The numbers of Iranian citizens who have been killed by the regime is horrifying. As communication coming out of Iran is erratic, it is impossible to confirm the statistics; from different sources I’m seeing somewhere between 6,000 and 20,000. Horrifying indeed.
And yet, the question of whether Trump is going to act on this, as he pledged to do, still hangs over us.
What I had in mind when last I wrote was the possibility that Trump might be playing coy because he is opting for a surprise attack. That is how he played it when attacking Iran some six months ago.
~~~~~~~~~~
But there is an issue here that requires clarification: Iran has offered to do negotiations on their nuclear development. The regime is attempting to forestall a major US attack on their missile cache and nuclear development facilities. Obviously they have chosen the present time in order to soften Trump’s attitude towards them. But it would seem that such negotiations do not actually address the issue of how the regime responds to the current uprising of its citizens.
I would suggest that we are looking at apples and oranges. Trump might be willing to negotiate the nuclear development issue – since he prefers diplomacy (which I consider a major mistake in this instance) – but still take strong action against Iran to force them to halt the killing of innocents in the streets.
A close reading of statements that have been made suggests that there is solid reason to see this as a possibility. For example, Trump said:
“The meeting [between the US and Iran] is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Commentator Ben-Dror Yemini has written a thought-provoking piece about the fact that the free world has been largely silent with regard to the treatment of demonstrators by the Iranian regime.
“Protesters in Tehran are facing the brutality of the ruthless regime, but human rights advocates around the world have not taken to the streets; the UN has also disappeared; now, the Iranians understand what Israelis learned two years ago: there is no free world.” (Emphasis in the original)
Observes Yemini:
“There’s nothing new in the fact that the global left supports tyranny—from Iran to Hamas, from Hezbollah to Nicolás Maduro—and turns its back on those fighting tyranny, from protesters in Iran to those resisting Hamas. The problem is that this red-green coalition—of progressives and jihadists—is reaching new heights of cognitive manipulation.” (Emphasis added)
https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/bksk7oxrwx
~~~~~~~~~~
Other commentators have observed the same regarding prominent figures in the American entertainment industry. They have tilted heavily progressive/left and have often not been adverse to accusing Israel of “genocide.”
~~~~~~~~~~
There is no end to the issues that call for our attention. I address here an important one – the false narrative of “settler violence,” which does us much harm internationally.
I want to share a blog in Times of Israel by Guy Samuel, “Settler Violence: Perception vs Reality”.
Some of Samuel’s major points (emphasis added):
“Almost every international claim about ‘settler violence’ relies on the same narrow chain of reporting. Initial reports of alleged incidents usually come from Palestinian authorities, such as local municipal bodies and Palestinian District Coordination Offices, as well as from human rights organisations, including far-left Israeli NGOs. These NGOs collect testimonies and complaints from the field, but their role is to document allegations, not to investigate crimes or determine responsibility.
“Reports from these sources are then passed on to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), which records them in a central database. Once entered there, the incidents are presented internationally as UN data and are widely cited by media outlets, foreign ministries, and international organisations.
“At that point, a key question is rarely asked: how was the ‘settler violence’ claim defined, and what kind of incident was actually included under that label?
“…In June 2025, Regavim examined UN OCHA’s incident database in detail, reviewing what is actually recorded under the heading of ‘settler-related violence.’
“One of its central findings was that the vast majority of cases attributed to settlers were not caused by settlers at all. In more than 98% of cases where Palestinians were recorded as harmed under the label ‘settler violence,’ the harm resulted from clashes with Israeli security forces, not attacks by civilian settlers.
“Remarkably, the review found that Palestinians injured or killed while carrying out terror attacks were included in the ‘settler violence’ figures.
“Beyond security-related incidents, the database captures a wide range of events that involve no violence whatsoever. Logged entries include routine civilian activity such as visits to the Temple Mount by Israeli civilians, legal construction work, and other non-confrontational presence in contested areas.
“It further records traffic accidents involving Israeli and Palestinian vehicles, and school trips that passed through disputed areas in Judea and Samaria. In these cases, no attack or violence was involved whatsoever, yet the incidents were still logged and later cited within overall ‘settler violence’ statistics.
“Much of what is presented as ‘settler violence’ is therefore not a record of violence at all, but an inflated dataset constructed to support a predetermined narrative.”
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/settler-violence-perception-vs-reality/
Please read this blog in its entirety and share broadly. You assist Israel when you combat the falsehoods.
~~~~~~~~~~
Please, pray for all of Am Yisrael: for the wisdom and courage of our leaders and the strength of our people. Pray as well for American strength and the end of the regime in Iran.
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
