WRI exec statement on the escalation between Israel and Iran

For some, militarism is a spectacle until, of course, it isn’t. As the last fibre optic cable into Gaza was cut, and the Freedom Flotilla’s (symbolic) cargo was (symbolically) blocked, and Trump’s military parade through Washington, and countless other small and large militarised acts and words, Netanyahu’s regime has again escalated to real bombs falling on real people – this time on Iran - and the waves of bombs and missiles seem to come faster than any statement we can write.

Why did Israel bomb Iran on Friday 12th June? For domestic political capital? Because Iran was a genuine threat? To undermine American-led talks on Iran’s nuclear future? To distract from whatever is about to occur in Gaza or the West Bank? To communicate strength and power, or cover up a weakness? All of these reasons or something else entirely?

For the civilians killed in both Irán and Israel it probably didn’t matter why bombs were dropped on their homes, if it even made sense.

What happened after the first attacks was grotesquely predictable. Some states condemned while others threatened, Iran counterattacked with missile strikes, and the risk of a fullblown regional escalation was again heightened massively. What will continue: Everyone will keep selling everyone else weapons, military retaliation will continue to be the logic that states follow, and people will suffer and die. The breaches of international law which forbid attacks on nuclear sites will not have any consequences.

The demand made of our movements at times like this isn’t to pick sides with militarised actors, but to dare to keep building a different world – where peace and justice thrive. 

War is a crime against humanity.