Khamenei calls Donald Trump a "criminal." He blames the West for the blood on his own hands, even as he vows to "break the back" of his own people. The Supreme Leader’s rhetoric is not a sign of strength, but the desperate howl of a dying tyranny.
By any standard of justice, this regime, a diabolically wicked relic of medieval brutality, must be dismantled. Its leaders deserve no private exits or quiet retirements. They deserve the same public accountability they forced upon innocent Iranians: a reckoning in the city square for all the world to witness. This is not just a matter of regime change; it is a necessary "shot across the bow" of radical Islam. This is the moral imperative.
Khamenei is the incarnation of pure evil. For years, feckless leaders in London, Paris, Brussels, and Washington paved the way for his rise through appeasement. Eighty years after the fall of Hitler, the West faces an identical existential threat. This is 1938 repeating itself. This is a war we must win, culminating in a modern Nuremberg to excise this cancer once and for all.
While some question President Trump’s restraint, we must view it through the lens of strategic deception. Do not be fooled by hollow "thanks" for a pause in executions, monsters do not change their nature. Trump is positioning the pieces. The arrival of aircraft carrier fleets in the Middle East suggests that the "blah" of diplomatic talk is over. The hammer is being raised.
The Western Malaise
Why does the West remain paralysed? From London to Ottawa, a psychological fog has settled over our leaders. They are seemingly hypnotised by the garb and rituals of a ruthless culture, perhaps mistaking medieval savages for biblical figures. This is the fruit of religious brainwashing and a catastrophic loss of nerve.
In Britain, the "Mother of Parliaments", a mere 6.5% of the population has managed to cow a once-great empire into submission. Where is the spirit of 1940? Where is the Christian fight-back against a "two-tier" justice system that favours the invader over the patriot? Britain is sliding toward a "flawed democracy" status because it has forgotten how to defend its own civilisation.
Toppling the Pillar
The Ayatollah’s regime is a paper tiger. Israel has already torn the mask away, proving that Tehran’s "might" is a facade. By toppling the pillar in Iran, we automatically sever the limbs of the surrogates: Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
Diplomacy with such a regime is a fool’s errand. You do not negotiate with a plague; you eradicate it.
The West has only three leaders with the spine for this task: Donald Trump, Giorgia Meloni and Benjamin Natanyahu. It is time to stop the "diplomatic" theatre and finish what should have been done decades ago. The vacuum will be dangerous, Erdogan’s Turkey is already waiting in the wings, but the first and final priority remains the same: The Ayatollahs must fall.
Turkey is another pending issue, but first and foremost, the Ayatollahs must be removed. Removing the Ayatollah may give Erdogan cause to pause, but I doubt it. Incredible how much evil there is around.
1938 Redux: The High Cost of Appeasement
I am using the "Munich Analogy" as I am not only comparing personalities; it’s a comparison of consequences. Diplomatic concessions do not buy peace, they only finance the next phase of an aggressor's expansion.
History doesn’t repeat, but it certainly rhymes. Today, the West stands at a threshold identical to the one it crossed eighty years ago. The similarities between the 1930s and the current era are not just striking; they are a warning of the fire to come.
Just as the world once faced a dictator who prioritised ideology over sovereignty, we now face the Velayat-e Faqih, a system where the Supreme Leader stands above the law, above the people, and above common morality. Like the Führerprinzip of 1940, Khamenei’s authority is absolute. Both regimes share a totalising control over narrative, using state propaganda to brand dissent as "sedition" or "treason against the state", or in Iran’s view, as "enemies of God" or "waging war against God".
This isn't just a comparison of personalities; it’s a comparison of consequences. I am highlighting that diplomatic concessions do not buy peace. They only finance the next phase of an aggressor's expansion.
In 1938, Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich claiming "peace for our time" after ceding the Sudetenland. He believed a "gentleman’s agreement" could sate a tiger. Today, the West’s attempt to use diplomacy and "hollow" nuclear deals is our modern Munich.
- The 1938 Mistake: Concessions emboldened the Nazis, making World War II inevitable.
- The 2020s Mistake: Hesitation in the face of Iranian aggression has allowed the "Paper Tiger" to arm its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, thus creating a ring of fire around the only democracy in the region, Israel.
In 1940, Britain stood alone. But then came Winston Churchill. It was the British spirit, unyielding, courageous, and proud, that held the line. Today, that spirit is being eroded by a "two-tier" justice system and a demographic shift that has left the "Mother of Parliaments" fearsome and cowardly.
How can a nation that took on the might of the Luftwaffe and Germany now tremble before a regime that its own people are trying to overthrow? The Ayatollahs, much like the Axis powers before their eventual collapse, rely on the illusion of invincibility. Israel has already proven this facade is brittle.
If the West does not find its "Churchillian" resolve, we will be forced into a conflict far more costly than a pre-emptive strike. We need a modern Nuremberg, not for those who lost a war, but for those who have spent decades waging a shadow war against civilisation itself.
To sharpen the "Christian fight-back" element, we must frame the conflict not just as a political struggle, but as a civilisational defence. This perspective argues that the West’s current paralysis stems from a "spiritual vacuum", where a loss of Christian identity has led to a loss of the will to survive.
Fortunately, by G-d’s grace, Donald Trump arrived on the scene. He is currently the only international leader with backbone while Israel has Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Great Abdication: Where is the Christian Fight-Back?
The most haunting question of our era is not what the Ayatollahs will do, but what the West has stopped doing. We are witnessing a historic surrender, not of territory, but of the very soul of Christendom and Western civilisation.
For centuries, the Christian faith, its Judeo-Christian ethics and culture was the bedrock of Western courage and civilisation. It was the "shield of faith" that allowed a small island nation like Britain to stand as a colossus against the darkness of 1940. Today, that shield has been cast aside. In its place is a hollowed-out secularism that mistakes tolerance for suicide.
When a demographic of only 6.5% can cow a once-great power, it is because that power no longer believes in its own foundational truth. The West has become "fearful to act" because it has forgotten the G-d that gave it the strength to act in the first place.
The "mother of parliaments" is now presiding over a two-tier justice system that prioritizes the sensibilities of a medieval, ruthless religious culture over the safety of its own citizens.
- The Old Guard: Defended the church, the crown, and the culture.
- The New Guard: Criminalises patriotism while ignoring the "invasion of savages" at the border.
How can a nation with a Christian heritage allow its sense of justice to be shifted toward a "flawed democracy" without a shot being fired? This is the result of religious brainwashing that has convinced the West to view its Islamic enemies as "biblical characters" rather than the existential threats they are. The image of an Arab with a headscarf and robes on a donkey in Israel is hardly biblical.
We do not need more "interfaith dialogue" with a regime that hangs its own people from cranes. We need a Christian fight-back, a return to the muscular resolve that understands that evil must be confronted, not managed.
The Ayatollahs are a paper tiger, but they thrive in the vacuum left by a retreating West. If the "Christian spirit" does not reawaken to defend its culture and civilisation, the "Paper Tiger" won't need to win a war; it will simply walk through the doors we have left wide open.
True leaders like Trump, Meloni and Netanyahu recognise that this is a battle for the survival of Western values and civilisation. But political leadership is not enough. The people must reclaim their pride, their courage, and their sense of justice. It is time to stop apologising for our civilisation and start defending it, as Israel does.
David Hersch is Chairman of SAIPAC, the South African Israel Public Affairs Committee. Former chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (Cape Council) as well as a former national vice-chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF). He is also former member of the South Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape Council). Retired businessman and broadcaster.
27 January 2026