Voting from the heart

My miserable election day experience

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Voting from the heart
by Meir Javedanfar
12-Feb-2009
 

Tel Aviv - Voting day has always been exciting for me. It started when I was a kid in Iran. Our local Kebab Restaurant (Kababi Najafi) was run by a member of the local Islamic committee. On voting days, he turned into a voting office. For us kids, it was a good chance to gather around and to play football. On such occasions, there were far more of us so it was twice the fun. The reason for the added numbers was because the streets were closed, due to fear of car bombs.

 

So instead of playing football between passing cars on the street, which on many occasions caused death or maiming of children (I was run over three times and nearly died during my first experience), we played football without the fear of Tehran's drivers. To us they were far more scary and real than car bombs.

I lived in Iran until I was 14, which meant I was too young to vote. In 1987 we moved to England. During my 17 years there, I never voted. This was because I was either too young, or moving around too much between Universities. Also, on a personal level, I didn't feel connected to the political system. The UK is a wonderful country, but politically, I never felt that I belonged.

This all changed when I moved to Israel in 2004. Politically speaking, I felt very connected here. After having left Iran, this was the first place where I felt at home. This country is no paradise by any stretch of imagination, however as an Iranian Jew, I was welcomed and treated as an equal. As a family we have never felt discriminated against, because of our background. Israel gave us opportunities to progress professionally and in terms of education. This made me feel both happy and guilty.

The guilt came from the fact that Israel's Ethiopian citizens have been left behind. In some cases, they still live in immigrant absorption centres, despite the fact that they have lived here for more than 10 years. Many Ethiopians have progressed, but many have also been left behind.

In the 2006 elections , Kadima who had backed the Gaza withdrawal was slated to win. I thought that the peace process has enough support, so I could afford the luxury of voting with my conscience. The party who I chose to vote for was called Atid Ekhad (one future).This is despite the fact that Shaul Mofaz, a fellow Persian whose family are also from Esfahan, was running for Kadima.

To me social justice was more important than the return of the Esfahani empire. Although that will always be the secret “agenda”. I remember teasing an Arab friend once. “Forget your fears of the so called Zionist conspiracy of taking over from the Nile to Euphrates. Once we Esfahanis have it our way, we will take over from Zayande Rood (famous river in Esfahan) to the shores of the Pacific ocean. They don't call Esfahan Nesfe Jahan (half the world) for nothing”.

Joking aside, for now Atid Ekhad was the party for me. Its stated goal was “bringing to Israel the remaining Jews in Ethiopia and strengthening integration efforts for the community”. Many of its members were Ethiopians.

On the 28th of March 2006, on the occasion of elections for the 17th Knesset of the State of Israel, I wasn't just walking to the ballot box, I was almost hopping and skipping. The excitement was wonderful. Here I was voting for the first time in my life, for a party that my conscience fully supported. As I was about to cast my vote, I even asked the voting supervisor to take a photo of the historic occasion. “You are a new immigrant, right?”, said the guy bemusedly. I guess he had seen it all before.

Atid Ekhad proved to be a failure. Only 14,500 people voted for them which meant that they could not even win one seat in the Knesset. I couldn't believe it. On the night when the results were announced, almost angrily, I asked an Ethiopian security guard “how could you guys let this happen?”. His reply which in a true Ethiopian manner was polite and in a calm voice was “we vote Likud. They are the ones who brought us out of Ethiopia. We are loyal to them”.

Friends had told me to vote with my brain, and that to vote for Atid Ekhad was a waste. But I refused to believe them. In this year's election, I was going to vote with my conscience. This time, for a Green party called Green Movement Meimad (GMM). Their platform which called for increased protection of the environment, social justice, and full support for the peace process was exactly in line which my thinking.

However, all of a sudden, the source of my vote, turned from my heart, to my head. Instead of just using my political knowledge, I started applying geometry. I realized that GMM have little chance of winning a single seat. So then next best party was Labour. To do that, I had to turn 45 degrees to the right. It wasn't easy, but realistic. Thats the end of it, I thought.

Then I heard Bibi and his talk of deposing Hamas. The Iraqi regime change experience was bad enough for the US. It would be absurd to let a leader who talks about a similar adventure come to power. Stopping him became my priority. This is when I realized that Ehud Barak had no chance of running against Netanyahu for the post of Prime Minister. So again it was time to get the protractor out. I decided to turn 45 degrees to the right again, to Tzipi Livni. She was the best moderate choice.

Ninty degrees away from my conscience, I went to cast my vote today. As cast my vote, I broke into a sweat. Tzipi Livni is a far better politician than Bibi, but she was not my first choice. She was my third. And now my body had joined my heart in protesting. It goes to show, that even when you have a full range of choices, it doesn't mean that you pick the one you ideally want.

Unlike 2006, my voting experience today was a miserable one. I don't even want to imagine how I will feel if Likud wins. I know how President Ahmadinejad will feel. He will be happy.

Meir Javedanfar is a Middle East Analyst at Tel Aviv-based MEEPAS, www.meepas.com

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Mehdi Mazloom

Anonymous-2 - get a life

by Mehdi Mazloom on

Don't provoke the Israelis, they won't have the reason to respond as they do.

It is interesting that, when Arabs or Muslims do it to each other, we don't see you singing the aavaz-e' dixi blues of Justice and fairness.

Those days when Jewish blood was cheaper the a Muslim one are  over. We are all equals. As long as Arabs & Muslims throughout the region are deprived of their basic rights to freedom of expression. We will continue to have the conflicts as we have today.

To all those heart bleeding Islamists out there. I will tell you what !

When Shi'ite and Sunnis will learn to live in peace and harmony side by side - instead of killing each other.

When Arabs & Muslims will learn to replace their leaders through the ballot box, instead of the bullet one.

When Farsis will stop looking at Arabs as barbaric and backwards, loath them down their nose.

When 1.2B Muslims will stop their obsession with 15M Jews, accuse them with wild conspiracies to dominate Muslims.

When yourselves learn to take responsibilities for your failures, instead of blaming others.

When you stop teaching your children the art of blind hate, where they should label people whom they have never heard of, as Apes and Pigs, who should be killed

When you learn to create a legal and religious order where NO ONE is above the law.

When your Universities are ranked above the bottom pit compared to other countries.

When you stop living the bygone past ("we were the greatest" and , "we invented", or "we taught the barbaric Europeans", etc). Live the present. look for future.

When you start teaching innocent children the sanctity of life, and stop the glorificatio of death.

When you love your children more then you hate the Zionists (Jews).

When you learn to separate Muhammad from his message. Treat this man as he called himself as mere message carrier, reciting some imaginary figure's words. Praise him for what he did for Muslims, and have the courage to condemn him for he did to othrs who chose not to blindly follow him.

When you stop accusing others with "ethnic cleansing", while your own history is soaked with the religious cleansing of hundreds of  millions of non-Muslims who had lived among you long before Islam was forced upon you.

When you realize that beheading, stoning, or maiming people for minor infraction is a barbaric act which does not fit in today's norms.

When you stop occupying the hearts and mind of innocent Muslims (and in Iran too) with hate and sense of hopelessness. 

 

THEN come back here and we will talk about barbarism, occupation .

To all of you Israeli bashers. Look at your own dirty laundray and backyards before you throw stones at others.

You are the last ones to come here and preach to others about justice, tolerance, fairness and respect of others whom otherwise disagree with your religious doctrines.


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Barbariac - yep, that is the Zionist regime of Israel

by Anonymous-2 (not verified) on

No need to elaborate on the savage criminal regime of Israel who creates an open prison, blocks all aid: food, medicine, fuel, and then showers white phosphorous on the heads of innocent people and incinerates 1300 people of which more than 400 were children.

We have seen far too much to call Israel a civilized country what an offense to humanity. You can repeat your propaganda and believe all that you want about how great Israel is; these ridiculous propaganda are not fooling anyone except those who wish to be fooled. For 60 years your beloved country has committed the most atrocoius crimes against a defenseless people.

This election was nothing but a war referendum. But is there anything new with respect to Israeli policy? Call it what you like right, center right, far right, extreme, and ultra extreme does it really matter? The fact is that there is very little difference among these parties and their respective candidates in terms of their overall policies toward the Palestinians or for regional stability and peace in the Middle East.

Palestinian blood is on the hands of all of these leaders: from Olmert, to Netanyahu, Livni, Barak and all the rest of them. The only difference is whether they would launch an all out war or exhaust the Palestinians in giving up their resistance for a Palestinian state through small prolonged and gradual wars?

Instead of drifting toward peace based on discarding its strategy of military force the Israeli decision makers are still yearning to pursue the same strategy to restore their military deterrence. Towards this end they have made war itself and warmongering legitimate tools of electoral campaigning as we noted in “Operation Cast Lead”.


Mehdi Mazloom

mehrnaz

by Mehdi Mazloom on

You have spent an entire post on style, and little on substance. It matters little if I speak farsi or not. the important element  is we exchange ideas from both sides of the issue. If you and others like you are not capable (or not willing) to engage  in real and substantive conversations, I am glad they ignore me. That filters out  much of the rubbish for me here on this forum.

"my foul & offensive language"?. Where did I use foul language?. why don't you bring me some quotes - much as I did with your own quotes.


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The evidence

by mehrnaz (not verified) on

Mazloum (S), the evidence is that:

- the Khandaniha article you refer to indicates very good knowledge of Persian indeed!!! Whereas you admit here that your persian is rudimentary!!!

- You do not know that Mehrnaz is not an Agha, that agh is not made plural with 'ha', and that 'and' is not 've', it is 'va'. This shows not even rudimentary Farsi but near nil Farsi!!! However, in your foul language both here and in your other posts, you have indicated you are the master of gutter language in Farsi and when it comes to it can communicate with certain layers of Iranians or Farsi speakers who associate with. You understand each other very well, foul offensive language for the lack of better words. It is a pity you have forgotten or have been incapable of assimilating your Persian heritage of 'effat-e kalaam'.

You have been exposed and people have both on the site and privately agreed with me and decided to ignore you.


Mehdi Mazloom

Mehrnaz - Evidence?.

by Mehdi Mazloom on

In your last post you wrote:

I have offered the evidence and you have wriggled out of responding

Here is the full text of your post below:

Mehrnaz: Here comes again Mehdi Mazloum, Israeli AGENTS hiding behind that name.

Mehdi Mazloum is more than one person, one of whom knows Farsi well
and quotes from Khandaniha, here in this blog, "Another breakthrough
achievement for Iranian Scholars" in which the definition of Zionism in
a Farsi article was criticised:
//iranian.com/main/news/2009/01/24/another-br...

And here, in commenting on myself and SMHB on "Pro-Israel Media
bloggers join Media War" thread, the one under that mask who does not
know Farsi made this booboo, it did not know Mehrnaz was not an
Agha!!!!, it did not know that agha did not become plural with 'ha' but
with 'yaan', and it did not know and is 'va' not 've'!!!!

"nu nu nu, labeling people!!!!"
by Mehdi Mazloom on Fri Jan 30, 2009 07:25 PM PST
"aghaha ye Mehrnaz ve smhb".

I bet you are also proud of your secret service that trained the Shah's SAVAK in the art of torture and spying. Go away.

What evidence did you provide. could you show it to me please.?

Anyway I did respond to your accusation. If you have more question, by all means, go ahead post them to me and I will lay it out for you.

In regards to my farsi. I already wrote. YES I do speak rudimentary farsi. My read & write is not good at all.

For privacy reason, i wish not to elaborate on this issue. Farsi language It is one of the most beautiful languages on earth. I like farsi, and have much admiration to the Iranian PEOPLE, and the country's glorious past heritage and rich cultural, until the barberian Bedouins from the deserts of Arabia invaded Iran and destroyed everything there. I loath and disdain the Mullahs there. They are more responsible to Iran's current sad state then anyone  else.

In mere 30 years, they took Iran back 1000 years and the dark ages of human development. It is the hate filled preaching of Akh-magh-e-Nejad, Khamani, Jennati (whom I call gha-de'-kir) He shorter then his own penis. 


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Daryush

by Rafsanjani (not verified) on

Is that a Saegheh IRI homemade fighter in your avatar? Oops, I forgot. It's a 1960's era F-5 with double tail fins!!!

Get a life man, get your head out of IRI's propoganda trough and stop believing every piece of bullsh**t that they feed you!


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Mehdi Mazloom

by God (not verified) on

Mehdi: please keep on writing. Ignore the ommattis on this site. We open minded Iranians like to hear all kinds of point of views. Please also keep in minds that the IRI has a very sophisticated, and well organized counter intelligence operation around the world that tries to supress opposing view points. So, don't be surprised if you get attacked again by the same squad.


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Mazloom spinning again ... to no use

by Mehrnaz (not verified) on

Mazloom, the question is not the English (!) spelling of your name. You have not responded to the point of you masking more than one character, one knows Farsi well and the other does not!!!! And it might be even more than two, depending who is on duty!!!

I have offered the evidence and you have wriggled out of responding. Zion tried on your behalf and made a total fool of herself as usual. Of course it is known that you are Israeli, that is no problem as far as I am concerned, what I do object to is to have dialogue with Mossad!! Anyway, you have done it now and it has been exposed in the site. So Mazloom or Mazloum or 'Victim', whatever you call yourself, pateh ha roo aab rikhteh va aaberooyee baraat namooneh!


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Shangool

by mehrnaz (not verified) on

Shangool Jaan, you are absolutely right about Ethiopeans, no one, as far as I could see, put the interests of the Ethiopean Jews who have been brought to Israel against the fate of the Palestinians; quite the opposite. What was questioned was that why the same 'nobel' sentiments afforded to Ethiopians is not afforded to the native Palestinians!! As for the fate of the Ethiopians, it is well know how they themselves are subject to racism in Israel and treated as inferior socially and culturally. Thank you for the good post.


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thanks

by shangool (not verified) on

Thank you for an interesting story and the insight on voting in Israel. To those who have commented about the Ethiopians: just because the Palestinians are victims of occupation doesn't mean that one cannot also feel sorry for the fate of the Ethiopian immigrants. And for those who keep on repeating the tired phrase that Israel is a democracy: please stop the nonsense. Israel is as much a democracy as Apartheid South Africa was.


Mehdi Mazloom

Mehrnaz . Mazloom or Mazloum

by Mehdi Mazloom on

When you misspell my "last name", sure you do create two identities.

Anyway my name (on this forum) is Mehdi Mazloom. Not Mazloum.

I really don't understand, bandeh Mazloom-ha hastim. So why do you blame me for Zionist conspiracies.

I never hid the fact I  am an Israeli, and like other Israelis, we are not troll or agents of anyone - except our own concisenesses and conviction. We are proud of our country and we are here to provide our side of the story to those Iranians who wish to see the other side of the coin.

Some admit to have learned something new from our input - though not necessarily agree with, but they are glad to read from average Joes like us in regards to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

No damn it, we are no secrete service of the Mossad and no kosse' sherri. Innah ha-mesh mo-zakh-rafi-e.


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Mazloum: Pro-Israel & Israeli Spy Media bloggers join Media War

by Mehrnaz (not verified) on

Here comes again Mehdi Mazloum, Israeli AGENTS hiding behind that name.

Mehdi Mazloum is more than one person, one of whom knows Farsi well and quotes from Khandaniha, here in this blog, "Another breakthrough achievement for Iranian Scholars" in which the definition of Zionism in a Farsi article was criticised:
//iranian.com/main/news/2009/01/24/another-br...

And here, in commenting on myself and SMHB on "Pro-Israel Media bloggers join Media War" thread, the one under that mask who does not know Farsi made this booboo, it did not know Mehrnaz was not an Agha!!!!, it did not know that agha did not become plural with 'ha' but with 'yaan', and it did not know and is 'va' not 've'!!!!

"nu nu nu, labeling people!!!!"
by Mehdi Mazloom on Fri Jan 30, 2009 07:25 PM PST
"aghaha ye Mehrnaz ve smhb".

I bet you are also proud of your secret service that trained the Shah's SAVAK in the art of torture and spying. Go away.


Mehdi Mazloom

Daryush - you don't care?. Hardly

by Mehdi Mazloom on

The fact that you did respond to Meir's eloquent essay, clearly demonstrates you DO care about the subject on which he wrote about. Otherwise you would have ignored it as many others did.

No, Meir's point want not "sympathy". We the Israelis don't need, nor ask other people's sympathy, thank you very much. His point was the fact that he could express his opinion on subject which many innocent Iranian could no do in their own country.

Meir's post is about freedom of expression, pride of being an Israeli, proud of his (Iranian, Israeli and Jewish) heritage of 4000 year old root on the same land which his ancestors had walked on. He is proud to be able to come here and share it with others.

Meir kol ha-kavod lekha. bring some more goodies like that habibi.

 


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Iranian Arabs seek equal rights

by Ahmed Janabi (not verified) on

Amnesty International has urged Iran to improve its human rights record as the country celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

Amnesty said that "some sectors of society – including ethnic minorities – continue to face widespread discrimination, while the situation for other groups – notably some religious minorities – has significantly worsened".

//english.aljazeera.net/focus/iranaftertherev...


Daryush

Hey Meir

by Daryush on

Do I go to the Israeli sites and write about the Voting from the heart crap that you put in here? Where do you think this is? I don't give a damn if you had your moment and sense of the citizenship towards Israel and didn't have that in UK! What's that to me? What kind of information is that? Am I suppose to be happy for you now? What up? Don't you get enough time from the world media about your tiny little election, which obviously to a clear mind should not mean anything, that now you come here to fill the pages with it?

I don't say don't write here, but what's your point? Sympathy? You should have thought about sympathy when your democratic government was killing innocent women and children. Sympathy my behind.

I don't care if Iran is bad, and it is, but you ain't no $h*t in Israel either.  Go home.


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To XerXes

by AnonymousOne (not verified) on

They have more than 50 active political parties including Communist Party (RAKAH) that holds seats in the Parliament and yet you say their system must change to Democracy? What are you an idiot? Show me a single country in the Arab or Islamic world that has this degree of political freedom. Or may be your definition of democracy is Islamic Republic of Iran? Stupidity and/or hypocracy has no boundary....


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Dear Xerxes

by Xerxes the 2nd (not verified) on

Marg bar IRI
Marg bar Jomhoorieh Eslami
Marg bar Hezbolah

Javid normal Iranians and Anti Islamist!


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Esrael

by XerXes (not verified) on

Marg be neyrang e to
khooneh javaan e felestin
mirizad az chang e to


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Bites the hand that feeds it

by missionary (not verified) on

LOse the Zersharvari ...

Bites the hand that feeds it >>>>

 

Those who have had no roots in 2000 years

why would they be able to spring roots by using force, injustice and deceit.

Why should Palestinians reward those (Zionist Israelis) who use force and kill Palestinians only to steal Palestinian land?

While the world over, people have to work a life time to be able to afford a roof over their head if they are lucky.

Why the Palestinians have to give up their land and rights.

We all make choices in life and we have to live with the consequences of our decisions.

Zionist who chose to take Palestinian lands by force, they have chosen
to give a legacy of war to their children.  So let, their children live
in fear.

Justice is the solution.


Learn More (1)>>>

(2)>>>>

 

 


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Interesting article

by AnonymousVoter (not verified) on

انتخابات کنست (پارلمان) رژيم صهيونيستي ديروز برگزار شد و بنا بر نتايج اعلام‌شده، احزاب «کاديما»، «ليکود»، «اسرائيل‌خانه» و «کارگر» به ترتيب 28، 27، 15 و 13 کرسي را از آن خود کردند و اين حکايت از آن دارد که هيچ‌يک از احزاب موجود، امکان تشکيل دولت بدون ائتلاف با ديگر احزاب را نخواهد داشت.

دکتر مجيد صفاتاج، کارشناس مسائل خاورميانه، در گفت‌وگو با «تابناک»، به تحليل شرايط پس از انتخابات در سرزمين‌هاي اشغالي پرداخت و با اشاره به خط سير تحولات منطقه گفت: حوادث سه سال گذشته تاکنون، بازگوکننده اين واقعيت براي ساکنان فلسطين اشغالي بوده است که اين مناطق، ديگر جاي امني براي زندگي نيست و نمي‌توان آينده اميدبخش همراه با آرامش را در آن متصور بود؛ درواقع، جنگ 33 روزه حزب‌الله، اين مسأله را در اذهان ساکنان فلسطين اشغالي مطرح و جنگ 22 روزه حماس نيز آن را تثبيت کرد.

اين کارشناس مسائل خاورميانه افزود: نتايج انتخابات اخير نشان داد که هيچ‌يک از احزاب يا جريان‌هاي سياسي در سرزمين‌هاي اشغالي نتوانسته‌اند به ساکنان اين مناطق اطمينان دهند که توان تأمين امنيت و آينده‌ اميدبخش را براي آنها دارند.

اين موضوع به دو شکل نمود پيدا کرده است: نخست اين‌که مشارکت در انتخابات سير نزولي به خود گرفته و ديگر آن‌که هيچ‌يک از احزاب حاضر در انتخابات، نتوانسته‌اند به اکثريت قاطع يا معناداري دست يابند.

دکتر صفاتاج ادامه داد: شايد بسياري اميد داشتند مثل اتفاقي که در آمريکا رخ داد و يک موج طرفدار اوباما که حرف از تغيير مي‌زد، پديد آمد، در انتخابات اخير رژيم صهيونيستي هم تحول جدي رخ دهد؛ اما مي‌بينيم که هيچ‌يک از احزاب نتوانسته‌اند حتي 25 درصد آرا را هم از آن خود کنند.

وي اضافه کرد: باور من اين است که اين انتخابات کمرنگ و آراي شکننده احزاب اصلي، نتيجه‌اش دولتي ضعيف‌تر از دولت‌هاي قبل خواهد بود که البته اين رويداد را مي‌توان در امتداد فرسايش سياسي جامعه صهيونيستي تحليل کرد؛ بنابراين، بايد نظاره‌گر اختلافات دروني بيشتر ميان احزاب و گروه‌هاي صهيونيستي در آينده‌اي نزديک باشيم.

صفاتاج، ريشه اختلافات يادشده را اين‌گونه مي‌داند: به نظر من، اين اختلافات ناشي از بحران ملت‌سازي در سرزمين‌هاي اشغالي است و درواقع، تنوع بالاي قوميتي و نژادي باعث شده است که اختلاف سليقه‌ها بيشتر بروز کرده و حتي باعث دلسردي مردم بر ماندن در اين مناطق شود؛ به گونه‌اي که بنا بر نظرسنجي يک مؤسسه اسرائيلي، بالغ بر 90 درصد ساکنان سرزمين‌هاي اشغالي، بازگشت به سرزمين‌هاي مادري‌شان را همواره به عنوان يک گزينه مدنظر دارند.


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Loved reading your post. You

by Humanist (not verified) on

Loved reading your post. You are a great human and Jew. I admire Jews, their history and the way they have kept some of first written books (though religious and biased) for such a long time.
Believe me, if it was not for the existence of apartheid of Israel against Arabs, Jews would have been revered all over Middle East and we would have been so proud to have you among us, very unlike Europe who hated Jews.

However, it really pains me that an Ethiopian from elsewhere can have your sympathy so much. However, an Arab whose grandfather was displaced (there are millions of them - half of Gazans are like that) have basically no right in the land of their forefather, not even in the identity of the land. The land has to be Jewish, Israeli establishment had deciced and UN and the West ratified it without asking those rightful owners of the land.

You are Jew and you forefather might have lived in Israel more than a thousand years ago. But does that entitle you or an Ethiopian more than what an indigenous Palestinian in his own land. Please bear in mind, history never tells us they were not there. Even when Israel and Judea were kingdoms of their own, Palestinians and Canaanites lived there side by side.

Anyhow, for the day we all live in peace and respect each other no matter what race, religion and ethnicities we have.

Shalom


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ناسیونالیزم

رضا خان میر فایو (not verified)


بطور کلی هرگونه ناسیونالیزم افراطی ناپسند است. چه دلسوزی بیجا برای یهودیان اتیوپی و چه بلندپروازی برای صهیونیزم تا کرانه های اقیانوس کبیر.

آنزمان که سرمان را درون قبر میگذارند سوال آن نخواهد بود که رویاهای این شخض چه بود، سوال آنستکه چه خدمتی به تمام بشریت کرد بدون در نظر گرفتن دین و مذهب و اینگونه تعصبات فردی.

این نیز بگذرد


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Nice touch, disguising yourself as Meir Javedanfar.

by zoodBavar (not verified) on

From your write up, I would say you have never been to Israel, and your limited knowledge of Israel is in line with the IRI propaganda.

Artificial Intelligence is correct about the fact that a week and dysfunctional peace partner makes peace impossible. But, he is pointing at the wrong side in line with the IRI propaganda. I must hand it to IRI they are strong, but only when it comes to oppressing defenseless Iranians.


Javadagha

Wow . . . Excellent comments

by Javadagha on

Wow.... I enjoyed reading Mr. Javedanfar's article.  However, I really really enjoyed comments from Jaleho and Mehrnaz.  Wow.

God Bless fair minded people. Thanks. 

Javad.

 


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Opinions

by Amir Kabir looking for his razor at Fin's bathouse (not verified) on

I happen to be on the email list of Barry Chamish and perhaps Meir Javedanfar has heard of him or perhaps he will enjoy reading his comments. He believes that Isac Rabin was killed by an inside job and not by Amir, the alleged assassin.

Anyway here is his latest email regarding the election etc. and it might shed some light on how things go in Israel:

THE DAY NETANYAHU USED MURDER TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER
by Barry Chamish

I asked you not to vote. But only a third agreed. So here is what is being connived for you wasting your time: The "nationalist" camp won 65 seats, while the
"moderate" camp won 55 seats, including 11 Arab parties. The Jews swamped the "peace" camp. But that camp had one party that got the most votes, Kadima, and the nation's
president, Shimon "the Pieman" Peres, comes from Kadima. So, although the nationalist leader Binyamin Netanyahu could put together a government in a matter of days, the "moderate" leader Tzipi Livni will get the first shot at government-building by Peres. It's going to take a pile of bribery and blackmail but she's going to cobble together a coalition including Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, Labor, and get ready, if the fight becomes deadly enough, even their true ideological partner, the Likud.
Sounds bizarre, the loser becomes the winner? It's nothing. I was on court, front and center, for the rigging of the 1996 Israeli elections by Netanyahu. Now follow closely, I rarely have the opportunity to be nostalgic.
On April 3, 1997, I was supposed to lecture at Hebrew University on Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, organized by my still formidable friend, Brian Bunn. As it turned out, the Labor Party led by Knesset member Eitan Cabel, and the secret service, Shabak, organized a violent rally against me that turned me into front page news. The intent was to humiliate me, the result was to start my new career as a political crimes writer. Not that I'm thanking them. They didn't mean to and it's an insecure life. Not that there aren't rewards, like you reading this.
The morning after the riot, I received a phone call from Yaacov Mor. He introduced himself as, "The economist for the Minister of Welfare And Social Affairs, Eli Yishai." Today Yishai is the leader of the Shas Party. Mor continued, "But I previously worked for the Shabak. What I want to know is what you have that made the Shabak try to bury you."
So I invited Mor to my home to see my evidence. Back then I had some 80 documents, not the 2500 I ended up with, but they were devastating in proving Yigal Amir did not shoot Rabin. I had the police ballistics results showing that Rabin was shot at point blank, something Amir could not have physically done, and I had the hospital reports declaring that Rabin was shot 3 times, and once from the front, neither of which Amir was responsible for.
Yaacov was a naturally sympathetic fellow, and without hesitation I handed him my evidence collection, which he read in silence over the next half hour. When he finished, he put his right index finger vertically over his lips and used his left hand to guide me outside. When we reached the street, he said, "I'm not talking in your house. You have to be thoroughly bugged. Do you know those documents are authentic?"
I said I did.
"Then why didn't you get a job in Nepal or have an 'accident?' Do you know how high up this murder had to go?"
I answered that I did know how high up it had to go.
"I'll tell my Minister what I saw and I'm sure he'll contact you."
The next morning Eli Yishai's secretary called me. "Minister Yishai would like to have your documents and in return, will give you the most important story of the Rabin assassination. Do you agree?"
Indeed I did. In fact, I would have given the documents anyway, that's how much I still believed in the inherent honesty of the political system. That would change for good in the next two days.
Bright and chipper, Yaacov picked me up for the cheery ride to building Kirya 3, opposite the Knesset, and home to Eli Yishai's office. I made a little error, giving my documents to the secretary before I closed the deal. She guided me into a small office, closed the door, and I heard a vigorous conversation in the hall outside. Finally, the Shas Spokesman, Yisrael Sudri, then 24 or so, and today I believe he holds the same job, came in, shut the door behind him and sat down.
"The Minister could not attend the meeting," he announced, "But he wants you to know that he backs every claim I will make."
A bit of a comedown but I accepted the arrangement, like I really had a choice.
"It's about the 1996 elections...Netanyahu didn't win. Peres won by 3% just like all the polls had it. But the Likud had documents, and we think you've collected some of them. We're sure of it, actually. In February of '96, the leaders of the Likud met the leaders of Labor for a frank discussion of the elections. The Likud presented the documents, then someone, we think Netanyahu, held a few in his hand and said, 'If you bring up the name of Yitzhak Rabin even once in your campaign, we'll release these to the media." Netanyahu lifted another bundle of documents and said, 'If Peres wins our tv debate, we'll release these." Finally, he takes all the documents and says, "And if Peres wins the elections, we'll release them all."
"Now, I don't have to remind you that Rabin's name was not mentioned once in Labor's campaign and that Peres looked like a scary monster on the tv debate. But how could the election results be faked? We are going to leave you the name and phone number of a Tel Aviv law school PhD candidate. His thesis is on the '96 elections. He'll tell you."
I arranged to meet the PhD lawyer-to-be at a very empty and remote Tel Aviv restaurant. We sat in the remotest table and he made his voice inaudible at a range of five meters, in fact he almost whispered the whole meeting. It turns out, it didn't help.
"This Labor-Likud partnership destroyed over 160,000 votes for Peres, and replaced them with spoiled ballots."
Back to the present. That's almost 5% of the vote spoiled. In the 2000 elections, there was a highly publicized campaign to deliberately spoil votes as a protest, and 'only' 61,000 were spoiled.
"Think back to the election night. Peres is declared the winner by all the polls but refused to address and thank his crowd in Tel Aviv. But at midnight, a smiling Netanyahu addressed a half empty rally in Jerusalem promising them that by morning he will be Prime Minister. Then at 2 AM, the revolution in vote change appears out of nowhere. By the morning, Netanyahu wins. He knew the results were fixed."
I added an obvious thought. "So the Likud's documents proved Peres murdered Rabin?"
He gazed at the table and answered, "Is there another possibility?"
The lawyer-to-be added, "I trust you. I have strong proof that the vote destruction was organized by Interior Minister Chaim Ramon. Contact me tomorrow and we'll meet again to see my thesis."
The next day, he called me. "I got a phone call. We can't meet." I asked, "Do you mean today?" He replied, "I mean ever." He banged down for good and I don't recall his name.
But I told his story to audiences whenever I felt it was appropriate. The usual reaction was, "So why didn't Netanyahu use the documents to get rid of Peres and Labor for good?" The answer is Labor and Peres have enough information on Netanyahu to have made this a one election deal. That'll do until and if the whole story is ever told by someone who was there.
Then, in Bet Shemesh in 2001, I told the story to a crowd of over 80 and one response hit the jackpot. The man added, "I was an election poll supervisor and when the polls closed, we took votes for Peres out of the boxes and burnt them out back. We replaced them with spoiled votes and resealed the boxes. I never understood who allowed this to happen, but I didn't want Peres elected so I played ball."
As for story back-up, my Bet Shemesh organizer was David Morris. Another 80 people heard the truth about this man's polling station at the lecture. As for Sudri, I chose to expose him after he appeared at Peres' 80th birthday bash. I was protesting outside when he appeared. I told him, "How could you celebrate Peres? I know what you told me?" He
walked by, then turned around and shouted, "You're ruining the country."

So when I suggest that voting props up a political system run by murderers and their aiders and abetters, recall that as Shimon Peres gives Tzipi Livni the nod to form a coalition including Eli Yishai's Shas Party. But if Netanyahu is somehow given the first shot, recall that he still holds the big cards on Peres.

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Makes no difference

by shirazie (not verified) on

Meir is at least honest enough to reveal the expansionist ideology of Israelis and Jews.

Israelis are not in charge - AIPAC is .... It is like saying President of Iran?!! - Supreme Leader is in charge.


Artificial Intelligence

Good Article Meir

by Artificial Intelligence on

I am Esfahani like you as well and lived in Jerusalem for two years.

Part of the problem is the Israeli election system. It does not produce strong governments that can make hard decisions without fear of being forced into elections because they lose the majority by a few renegade small parties.  If Israel had strong governments, it would be able to reach peace with the Palestinians long ago notwithstanding the pressure from these small parties that support the kookoo settlers.

Also, please ignore our resident Islamists/Leftists as they are very hassood that Israelis have a real democracy while their Iranian revolution only created a theocracy with some turban head (Khamenei)  who has no real knowledge of Islam in charge of all their affairs. 

 


Arash Monzavi-Kia

Nicely written Meir, as usual

by Arash Monzavi-Kia on

I hope that one day in Iran, we would be having as many choices to agonize over. Until then, we have to either vote for the mullah, or the mollah, or the moullah. 

Arash M-K


Abarmard

Jaleho So true

by Abarmard on

That was well said. There are no arguments against what you have written about except that you are Islamist, IRI payroll and things like that.

The joke Nailed it :)


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Very Humane Article by Meir Javedanfar

by AnonymousDoost (not verified) on

I must Say that after reading this article, its clear that we all want freedom and the best choices for our leadership. Mr. Javedanfar, your love for Iran, Esfahan, UK, Israel, Arabs and Ethiopian Jewish citizens in Israel speaks volumes about our common humanity and need for peace in the region and the world. I am also very glad that you agree that regime change in Iraq was a bad idea and terrible when it comes to getting Hamas out of Gaza.

Its individuals and people like you and me who can help change and moderate the lands we come from, and in which we live in today. We are all citizens of the world. And as a fellow Iranian Esfahani, who is a Moslem, I hope one day we both can visit Esfahan and strengthen ties between out new homelands and the homeland from which we left...

Love Jews, Arabs, Iranians, Westerners and Easterns as a members of the same family, human family and you will change the world.

Like you I think social justice for all should be the goal, to all those who see it as us versus them, you are all missguided. Stop demonizing Jews, Arabs, Moslems, Iranians, Americans etc....

Dast boos and much Love,

Radmehr