Many people in the world are watching the drama as it unfolds in Iran following the general elections last Friday. I don’t have a clue, obviously, what the real results of the elections are. Furthermore, while I am very familiar with Ahmadinejad and his “interesting” anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli comments, I have no idea who is the opponent Mr. Musavi is at all. I don’t know if Musavi is better or worse, for me or for my country, for the West or for the world. From what I hear and read, the differences are not as significant as we would like them to be. They are both, apparently, religious fanatics and isolationists. They will both, probably, pursue the Iranian nuclear program. Therefore, I really have no wishful thinking here. Simply because I don’t know what to wish for.
However, watching the news, the weblogs, the twitters, I can honestly say that I admire the protesters. In my country, and others I lived in and traveled to, protest is part of life. Basically, we protest all the time. We vote freely, we interview freely. Nobody is stopping us from publishing our thoughts on the Web. Nobody is stopping our emails (although there’s a good chance they are reading it). We don’t have to support the government position on practically anything. In fact, we can (and many do) badmouth the government every single chance we have.
Therefore, it’s very difficult for us to understand the risk and the danger taken by Iranian protesters, marching down the streets of Tehran, taking photos using their cellular phones, smuggling their messages through emails and websites, calling journalists outside of Iran. The Iranian protesters have become the foreign journalists covering this unfolding drama, as the journalists themselves have been forced into their hotel rooms, their communication equipment taken, their lifeline to the world severed. The Army of the Guardians of the Iranian Revolution will be (or already was) instructed to crack down on the demonstrators, use live ammunition, arrest, torture and kill the protesters. There is no doubt in my mind, that demonstrating in Iran these days, assuming one is not an Ahmadinejad supporter, is a dangerous business.
So from Israel, I can only send you guys a big “chapeau”. It’s one thing to stand up for your beliefs when you can do it freely, without risking your life. It’s a totally different thing to stand up for what you believe in, when a sword is placed on your neck.
I was particularly amazed with the courage of the Iranian National Soccer team who played wearing green ribbons on their hands, announcing support for Musavi. One must admire a protest which can get you to play soccer in the county jail, and this is the good scenario.
We’re hearing voices from Iranians who have no business destroying Israel, or fighting with the US or any other country. We can only hope that whoever ends up heading Iran, will take a more accommodating tone with the rest of the world, will not use every opportunity to suggest that me and my people have no business here in Israel, and will stop funding terrorist attacks targeting Israelis and Jews everywhere. Iran already was different. There were times when Iran and Israel were working together in many areas. Agriculture and medicine to name a couple. It could happen again.
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