Much has been said about the Israeli-Arab conflict. Sometimes, it seems that the truth has been lost between all the propaganda doses from all sides.
After the 1979 revolution, Iran became the single biggest opponent of Israel in the region, bigger opponents than the Palestinians themselves. It has been said that Iranians look at the empty half of the glass only, however, in this article, I put down some of the more common reasoning the IRI mentions, to justify its animosity towards Israel.
In the beginning, I have to say, although I believe Israel has accomplished much for its citizens, but I have not been a fan of Israel for a long time. Although Israel has the right to exist like any other nation, but much of its current territory is built on occupied Palestinian land. Israel has also occupied Syrian and Lebanese lands. Israeli actions in the Palestinian territory are unjustified, brutal and inhumane. The world needs to come together to stop Israeli actions in Palestinian territories. All that being said, King Abdullah of S. Arabia introduced a great peace offer to Israel in 2002, where as in return for Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands, all Arab countries will recognize Israel and establish normal relations with it and live in peace with it. I think if Israel doesn’t accept this offer, it has only itself to blame.
In this article though, I like to examine Iran’s stance towards Israel. Our country and people have sacrificed a lot, and I mean a lot, for IRI’s blind anti Israeli sentiments. Many countries, groups, parties and organizations..oppose Israeli actions, but none of them put a burden on their people as much as we have paid. We have become isolated, hated, we regressed, we paid human and material price, we have been threatened to be attacked, and we have been looked down upon by most of the world (with the exception of some fascist Islamist and lefty loonies), because of this stance. There is a different between opposing something, and “blindly”, opposing something. Some of the most outspoken Israeli critics are Israel’s friends, such as Turkey. So why is IRI acting like as it is? Below is some of the most common rhetoric used by the regime:
* IRI is anti Israeli because it has occupied Arab lands: Not true. Iran has not taken a unified stance towards occupied Arab lands. As we speak, there are other Arab territories occupied by non-Arab countries that you hear nothing about from the incredibly powerful IRI propaganda machine. Examples are 2 Moroccan cities occupied by Spain, and and city of Eskanadaroon in Syria (Iran’s closest ally!) occupied by Turkey. These issues have been a major source of tension between Morocco – Spain and Turkey – Syria, but you never hear the IRI talk about them.
* IRI is anti Israeli because it has occupied an Islamic country’s territory: Also not true. Iran has not taken a unified stance towards that also. There are other non-Arab Islamic lands occupied by non-Muslims as we speak, but you never hear the IRI mention a single word about them. Examples are Chechnya by Russia, Kashmir by India, Somalia by Ethiopia, Sin Kiang province by China. Muslims living in those areas, claim that their lands have been occupied by non-Muslims, but the IRI never spits out a single sentence regarding those cases.
* IRI is anti Israeli because it is concerned about the human rights violations by Israel: I think we all know the answer to that. How can a government which has the absolute minimum, if any, regard for its own citizens’ life, dignity and rights, care about Palestinian rights? Iran’s record in human rights is pretty much agreed upon by most of the world to be one of the worst, if not the worst. All one needs to do is look at any Human Rights organization report to see where Iran stands on different Human Rights respect categories.
* IRI is anti Israeli because Israel hates us: Most Iranians know that’s not the case. Before the IRI start its blind anti Israeli campaign, Israel never harmed Iranian interests nor it worked against our country. As a matter of fact, even after the 1979 revolution, Israel attacked the Osirak nuclear power in Iraq, which helped Iran. That doesn’t’ mean as Iranians and as neutral observers, we should overlook Israeli crimes, but, again, how far are we going on being Israel’s critics?
* IRI is anti Israeli because Israel was illegally established after WWII: Not true. Many countries were established only after WWII which were not historically established as countries, examples are, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Persian Gulf countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh, more than half of African countries, …and the list goes on. So should those countries be as Khomeini said, “eliminated by all Muslims picking up a bucket of water and spilling it on Israel” also? In addition, IRI makes the arguments that Palestinian Muslims were the only inhabitants of that area, which is like everything else they say, untrue. Jews used to live there also, along with Christians and Muslims, for thousands of years. Offourse the Muslims were the majority and that demographic should not change by force. But, if you make that argument, then we, as Iranians, need to leave Iran and give the country back to the Ilamites. After all, we’ve been living in Iran for 2500 years only (at least our Aryan population has,.. Turks, Arabs, Mongols, Indians, and others came later,), and the Ilamites have been living there long before the Aryans came.
Those are most of the claims made by the IRI to justify its blind anti Israeli rethoric. So what is or are the real reasons behind this animosity that the IRI started against Israel? Well, for one, IRI complains about Europe not allowing investigation into the Holocaust, but itself does not allow any discussion over the Israeli conflict that does reflect Khomeini’s fundamentalist vision. As result, we will not get the truth from IRI.
So what’s the real reason? Iranians have realized that the IRI actions are results of two things:
1. Iran takes this stance towards Israel because it has occupied “religious: Islamic sites, not just any Palestinian, or Syrian, or Lebanese land, and since the IRI has sacrificed our country to portray itself as the only true Islamic government in the world, at minimum just to energize its base and spread its propaganda, it has taken a fury stance against the occupation of Quds. Again, most people oppose Israeli occupation of Quds, but no one acts recklessly, unjustifiably, inhumanely and irresponsibly the way the IRI does.
2. Since Israel is U.S closest ally in the region, for the IRI to, again, at minimum to energize its base in Iran, it has looked upon this issue as a proxy war with the United States. After all, you can’t bash and trash a country 24/7, and not take any action to show the world you are, in reality also, oppose to it. For some less educated and traditional Iranians, Provocation and thugness is a way of life . The IRI made that way of life, a government policy, and it used the blind anti Americanism as its main tool to justify its existence and policies. Some of the reasons go back to the fact that since the IRI consists of disfranchised, neglected, uneducated and traditional-minded segment of our society that were looked down upon by the most sophisticated, westernized, and most importantly, Americanized, Iranians during the Shah regime, they have been attacking that same Americanization that reflected in their oppressors. After all, Khomeini said, the revolution was a “cultural revolution” more than anything, and he was absolutely right. Also, many dictatorships use anti Americanism to gather support among their faithful in order to gain power. Examples are Mugabe, Castro, Kim Jon Ill, and others. Its needless to say, America has become the world’s punching bag.
In conclusion, we need to realize the true intentions of this regime in everything it says and does. Without it, we can never understand it, thus, we can never be able to better confront it. And if we don’t confront it, whatever is left from our country, will be gone.
