A question for Mandy Rhodes: who has killed the most women over the last year, Iran or Israel?

I saw a furious response on Twitter to a Mandy Rhodes article about the Israeli assault on Iran, and having taken a look I can understand where her detractor is coming from.  Ms Rhodes seems to have heartily embraced the prevailing London media narrative of "when Israel is committing a genocide, the priority is clear - we must denounce left-wing activism at Glastonbury".  Specifically she thinks activists have no right to champion Iran over Israel-Trump, given Iran's appalling human rights record.  She cites the high number of executions in Iran, and in particular the number of executions of women - although oddly the main thing she succeeds in doing is demonstrating that the number of women executed is only a very small percentage of the overall number of executions in Iran.  As in most countries with the death penalty, the people most affected, to a vastly disproportionate degree, are men - and to be clear, that does not make it any the more excusable.

One thing that can be said to Israel's credit is that it is 'abolitionist in practice' on the death penalty - it has only executed two people in its history, and the last one was Adolf Eichmann well over half a century ago.  But how much of a virtue is that in the real world, when Israel's allies allow it to commit extra-judicial killings on an industrial scale with absolute impunity?  Who has killed the most people over the last year - Iran or Israel?  Who has killed the most women over the last year - Iran or Israel?  Who has killed the most children over the last year - Iran or Israel?  It's not even a contest.

The US, by contrast, is very much on the same page as Iran in its enthusiastic application of the death penalty against both men and women.  In fact, the three countries with the highest number of verified executions in 2023 were Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US.  The list would undoubtedly be topped by China if the number of executions there wasn't kept secret, but nevertheless the US is almost certain to be in the top seven or so.  Donald Trump has of course lifted the moratorium on the use of the federal death penalty.  If Mandy Rhodes thinks a country's retention of capital punishment means it can never be actively supported in military conflicts regardless of any other circumstances, I trust we'll find that she's been morally consistent over the years by refraining from showing any support for military action taken by the US in the aftermath of 9/11, for example.

A key point that left-wing activists who have expressed sympathy for Iran in recent weeks would make is that Iran was the victim of unprovoked aggression from Israel, and indeed aggression motivated by a desperate wish to distract the world's attention from the genocide in Gaza - a tactic of breathtaking cynicism that Ms Rhodes seems only too keen to reward Netanyahu for.  If a country's poor human rights record means that the normal sympathies can't be extended to it when it is the victim of unprovoked aggression, I trust we'll find Ms Rhodes consistently applied the same principle immediately after the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023, and refused to express any sympathy for Israel due to its brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank since 1967.

As for any suggestion that the Israeli and US bombing of Iran can be justified as a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear programme, don't make me laugh.  Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  It does not possess nuclear weapons and according to America's own intelligence assessment of only a few weeks ago, it was not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.  By contrast, Israel is one of a tiny number of countries to have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and it has possessed nuclear weapons for decades.  If belligerent Middle Eastern countries possessing nuclear weapons is deemed to be a problem, the first step towards a solution is pretty obvious - Israel must be disarmed at all costs.