Ahmadinejad - the so-called president of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) – has been invited by President Michel Suleiman of Lebanon for a two-day visit, commencing the 13th October, 2010. Ahmadinejad is due to meet his key ally Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah leader; and then tour the south of Lebanon.
The spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, said that it is as if Ahmadinejad is touring the South like that of a “big landowner coming to inspect his property”. Palmor added that Ahmadinejad had already declared to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that south Lebanon was Iran’s border with Israel. The IRI had contributed a key role to financing the reconstruction of southern Lebanon after the 2006 war, and has offered to provide military support.
Fares Souaid has argued that Ahmadinejad’s visit would be a declaration that Beirut is under [IRI] influence, rendering Lebanon an IRI base in the Mediterranean; thus, serving as an unnecessary form of provocation.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, claimed that Ahmadinejad’s visit is aimed at promoting unity among the Lebanese. Nevertheless, this trip could serve to sabotage any prospects of peace resulting from the West’s efforts in rescuing the ‘fledgling’ US-backed peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Perhaps Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric will serve to unite the extremists in Lebanon to wage wanton destruction of any prospects of peace, given Sheikh Ali Yassin, the local Imam in the southern city of Tyre, argued that Ahmadinejad’s visit “will be a message to the United States that they need to understand there is a regional force backing Lebanon”.
During his stay in New York for the 2010 United Nations’ General Assembly’s annual meeting, Ahmadinejad held a dinner conference at the Warwick Hotel on 20th September. Guests comprised of retired diplomats, nuclear scientists and ‘rent-a-guest’ ex-pat Iranians who were all too content with demonstrating their purchased support for Ahmadinejad, simply because they received Persian cuisine, financed by the blood of the victims of the IRI’s gross human rights violations. Such rent-a-guest personnel included IRI lobby group ‘Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran’ (CASMII) member Ardeshir Omani, who lives in the US, and claims to be an anti-imperialist; Sorraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, a very wealthy US-based CASMII activist and writer, who was all too ready to show off her locks of hair in a loosely worn headscarf at the deplorable event, even though Ahmadinejad’s ‘morality squad’ back in Iran would have had her whipped for having breached ‘morality codes’ for her ‘improper attire’.
As for the majority of Iranians in Iran, if one refers back to the chants of the many protesters demonstrating in the streets of Iran against the rigged 2009 presidential election and brutal clampdown against demonstrators, they will find “nah Ghazeh, nah Lobnan, janam fadaye Iran!” – ‘No to Ghaza, No to Lebanon, my life I’d sacrifice for Iran’.
A spokesperson for Iranian human rights NGO, Neda for a Free Iran, commented that “We want to see peace and the respect for human rights, not just in the Middle East, but all over the world. The situation concerning Israel/Palestine is a very delicate one in which we do not wish to engage in taking sides; simply, we call for all parties involved in this conflict to respect human rights. Nevertheless, the people in Iran have their own holocaust to fight – the human rights holocaust that has been launched by the IRI government against the people of Iran for the last thirty years. The Iranian people do not want to be distracted from their fight for freedom by the political agendas of the IRI government concerning Palestine. How can the IRI claim to support any Palestinian when they cannot honour the human rights of the people they purport to govern? Which set of rights does Ahmadinejad intend to protect when both his administration and the entire IRI system have persistently offended the international human rights laws Iran has ratified? Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon can only be part of his campaign to manipulate the religious beliefs of the people so that he may wield it as a weapon against peace in the region”.
It appears that Ahmadinejad merely represents the extremist groups of Hizbollah as a ‘hired-gun’, and the corrupt and depraved views of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei; not the views of the millions of Iranians who have had more than enough of the reprehensible dictatorial regime of tyranny that has kept Iran in the dark for over thirty years. Iranians want peace, freedom, and the respect for human rights; not a war against Israel, or anyone else.
The spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, said that it is as if Ahmadinejad is touring the South like that of a “big landowner coming to inspect his property”. Palmor added that Ahmadinejad had already declared to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that south Lebanon was Iran’s border with Israel. The IRI had contributed a key role to financing the reconstruction of southern Lebanon after the 2006 war, and has offered to provide military support.
Fares Souaid has argued that Ahmadinejad’s visit would be a declaration that Beirut is under [IRI] influence, rendering Lebanon an IRI base in the Mediterranean; thus, serving as an unnecessary form of provocation.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, claimed that Ahmadinejad’s visit is aimed at promoting unity among the Lebanese. Nevertheless, this trip could serve to sabotage any prospects of peace resulting from the West’s efforts in rescuing the ‘fledgling’ US-backed peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Perhaps Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric will serve to unite the extremists in Lebanon to wage wanton destruction of any prospects of peace, given Sheikh Ali Yassin, the local Imam in the southern city of Tyre, argued that Ahmadinejad’s visit “will be a message to the United States that they need to understand there is a regional force backing Lebanon”.
During his stay in New York for the 2010 United Nations’ General Assembly’s annual meeting, Ahmadinejad held a dinner conference at the Warwick Hotel on 20th September. Guests comprised of retired diplomats, nuclear scientists and ‘rent-a-guest’ ex-pat Iranians who were all too content with demonstrating their purchased support for Ahmadinejad, simply because they received Persian cuisine, financed by the blood of the victims of the IRI’s gross human rights violations. Such rent-a-guest personnel included IRI lobby group ‘Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran’ (CASMII) member Ardeshir Omani, who lives in the US, and claims to be an anti-imperialist; Sorraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, a very wealthy US-based CASMII activist and writer, who was all too ready to show off her locks of hair in a loosely worn headscarf at the deplorable event, even though Ahmadinejad’s ‘morality squad’ back in Iran would have had her whipped for having breached ‘morality codes’ for her ‘improper attire’.
As for the majority of Iranians in Iran, if one refers back to the chants of the many protesters demonstrating in the streets of Iran against the rigged 2009 presidential election and brutal clampdown against demonstrators, they will find “nah Ghazeh, nah Lobnan, janam fadaye Iran!” – ‘No to Ghaza, No to Lebanon, my life I’d sacrifice for Iran’.
A spokesperson for Iranian human rights NGO, Neda for a Free Iran, commented that “We want to see peace and the respect for human rights, not just in the Middle East, but all over the world. The situation concerning Israel/Palestine is a very delicate one in which we do not wish to engage in taking sides; simply, we call for all parties involved in this conflict to respect human rights. Nevertheless, the people in Iran have their own holocaust to fight – the human rights holocaust that has been launched by the IRI government against the people of Iran for the last thirty years. The Iranian people do not want to be distracted from their fight for freedom by the political agendas of the IRI government concerning Palestine. How can the IRI claim to support any Palestinian when they cannot honour the human rights of the people they purport to govern? Which set of rights does Ahmadinejad intend to protect when both his administration and the entire IRI system have persistently offended the international human rights laws Iran has ratified? Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon can only be part of his campaign to manipulate the religious beliefs of the people so that he may wield it as a weapon against peace in the region”.
It appears that Ahmadinejad merely represents the extremist groups of Hizbollah as a ‘hired-gun’, and the corrupt and depraved views of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei; not the views of the millions of Iranians who have had more than enough of the reprehensible dictatorial regime of tyranny that has kept Iran in the dark for over thirty years. Iranians want peace, freedom, and the respect for human rights; not a war against Israel, or anyone else.
Well done Mehrtash. I enjoyed reading your articles. Khosro
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Well done Mehrtash.
ReplyDeleteTo the spokesperson of "Neda for a Free Iran", I would like to say that not every injustice and not every oppression are a "holocaust". If only people weren't so profligate with this term...
ReplyDelete