know they're just weeks away from building a nuclear weapon — you don't wait.
You don't hope for a miracle.
You act.
We know full well that Iran will respond. We're not naïve.
We're bracing for what may come — rockets, missiles, cyberattacks or worse.
But we also know this: The cost of doing nothing would have been far greater.
A nuclear Iran would not just threaten Israel — it would hold the world hostage.
From Tel Aviv to New York, Riyadh to London, Tehran would control the rules of the game.
That's not speculation. That's reality.
And yet for years, the West looked the other way.
Negotiated. Appeased. Waited.
All while Iran funded Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in the south, the Houthis in Yemen, and chaos across the globe.
And then came Oct. 7th, 2023.
That day — when Hamas terrorists backed by Iran murdered, raped, and burned entire families alive — was a turning point not just for Israel, but for Jews everywhere.
It was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
And it reminded us — and should have reminded the world — that evil doesn't go away on its own.
It must be confronted, proactively and relentlessly.
Israel learned that lesson the hard way. And this week, we acted on it.
And for those who ask if we had the 'right' to strike Iran, ask yourself — what would your country do if its enemies publicly promised to wipe you off the map and were building the means to do it?
Would you wait for them to push the button — or stop them before they could?
We didn't act out of arrogance. We acted out of responsibility.
Not just to our citizens, but to the entire free world.
Because when Israel draws a red line and enforces it, the message is heard far beyond our borders.
To every dictator watching — we're proving that the free world can still defend itself.
And to every terrorist hiding in Gaza or Lebanon — we're showing that Jewish blood is not cheap. Not anymore.
We are not what we were in 1943. We are not stateless. We are not silent.
We are a sovereign nation — and sovereign nations don't wait politely to be destroyed.
No one wants escalation. But surrender isn't peace. Appeasement isn't a strategy.
Prevention is.
We might pay a price for this moment — we know that.
But we also know what the price of inaction would have been: A nuclear-armed Iran and a region ruled by fear.
We chose to act. We chose to lead.
And history will remember who stood tall when it mattered.
Dan Illouz is a member of Israel's Knesset for the Likud Party.