What Israel must do next to retain the ‘iron-clad’ support of its Western allies

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

President Biden reaffirmed the USA's ‘iron-clad’ support for Israel after it came under missile attack from Iran (AP)

Certain contributors to The Independent’s letters page clearly have short memories. Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran did not appear to have any issues with Israel. But, on assuming power, supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini arbitrarily declared it to be an enemy and set about uniting the religious, political and military powers to his view.

This was a time when the majority of Arab states, following the Yom Kippur war, were slowly coming to the conclusion that open conflict with Israel was pointless, and that negotiation was more likely to result in an acceptable settlement to the so-called “Palestinian question”. Not so Iran, who has continued to sponsor hostility to Israel’s very existence, but never hitherto fought an open war with Israel, preferring to rely on proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis) to do its “dirty work”.

My question is: why has the international community allowed Iran, through proxies, to threaten and kill Israeli citizens?