Blast off

Most commentators suspected that 2026 was going to be action-packed, but hardly anyone predicted that it would blast off in such a spectacular fashion.

All eyes were focused on the continuing civilian uprising in Iran, where the long-suffering citizens of that Islamic-occupied country are again trying to throw off the oppressive yoke of the mullah regime. This is not the first time Iranians have come out onto the streets to reclaim freedom and human rights.

Previous attempts have failed as the regime has harshly retaliated and arrested as well as killed demonstrators. Weak leadership by Western democracies, notably an appeasing EU and clueless US administrations, failed to support Iranian aspirations. As a result, wholesale roundups ensued with mass detentions and subsequent executions.

The fall of the Soviet Union was inevitable following internal corruption and a collapsing economy combined with years of human rights abuses. The same fatal maladies are afflicting the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the favourite tactics of any dictatorship is to divert its citizens’ attention away from internal problems by blaming everything on an external enemy.

Jews have historically been the prime candidates for this type of blame game. The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt knew a thing or two about this as we recall every year at Pesach. Ironically, it was a Persian politician by the name of Haman who devised a scheme to eliminate all Jewish citizens of the empire. We survived that attempt as the story of Purim attests.

Over the millennia, tyrants, despots and dictators all tried the same old scheme. As the USSR discovered, the eternal people outlived the Communist empire.

The Iranian mullahs and jihadist exporters of terror resorted to the same failed tactics.

At some stage, the truth escapes, and it becomes impossible to cover up and hide massive corruption and increasing ineptitude. One can only suppress freedoms and massacre the truth for a certain period of time. It is inevitable that at some stage, pressure for change must erupt. The lies and conspiracy fables are exposed, and anger over years of deception rises to the surface.

This is what we are witnessing on the streets of Iran at the moment.

It is also a scenario that sends shivers down the spines of dictatorships elsewhere. News can no longer be suppressed, and the masses cannot be kept in eternal ignorance.

The burning question is whether the leading country of the free world will once again abandon freedom-seeking Iranians. President Trump has offered plenty of rhetorical advice, but that will not save Iranians from the wrath of their fanatical rulers.

All eyes are now on Venezuela.

The incoming year had just blasted off when news broke that US forces had launched a lightning raid on Caracas and taken the country’s leader and his wife captive. Photos of the deposed President in handcuffs quickly circulated, and within a very short space of time, he and his wife arrived in the USA. He has been arraigned in front of a court in New York and is safely ensconced in a high-security jail.

My first reaction on hearing the breaking news after Shabbat was to speculate as to how long it would take for “Zionists” to be accused of complicity in some sort of murky conspiracy. Secondly, how quickly would knee-jerk fellow travellers of communist and so-called “progressive” dictators rally on the streets of democracies?

The answers were not long in appearing.

True to a well-worn script, the Vice President of Venezuela announced that she detected a “Zionist tint”, which of course proved that once again “the nefarious Jews” were somehow involved. In trotting out this old, well-rehearsed libel, she laid the groundwork for the inevitable recriminations and denunciations.

At the same time, the usual motley collection of brain-addled groups burst forth onto the streets.

Demonstrating their inbred cluelessness, these “rent-a-crowd” masses proclaim their undying loyalty to corrupt regimes and an ideology that embraces such progressive luminaries as the supreme leaders of Iran and North Korea.

Even more pathetic are the antics and pronouncements of politicians in many democratic countries.

Needless to say, the United Nations and its officials have also joined in the chorus of denunciations of Trump and the USA.

It is incredibly revealing when one hears their pontifications and witnesses their righteous convulsions.

According to Prime Minister Albanese and his fellow socialist colleagues, the only way to deal with human rights abusers who are buddies with the world’s worst thugs is via “diplomacy and dialogue.”

This is the same failed strategy that enabled Hitler to implement the Shoah, Stalin to murder millions in the Gulags, Kim Jong Un to imprison and enslave millions in North Korea, and Ali Khamenei to promote terror groups worldwide.

Apparently, according to assorted political and leftist legal commentators, it is preferable to allow these scourges of humanity a free rein rather than attempt to bring them to justice. That explains why millions have been murdered over the years without the perpetrators ever being brought to account.

The same chorus of condemnation issued forth when Israel captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and flew him back to Israel to stand trial for war crimes.

That sums up the twisted moral contortions now on display as demonstrators and their cheerleaders take to the streets. Banners and posters denouncing “capitalist imperialism” and touting the virtues of communism prove that years of expensive tertiary education have produced a historically bankrupt generation.

 The events in Venezuela bring into sharp focus the precarious and perilous situation of Jews who still remain in that failed nation. Nowadays, only a shadow of what was once a large community remains there. Those who did not flee years ago when the writing was clearly on the wall face a fraught present and an even more dangerous future.

Crime, drug gangs and years of anti-Israel/Zionist conditioning, combined with economic disaster, have resulted in Jews becoming increasingly vulnerable.

This is what happens when early warning signs are ignored in the hope that it will all blow over.

Our history is full of similar situations, and yet the lessons are not learnt.

South Africa is another classic example of how leaving exits too late inevitably leads to dire consequences.

Turkey’s Jews are also living on borrowed time.

My grandparents’ generation in Germany had no safe haven to offer them sanctuary. Their loyalty to the “fatherland” did not save them.

With Jewish sovereignty re-established after two thousand years of exile, now is the perfect time to return to Zion.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.