On the morning of February 28, Israel and the USA jointly launched a successful attack against the Iranian regime. Thus, just two days before the Jewish festival of Purim, a modern-day retelling of the biblical story began.
By Josias Terschüren
In the 5th century BCE, a plan to annihilate the Jewish people existed in Persia. These events are described in the biblical Book of Esther. The rescue of the Jews at that time is still celebrated today on Purim . This year, the Jewish festival begins on the evening of March 2nd. Now, history seems to be repeating itself: Iran's supreme political and spiritual leader, Khamenei, who, like Haman, pursued the annihilation of the Jewish people and state as state doctrine for decades, was brought down by his own plan and is dead. Further similarities exist between US President Donald Trump as a benevolent Persian ruler, Ahasuerus, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a key Jewish figure, much like Mordechai of old. On a single day, the courtier and schemer Haman and his sons perished, just as Khamenei and his closest advisors and family members did last weekend. That's quite a lot of parallels at once to be dismissed as mere coincidence.
For the first time, the Israeli and American armies have coordinated their actions down to the smallest detail from the outset and launched a joint offensive. They are defending a toothless Western world that no longer demonstrates the strength or courage to protect its own interests and the security of its citizens. Chancellor Friedrich Merz made this clear in a scathing analysis. Diplomacy has failed, but the West is incapable of standing up to the tyrants from Iran. It clung desperately to empty rhetoric and agreements that have long since lost all touch with reality.
Distortion of international law
Critics of the American-Israeli approach rightly invoke international law. However, they overlook the fact that since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, we have been witnessing a perfidious distortion of international law that has plunged it into a deep crisis. The example of the Iranian regime, with its domestic and international terror and bloodshed, clearly demonstrates that modern international law sometimes ties the hands of peace-loving and free states in defending democratic values and protects their oppressors.
Nevertheless, the majority of the German political landscape – with the exception of a few isolated voices – has yet to grasp the gravity of the situation. From the Left Party to the Greens and the SPD, all the way to the AfD, there is unanimous condemnation of those defending our security. Only the FDP and parts of the CDU still seem to be thinking rationally.
Regime change: An ambitious goal
At the Munich Security Conference in early February 2026, German Chancellor Merz (CDU) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed: The old world order and its rules-based international order are over. The US-Israeli strategic goal of regime change is ambitious: Achieving it requires not only the elimination of the leadership but also an uprising of the Iranian population. It is questionable whether this can be achieved solely through air power. The Iranians had already suffered a general mobilization a month earlier, with tens of thousands of deaths. Whether they can muster the strength to rise up against their oppressors once again remains to be seen.
