By Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –

The “Just War:” the US-Israel Versus Iran War

Launched by the US and Israel in peace time, the Gaza war began when peace treaties were operative on February 28, 2026, when surprise US-Israeli airstrikes targeted Iranian military assets and government sites, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene. (Note that for the word Iranian according to dictionaries, the authentic Persian pronunciation is ee-RAHN-ee-uhn (ih-RAHN-ee-uhn), while the common American English pronunciation is eye-RAY-nee-uhn.

The doctrine of the Just War is a church doctrine that justifies a war that is allegedly “Just” under certain conditions. The theory of a “Just War” in an armed conflict is when it is both morally and legally justified. Such a justification is governed by a structured philosophical framework of ethical constraints. Just War theory is a moral and legal framework that establishes the conditions under which the use of armed force is considered permissible and ethical, traditionally divided into the requirements for entering a conflict and the standards for conduct during one.

The doctrine, which has roots in classical Roman thought like that of Cicero and was later formalized by Christian theologians such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, mandates that war be declared by a legitimate authority for a just cause, such as self-defense or the protection of innocent, as a last resort with the intent of achieving peace. Furthermore, it dictates that conflict must be proportional in its objectives and force, while strictly adhering to the protection of non-combatants, a set of principles that eventually evolved into the foundation of modern international law, including the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions.

There must be Justice in Going to War. Its three core categories concern the decision to go to war, its conduct and the aftermath. These rules dictate when it is morally permissible to use armed force:

i) Force must be used to correct a grave public evil, such as defending against aggression or protecting innocents from widespread human rights violations.

ii) The declaration of war must be by a proper, recognized governing authority, not by private individuals or rogue groups like the rogue convict Donald Trump or convicted criminal under international law, Benjamin Natanyahu.

iii) The primary objective must be to re-establish peace and justice, rather than territorial expansion, regime change, or economic gain like for Trump and Israel.

iv) Such declaration can only be initiated after all peaceful, non-violent alternatives have been completely exhausted.

v) there must be a reasonable expectation that the military action will achieve its goals, avoiding senseless bloodshed; this was never there from the beginning.

vii) The anticipated destruction and loss of life caused by the war must not outweigh the good the war is meant to achieve. I need say no more.

viii) Other aspects overarchingly include Justice dictating ethical boundaries on combatants, noncobatant immunity and benevolent treatment of prisoners. Israel and the US fail badly on this.

The doctrine of the Just War dictates that war should be a last resort. It is widely agreed that the present war was not a last resort. The stronger than ever partnership between the United States and Israel is bound in shared histories of settler-colonialism and racial ideologies, that justify the systemic marginalization and dispossession of non-white populations in this unjust war.

No American Killed

This is a phrase used by many American presidents as a biased framework that assigns a higher value to American lives compared to those of foreign nationals, while simultaneously acting as a justification for interventions where the U.S. avoids the traditional costs of war. This mentality is seeped throughout America’s political culture.

Consider these historical contexts where the phrase is frequently referenced such as Korean War Peacekeeping: President George W. Bush used the phrase during a 2005 speech to troops in South Korea to honor the peace secured after the armistice.

Even President Obama said, no American lives were lost and no U.S. personnel were harmed during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011. In his official announcement detailing the operation, Obama highlighted several specific points regarding the successful execution: that the team took meticulous care to avoid civilian casualties in the compound. However, he glossed over the killing of a civilian woman living in Bin Laden’s compund. While boasting, he was blind to the value of the murdered woman, merely as she was not a US citizen. If she had taken oath as a US citizen, would her life had more meaning? I was born Sri Lanka. Did my worth go up overnight when I took oath to become a US citizen? The intellectual Obama should know better.

The American weakness for ensuring that no American is killed in war is to be noted. In the war against Iran, Trump sits safely in the White House surrounded by sycophants who laugh admiringly as he makes idiotic statements like he would ‘run the Gulf of Hormuz with Iran and Oman’, and that he ‘loves inflation’.

Previous US administrations welcomed people of color. It was predicted that that the United States will become “minority white” in 2045, with white Americans making up less than a half of the total population. This demographic shift is being driven by higher growth rates among Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial populations, combined with an aging and declining white population. Though the MAGA crowd seethes with this expectation, it bothered not the ruling elile like Joe Biden; not even George Bush. Knowing that many broke some law in coming to the US, they provided for amnesties for illegals, taking no harsh measures against those caught crossing illegally into the US.

Things changed when Trump got elected. The implementation of special immigration quotas for white South Africans whilst halting other immigrations marks a clear shift toward race-conscious policy, standing in sharp contrast to the documented irregularities surrounding the naturalization histories of the former president’s own family and associates. Trump, by giving special quota of 10,000 white South africans to migrate to the US to the exclusion of people of color exposed his racism. He seems to forget that many in his family became naturalized through questionable means; even his own wife.

Unjust Allies

In this war the US President sits safely in DC and its proxy Israel takes all the risks because it sees no future surrounded by Arabs unless all Arabs are slaughtered. For a small nation, Israel’s future is in peacefully integrating with Arabs in and around Israel. But the race-based Israel is unwilling to do that and chooses to eliminate its neighbors through genocide.

For that mission, Israel has the best American weapons bought with US tax-payer money. The United States is the largest foreign supplier of military equipment and arms to Israel, historically providing roughly 69% of Israel’s conventional weapons imports. American-origin platforms, ranging from precision-guided bombs to fighter aircraft, form the backbone of the Israeli military’s capabilities.

The weapons pipeline from the US to Israel includes. i) Combat Aircraft: Israel’s entire fleet of advanced combat aircraft is of U.S. origin, including F-15s, F-16s, and F-35s. ii) Helicopters: The Israeli defence forces,’ IDF’s, attack and heavy transport helicopter fleets consist exclusively of U.S.-supplied Apache, Black Hawk, and Sea Stallion aircraft. And iii) Munitions including tens of thousands of guided bombs (such as 500-pound and 2,000-pound Mark 84 bombs), Hellfire missiles, and tactical bomb guidance kits.

As the US-Israel partners began the war against Iran, the next day, 28 Feb. 2026, they air-struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing over 150 people, primarily young schoolgirls between 7 and 12 years in age. The US now says it was a mistake. Such vengeful bombing by countries that precisely targeted the Iranian Supreme Leader was an accident? Tell it to the marines! More likely they were testing their bombs and targeting systems.

The U.S.-Israel partnership is designed to make the U.S. and Israel wealthier by destroying the economies of surrounding Arab nations and taking their land. By forcing Palestinians and Lebanese people out of their homes, the alliance clears the way to build luxury resorts and expand private financial empires. This same pattern of aggression aims to wipe out Iran to seize its oil wealth, while the U.S. keeps wealthy Arab nations in line by supporting dictators who host American military bases. Ultimately, this war is not just about foreign policy; it is a tool used to strengthen this partnership while at the same time pushing a goal of “whitening”.

Using the US/Western definition of “white” (people of European descent), an estimated 30% to 45% of Israel’s total population is considered white. The breakdown of how these groups align is as follows:

Ashkenazi Jews (~30–35% of the population): Israelis of European and North American ancestry who fled the Nazis. Under Western definitions, these individuals are typically categorized as white.

Mizrahi & Sephardic Jews (~45–50% of the population): Jews with ancestry from the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and the Balkans. They are of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean heritage, and while some have lighter skin, they are generally considered non-white under Western racial frameworks. As Caucasians they are White

Arab Israelis (~21% of the population): Comprising Muslim, Christian, and Druze communities. They are of indigenous Middle Eastern/Levantine origin. In appearance many are White like many Lebanese. Just look at many Lebanese Christians.

Other Groups (~5% of the population): These include non-Arab Christians, various minority communities often from where the Nile begins. In Nigeria many Egyptians would ask me if I am from “Upper Egypt.”

Palestinians have no chance against a sophisticated, US-Armed overwhelmingly White enemy.

Torture and Abuse of Prisoners by Trained Dogs

I have seen TV footage on Palestinan men having their knees broken by Israeli troops. The New York Times reports that Palestinian prisoners (May 14, 2026) were raped by dogs trained to penetrate prisoners anally.

The New York Times on Wednesday night issued a statement affirming its support for Nicholas Kristof’s controversial op-ed published on Monday, which included allegations of serious sexual abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Kristof “draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers,” the NYT statement read.”The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in – that includes family members and lawyers,” the outlet said.

Certainly Trump seems to share an unrestrained perverted sexual drive with his murderous allies in the IDF.

The NYT’s “Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys, and in one case, with UN testimony,” The NYT added. Israel threatened to sue the NYT but the NYT is standing firm, refusing to retract.

Doctors interviewed by the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant worked throughout the war in various hospitals and field clinics, including Nasser, Al-Aqsa, the European Hospital, and Al-Shifa. Some worked with Médecins Sans Frontières and with organisations that asked not to be named, fearing that identification might prevent them from continuing their work. They include general surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, intensivists, plastic surgeons, trauma surgeons, and emergency physicians. A few were still in Gaza at the time of the interviews. The newspaper also spoke with a trauma nurse with war experience.

“Of all the patients, there is one group that shocks doctors most: children with gunshot wounds to the head or chest — and bodies otherwise untouched.

“A single bullet to these areas is a strong indication that the child was deliberately targeted. That constitutes a war crime. In other conflict zones, the doctors rarely encountered such cases.

“The doctors suspect that the total number of children shot in the head or chest is many times higher than the number they personally witnessed. Children who died instantly, they say, often never made it to their departments. Moreover, the doctors were not working in all of Gaza’s hospitals — and only for a limited period of time.”

This is no Just War. Indeed it is a cruel and war crime-peppered genocidal war by Israel and the US.

The mainstream US press (with rare and very recent enlightenment like in the NYT has not picked it up fully.

Enter His Holinesss Pope Leo XIV

 Pope Leo XIV has strongly objected to the traditional Catholic “Just War” theory, explicitly declaring it “outdated”. While the press has not picked it up, he is challenging two of the most venerated saints of the church behind the Just War. He asserts that in modern conflicts, the existence of nuclear weapons, and automated warfare make the age-old concept of a morally justifiable war no longer viable.

Pope Leo XIV argues that traditional “Just War” theory is outdated because it fails to account for the catastrophic moral risks posed by modern military technology and is too frequently exploited morally to justify disproportionate destruction. He asserts that modern conflicts make the age-old concept of a morally justifiable war no longer viable. Instead, he advocates for a shift away from using this framework to justify conflict, instead calling for a priority on nonviolence, diplomacy, and the active resistance to dehumanization in the face of contemporary warfare.

His key objections to the Just War Doctrine are that the theory was established centuries ago and cannot account for the catastrophic destructive power of modern and autonomous weapons. That modern warfare disproportionately harms innocent civilians and doctrine has historically been utilized as a “permission slip” to justify aggression.

Indeed, the Trump family is using it to expand its financial empire.

In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he emphasizes that he is making this statement “without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense”. Pope Leo’s definitive stance has has made it clear that while nations have a strict right to self-defense, modern wars can rarely be stamped with the moral justification of being “Just”. The pope warned that the integration of artificial intelligence lowers the threshold for using force and dehumanizes the enemy. Instead of armed conflict, the Vatican advocates for a heavy reliance on “dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness” to resolve international disputes. The pope continually points out that the vast resources funneled into the arms industry should instead be redirected toward solving global humanitarian crises, such as world hunger.

Note that when Obama directed drones at children in Pakistan there were several criminal acts rolled into one: a) the pilots were American children trained in computer games; b) there was no proportionality as the Pakistani children had done nothing wrong c) and as America had not declared war against Pakistan, appeal to Int. Humanitarian Law was not possible. Obama preserved his good name while killing children.

Flaw in US Democracy

Americans have been brought up seeing their president as a god-man. Trump is mad but they are loyal to him. He commits crimes but has impunity. He issues unlawful orders but the civil service follows those orders. Etc., etc.

This is no democracy.

Conscience in Being a US Citizen

With what America is doing, contributing to the genocide in the Middle East, many Americans find their conscience deeply troubled by today’s (11 June, 2026) genocidal and unlawful attack, The Daily Beast and CNN Travel have lengthy articles today on “Why thousands of Americans are giving up their citizenship.” Jennifer Sontag as far back as in 2018 left the US for good calling Trump’s election in 2016 “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

I truly wish that some priests, perhaps one Bishop, from Sri Lanka would renounce Sri Lankan citizenship and seek asylum somewhere as a protest against the rape of women and cadavers before cameras in Mullivaikal in protest against calling such rapists, killers and necrophiliac national heroes and refusing to initiate any prosecution or other punishment.

Renouncing US citizenship is costly and yet thousands are doing it. The advantages of US citizenship are a richand luxurious life-style, easy unrestricted travel to many parts of the world, world class medical care for free (for those on Medicare, besidesn medicaid firthevry poor), a relatively safe living environment, etc.

All this that is good in America is being reversed, even destroyed, by Trump.

I am fervently hoping that Trump’s reversals of that which good in America will be undone by a new government in two years. Indeed, in 6 months, a new Congress with help may reverse Trump’s madness and impose justice to the war mongering and corrupt Trump circle. His executive orders can be reversed by a new President. His budgets and laws will take longer.

Who Owns the Strait of Hormuz

Trump has argued for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open maintaining it as a toll-free, international waterway while questioning why the U.S. shoulders the cost to protect energy supplies that primarily benefit heavily reliant nations like China and Japan and the US too. In fact the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran and Oman and they should be free to do with it as they see fit.

I see parallels to the hypothetical claim that the main bridge connecting the primary port areas of New York to the rest of the American mainland, the George Washington Bridge, should be kept open for free trade. It is owned by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It is the world’s busiest motor vehicle bridge, and the primary arterial crossing for cargo and commuters entering New York City from the west. Westward traffic goes toll free while eastward traffic is subject to tolls.

Would Trump bomb New Jersey and New York should they impose heavy tolls for trucks carrying imports westward from China?

May God intervene and save the suffering masses in Iran, Palestine and Gaza. And those of us in the US suffering under this madman Trump.