Sometimes, one has to kill those guilty of grotesque crimes.
One of my greatest parental challenges was to get my kids functional in English. My late parents were terrified that they would not be able to understand their grandkids. And the challenge existed because their mother, local grandparents, friends, and teachers were all Hebrew-speaking Israelis. I tried to speak to them in English and received, "Say it in Hebrew!" as their reply. Assistance came in the way of video games, Apple devices, U.S. driver's license tests, and Tintin.
We had a couple of Tintin books in Hebrew, but the gold was the entire TV series of Tintin cartoon movies in English. The kids loved them, they were clean, and with them, they learned a lot of words in English. The author, Herge, was an antisemite as well as a virulent anti-Communist. Some of his work is brutal in its treatment of the Soviet Union and its satellites. Others involve going to the moon or running around the world with Tintin and his friends. In one episode ("Tintin and the Picaros"), based in a fictional South American country, Tintin helps his friend General Alcazar get back into power. He takes control from his archenemy, General Tapioca. A dejected Tapioca demands that Tintin kill him, as such is the fate of all failed coup leaders. Tintin, being Tintin, refuses. Tapioca is livid—the embarrassment would be too much to bear. But Tintin refuses to kill him. Tintin's lesson should not apply much beyond the cartoon movie.
The revolution in Iran would appear to be in the sixth inning. Many are beginning to believe that the good guys might just win; everyone agrees that there is no going back to what once was. Most here in Israel believe that Donald Trump will follow through on this threat of kinetic action, and the country is quietly preparing for possible Iranian ICBMs. Just as Iraq flung 39 SCUDs at Israel for the actions of the U.S. and its Israel-free coalition, Israel might receive a response for American attacks against Iranian regime targets. Israelis understand this and seem ready for the possibility.
Let's imagine that the momentum continues toward the people. Many regime figures will flee the country, while others will be killed in the fighting. At some point, there may be a new government. It is imperative that Donald Trump paint a picture of the U.S. working with the Iranian people to make the rial worth something by rebuilding their economy and future. What does the new government do with IRGC soldiers and government officials who did not have the good sense or ability to flee? Make trials, and for those guilty of heinous crimes, kill them. We in the West see such things as icky, but it was not always that way. Many German and Japanese officers and officials were sentenced to death for their actions during World War II. And it must be this way. Israel is making a huge mistake by not quickly trying to kill the Nukhba terrorists who killed and tortured so many in southern Israel. Only now has it approved some type of special tribunal to judge them. If you leave them alive, they might live to fight again. Also, the people will always be in fear that their tormentors might find a way to organize and harm them again.
Donald Trump understands the value of retribution in changes of government. He put out the following this week: "TO ALL IRANIAN PATRIOTS — keep protesting, take over your institutions if possible, and save the names of the killers and the abusers... because they'll pay a very big price." President Trump understands that those who killed or tortured fellow citizens must be made to pay—for if not, the citizenry will never feel that justice was served.
Anyone in the IRGC or theocracy involved in the kidnapping, torture, murder, or political imprisonment must be tried and, if found guilty, put to death for their crimes. This is an ugly but cathartic part of the revolutionary process; only the U.S. had a revolution that lacked major bloodletting after the fighting was over. The Iranian people need to see justice for all that they have suffered, and they need to know that the killers of their loved ones have zero chance of coming back into power. Even Israel went after and eventually tried and killed Adolph Eichmann. The people needed it as some level of payback for the Holocaust, and it happened.
A moral people often do not understand how evil other people can be. We saw it in a smaller fashion with Anthony Fauci. I doubt that he murdered people with his hands, but we know that he authorized and funded horrific experiments on animals. He also played Russian Roulette with all of our lives when he did gain-of-function experiments with the Chinese and foisted upon us the mRNA vaccines. Khomeini and his cabal were evil. I have seen claims that he gave orders that prisoners who were to be killed not die as virgins, as they would immediately go to heaven. His bloody rule was felt throughout the world. The prime minister appointed in the waning days of the Shah was murdered in Paris. The 2024 attack on a synagogue in Melbourne was traced back to the IRGC. We don't realize how much Iranians have suffered during decades of brutal repression, either directly or through the murder and torture of their loved ones. There are people who did the dirty work, and if they are found guilty, they must die. Goodie-goodies from Europe and the U.S. must not interfere. We cannot fathom the depth of the hurt that people there have suffered, and if you do not give them justice because of some humanistic mumbo-jumbo about the value of life, then the revolution will never end.
The Crown Prince seems to be thinking clearly about Iran's future and has said that he wants a new government to be democratic. He has described himself as a transitional figure, to move from the criminal theocracy to a democratic form of rule. Should he return and become the recognized leader of the country, then he needs to set a date for elections nine months from the date he assumes power. The people need to establish parties, debate, and prepare to rule themselves after decades of oppressive dictatorship. Democracy is messy, but it is far better than the theocratic rule that they are furiously trying to end during these very bloody days. It is almost impossible to predict the implications of the fall of the Iranian terror regime. Funding for Islamic terror groups will dry up, as will the push from IRGC generals to kill Israelis and others. Iran will be open for business to countries throughout the globe, and its oil will come back online as is currently happening with Venezuela.
We cannot yet envision a world in which Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Yemenite Houthis, Iraqi militias, and other bad actors have no money to continue with their terror activities. Sure, Qatar and Turkey will do their best to make up for the lost support, but their finances and lack of Iranian zeal will never replace what the mullahs supplied. If Israel and Iran could reestablish the strong relations they had prior to the 1979 revolution, the entire Middle East would be changed.
We are standing at a unique moment in history, akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall. May we see a free Iran and a much better world with it.
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