On April 1, Israel bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing 13 people, including a senior Iranian leader. This was, de facto, an act of war: the consulate and diplomatic missions of any country are considered the territory of that country, "inviolable" under international law. It''s not hard to imagine how severe the reprisals would be if a US or Israeli diplomatic facility were similarly attacked.

But what is most appalling is not this umpteenth transgression by Israel, but the absolute absence of condemnation from the self-proclaimed "International Community": on April 3, the United States, the United Kingdom and France opposed a statement condemning the bombing.

On the other hand, the same tartuffes were unanimous in their firm condemnation of Iran''s measured response. The European Union, the United States, NATO, London, Paris, Berlin... the "media’s International Community" rushed to issue condemnations in almost identical terms, following the example of our Belgian Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahbib, who wrote on X "This is a major escalation and a danger to regional stability. This attack endangers the population and takes us further away from peace". For our representative, it is not the bombing of a diplomatic representation (which she was conscientiously careful not to condemn) that is an escalation and endangers peace - but the reaction to this crime.

The West, which continually brandishes Israel''s absolute right to defend itself, is asking Iran to let itself be bombed without reacting.

When the United States massively bombed Yemen in defense of Israel''s economic interests, they called it "self-defense", and the so-called international community found it perfectly normal.

The hypocrisy of all these thurifers of the rules-based international order is fully exposed.

As the Iranian mission to the UN put it, "Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime''s reprehensible act of aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime could have been avoided". By failing to condemn the crime and "strongly" condemning the retaliation, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Europe is giving Israel a blank check, and effectively encouraging it to unleash a major conflict.