Defenders or Destroyers?
When leaders harden, humanity crumbles.
Dateline: June 16, 2025 — Tel Aviv, Tehran, and the skies between
Last night, fire rained from above.
Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones into Israeli cities including Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Petah Tikva. According to Deutsche Welle, the strikes left at least five dead and many injured, with one explosion occurring dangerously close to the U.S. Embassy. Before dawn, Israel retaliated with precision strikes on Iranian targets, including the Fordow nuclear enrichment site, raising concerns of nuclear escalation.
Each side calls it defense. Each claims justification.
But beneath the warplanes, civilians shelter and suffer. Parents clutch their children in fear. Streets become rubble. Hospitals overflow. The same patterns repeat: from Tehran to Tel Aviv, from one strike to the next.
Our latest poster, “Defenders or Destroyers?”, captures this dangerous symmetry. Two opposing soldiers, cast as stone statues, stand locked in posture, each holding a missile, each holding a child. Their faces show no emotion. Their strength offers no comfort. Between them, a balance scale tips under the weight of destruction.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians — women, children — that it carried out deliberately.”
— Netanyahu, speaking after a missile strike in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
“Israel has set itself up for a bitter and painful fate.”
— Khamenei, in a message promising retaliation following Israeli airstrikes
This is not just a clash of nations. It’s a warning. A crisis of imagination. A test of whether leadership can evolve before devastation becomes irreversible.
Meanwhile, at the G7 summit in Canada, world leaders failed to present a unified call for de-escalation. President Trump declined to endorse a joint statement condemning Iran or urging restraint. Markets stayed surprisingly calm (Reuters), but the world watches anxiously; because every new strike brings us one step closer to catastrophe.
The people did not choose this war. But they will carry its scars.
Question for the comments:
What does real leadership look like in times of crisis? Who speaks for the children in the crossfire?
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