"Aiming True: The Choice Between War and Harmony"
War is a rotten substitute for sex - Swami X (my guru)
So Friday the 13th of June , 2025 turned out to be a day that will leave a huge mark on the history of the world. Deeply immersed in the study of the unrevised history of the region for the past several months, I saw today like a bow string strung on double recurved bow , notching up an arrow into tomorrow.
The String: June 13, 2025, in Detail
Early Morning (Around 2:59 AM Local Time, Israel)
Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" begins. The targets are not just facilities but key figures: Hossein Salami, Mohammad Bagheri, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Gholamali Rashid, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, and four other scientists—Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi, and Motalibizadeh—are killed. This decapitation strike aims to dismantle Iran's military and nuclear capabilities, setting back their programs significantly. The Israeli Air Force, including female navigators, executes the mission with precision, but the cost is high, with at least 78 dead and over 320 wounded in Iran.
Mid-Morning (Around 11:22 AM Local Time, Israel)
The "Wing of Zion" takes off, carrying Ambassador Noam Katz, not Netanyahu, who remains in Israel. This diplomatic move amidst the military escalation underscores the broader strategy to maintain international relations despite the chaos.
Afternoon (Around 4:30 PM Local Time, Israel)
Iran's retaliation is massive. Over 300 missiles—drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic ones—target Israel. Kirya, the defense compound, is hit hard, with videos showing explosions and smoke. Rishon LeZion, the first Zionist settlement, is also struck, damaging homes and echoing the historical irony of its role in sparking the conflict. The U.S. assists in intercepting, but some missiles get through, causing injuries and structural damage. No confirmed deaths initially, but two are later confirmed, with likely more under the rubble in Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv.
Evening (Around 7:00 PM Local Time, Israel)
The damage assessment continues. Emergency services treat injuries, some critical, and rescue operations dig through collapsed buildings. The lack of extensive casualties is miraculous, but the scale of the attack—hundreds of missiles—shows the intensity. Iran launches another barrage into Saturday morning, June 14, with most intercepted, but the tension remains.
Night (Into June 14, Around Midnight Local Time, Israel)
The U.N. Security Council meets urgently, and global leaders call for de-escalation. Oil prices surge, but no straits are closed. The world watches, hoping for a peaceful resolution, but the sectarian and ideological divides deepen.
The Bow: Historical Ends and Grip
Left End: The Seed of Conflict and Jewish Thought Under Islamic Rule
Rishon LeZion (1882): This is where it all started. Funded by Rothschild, it planted the Carmel vineyards, the seed of the conflict. But before this, Jewish thought thrived under Islamic rule, from Iberia to Islamabad. Medieval sages like Maimonides lived in relative peace under caliphates and sultanates. Dhimmitude, often criticized by Zionists, wasn't as bad as the Christian taxation and persecution Jews faced. The Mamluks, those freed slave soldiers who ruled Egypt from the 13th to 16th centuries, were part of this world. They halted the Mongols at Ain Jalut, conquered the Crusaders, and made Gaza a cultural center. Their rule, divided into Bahri (Turkic) and Burji (Circassian) periods, was complex, but it allowed Jewish communities to flourish alongside others. Then came 1882, and the shtetls nobody wanted—Rishon LeZion, Ashdod, Haifa, Jezreel Valley—changed everything. Jabotinsky's 1923 "Iron Wall" essay and the 1933 IWI charter locked in a war-based economy, inflaming Islamists.
Mamluks and Coexistence: The Mamluks' rule, from 1250 to 1517, was a time when Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities coexisted, albeit with tensions. Their defeat by the Ottomans in 1517 marked a shift, but the memory of relative peace persists. The Zionist narrative often overlooks this, focusing on persecution, but the reality was more nuanced.
Right End: The Native Vision and Resistance
Abrahamic Federation: The goal is to restore the society of the 19th century, before the imposition of borders, in a secular federation of states. Some propose smaller cantons, but I call for reunification of Syria-Palestina according to Ottoman mapping. This vision, carried by Kamal Nawash, Yehuda Alain Schwartz, and others, aligns with the interfaith coalition's 10,000 strong push for peace. Voices like Miko Peled, Ilan Pappe, and Gideon Levy, though drowned out online, offer reason amidst the partisan flame wars. The destruction of Gaza's universities, once a beacon, symbolizes what's lost, but the native resistance to shtetls persists.
19th Century Ideal: Before 1882, people moved freely, from Cairo to Damascus, working winter crops across the Jordan, away from the harsher coastal weather. Gaza was an educational mecca, older than Jerusalem. The Abrahamic Federation aims to return to this, rejecting the exclusionary ideologies of Zionism and Islamism.
The Grip: The Clash of Ideologies
Zionism and Islamism: The grip tightens with each leader killed—Salami, Bagheri, Hajizadeh, Rashid, and the scientists. This isn't just about land; it's about who controls the narrative. The CIA and Mossad's past actions, the European imposition, all feed into this. Trump caving on immigration, ordering ICE to stop raiding farms, shows a shift, but his ratings tank as Newsom slaps him silly. The marines detaining a veteran at the VA building is a disturbing sign of internal discord. Evangelicals cheering on Armageddon, aligned with Trump and Netanyahu, risk calamity. The native vision offers peace, but it's a whisper in the roar.
The Arrow: The Fork in the Road
The arrow lies ready, pointed at tomorrow. Two confirmed dead, likely more under the rubble, and the leaders of Iran's military and nuclear programs gone. The peaceful path, with Nawash and Schwartz, is there, but the calamity pushed by Trump and Netanyahu looms large. The evangelicals' Armageddon cheerleading doesn't help. The choice is stark: peace, dismantling the bow's tension, or calamity, letting the arrow fly into disaster. The Golden Age they talk about? It's a mirage unless we choose wisely. The arrow's flight depends on us cutting the string before it's too late.