Give Trump and Netanyahu the Nobel Peace Prize now
If Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are not awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, the institution no longer holds any meaning. Give one to them! The American bombing of Iran's nuclear programme was the single greatest intervention on behalf of global peace we have seen in our lifetimes.
The CND may have hilariously condemned the most effective non-proliferation campaign in history, but it goes without saying that the world is a much safer place when we woke up this morning than it was when we went to bed last night.
Israeli intelligence had revealed that the Ayatollah's plan was to produce a set of many small nuclear bombs and then hand them out to terrorist groups. What are the chances that they would not have been fired at Paris, New York and London?
A nuclear Iran would also have been a game changer in the region. Although Israel has spectacularly decimated the regime's proxy militia, especially Hezbollah, in recent months, the regime was already taking steps to rebuild its 'ring of fire'. A nuclear umbrella would have provided a degree of immunity to the most fanatical militia on Earth and emboldened every other rogue state on the planet.
But this isn't just about the nukes. The defanging of the Iranian regime – which is now likely staggering towards its demise – represents nothing other than the collapse of the main pillar of global jihadism. For decades, Tehran has been the head of the octopus, behind all the bloodthirsty fanaticism from Lebanon to Yemen, Iraq to the streets of London. Of course, Qatar remains. But the wind is now in the sails of the righteous.
The fallout of Trump's historic intervention is yet to fully unfold, but it is undeniable that the legs have finally been kicked out from under the monster of jihad. It is unlikely that the Ayatollah will survive the week, either due to an uprising from the downtrodden Iranian masses or his own hardliners. All of this is a cause for profound celebration. We are watching the dawning of a new era and although there will still be much sorrow, there is every hope that it will be one of peace.
What the Trump-Netanyahu attacks most vividly expose, however, is the woeful spiritual condition of Britain and Europe. Sir Keir Starmer's most recent contribution to the war effort was to refuse to deploy the RAF in Israel's defence; his neo-pacifism was rewarded with a sabotage attack at Brize Norton. His Attorney General, meanwhile, fresh from giving away the very Chagos Islands from where American planes took off, advised that striking Iran would 'break international law'.
This summed it up. Winston Churchill might have been addressing the Starmer government as well as Neville Chamberlain when he pointed out that 'you were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.' It is only the boldness of Jerusalem and Washington that has saved us this awful fate.
Thank God somebody hasn't forgotten their courage. In civil society, meanwhile, we were yesterday treated to the embarrassing spectacle of crowds protesting in London in support of the Ayatollah. Women who enjoyed equal rights and men who took free expression for granted raised placards showing the face of the tyrant, along with the slogan, 'choose the right side of history'. It is tempting to conclude that Britain is lost.
As I wrote in these pages last week, this is Israel's century. The countries that will not only survive but thrive will be those with conviction in their values and the courage and resilience to defend them. Now is the time to rouse ourselves from the post-Cold War torpor of identity politics and self-hatred. Yet our bankrupt leaders refuse to release us. Israel and the United States can hold their heads high today, while we must hang ours in shame.
How must the airmen of the RAF feel as they watch this great victory unfold from the sidelines? What about all the decent Britons? Oh, for the chance to feel proud of our country again. So much for us. This morning, however, we should spare a thought for the Israeli people.
Over the last two-and-a-half years, they have suffered trauma, fear, uncertainty and bereavement, not to mention the hatred of the world. Hundreds of thousands of men from all walks of life have served on the frontlines and many have failed to return home. The propaganda against them has been overwhelming. Yet the country has refused to be defeated.
Even after more than 600 days of war in Gaza, when Netanyahu ordered the attacks on Iran, public support stood at more than 90 per cent, despite knowing that life would be horribly disrupted, missiles would fall on their homes and some of their people would die.
While European leaders wagged their fingers and quivered in their beds, the citizens of the Middle East's only democracy demonstrated what may be achieved in a country that has not discarded its old loves of flag, faith and family, as we have done. This is a lesson for the West either to learn or to ignore. As the Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky put it: 'We were not created in order to teach morals and manners to our enemies.'
For our own sakes, however, and for those of our children, we must learn this lesson fast. The centrist fundamentalism that has so disfigured our societies since the Cold War has run its course. Those who persist in pursuing it – Starmer, Macron and the rest – have been outstripped by history, even if they do not yet know it. Israel's pride is our shame. This is Jerusalem's century and we must decide where to plant our feet.
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Sky News
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In a briefing with journalists, Iran's foreign minister said Mr Trump had deceived his own voters over his promises not to get involved in any more "forever wars". "While President Trump was elected on a platform of putting an end to America's costly involvement in forever wars in our part of the world, he has betrayed not only Iran by abusing our commitment to diplomacy, but also deceived his own voters."
