In his masterpiece “The Satanic Verses,” Salman Rushdie wrote, “From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.” Perhaps even Mr. Rushdie didn’t know how true that would prove in his own life. Months after its publication, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini invoked God to “call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill [Mr. Rushdie] without delay.” Last week, Hadi Matar nearly ended Mr. Rushdie’s life, seemingly in answer to the ayatollah’s call. While the Islamist regime in my country and the assailant it appears to have inspired bear responsibility for this attack, they were enabled by Western policy makers.
Those of us with firsthand experience of Tehran’s depravity have long warned the West against appeasing its threats. The regime has carried out assassinations from its first day, including of my cousin Shahriar Shafiq. When Khomeini first shamefully invoked God in his unjustifiable call for Mr. Rushdie’s death in 1989, I spoke with Western media and leaders about holding the regime to account for this wanton call to violence.
