Truth behind the propaganda

What's behind Iran’s stance towards Israel?


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Truth behind the propaganda
by Farhad Kashani
11-Jul-2008
 

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. 


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more from Farhad Kashani
 
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Farhad, I doubt you are Iranian

by Faribors Maleknasri M.D. (not verified) on

on the other day I rea in "IRANIAN" the following:
Your are Iranian when......
Once I asked the authore if he could describe a non Iranian? Who is no Iranian? He answered he do not know. So I had to help myself and came to the short statement:
If an individual lives for good in abroad
if an individual has no Iranian identity papers
if an individual has other identities besides her/his Iranian
so is that individual no Iranian.
I think with the help of these few criterions one can proove who is an Iranian and who is not.
Of course there are other criterions which also can make a suggestion about the national identity of a person. I prefer not to mention them. Greeting


Jahanshah Javid

Your comemnt was not published?

by Jahanshah Javid on

There was at least one anonymous comment for this posting which I deleted by mistake when I woke up Saturday morning. Instead of clicking on "approve", I deleted a whole list of comments for various articles.

Kheyli bebakhsheed.

Please repost.


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The IRI has not only religious and political imperatives to hate

by Lucifercus (not verified) on

The Islamic republic of Iran has no imperatives - so i should say - against any thing or any body. hate is an unknown word in Islam. The Islamic Republic of Iran, that are the 7ty million Iranians living in that country, has arguments against Imperialism, no hates only clear objective arguments and prooved facts. I recommend some respectable Irano-germans try to report about crimes, cheatings and other unjustice which is the daily pratice in Germany against foreigners and immigrants in that country. How was the story with the Law-Professor on the university of Dusseldorf? Who let male students pay him with money and females with sex giving them a degree. and that for years? Please report.


Shiny Head

Farhad, I doubt you are Iranian

by Shiny Head on

Here is my reason:

Bani Adam Aazaei yek peykarand  

ke dar afarinesh ze yek goharand   (ferdowsi)

 

If what the zio-Nazis are doing to palestinains (including occupation, murder, rape, killing of children, hindering food and medicine to the sick, destruction of homes and farmland, etc.) instead was done to Iranains, you would have expected someone to come to help. This is just being HUMAN.

Most iranians unlike you are HUMANS, that is why I think you are not Iranians.


Maryam Hojjat

Jalil Bahar's arguments!

by Maryam Hojjat on

It is very plausible argument which make sense too.


Jahanshah Rashidian

Mr. Kashani

by Jahanshah Rashidian on

Thanks for your balanced article.

Besides the political points developed by Mr. Kashani and additinally the traditional Mullahs' views, pointed by Mr. Mammad, there might be other points to deepen the issue.

The IRI has not only religious and political imperatives to hate Israel, but mainly historical belief. As for the matter of fact Israel is not the only non-Muslim occupiers of Islamic lands. Neither is Israel the only US proxy in the region-all neighbouring Muslim (!!!) countries to Iran have close relations with the US. Therfore other reasons of IRI's animosity with Israel can be deep in the nature of religious characters of the IRI.

Islam recognises both Moses and Jesus as divine prophets and some moderate Muslims accept their followers as "people of book". However, Muhammad believed that Jews and Christians rejected the Koran, the final revelation of Allah. Despite less theological differences between Islam and Judaism than between Islam and Christianity, Muslim fundamentalists have their eye more focused on Jews. They seem to be more "enemy of Islam." This has also its reasons in the Jewish infuential impact on the then Arabian society, when Muhammad had to deal with them accordingly: they were sometimes enemy and some other times partners, a socio-psychological effect.


It is to mention that fundamentalists of each sematic religion (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) do not accept the religious right of other religions. They emphasise on the strict values of extreme literalism of their traditionally sacred texts. For them, animosity stands over appeasement. On the board of their Noah's Ark, there are no enough places for "unbelievers". Whatever the End of Time -- Day of Judgement, Apocalypse, Reappearance of Mahdi, Moses or Jesus--, apocaliptical fundamentalists, including IRI's Mullahs, do not practically beleive in a peaceful salvation for humanity--under any fundamentalist's rule, under any Caliphate, under any Inquisition Court, under any Zionism, peace and freedom have no practical sense.

As Mr. Kashani described, despite the views of fundamentalists from Iran and Israel, a fair solution to Israel / Palestine conflicts is an immediate withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab lands and an unconditional respect and recocognition of 1967 borders from all sides.

Based on the related UN resolutions, a two-state-solution should be negociated between Israel and Palestinain authorities.


Maryam Hojjat

Excellent article!

by Maryam Hojjat on

Thanks, I was really informed.  There was always this question: why IRI is a Kaseh dagh tar As Ash? when it comes to the Arabs (especially Palestianians).

Marg Bar IRI


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excuse me farhad,

by Anonymous8 (not verified) on

You wrote: "Anonymos8, I did say that U.S taxpayer money shouldn't be used for any blind support for any country, including Israel."

Where did you say this? I can't find it in your article.

You're right, we are not "anti" any people. But we are staunchly anti foreign occupation and foreign intervention. It's called ESTEGHLAL. That's the real meaning of "na sharghi, na gharbi". Even IRI has no problem with Jews, it's the European occupation of Palestine that is the problem.

You also forget how many other third world countries support Palestinians. At a UN vote the majority of the third world voted to call Zionism is Racism. Palestinian cause has historically had very popular support from Vietnam to Latin America.


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IRI is anti-Israel because Israel is such a sensitive subject!!!

by farrad02 on

The Mullahs have discovered that the Jews and Israel are a very sensitive and touchie subject for the United States and the Europeans. They also know that taking the lead in the anti-Israeli rethoric and chest beating in front of Arab masses does put US and the West's allies in the region in a bad position. The Saudi Kingdom and the rest of Arab regimes are threathened by IRI's lead in anti-Israel sentiment and look weak in front of their people. Especially if IRI happens to end up in armed conflict against Israel, for example, how will the Eqyptian regime explain not helping the IRI against Israel?! 

Israel, Saudis, Egyptians, The Persian Gulf Sheikdoms, Jordanians and other US allies being threathened in turn, puts US and Europeans under pressure and threathens them! The threat and the pressure is mostly because the US , Israelis and their Arab allies know that unlike the historically empty Arab Rhetoric, the Iranians are very serious about acting if it comes to it!   And the Israelis and Americans know confronting with Iran (militarily) will not be an easy task. And that IRI threats are not empty.

The Mullahs are actually crazy enough to engage in fighting!

Other words, the MUllahs who have been trying to get US and The West to recognize their regime as a legitimate entity and be given a place at the table, if you will, is using the threat of violence and bloodshed and the threat of stirring up sympathy on Arab Streets as a means to get what they want from the West and mainly from US.

So, in it's root , IRI's strategy in this matter is a simple mafia style operation. It's an extortion scheme! If you don't pay me or if you don't recognize me, I will put everything on fire! If I can't be legitimate, no one can live in peace! 

And it's not that they think they can beat US or the West, it's just that they know the US and Europeans do not have the stomach and apettite for another war in the Middle East now, especially one with a power the size of Iran!  That is why the anti-Israel flared up after it became clear that US is stuck in Iraq!

And the day after IRI accomplishes the goals of this strategy and/or establishes relations with the US, the Palestinian cause will move right to the basement of their foreign policy agenda!

 

 


Mehdi-Palang

nice article but...

by Mehdi-Palang on

I like toofantheoncesogreat's comment more.  You have a lot of valid points in your article but you should have also talked about the 2 ton gorilla sitting in the room (US foreign intervention in the Middle-East). 


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adonai is the only god!

by Anonymous-god chosen son (not verified) on

through history you can see that god of the jews was the only god that protect the jews from any danger.
i'm a jew and i have no fear of iran or any contry because god is on our side(the jews).
with god's help israel will demolish any anemy!
iran get ready to see our god's power!
he will prove the all world once again that he is the only god,and we are the chosen people.
iran is going to be only ashes after the attack!

leave iran if you want to live!
shema israel adonai elohenu adonai ehad!
god's chosen son.
shema israel adonai elohenu adonai ehad!
shema israel adonai elohenu adonai ehad!
emet.


Farhad Kashani

Anonymos8, I did say that

by Farhad Kashani on

Anonymos8, I did say that U.S taxpayer money shouldn't be used for any blind support for any country, including Israel.

Iran is not concerned with "helping" anyone. The whole point of my argument is that Iran's anti Israeili and anti U.S stance is IRI's biggest tool to energize its supporters in Iran ,and among young Arab and Muslim Jihadi youth. But that hypocritical stance costed our country a lot, and we need to be aware of that. We are not an anti Israeili or anti U.S nation, neither we are anti Arab, anti Chinese, or anti Russian for that matter. We reject the clash of civilization conflict started by Khomeini, we reject "na sharghi na gharbi" slogan. We definitely disagree with some of their policies, as Amercians and Israeili and others do, but this blind hatred shouldn't be done in our name.


Mammad

Farhad Kashani

by Mammad on

While you have many valid points, you did not, in my opinion, put your finger on the true reasons as to why the IRI opposes Israel.

Right now, the IRI system is partly Rouhaniyat, partly Sepah. Then,

Rouhaniyat in Iran has always opposed Israel from its inception in 1948, and so this goes back way before the 1979 Revolution. The reason is ideological. Even the most moderate rouhani in Iran opposes Israel. The pragmatic and moderate ones, like Khatami, oppose Israel, but do not believe that Iran should sacrifice in order to make a point against Israel. Others are not so realistic.

Many of the older Sepah commanders oppose Israel, because they were actively opposed to Shah, and got military training in Palestinian camps. Therefore, they have a first hand knowledge of the sufferings by the Palestinians. Many of them also blame Israel and the US for their inability to defeat Iraq.

Add to that the fact that Israel has been working against Iran for at least two decades, and you get the present situation.

Mammad


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Kashani you surprised me!

by Anonym7 (not verified) on

Kashani_jAn, I am very surprised that you said a few correct things here and there!
However your article is more or less as shallow as your postings. I am beginning to suspect that you are venturing into a wrong business!


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Squint, maybe you'll see better ..

by Joubin Houshyar (not verified) on

Salaam,

Islamic Revulsion of Iran is the Global Elite's fig leaf for Zionistaan. Minus the ranting Ayatollahs, zionistaan's 'shame' would be all too evident and impossible to hide.

Both of these pseudo-messianic regimes are phonies and were installed, do recall, through organized violence and trickery. (Yes, the angoolakSons were involved, as usual.)

Both 'justify' the other; neither is true to their purported essence.

Think: A God-less Zion and a Shia Khalifat. (Its funny in a very dark sort of way... but we are not amused.)

True believers?

Yes, both sides have their true believers -- but that is because there is one born every day ... (Don't believe me? Ask uncle joe and chairman meow.)

Part of the plan is clearly for the people to get utterly and completely sick and disgusted with (Abrahamic) religions. Don't forget that (easily) 1/2 of the Earth's population (e.g. the East Asians) knows about Judaism and Christianity and Islam through this narrative of conflict and violence and apocalyptic madness. Not the most inviting of introductions, is it?

Who benefits from this?

What sort of Islamic regime chants death to Israel? Is not Israel aka Jacob (saws) a Prophet of ALLAH?

What, pray tell, is Written in Sura 17 of Al-Qur'an? Are all the Ullama in Qom scared of these thugs? Are you not Commanded by ALLAH to Stand for Truth?

//www.forgiving-merciful.net/quran/suras/017/

What sort of "Zion" treats children of Abraham (Sephardim) like 2nd class citizens but treats socialist Slavs and Khazars as the God's "Chosen"?

Does burning bridges with Islam benefit the Jews (who have historically resorted to Muslim shelter whenever the Europeans got into a bit of anti-semitic madness?)

Again: Who benefits from this?

Remember:

"And They Conspire and ALLAH Conspires. And ALLAH IS The Best of Those Who Conspire!"

//forgiving-merciful.net/quran/suras/003/054....

/& Salaam!


Jalil Bahar

The Real Truth Behind the Propaganda

by Jalil Bahar on

The Bush administration (in particular) and more generally US administrations have been playing a two sided game with Iran's mullahs - that has been termed public enmity and prive amity.

In the case of Israel, the United States has realized that the Camp David accord solved the problem between Egypt and Israel - BUT - has in fact, in retrospect, provided Israel with no credible motivation to settle with its other neighbors and the palestinians - since (with Egypt neutralized) it isn't scared of anyone.

So Iran is being used as a local bully to scare off Israel ...into making peace. The Bush administration pretends to love Israel and support Israel, but is privately dealing with Mullahs to scare Israel ...and achieve other strategic aims too (such as obtain an excuse to place missiles on Russia's border, scare UAE into buying billions of dollars of arms, steal away oil from the Caspian Sea ....). The mullahs influence with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria is all part of a grand scheme to influence Israel into coming to the table, scared and ready to negotiate.

The Mullahs in Iran have long had private relations with the US administration - dating back to secret deals between Reagan/Bush to keep the hostages at the US embassy to humiliate Carter, to Iran-Contra, to direct support for the Afghanistan Invasion, to .....

The Bush family hate the Jews. They were Nazi sympathizers before the second world war (and Gand daddy bush actually helped finance Nazi Germany when he was a wall street banker). They are/were very close to many evangelist christrians and Nixon who it has now been revealed through the watergate tapes ...exchanged nasty comments about Jewish influence in the US, etc. ...

The Mullahs are playing a mean political hand pretending to hate the US, while privately serving US interests in the region. They are traitors - and are selling Iran out.

As you all know, the sanctions against Iran have no teeth. The US doubled its DIRECT exports to Iran during the Bush administration, Iran is doing Billions of Dollars of Business with Iraq. The enmity US is espousing has no real meaning or significance. Its all hollow.

The key with Politics is to focus on actions NOT rhetoric. In actions, the Mullahs have been doing and ARE doing exactly what the US needs them to do - to serve US interests.

The whole Idea with Israel is to get them to come to the negotiation table, like they did with Egypt ...scared. And Iran is being used to accomplish that.


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Great article

by toofantheoncesogreat (not verified) on

And I agree with most of your points, Israel, to me, is as much relevant in the world as Cyprus or the Vatican states, and all this focus on this small apartheid parasite country has given it so much drama time its sickening. Iran should normalize relations with Israel and keep contacts as the scandinavians do, formal but not to cozy. Most iranians have that sentiment inside Iran and know very well that the whackjobs in Teheran are using the whackjobs in Tel Aviv and Washington as reasons to make people forget about their own wrong doings (same goes for Tel Aviv and Washington).. BUT.. and there is a huge but here, were you and I differ..

I know, as does Tel Aviv and Washington that the mullahs are no serious threat to them, and they will rape Iran either economically or physically just to keep their own global agendas going. Its this choice that makes the US and Israel the enemy of the iranian people, not just the government.

1. They know very well that the IRI will grow strong with their war cries, sanctions and threats

2. They know that a war will kill alot of civillians, iranian civillians

3. They know full well such a war is bound to fail in all of its fake and false objectives and is pointless to even ponder on.

4. They know very well that their "targeted sanctions" and now, petroleum sanctions and blockade sanctions, are going to hurt the Iranian people, not the regime, its not going to weaken the IRI, but give it more strenght

5. They know and relish the idea that they have a regime in the middle east they can use as an excuse to further dump their treasury dollars into the military corporate pockets and control a vital part of the worlds oil supply, at the same time taking a dump at the iranian people by using their country as an excuse to build a missile shield to buying Condi new night panties because she has bad dreams of Iran and wets her bed oftenly.

6. They know (the politicans and elite, the right wingers) full well that if 100 000 iranians died tomorrow, in them included yours and mine family, in a war, the average american population would ignore it or not be told by the media or excuse it that it was "necessary in the war against evil", at the same time, the Israelis populace would look at it as a form for sick revenge (Remember, now adays the currency of human lives goes something like this in the war bourse in Irsael -> 180 dead Israelis equals 1200 dead Lebanese, who knows, maybe they are trying to improve their currency trading for the next year)

7. All of these facts tell me that the US has broader interests in the middle east since they seriously cannot feel threatened by the mullahs, and this must be oil and China/Russia

8. It tells me that the US is willing to possibly sacrifice iranians for this goal, and Israel would come running along like a good dog it is so that it can get more beggars cash from the US.

So at the end, the IRI is a longterm serious threat that needs heavy work to get rid off, the US/Israel are a short term and very extreme dangerous threat that could put Irans industry, scientific community, cultural community, sports community etc (all the things you Iranians in the US get a small glimps out of) that tok HEAVY work to build up after the revolution and war, back 200 years. For God sake, it is now COMMON LANGUAGE in the political tables of Tel Aviv and Washington to use NUCLEAR WEAPONS on our country.. Its madness and it shows their true colors, they are not after the IRI alone, they are after the whole country.

The saddest part, and I mean, the real real sad low life part here, is that people like me who have been demonstrating, writing student papers against the IRI etc, actually start to side with the IRI already in such political issues and defend their statements in the media because its being used as a pretext for war.. now imagine what choice I would have if war would break..


Abarmard

I do blame the Islamic Republic BUT

by Abarmard on

But they are not alone in this. I really don't feel like reviewing the history here. Your article does hit many valid points but fails to look at the other side of the equation. Based on your arguments, US and Israeli actions against Iran are actually reactions!

Your article and conclusion is arguable.

Thanks for your article 


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farhad: are you also opposed to US $$$ going to Israel?

by Anonymous8 (not verified) on

The money and weapons supplied by US tax payers toward Israel for FREE makes Iran's contributions look like pocket change.

You have a good point about IRI hypocrisy when it talks about human rights of Palestinians.

But what about your own hypocrisy when it comes to criticizing US contributions to Israel? Why is that OK, but not OK for Iran to help Lebanon or Palestine?

Unlike the poor Palestinians, Israel doesn't even need th help.