Martine Gozlan

On the one hand, Rushdie’s quick question before the assassin strikes: “Why now, after all these years?” On the other, the questions raised by Tehran’s decision to pulverise its pseudo “strategic patience”, a euphemism used by the candid to describe the “Ayatollahesque” art of waging war without actually waging it, via their powerful satellites, from Hamas to Hezbollah via the Houthis, pirates equipped with the latest drones that block international maritime traffic.

In reality, fanaticism never disarms. That’s what this hard-hitting book and this military explosion are all about. More than thirty-three years had passed between the fatwa issued by Rouhollah Khomeini against the author of “The Satanic Verses” and the appearance of Hadi Matar, a fundamentalist of Lebanese origin, born in the United States and an admirer of Hezbollah, in a conference room in Chautauqua County, New York. Forty-five years have passed since the Islamic revolution made the destruction of Israel central to its rhetoric. But time is of little importance to the Islamists. They’re counting on more than ten thousand and one nights to sharpen their long knives. All the more so as we sleep, oblivious to the ancient plea scrawled by Goya at the bottom of his drawings: “The sleep of reason gives birth to monsters”. The day after the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie, we wrote in these columns: “The reverence for words that kill – the fatwa – and their bloody initials is extending its kingdom into the soft underbelly of the West. Millions of people whose impulse has replaced their conscience celebrate the slaughterer. ”  In Tehran, the daily Kayhan, a mouthpiece of the regime, was ecstatic: “Let us kiss the hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy with a knife! ”

The relaxation of the security service around the novelist is the result of the same reflex that anaesthetised diplomats and observers to the behaviour of the Islamic Republic. On 3 October 2023, Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Revolution, chanted: “With Allah’s help, the Zionist cancer will soon be eradicated forever, by the hands of the Palestinian people and the forces of resistance throughout the region.” Four days later, the pogromists of Hamas poured into the peaceful kibbutz on the border and the young idealists of the Nova festival. Even Israel had fallen asleep. Nevertheless, between 7 October and 14 April, the night of the missiles, a flood of soothing comments drowned out Iranian responsibility. Similarly, Hezbollah’s incessant attacks, which led to the evacuation of the entire population of northern Israel, were considered almost ridiculous. Although information from the Israeli research centre Alma on a network of tunnels linking Beirut, the Bekaa and southern Lebanon was virtually confirmed by the Shiite Party itself in a video broadcast on X (formerly Twitter) on 8 October showing a fictitious attack in Galilee, all the brilliant observers insisted on Hassan Nasrallah’s commendable “restraint”. The same people hailed the “moderation” of the Revolutionary Guards a few hours after their armada had American, European and Israeli defences. This was described as a “choreography”, with the Western services having been warned at the last minute. How gallantly the desire for extermination is expressed! The sight of a missile intercepted by the Iron Dome over the al-Aqsa mosque should have sent crowds of believers into the streets, outraged by Iran’s cynicism in threatening the Muslim holy site while claiming to be saving it. Nothing came of it. Propaganda or fear? Both, of course.

But the truth has not yet spoken. Salman Rushdie the survivor continues to speak to us. Everywhere, the Muslim Brotherhood – which inspired Khomeini to betray the Shiite philosophy – has disappointed the expectations of its electorate, as confirmed by the survey conducted by Sarah Ben Néfissa and Pierre Vermeren, of which Screen Watch has published exclusive extracts. The deadly mullahs are attacking Israel because the gulf between them and the Persian people – who hate neither Jews nor the West – has never been wider. Their march to war is an admission of weakness.