Condemnation of the Attack on Iran

The undersigned members of the Institute of Philosophy at ZRC SAZU in Ljubljana, Slovenia, unequivocally condemn the Israeli military attack on Iran, which has introduced yet another layer of instability into a region already on the brink of collapse. The situation in Palestine—first in Gaza and now also in the West Bank—has long since spiralled out of control: not only at the level of discourse and political mentality, but also through the implementation of genocidal practices. The further expansion of the zone of violence now threatens to escalate the conflict to the point of global destabilisation, with consequences that until recently would have been unimaginable.

This act of aggression, presented by Israeli authorities as a so-called preemptive strike—without offering credible evidence of any direct, imminent, and unavoidable threat that might justify immediate action—began with the assassination of senior military officials and nine Iranian nuclear scientists. Even unprovoked killings of members of another state’s military constitute a grave violation of international law; all the more so when the victims are civilians.

Subsequent Israeli attacks—as well as retaliatory measures by Iran—have already claimed numerous civilian lives. And it is more than justified to fear that this is only the beginning. As in Gaza, the Israeli authorities are once again employing an extraordinarily cynical tactic: rather than avoiding civilian casualties by halting bombardments, they call on the residents of Tehran to evacuate preemptively—only to destroy, with even greater intensity, whatever they decided to destroy.

Yesterday, the President of the United States echoed this call, and the leaders of the G7 likewise voiced unequivocal support for the aggressor—revealing a painful dissonance with the actual course of events. In doing so, they have erased the last remaining grounds for even the faintest optimism. We are living in a time when the space for commonly accepted standards of judgment is rapidly contracting—and it is high time we do all we can to reclaim and expand that space.

We call on the academic community, civil society, the media, and political actors in Slovenia, Europe, and across the globe to firmly resist all attempts to relativise or justify unprovoked aggression. We expect the highest representatives of the Slovenian state to adopt an independent and resolute position on this matter, grounded in the principles of international law – as they did, to a great extent, in their condemnation of the genocide in Gaza. A genocidal policy does not deserve the labour of rationalisation, nor any effort to restore it to the framework of “reasonable” reality—it deserves nothing less than absolute and unqualified condemnation. Sadly, it seems that this is the only path to peace: to a peace we must learn to desire once again.

mag. Matej Ažman, dr. Rok Benčin, dr. Aleš Bunta, dr. Peter Klepec, dr. Uroš Kranjc, Vesna Liponik, dr. Aleš Mendiževec, dr. Boštjan Nedoh, dr. Arsalan Reihanzadeh, Lovrenc Rogelj, dr. Tadej Troha, dr. Matjaž Vesel, dr. Alenka Zupančič, dr. Marisa Žele