Over the weekend, a militaristic power that’s spent a long time saber-rattling against and meddling in its neighbor’s affairs violated its territorial integrity and bombed the country. No, not Russia. In this case, I’m referring to Israel’s Sunday drone strike on Iran.

The incident is the first attack on Iran — that we know of, anyway — by Israel’s newly elected, illiberal coalition of racists, religious zealots, and other extremists. Raising military tensions with Iran is a grim rite of passage for every new Israeli government, with its “liberal” predecessor having threatened and carried out strikes on Iranian targets, and the right-wing government before that, also headed by current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, carrying out multiple assassinations inside of the country. In other words, to borrow from one of the dumbest things ever said on cable news, on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel . . . again.

Israel’s strike, carried out with the full backing of the Biden administration, is being sold by both governments as an attempt to “contain” Iran, a rather misleading framing. While Iran is a regional power that meddles in its neighbors’ business, so is Israel, which regularly visits violence on its neighbors, including Syria, and the Palestinian people. To say nothing of the monstrous eight-year-long war still being waged by nearby Saudi Arabia on Yemen (also with steadfast US backing).