Threatening to wipe Tel Aviv and Haifa off the map, 62-year-old Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, viewed as heir apparent to 83-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, showed only contempt to Holocaust Remembrance Day. Like his boss Khamenei, Raisi likes to invoke anti-Semitism to stoke any kind of unity when the Iranian public violently protests against Mullah rule. Iran has convulsed for months since the Sept. 17, 2022 beating death by the Basij milita of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. Protests erupted around Iran for months calling for an end to Mullah rule. Amini was apparently beaten to death by the Basij “morality police” for improperly wearing her hijab or head scarf. Women and men across Iran protested Amini’s death, prompting concessions from the Ayatollah on strict Sharia law. Threatening Israel on Holocaust Day shows Raisi’s propaganda skill.
Raisi’s belligerent remarks at Israel hark back to 66-year-old former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who called Oct. 26, 2005 for Israel to be wiped off the map. Ahmadinejad likes to provoke Israel by hosting Dec. 11, 2006 a Holocaust deniers conference in Tehran. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 68, told Ahmadinejad that the German people don’t deny the Holocaust, the murder of some 6 million Jews during Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Yet when Iran faces a public backlash over one of the most repressive regimes on the planet, Iran invokes anti-Semitism with neighboring Arab states and certainly Palestinians living under Israeli control. Celebrating Iran’s elite Republican Guard, Raisi paraded fighter jets, helicopters and submarines to mark annual Army Day, just happening to fall on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a solemn day for Jews everywhere.
Speaking at Army Day Raisi threatened to wipe Tel Aviv and Haifa off the map. “Enemies, particularly the Zionist regime, has received the message that any tiny action against (our) country will prompt a harsh answer from the armed forces, which will accompany the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv,” Raisi said. Raisi called on the U.S. to leave the Middle East, leaving only Iran for fund proxy wars with Yemen’s Houthi rebels and radical Palestinian groups in Gaza and Lebanon. Iran routinely supplies rockets and other arms to Palestinians fighting Israel. Iran wants to control the Strait of Hormuz where some 20% of the world’s oil passes. President Joe Biden, 80, has tried with the P5+1, including the U.S., China, Russia, France and Germany, to restart Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal with no success. Iran continues to enrich weapons grade uranium to eventually build its first A-bomb.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes Iranian threats seriously, especially threatening to flatten Israeli cities. Raisi has insurrection against Mullah rule brewing in Iran, hoping some good old fashion anti-Semitism helps divert attention. Speaking today at a Yad Vashem [Holocaust] national ceremony, Netanyahu compared Iran’s Mullah regime to Nazi Germany. Joining Netanyahu at the Yad Vashem ceremony was Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah of Iran, whose government was toppled by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s Islamic Revolution. Appearing with Netanyahu, Pahlavi sent a message to Iran’s oppressed population that he supports liberation, returning democracy to Iran. Pahlavi has called for a peaceful revolution to end Mullah rule in Iran, something loathed by Khamenei and Raisi. Pahlavi, who lives in the U.S., wants Iran’s people to know they’re not forgotten.
Raisi carries Ahmadinejad’s torch of using anti-Semitism to fuel relations with Arab Gulf partners, all of whom have cordial ties with Israel. Raisi tried to reconcile diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, after fighting a bitter proxy war using Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack the Kingdom. Raisi hopes he can rekindle anti-Zionist fervor in Arab Gulf States but has little chance of succeeding. Since Amini’s brutal death, Khamenei and Raisi have faced a nation condemning Islamic rule, seeking to end Khamenei’s Mullah regime. Raisi couldn’t be more insulting to Israel hosting Army Day threatening to wipe Haifa and Tel Aviv off the map. Netanyahu said Israel cannot rest on its laurels, must be ready for any new threat to its existence. Raisi stepped into a long Mullah tradition of bashing Israel when the Tehran regime faces its own national threats because of its own brutality.
Diverting attention from the brutal crackdown after Mahsa Amini’s death, the Mullah regime invokes anti-Semitism hoping to create a rallying cry. Iran’s archaic Mullah regime can’t hide the fact the Iran’s young population wants a hopeful future filled with opportunity and freedom. Raisi’s threats about wiping Haifa and Tel Aviv off the map shows how the Mullah regime keeps the propaganda flowing to divert attention away from its brutal crackdown in the wake of Amini’s death. Raisi picked the most insulting day possible to threaten Israel while it commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day. Raisi showed he’s in the same anti-Semitic mold as Ahmandinejad, looking to lead the Arab world in condemning the Jewish State. With all of Raisi’s threats and bluster it’s doubtful that anything will happen. There’s no reason Netanyahu should do anything other than ignore Raisi’s threats.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
