Urging his fellow Africans to eschew the “victim mentality” of blaming their countries’ woes on the depredations of European colonialism, Ibitoye Olukosi suggests they look to Zionism for inspiration:

Africans are not the only people who have had to pass through a phase where they were dehumanized, humiliated, spat on, raped, killed like animals, and dispersed across the globe. At various points in Jewish history, Jews were driven from their original homes, scattered abroad, and almost wiped out in a Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany, until they gradually went back to Israel and [created a state there in] 1948. . . .

Israel was more or less a “desert” when the Jews [returned en masse]. But today, it has been transformed into an indispensable country, visited by citizens of many other nations for religious tourism and academic exchange programs. Similarly, many countries now rely on, and partner with, Israel in science, technology, military, trade, and security. No doubt, this is a miracle considering [how] Jews were treated . . . in Europe and elsewhere 71 years ago.

Moreover, the Jews did not delay their progress by blaming Hitler for killing over six million of their kind; nor did they blame anyone for their having to live in exile for more than 1,000 years; rather, they put the awful experiences behind them, rolled up their sleeves, and rebuilt themselves and their country. I am very sure that Israel would be at the mercy of its hostile neighbors or Western allies today should they have held on to the victim mentality.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.