> On the contrary, it sends a strong "fuck around and find out" message to any country pursuing nuclear weapons.

We have yet to see how effective these attacks were in preventing Iran from getting the bomb. Early reports seem to suggest, not that effective.

I, however, am more concerned with the fact that Israel—a nuclear armed state—gets to be the arbiter of nuclear non-proliferation. The hypocrisy of these actions should not escape anyone, and it sends the message that some states are allowed to keep the bomb in defiance to international treaties. If Iran has to suffer for wrongly pursuing the bomb, why doesn’t Israel have to suffer equally, for much worse crimes than Iran?

Validating these attacks on the grounds of nuclear non-proliferation is setting up a false dichotomy. There is an available third option here, which Israel seems hellbent on disrupting. We could negotiate with Iran, and have them dismantle their nuclear weapons program (or at least, not pursuing it further). This has worked in the past, and—and I’m just an observer here—given the fact that Israel is well past the point of international sanctions for their Gaza genocide, the west has another ace up their sleeve and could even promise to sanction Israel for their nuclear weapons program in return.