Speaking at a hospital struck by an Iranian missile, the Israeli prime minister referenced ancient Persia, implying a historic duty.
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday in Beersheba, about 1,000 kilometers and 2,500 years from Babylon, that it was time for Jews to settle their ancient debt to Cyrus the Great and bring liberation to Iran.
The Israeli prime minister had just completed a tour of Soroka Hospital, which had been directly hit by an Iranian ballistic missile on one of its buildings a few hours earlier.
The hit occurred immediately after the higher floors of the building were evacuated, an escape that Israeli commanders had already praised as miraculous.
If the hospital director had not acted, Soroka may have experienced the biggest loss of Israeli civilian life since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu’s long hold on power appeared irreversibly damaged on that date 20 months ago, when his security forces were powerless to preserve Israeli lives. But now, after two wars and more than 55,000 deaths, the prime minister presents himself as a man of destiny.
He toyed with the idea of regime change in Iran, the leader of a 10 million-strong nation calling on a population nearly ten times larger to overthrow the clerical regime that has ruled the country since the 1979 revolution, as he became increasingly confident in his ability to fundamentally redraw the Middle East map.
“People ask me – are we targeting the downfall of the regime?” Netanyahu stated while speaking to the press in a hospital compound littered with broken glass. “That may be the conclusion, but it is up to the Iranian people to fight for their freedom. Freedom is never inexpensive. It is never free. Freedom demands these oppressed people to rise up, and it is up to them. However, we may create conditions that will enable them to do so.”
If Israeli bombs were to destroy the Islamic Republic’s pillars, Netanyahu said it would be the payment of millennia-old debts dating back to Cyrus of Persia, the legendary progenitor of the ayatollahs, who freed Jews from captivity in Babylon.
“I’d like to inform you that 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Great, the monarch of Persia, freed Jews. And today, a Jewish state is developing the means to liberate the Persian people,” he explained.
Cyrus invaded ancient Babylon via ground invasion. There are fewer guarantees that an aerial bombing campaign, which was not an option for the ancients, will change another country’s government in the manner preferred by the bombers.
So far, there are indications that even ardent opponents of the tyrannical dictatorship are rallying around its cause in the face of an external threat. At worst, bombing operations can bring monsters to power, as the United States’ bombardment of Cambodia contributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
On this occasion, Netanyahu had traveled to the southern city of Beersheba, on the outskirts of the Negev desert, to portray Iran’s authorities as monsters for bombing the Soroka Hospital.
“We’re aiming for missile installations. “They’re after a hospital,” he replied. “They attack civilians because they are a criminal regime. “They are the world’s arch terrorists.”
An hour before, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, stood in the same position, with the same charred structure behind him, and made the same case to Iran’s leaders: “Your crimes against humanity, your war crimes, will not deter us.”
Herzog left without taking any questions, and Netanyahu was not questioned on Israel’s persistent destruction of Gaza’s hospitals and clinics, where 2.2 million Palestinians are still trapped under siege conditions that have been compared to medieval warfare.
Aryeh Myers, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Magen David Adom emergency services, contended that there was a key distinction, citing Israeli assertions of Hamas strongholds beneath Gaza’s medical facilities.
“The main difference between this hospital is that it is entirely civilian,” Myers remarked, as he assisted in the evacuation of patients to other hospitals in the region. “There are no tunnels beneath [Soroka]; it is not a terrorist headquarters. This hospital is for citizens living in the Negev region, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, or whatever.
“We have a large Bedouin community in this area that relies heavily on this hospital. “And the fact that this hospital was targeted is a terrible situation,” he continued.
International humanitarian law provides substantial protections to hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and their staff, who must always be protected. The standard for infringement is set quite high.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed that the Iranian missile was directed for a nearby Israeli military headquarters and that the blast wave caused “superficial” damage to the Soroka hospital. The destroyed hospital building had undoubtedly been directly hit, but the map Araghchi produced to illustrate his web allegations bore little resemblance to Beersheba’s actual downtown location.
On the other hand, Netanyahu’s claims that he knew all of Israel’s military locations and that there were none “for miles and miles around” appeared subject to interpretation.
The prime minister has a reputation for being creative when it comes to creating a narrative, especially in this mood after surveying thousands of years of history. Finally, he concluded, complete liberty for Jews and Persians could be contingent on another latter-day monarch far beyond these shores, whom evangelical admirers have compared to Cyrus the Great.
Netanyahu portrayed Donald Trump as a savior in waiting, praising him for “his resolve, determination, and clarity.” The message has been similar for several days: if Israel is to play the transformative role for the ages that Netanyahu envisions, it would undoubtedly require a great deal of assistance.