Happy Independence day Israel!
Apr 23rd, 2007 by City boy
Ever since Khomeini was taken up as “Marja” (source of imitation, religious authority) and before the Islamic Revolution, he had always called Israel the enemy of Islam.
One of the reasons for this hate could have well been the fact that the Shah of Iran was one if not the first of national leaders to recognise Israel upon it’s Independence on 1948.
Sadly, because of Islamic Republic’s very ignorant take on Israel, it does not recognise it and does everything it can to promote anti-Zionist feelings through endless propaganda in the media. It has gone as far as creating anti-Israeli cartoons for children (many more on youtube).
In the non-Islamofascist view, Iranians and Jews have much in common. They share a long history in which Judaism was flourished through the Persian Empire and influenced and got influenced by Zoroastrianism, the pre-Islamic religion of Iran. Through the Islamic conquest of the region also, Persians and Jews were both dhimmified and those that never converted, faced major discrimination until the 19th century where the idea slowly died out.Because of censored media and non-stop propaganda of Islamic Republic, Iranians tend to be ignorant on the facts of democracy and human rights in Israel.
Well yesterday was the Yom Hazikaron (Memorial day) and today marks the Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence day) of Israel.
Lets go over the facts regarding Israel since it’s creation:
1- Arab population in Israel has raised from 160,000 in 1948 to 1.4 million now (20% of the population), they enjoy full and equal citizenship, with Arabic as an official language of Israel together with Hebrew.
2- Although Israel is officially a Jewish state it recognises 15 different religions and protects all religious minorities.
3- Israel is the only country in the middle east with free and fair elections where opposition parties and minorities fully participate.
4- Israel is the only country in the middle east where homosexuality is legal and they are protected from discrimination and hate crimes.
5- Israel has the lowest percentage (4.4%) of illiteracy among it’s women, with 45% of women in labor force.
And last but not least:
6- Israel is the only country in middle east with freedom of speech and assembly, free and open trials, complete religious freedom and freedom of media, freedom to criticise religion (any), freedom of artistic expression and free (uncensored) entry of foreign arts, books and press.
There it is, the true enemy of Islamic Republic!! as you can see it is indeed all the evil they promised in one state!
Lets all celebrate the creation of Israel today instead of taking on the ignorant view that Islamic fundamentalists should take over and ruin this beautiful gem in middle east.
um, dude, lebanon ahs total freedom of speech and religion, too. get your facts straight.
Yeah maybe freedom of speech as long as it is not related to religion.
The Lebanese law does not provide for freedom to have no religion, and also the law stipulates that any one who “blasphemes God publicly” may face imprisonment for up to one year.
Films that offend religious or social sensitivities are often blacklisted. In May the SG prohibited the film “The Da Vinci Code” from being shown in the country because of religious sensitivities.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78857.htm
You got your official facts straight about Lebanon, but strictly speaking its not so enforced! Yeah, maybe you can’t stand up and curse God publically, but there are limits in every country. In France, religious groups, Christians, Muslims and others face many restrictions… France has become intolerantly secular. In Israel, the law allows any Jews to return to Israel and get their citizenship, as long as they are not openly Messianic Jews (i.e. Jews that believe Jesus is the Messiah). Another small example, in Israel, Christmas trees are not allowed. More seriously though, there are many ‘racial’ classes even amongst the Jews in Israel!
You are also wrong about the fair treatment of Israel of its citizens and non-citizen residents. 20% of the Arab population (Palestinians) in Israel are second-rate citizens. Many of them, especially, Muslim Palestinians are not even registered by the government, neither are their children.
I understand your reaction to such severe and stupid Anti-Zionism in Iran. What the hek does Iran have to do with Israel and Palestine in the first place that the whole country has to be mobilized against? Israel hasn’t fired a shot at Iran, or taken an inch of its soil? Does Israel really pose such a threat to Iran that the Iranians have to be so belligerent against it?
But you have gone too far in countering this propaganda. I am a Lebanese and I consider Israel an enemy of my country as long it does what its doing. And I can tell you that Israel’s policies (both internaly and externaly) are just as bad as the other countries in the region, if not worse, and no, Lebanon is one of the better ones there. For example, Lebanon is the only Arab country where it is perfectly legal to change religions. If you want my opinion, apart from the political wrangling going on there now, our real problem, which we are addressing is how to humanely treat the Palestinians in Lebanon without comprimising the integrity of our state.
I am very anti-Zionist, but not anti-Jewish nor anti-peace. But in the end, you don’t have to make up for anti-Zionism in your country by being overly pro-Israel. I say this as a barader-e Iran and not as anything else.
Khoda hafez.
Baradar-e Iran,
Christmas trees are not allowed in Israel? That’s the first I hear about it! what’s your source?
Anyway they are second class citizens just like many minority groups all over the world, even in UK and USA. This doesn’t mean we should destroy them. They have more rights there than many Arab countries, and that’s the truth.
Salam Pesare Shahr,
Honestly, I don’t remember my sources, it was a long time ago (several years or so). I remember it had to do with setting up public Christams trees. But don’t be surprised, extremists of all religions take such stands often; in this case it was extremist Jews. As for the ‘rights’ issue I still strongly disagree: I am speaking about rights to citizens of Israel proper not to Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza. Look into the status of Falasha Jews (Ethiopian origin). There is a distinct heirachy in their society and I have been surprised by many Israeli’s strong ethno-religious racism of sorts in several of my encounters with them.
All said though you are saying that ‘Since Israel is a ‘good’ country, why should we destroy it?’. I am not even addressing this question. Personally, I think Iranian hostility towards Israel is over the board but I was telling you is that you don’t need to overlook Israel’s bloody history and ways in order to express that your country’s regime is seeking a quarrel it is not even part of. Secondly, following this logic, why didn’t Iran destroy the Taliban regme in Afghanistan having been one of the most horrific regimes ever? And even if the Iranian regime was of a different nature (e.g. even if it was a secular republic), does this thinking apply to any country against another? I mean, should ‘good’ countries seek to destroy ‘bad’ countries, just because they are ‘bad’?
Tough question, but while we do agree on the uselessness of wiping Israel off the map and the Iranian government’s obsession with this country that it has nothing to do with, we do not agree on the ‘innocent’ nature of Israel. I live right next door to these guys and the entire Levant is still shaking in great upheavels and is suffering so much because of this massive explusion of Palestinians, and the theft and occupation of their lands more than 60 years ago! Its totally ridicoulus, I know, but the events of 1948 are still as alive today as they were back then… just look at the battles in North Lebanon right now.
I hope one day there will be peace, but for this, one would have to see the nature of man change!
We’re not going to hash out the Arab-Israel dispute here. But I should say, though, our Lebanese friend is being very generous. Israel has invaded his country several times, with catastrophic results (in 1978 leaving over a thousand dead and over a hundred thousand displaced, in 1982 leaving almost 20,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, and the current equivalent of two billion dollars worth of damage. The most recent Israeli invasion of Lebanon left over a thousand dead and billions of dollars of damages. In a particularly vile and gratuitous swipe at Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force dropped thousands of cluster bombs on Lebanon, an act which, aside from constituting a real war crime, had no conceivable value but to punish the country.
See, for starts, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-Lebanon_conflict. Yes, I know, Lebanon was home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their terrorist organizations. Yes I know, the PLO constituted a state within a state. But whatever atrocities they carried out in Israel, they utterly pale in comparison with what the Israeli army did to Lebanon.
As for the Shah and Israel, the story is a bit more complex than City Boy seems to realize. Israel was founded in 1948 when the Shah did not control Iran. Iran did not officially recognize Israel on its founding. On the contrary, the relationship between the two countries was a covert one, which only slowly developed into open but unofficial recognition. The Israelis (probably unwisely) pressured Iran to recognize their country formally, but the Iranians (probably wisely) refused.
After the 1973 war, the Shah shifted from his alliance with Israel to an alliance with conservative Arab countries, and he championed their concerns about Israel. There is an extensive literature on this, including a book by the monarchist champion Rob Sohrabi. The Shah, according to the Israeli author Segev’s The Israeli Triangle, had his own peculiar views about Jews and alleged Jewish domination of international politics, banking, etc. This came out more and more in his later years. For starts, the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vUPpoxmwU0
I, too, have no love for the Islamic Republic’s crack-pot “anti-Zionism.” But to quote the great James Thurber, if you bending over too far backwards is no different than falling on your face.
نه اÙراط Ùˆ نه تÙریط
راه اعتدال را طی کنی
به هر Øال خدایتان نگهدار
سلام
שלו×
Evan
http://www.geocities.com/evan_j_siegel
Amazing the stuff people make up in their dsire to demonize the Jews!
I recently came across this:
“Because there are so few Christians in the Jerusalem area (some Arabs, others Europeans and Americans), the Israeli government provides free Christmas trees to anyone who wants to pick one up….”
http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/11/christmas-in-israel/
I wonder how many of the other accusations made against Israel are equally fabricated???