The Mirror Doesn’t Lie

(Written June 16, 2025)

Before you condemn Israel, take a hard look at your own reflection.

As Israel and Iran continue to trade rocket fire and missile barrages—one aiming at nuclear development sites, the other at civilian neighborhoods—the world once again races to judge. And of course, many will blame Israel. They will say Israel "threw the first punch." They will ignore the decades of proxy terror waged against it, the repeated provocations, and the impossibility of enduring threats from all directions.

But this isn't a schoolyard, and the global stage isn’t governed by playground justice.

So, to those already sharpening their pens and framing their tweets, I offer this challenge: before you blame Israel, look in the mirror.

Look closely.

What did you do—what did you say—when Israel was being attacked?

Because this war did not begin with the events of today or last week. It began long ago, and its roots are deep. And your silence may be louder than you realize.

Scroll through your social media history. Search for the Likes, Shares, angry emojis, and hashtags you deployed when Hamas launched thousands of rockets into civilian centers in southern Israel—not once, not twice, but in 2014, 2018, and most recently, during the May 2021 conflict, when over 4,000 rockets were fired at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, Ashdod, and Ashkelon. Did you speak out then?

Or during the Great March of Return in 2018–2019, when Hamas orchestrated weekly riots at the Gaza border, laced with Molotov cocktails and incendiary kites that ignited tens of thousands of acres of farmland. Where was your outrage? Where were the campus protests?

Did you raise your voice when Hezbollah, Iran’s most dangerous proxy, embedded thousands of missiles in Lebanese schools, hospitals, and homes, using civilians as shields while it stockpiled over 150,000 rockets—many aimed directly at Israeli population centers?

Did you condemn Hezbollah when it tunneled beneath the UN-demarcated Blue Line, attempting covert invasions of Israeli villages in 2018 and 2019—an act so egregious that even the usually toothless UNIFIL forces confirmed the violations?

What about the PIJ—the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, funded and armed by Tehran—who sparked escalations in 2022 and again in 2023, launching barrages of rockets at Israeli towns and cities, including Sderot and Netivot, without provocation?

Did you react when the PFLP—the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist terrorist group operating in Gaza and the West Bank—claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on civilians in Jerusalem and elsewhere?

Or did you scroll past?

If you were silent then, and you speak only now—then no, you do not have moral clarity. You do not have standing. Your outrage is selective. And your mirror, if it’s honest, will tell you that.

Because here is a hard truth: Had the world unequivocally condemned those past attacks—had the global community, especially the so-called moral elite of the West, drawn a firm red line against terrorism—the rules of this game may have changed. But when terrorists saw your silence, or worse, your applause, they interpreted it as permission. And now you want to assign blame?

Look in the mirror.

Israel has endured attack after attack not just from Gaza and Lebanon, but from within. Iranian-backed terror cells have plotted attacks in Jerusalem. Lone-wolf stabbings, car-rammings, and shootings in the streets of Tel Aviv are part of daily life. And yet when Israel acts—carefully, surgically, often with leaflets, text messages, and "knock-on-the-roof" warnings to evacuate civilians before a strike—it is branded the aggressor.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s regime openly declares its intent to destroy Israel and has worked relentlessly to arm every border with threats. Its proxies fire without warning, without discrimination, and without remorse. Their targets are not military; their targets are civilians.

So, when Israel responds—after unbearable restraint—with military precision aimed at dismantling nuclear infrastructure, command centers, and weapons facilities, the world howls. And the headlines write themselves: "Israel Escalates." "Israel Responds Harshly." "Israel to Blame."

No.

If you are just now waking up to this conflict—if your voice only echoes when Israel strikes back, but never when Israel is struck—then your opinion is compromised. You are not offering moral judgment. You are offering performative indignation.

And it’s not just hypocritical. It’s dangerous.

Because your silence in the past gave comfort to terrorists. And your condemnation now emboldens them further.

So, before you post, before you protest, before you pen your passionate condemnation—look in the mirror. Search your memory. Ask yourself where you were when Jewish civilians were running for cover under rocket fire. Ask yourself what you said when Israeli children were raised on bomb drills and safe rooms.

And if the answer is silence… then I invite you to continue your silence.

Harry Katcher is a writer and editor based in South Jordan, Utah. He writes on Israel, the Middle East, and the challenges of moral clarity in modern discourse.