Posted on 09/04/2003 4:26:02 PM PDT by Persia
Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) since its inception has been intimidating Israel, beginning with Khomeini's announcement of the Ghods Day in Tehran after the establishment of IRI, supposedly to defend the Palestinian people, but in reality to export Shi'a Islamism all over the Middle East. In the recent years, IRI boasting of having long range missiles reaching Israel, is doing the same kind of rhetoric Saddam initiated against Israel, that ended up in Israel's preemptive strikes on Iraq's nuclear facilities.
The IRI anti-Israeli intimidations is also reminiscent of rhetoric of IRI leaders against Iraq which ended up in Iraq's invasion of Iran with 8 years of suffering and devastation with no positive outcome for Iran. Of course Saddam's Iraq invaded Iran and it was rightly condemned and Iranians had every right and duty to resist the invaders and push them out of Iran.
Why is IRI doing all the rhetoric of Shahab Missiles to get Iran into a war situation with Israel? Haven't we learned that these intimidations can only hurt Iran and Iranians by isolating Iran more and more and putting Iran at the risk of an Israeli attack?
What is all the point of anti-Israeli nonsense? In the last 20 years, Iran has suffered in the hands of Islamists and not Zionists. Why do the Islamists and leftists always try to make Israeli-Palestinian conflict our issue? IRI tries to start a war with Israel to keep itself afloat, the same way Saddam and many Arab states including most of the Palestinian leadership have done all these years, to keep the tension with Israel to justify their own incompetence to form democratic and modern states in their own countries.
Can anybody name one state in the Middle East to be more modern and democratic for its *own* citizens than Israel? Oh please do not jump and say Palestinians are treated as second degree citizens in Israel. I know that and I condemn it. But blacks were treated as second degree citizens in law of the land not only till 1864 but even till the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., but the United States was still a democracy for the rest of the population for hundreds of years despite the ugly part of apartheid during that history.
Let's remember that in contrast, IRI and the Arab countries do not just treat their "second" degree citizens below democratic and human rights standards, they treat all their citizens as such, and also they are all backward states which even allow the killing of heretics, or practice beheading and other cruel punishments like in Saudi Arabia, and stoning and other crimes against Iran's own citizens in the case of IRI even sanctioned in its constitution, whereas all these countries having oil are a lot richer than Israel and could have modernized and democratized a lot if they had the right leadership.
Israel has been one of the most successful countries in the Middle East, which has been able to become way more modern and democratic than all the other countries in the Middle East even without having oil revenues. The superiority of the state apparatus of Israel in the independence of its parliament and checks and balances, having real elections and not sham elections, and the social welfare and independent media and other human rights, are undeniable and their advanced state in technologies and health care are known even to Iranian people who wish medical attendance in Israeli hospitals for their loved ones, and if anybody says it is all because of dependence on the U.S., I would respond that Saudi has also been dependent on the U.S. but is a symbol of backwardness in the world and not advancement.
I have written before that "I do not approve the attacks of Israeli state against the Palestinians and if some Israel’s officials still imagine they have legitimacy of owning a piece of land in the Middle East based on whatever has been the case some thousands of years ago are wrong and the same way the Palestinians and Arabs who also imagine that because of whatever has been owned by Arabs over half a century ago to have the right to that land, are also dreaming. This is as if one keeps saying white population has no right to the U.S. land, because it belonged to Native Americans. The reality is that there is a country of Israel because of whatever historical reasons, just like all those Arab countries that exist because of some historical reasons and one better see the reality and plan on that rather than having a self-serving version of dream of history to try to solve today’s problems."
Thus basically I do not care for either side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and I have already written in details my views of the historical issues raised, and do not need to repeat here and frankly I see it waste of time to argue these historical discussions and I prefer to focus on practical reality of the Middle East than to get drowned in history.
Iranians want good relations with Israel and it is to our advantage to learn about technical and social advancements of Israel and looking at Israel from the angle of Israel-Palestinian conflict has been a wrong approach to Israel for over 20 years. The majority of leftists who have been helping IRI all these years in continuing their lopsided view of Israel are doing a disservice to Iran and Iranians and if their so-called anti-imperialism ended up supporting an Islamist reactionary revolution in 1979, their condoning and supporting anti-Israeli rhetoric of IRI will put Iran at a situation worse than the Iran-Iraq War.
Iranians do not want a war with Israel and if IRI leaders cause a war with Israel, they are the ones who are causing another disaster for Iran and Iranians, which can hurt us like the Iran-Iraq War, and Islamists and leftists should answer for all the devastations that will follow such an outcome. They better come to grips with the new realities of the Middle East rather than putting Iran and Iranians at risk.
Good argument.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.