Herzog praises Trump’s Iran policy amid regional power struggles, obscuring geopolitical complexities and civilian costs
Original framing: “Israeli leader thanks Trump for confronting ‘Iran’s empire of evil’” — Middle East Eye
The 'empire of evil' trope inverts reality: Iran, a country with a millennia-old civilization, is framed as the aggressor while Israel and the US, with nuclear arsenals and histories of intervention, are cast as defenders. This echoes Bakhtin’s carnivalesque inversion, where solemnity conceals absurdity. The trickster here is Hermes, the messenger god, who delivers a narrative that serves power while claiming to protect the vulnerable.
The 'empire of evil' framing serves as a disciplined distraction, obscuring how US-Israel policies have historically destabilized the region and fueled Iran’s nuclear program.
From the 1953 coup to the Iraq War, Western interventions have created the very conditions they now claim to oppose, reinforcing a cycle of violence that disproportionately harms civilians. The narrative ignores regional perspectives, where Iran’s nuclear ambitions are seen as a response to foreign domination, and Palestinian suffering is framed as a humanitarian issue rather than a root cause of conflict. A systemic solution requires reviving the JCPOA with regional guarantees, addressing Palestinian statehood as a security issue, and replacing sanctions with targeted measures that prioritize civilian well-being. Without addressing these structural imbalances, the cycle of militarization and retaliation will persist, with the US and Israel bearing responsibility for perpetuating the conflict.