Ali Khamenei lives today not because Israel can’t kill him, but because Israel believes some lines should not be crossed, even when facing an enemy that respects none.
Keeping Khamenei alive lets him bask in the total destruction wrought by Israel on Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran itself. Let him wake up everyday to the memory of that humiliation. In a region where honor means everything, Khamenei’s honor has been irreparably destroyed.
In WW2 the U.S. learned that Admiral Yammamoto the brilliant architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor was flying on an inspection mission in the Solomon Islands A mission to shoot Yammamoto down was approved at the highest levels and Yammamoto was shot down His death was viewed as worth more than sinking a few aircraft carriers . The current not so supreme commander knows that the IDF is aware of his every move and that his demise is around the corner one way or the other neither of which would cause me to lose any sleep
Such a wonderful Yiddish zechl !!!!..... keeping Khamenei alive and HUMILIATED, it's good, like you brilliantly described.......Thank you Joshua for a marvelous essay.....Blessings always .......
Iran has already targeted world leaders including two presidents of the United States. They would kill every Israeli leader if they could. So this reason is nonsense. Iran is not a legitimate sovereign government. It is a terrorist government no different than ISIS or HAMAS. Israel would be fully within its rights to target Khameini. If it chooses not to then it is for reasons advantageous to Israel and nothing further.
I think you got it right when you said it is more humiliating for Khamenei to be alive than martyred dead. Besides he couldn't be a worse governor of a country if he tried. Why open the door to someone who might actually know how to govern Iran.
Interesting post. Leaving Khamenei alive also allows folk like myself to pose the possibility that Khamenei is actually the Mossad agent hiding in plain sight, and providing Israel with all the valuable intelligence it needs to assassinate operational military and weapon development targets. Who is to conclusively say this isn't so? Even within the Mossad itself, such intelligence would be highly compartmentalized.
Another excellent post. As true as this article may be, in the United States, it has been widely reported (on both mainstream and Conservative media) that Trump stopped Israel from executing an assassination attempt on the Ayatollah. That point was stressed in the media last month and is still mentioned today in face of Iran's new death fatwa against Trump. Interesting and widely dissimilar theories about "Why Trump stopped Israel" can run the gamut (don't get me started).
Trump made that claim because he wants to project that he and he alone has the ultimate power. I think that Israel had no intention of killing khomeini for the reasons this article states.
The reason Israel doesn't kill sovereign heads of state is because they are the only truly civilized country in the region. The rest of them use Islam as justification to kill any and everyone. As an aside, President Ford signed Executive Order 11905 in 1976 which, in essence, stopped any attempts to kill foreign leaders which I remember when it was announced.
I'd be curious to know your definition of a "legitimate sovereign head of state." Israel and the US understand who he is but do you? Both countries could take him out tomorrow if they wished but won't.
Neither the US nor Israel have diplomatic relations with Iran. We have not had them since 1979. Iran is the world's greatest sponsor of terror. The only difference between Hamas and Iran is size. And if stories are correct your last sentence is wrong. Israel was on the verge of taking him out but was stopped by Trump. There may be strategic reasons not to do it. But his being a head of state is not one of them
Joshua Hoffman is a strange journalist. One day he writes a brilliant piece. The next he writes utter tat. This was a tat day.
He has no idea why Khamanei was not targeted. Nor does Ronen Bergman. And indeed it now looks as though the President of Iran Pezeshkian WAS targeted, but we missed unfortunately.
Hoffman is just making this stuff up as he goes along.
I am all for killing political leaders who are out to destroy Israel no matter how high they are in their respective governments leadership roles. If they knew that they were not physically immune from a violent end, just maybe it would either slow down the attacks on Israeli civilians or even bring them to the table for some serious negotiations. If it also requires that Israeli leaders need more protection, so be it.
Keeping Khamenei alive lets him bask in the total destruction wrought by Israel on Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran itself. Let him wake up everyday to the memory of that humiliation. In a region where honor means everything, Khamenei’s honor has been irreparably destroyed.
In WW2 the U.S. learned that Admiral Yammamoto the brilliant architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor was flying on an inspection mission in the Solomon Islands A mission to shoot Yammamoto down was approved at the highest levels and Yammamoto was shot down His death was viewed as worth more than sinking a few aircraft carriers . The current not so supreme commander knows that the IDF is aware of his every move and that his demise is around the corner one way or the other neither of which would cause me to lose any sleep
Such a wonderful Yiddish zechl !!!!..... keeping Khamenei alive and HUMILIATED, it's good, like you brilliantly described.......Thank you Joshua for a marvelous essay.....Blessings always .......
Iran has already targeted world leaders including two presidents of the United States. They would kill every Israeli leader if they could. So this reason is nonsense. Iran is not a legitimate sovereign government. It is a terrorist government no different than ISIS or HAMAS. Israel would be fully within its rights to target Khameini. If it chooses not to then it is for reasons advantageous to Israel and nothing further.
Israel using the good example of David.
A majestic piece of extremely informed and clear writing. Well done. Thanks!
Well reasoned argument for keeping Khomeini alive.
I think you got it right when you said it is more humiliating for Khamenei to be alive than martyred dead. Besides he couldn't be a worse governor of a country if he tried. Why open the door to someone who might actually know how to govern Iran.
Beautiful. Our love is stronger than their hate. On every level.
Interesting post. Leaving Khamenei alive also allows folk like myself to pose the possibility that Khamenei is actually the Mossad agent hiding in plain sight, and providing Israel with all the valuable intelligence it needs to assassinate operational military and weapon development targets. Who is to conclusively say this isn't so? Even within the Mossad itself, such intelligence would be highly compartmentalized.
Another excellent post. As true as this article may be, in the United States, it has been widely reported (on both mainstream and Conservative media) that Trump stopped Israel from executing an assassination attempt on the Ayatollah. That point was stressed in the media last month and is still mentioned today in face of Iran's new death fatwa against Trump. Interesting and widely dissimilar theories about "Why Trump stopped Israel" can run the gamut (don't get me started).
Trump made that claim because he wants to project that he and he alone has the ultimate power. I think that Israel had no intention of killing khomeini for the reasons this article states.
The reason Israel doesn't kill sovereign heads of state is because they are the only truly civilized country in the region. The rest of them use Islam as justification to kill any and everyone. As an aside, President Ford signed Executive Order 11905 in 1976 which, in essence, stopped any attempts to kill foreign leaders which I remember when it was announced.
Khameini is not a legitimate sovereign head of state. Iran is a terror state. And Iran has already targeted Western leaders including President Trump.
I'd be curious to know your definition of a "legitimate sovereign head of state." Israel and the US understand who he is but do you? Both countries could take him out tomorrow if they wished but won't.
Neither the US nor Israel have diplomatic relations with Iran. We have not had them since 1979. Iran is the world's greatest sponsor of terror. The only difference between Hamas and Iran is size. And if stories are correct your last sentence is wrong. Israel was on the verge of taking him out but was stopped by Trump. There may be strategic reasons not to do it. But his being a head of state is not one of them
So if Israel was around during WW2 they would not target Hitler either?
Joshua Hoffman is a strange journalist. One day he writes a brilliant piece. The next he writes utter tat. This was a tat day.
He has no idea why Khamanei was not targeted. Nor does Ronen Bergman. And indeed it now looks as though the President of Iran Pezeshkian WAS targeted, but we missed unfortunately.
Hoffman is just making this stuff up as he goes along.
I am all for killing political leaders who are out to destroy Israel no matter how high they are in their respective governments leadership roles. If they knew that they were not physically immune from a violent end, just maybe it would either slow down the attacks on Israeli civilians or even bring them to the table for some serious negotiations. If it also requires that Israeli leaders need more protection, so be it.
Plus, it’s much more karmic if it’s the Persian people who deal with the evil old fart, preferably by hanging him from a lamppost.