Ruthie Pliskin did not want Israel’s threats of a possible military strike to be the only message her country had for Iran. So the doctorate student from Tel Aviv posted a photo of herself and her cat on Facebook, with a sign in Farsi reading: “We love you, people of Iran.”
She says she received enthusiastic responses from Iranians who corrected the sign’s spelling and returned warm wishes after she posted on an “Israel-Loves-Iran” Facebook page.
Pliskin is among a small, but growing number of Israelis trying to reach out to Iranians, even as Israeli politicians warn with growing frequency and intensity that Israel might strike to halt Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
Photo: Reuters
Israelis mounted an art exhibit in Tel Aviv centered on Iran, built a Web site in Farsi with news of Israeli daily life and protested on Saturday against a potential strike on Iranian nuclear installations. They have also posted images endlessly shared on Facebook against a war with Iran.
Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran, said that this marks the first time Israelis have reached out in such a way to another nation in the Middle East. Has it had impact in Iran so far? That’s not clear yet, though Israelis say Iranians are responding positively to the Internet outreach. However, it appears unlikely that any good will being generated by civilians will sway governments.
Israel’s leaders say a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat. Iranian leaders often demonize Israel. Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak has said he is willing to give sanctions and negotiations a few more months to deter Iran from trying to obtain nuclear weapons, but suggests that, if efforts fail, Israel could strike this year. Iran insists it is pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but warns it will strike back if attacked.
In Israel, surveys show that a majority oppose a solo Israeli attack on Iran without US military cooperation.
Retired Israeli military and intelligence leaders have advised against striking Iran, arguing that Israel doesn’t have enough bomb shelters or gas masks to absorb a possible Iranian counterattack.
“Despite all this, our prime minister wants to take us to war,” said Tzvika Besor, a Tel Aviv marketing agent who organized Saturday’s protest. “And we say no.”
A few hundred Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv, holding signs reading: “No to war,” and, addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Bibi, don’t bomb Iran.”
Other protests have taken a more artistic approach. Early this month, three Tel Aviv artists mounted an exhibition called “Iran,” featuring a fake missile pointed at the nearby US embassy, a statue of Barak titled: “The most dangerous man in the world 2012” and short films. Hundreds attended its opening night.
At Haifa University, the head of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies started a Persian-language news portal from Israel, called TeHTel, to show a Tehran-Tel Aviv bond.
Launched on March 4, the site drew 22,000 visitors in its first two weeks, including several thousand directly from Iran. TeHTel offers personal essays from Israelis, musings on hamburgers and holidays, and translated news from Hebrew news sites and blogs on the country’s social and economic reality. An anonymous donor underwrote the project and paid staff to maintain it, including Iranian-Israeli translators.
“There’s interest, people are reading it, there are talkbacks, people write and reply to each other,” said Soli Shahvar, the site’s creator. “We want to come and stop this twisting of reality that [the Iranian] government does to Israel as a people that wants to rule the world, as Zionists who are killing Palestinians.”
This is not the first time the Internet has bridged a gap between hostile countries in the region. Israelis and Lebanese commented on each other’s blogs throughout the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. A Palestinian from a Gaza refugee camp and an Israeli from a border town co-hosted a blog during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in 2008.
However, Iran is different.
Javedanfar, an Iranian Israeli, said this movement might be fueled in part by a large successful community of Israelis with Iranian roots that is “out and proud with its Persian identity.”
About 250,000 Israelis, out of a population of 7.8 million, are of Iranian descent. They include former army chief Shaul Mofaz and singer Rita, who has put out a Farsi album.
The success of the Oscar-winning film A Separation has helped humanize Iranians, in contrast to “the petrifying picture of Iran, which Iranian politicians have managed to produce,” Javedanfar said.
Pliskin, 29, is among the Israelis who wanted to reach out with anti-war posters for Iran. The Israel-Loves-Iran page garnered 34,000 “likes” within a week.
“Persian cats, we will never bomb your country!” one Israeli poster showing a cute cat reads.
Other posters claimed to show Iranian affection for Israel, but their origins could not be pinned down.
One said: “Israelian [sic] friends, I wish we both get rid of our idiot politicians anyway, nice to see you!”
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