ISRAEL’S 12-DAY WAR, “OPERATION RISING LION”

The War

Israel’s military and security chiefs advised Israel’s leaders to go to war against Iran in June. Late 2025 would be too late. Following October 7 Iran had accelerated its nuclear weapons program and its growing ballistic missile capability, and was rapidly becoming an existential threat. Iran believed it’s long planned “Destruction of Israel” project was viable.

President Trump gave Iran 60  days to work through a peaceful negotiation, but Iran refused to cooperate and with Trump’s blessing, Netanyahu acted on the 61^st day, 13^th June 25 bombing Iran’s Natanz fuel enrichment plant and its Isfahan nuclear complex. Then, in the very early hours of Sunday 22 June, the US entered the war, striking Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, “obliterating” them according to Trump. Within hours, Trump announced a “Total Ceasefire” between Israel and Iran and The 12-Day War was over. However, the next day Iran struck back firing missiles at the largest US air base in the Middle East in Qatar, but it appeared only to be a token response.

Although the US claimed to have destroyed Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, Rafael Grossi, Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that no one was in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage and Iran might have hidden much of its 60% enriched uranium far from the major sites which had been targeted.[i]

The US had publicly sent several B-2 bombers to Guam as a decoy, while very early in the morning of 22^nd June it secretly deployed other B-2s to drop bunker busters on Fordow. Every pre-designated target was attacked and destroyed or damaged and Iran’s top-level nuclear scientists had been removed. Iran’s nuclear program and missile capabilities were significantly damaged and its plans to eliminate Israel were set back years.

Nevertheless, Israel’s top brass were resolved not to underestimate the regime’s determination to destroy Israel while the ayatollahs retained power. Their leader, Ali Khamenei emerged to proclaim that Iran would never surrender and, on 23^rd June, Iran’s national security committee approved a bill for the total suspension of  cooperation with the IAEA.[ii] 

The Trump Factor

As Daniel pipes wrote, Harry Truman did not prevent the Soviet Union from going nuclear nor did Lyndon Johnson stop Communist China. Trump’s decision to attack Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan creates an important precedent for US foreign policy. Trump warned that “future attacks would be far greater and easier”. Not a single American had died in this combat and the Strait of Hormuz remained open.[iii] As Greg Sheridan wrote in The Australian paper, “At his best, Trump is better than any recent president. Since World War II, there have not been many more consequential periods of presidential activity than Trump’s efforts”. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu said, he and Trump believe in “Peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace”. They had together reshaped the strategic landscape of the region.

All US planes had returned safely from Iran with Trump saying, “NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE”,  adding that the US objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and to stop the nuclear threat posed by “the world’s number one state sponsor of terror”. Trump warned that if Iran failed to choose peace, there would be tragedy and “If peace does not come quickly, we will go after other targets with precision, speed and skill”.[iv]

In sharp contrast, the UN Sec-Gen, Antonio Guterres mouthed his usual empty words - “The only hope is peace” while the Albanese government said, “We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy” and Australia’s Defence Minister, Richard Marles remarked that he was “concerned about the prospect of escalation”. Australia’s opposition foreign affairs spokesman, Andrew Hastie condemned the government’s “ambiguous” response saying Australia needed to support  “The United States which has a key role in re-establishing order and peace in the Middle East”.[v]

“Peaceful” IPAN – Not So Peaceful!

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) claims that its aim is to build pressure for change to a truly independent and neutral foreign policy for Australia. However, on 13 June 2025, Pascal  Lottaz writing for IPAN referred to the “terrorist regime in Tel Aviv” and wrote that the “Nuclear issue is nothing but a flimsy excuse to start an all-out war with Iran”, saying Israel goes for “decapitation” strikes against nations they choose to eradicate - “They did so with Hamas in Gaza, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and now they are going after the leadership of Iran”. Lottaz added, “They know that the only thing that enables their genocidal military extermination campaign is the unwavering support of the Collective West”.

A Media Release on 23 June 2025 by IPAN spokesperson, Dr Allison Broinowski declaring, “We call upon the Australian government to declare ‘No participation’ in illegal attacks on Iran and to promote the upholding of international law -  It must be remembered that Iran has only attacked Israel after Israel has launched assassination attacks or other attacks on Iran”.[vi]

So much for “Peaceful” IPAN!

However, there is hope. Nikoo Pajoom, born and raised in Iran wrote in the Times of Israel on 19 June, “I truly hope these targeted operations will lead to regime change and rid us of the murderous fanatics running the Islamic Republic. I have only known an Iran that kills, rapes, and humiliates its women. The regime gruesomely stifles civilian life imposing a draconian legal system that veils women, stones them for adultery, lashes them for immodesty, and systematically chains them to mediaeval family laws. If the Mullahs survive these attacks, terrorism will continue to be the hallmark of the region. I hope both Israel and the US see the benefit of regime change in Iran and do not let the Islamic Republic linger for another 50 years”.[vii] 

Listen up, IPAN. If you genuinely support peace you should open your eyes, your ears and your minds. It is time to have peace.

What About Australia?

On 9 October 2023 while the bodies of 1200 Israeli victims were still warm, protesters outside the Sydney Opera House burned Israeli flags, shouting “F….K the Jews”. The following day protests took place outside the State Library in Melbourne with chants of “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free”.

On Friday, 5^th July 2025 a man poured flammable liquid over the front door of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne before setting it alight and fleeing. This came only months after the Adass Israel synagogue, also in Melbourne was firebombed and protesters had entered the Miznon Israeli restaurant in Melbourne’s CBD staging a violent demonstration while chanting slogans such as “death to the IDF”. The time for political statements from the government is over and it must commit NOW to ridding the streets of anti-Israel violence and chants.[viii]

Menachem Vorchheimer is a 51 year old lean, fit and bearded Orthodox Jew. His father was one of 10,000 Jewish children sent from Nazi Germany to Britain in a rescue operation. In the 1960s he migrated to Australia. Vorchheimer is a veteran campaigner against anti-Jewish hate and the systemic failure of the Australian authorities to act. He has engaged in many court challenges and in each case he includes the following statement: “I am of the Jewish race and religion. Israel is central to the Jewish identity, belief and continuity. Intrinsic to my Jewish identity and Israel’s continual existence is the right of Jews to self-determination in their historical and ancestral homeland of Israel. Israel is also seen as central to Jewish continuity, particularly after the Holocaust. It is a place where they can go to escape anti-Semitism. Zionism does not preclude a two-state solution with a Palestinian state living alongside a Jewish state in peace. I pray for everlasting peace”. In the Jewish community, Vorchheimer is seen as a white knight.[ix]

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism

On 9 July 2024, Australia’s Prime Minister appointed Jillian Segal AO for a three-year term, as Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism.  Now, in July 2025, the plan to combat anti-Semitism has been published.

The plan refers to the enormous surge in anti-Semitic incidents since October 7, such as the firebombing of Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue, a childcare centre adjacent to a synagogue and the firebombing of cars, as well as repeated graffiti attacks on Jewish schools and places of worship. The Envoy plans where appropriate to strengthen federal, state and territory legislation. The seriousness of the threat is emphasised by ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess emphasises the threat describing anti-Semitism as the security organisation’s top priority  “In terms of threat to life”.

The plan is long on talk but short on concrete action and steps that must be taken NOW – not sometime in the distant future. It is not enough for Albanese to refer to “Anti-Semitism as an evil scourge” and to say, “There is no place in Australia for anti-Semitism”. Most troubling is his statement that the plan could take months to implement and he could not even point to which of the proposals could be enacted by the end of the current year! Opposition legal affairs spokesman, Julian Leeser remarked that Mr Albanese would be judged on the “concrete steps he now takes and how effective they are”.

The So-called “Jewish Council of Australia” has predictably rejected the Albanese Labor government’s plan to combat anti-Semitism but, they are no more than an unrepresentative fringe clique who distance themselves from Australia’s Jewish community, even claiming that “anti-Semitism” is being used to shield Israel from criticism. There is not even a flicker of positive association of this mob with Australia’s Jewish community and they have rightly been exposed for who and what they are.[x] 

It is worth seriously considering the laws introduced in New South Wales in 2014 to tackle “one-punch” assaults which included a minimum 8 year sentence for a fatal one punch assault causing death. As then Premier, Barry O’Farrell observed “I expect opposition to some or all of the measures”, but  “These measures are tough and for that I make no apologies”. What is happening in Australia today represents an even greater threat to many more citizens than were brutally punched in 2014 and this threat calls for urgent, harsh legislative intervention, not just talk, talk, talk.

 AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM – HEAR THE OTHER SIDE

[i] Al Jazeera, Is the 12-day Israel-Iran war really over and who gained what? 24 June 2025

[ii] Times of Israel, Iran was a few weeks from nuclear weapons, but Israel had been watching, 30 June 25

[iii] The Australian (AU), Key takeaways from the Israel-Iran conflict, 28 June 25

[iv] Times of Israel (TOI), US bombs Fordow, 22 June 2025

[v] AU, US destroys Iran nuclear sites, Ben Packham and others, 23 June 2025

[vi] IPAN condemns the Australian government's support of illegal US bombing of Iran, 23 June 25

[vii] TOI I’m Iranian – Israel’s attacks give me hope, 19 June 25

[viii] AU,Stop talking, start doing. Jewish leaders demand Labor act on anti-Semitic hate, 7 July 25

[ix] Julie Szego, AU, Jewish champion Menachem Vorchheimer 5 July 2025

[x] AU, Why the Jewish Council doesn't care about Australian Jews, 15 July 25