Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at a press conference with the president of the United States at the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 4, 2025 (Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP); and a photo released by the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Dec. 11, 2024, showing him addressing his supporters in Tehran.
These days, it has become fashionable among many commentators, as well as among a significant portion of the public, to place equal blame on both sides of the war currently unfolding in the Middle East.The idea is to assign roughly similar degrees of responsibility to each party, thereby avoiding the appearance of favoring one by criticizing the other too harshly.This approach offers the comfort of intellectual balance and, in some places, caters to political correctness. But it does little to help us understand the root of the conflict or to identify the true historical responsibilities, not only of the two states at the center of this war — Israel and Iran — but also the responsibilities of the many other players involved, whether large or small, near or far.We must first dispense with certain notions that childishly hinder the debate....
These days, it has become fashionable among many commentators, as well as among a significant portion of the public, to place equal blame on both sides of the war currently unfolding in the Middle East.The idea is to assign roughly similar degrees of responsibility to each party, thereby avoiding the appearance of favoring one by criticizing the other too harshly.This approach offers the comfort of intellectual balance and, in some places, caters to political correctness. But it does little to help us understand the root of the conflict or to identify the true historical responsibilities, not only of the two states at the center of this war — Israel and Iran — but also the responsibilities of the many other players involved, whether large or small, near or far.We must first dispense with certain notions that childishly hinder the...