Israel has launched a round of airstrikes on Iran which the western news media are falling all over themselves to falsely frame as “retaliatory” strikes against an unprovoked missile attack by Iran.

As always, history begins the moment Israel is attacked, and all events leading up to that attack vanish from the official record as the imperial propaganda services churn out their headlines.

“Israel Launches Airstrikes Against Iran in Retaliatory Attack,” reads a headline from The New York Times, subtitled “Israel had promised strikes after Iran fired several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel earlier this month.”

“Israel has begun its retaliatory strikes on Iran, source says,” reads a headline from CNN.

“Israel begins retaliatory strikes against Iran following missile barrage targeting Israelis,” reads a headline from Fox News.

“Israel launches retaliatory attack against Iran,” reads a headline from Axios.

“Live updates: Israel says it has launched retaliatory attacks in Iran,” reads a headline from NBC News.

“Israel fires retaliatory strikes against Tehran over ballistic missile barrage,” reads a........

© Pearls and Irritations