Nigeria, June 21 -- Last week, as yet another tragic chapter unfolded in the intractable and ever-escalating Iran-Israel conflict, I found myself in the midst of conversations, intense, impassioned, and sometimes uncomfortably raw. The participants weren't diplomats or scholars. They were ordinary people - men and women, brown and white, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians - all fiercely devoted to their own perspectives, each convinced they were defending not merely an opinion but the truth.

One particularly striking exchange stood out. It was between two men: a Jordanian Muslim and a Nigerian Christian. The Jordanian, animated and seething with conviction, declared with unwavering finality that anyone supporting Israel's military ac...