Iran = Rodef: The Moral and Strategic Logic Behind Israel’s Preemptive Strike

(essay)

Imagine this: there’s a man who lives just down the street. He’s already sent killers to your house. Your children, your neighbors—many were maimed, tortured, raped, kidnapped, murdered. The killers didn’t act alone. The man trained them, funded them, watched as they filmed their crimes with crazy-eyed glee. The man has tried to kill on his own, but with no success. Now, he’s building a weapon so catastrophic that he’s promised—repeatedly and publicly—to use it. And you’ve just learned it may be ready in a matter of months.

You appeal to the authorities. They hold meetings. They issue strongly worded statements. But nothing changes. The man keeps building. He keeps threatening. And eventually, after exhausting every warning, you act.

This is the situation Israel faced—and why it struck Iran.

In Jewish law, there is a principle called rodef—the “pursuer.” If someone is coming to kill you or another innocent person, and there is no other way to stop them, you are not only permitted but required to intervene, even with lethal force. It is not about vengeance. It’s about saving lives. Crucially, rodef does not apply only to the defense of oneself. It includes the obligation to protect others—your family, your community, and even strangers—if they are in danger.

This isn’t some narrow, tribal ethic. It’s a universal principle. When someone has both the intention and the means to do irreparable harm, waiting becomes a form of moral failure. Action, though difficult, becomes a duty.

The April Warning

In April of this year, Iran gave the world a preview of what it’s willing to do.

On the night of April 13th, Iran launched the largest direct attack on Israel in modern history. Over 300 projectiles were fired—drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles—aimed at Israeli cities, military bases, and civilians. The attack was coordinated with Iranian proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Thanks to Israel’s defense systems—and the assistance of the United States, Jordan, and the United Kingdom—almost all of the incoming weapons were intercepted. Still, a few made it through. A young Israeli-Bedouin girl was critically injured. Military installations were damaged. The worst was narrowly avoided. But the message from Tehran could not have been clearer: we are coming for you.

This was not a spontaneous outburst. It was the culmination of years of threats, arms buildups, and violent proxy wars—all directed at the Jewish state. Iran’s leadership has never been vague about its intentions. “Death to Israel” is not a metaphor. It is policy.

The Pursuer : The Rodef

Iran has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. It has blocked inspections, hidden nuclear sites underground, and accelerated its missile development. All this, while continuing to call for Israel’s destruction and arming terrorist proxies on every border.

Under any reasonable moral framework, Iran is not just dangerous—it is an active and ongoing rodef.

Israel’s recent strike was not an act of aggression. It was an act of prevention. It targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, command centers, and terror-linked networks—operational hubs tied directly to Iran’s machinery of violence and death.

Remarkably, many in the region who have suffered under the Iranian regime understand this more clearly than Western observers. A large number of Iranians—especially the young, the exiled, the silenced—have taken to social media not to condemn Israel, but to thank it. Syrians, too, who watched their country ravaged by Iran’s proxy war on behalf of Assad, know exactly who bears responsibility. These are not outliers. They are part of a growing majority across the region who see Israel not as the aggressor, but as the one nation willing to confront a murderous regime that has brought ruin to its own people and chaos to its neighbors.

Some will still criticize Israel. That, too, is predictable. There are always those who demand an impossible level of “restraint” from the world’s only Jewish state when facing destruction.

Am Yisrael Chai / Am Kelavi