The Iranian regime enjoys Arabs and Jews killing each other
By Reza Hossein Borr, Pakistan Christian Post, January 16, 2009
The Iranian Ayatollahs who see Shiism as the embodiment of Iranian nationalism are enjoying themselves quietly in their huge and well-secured palaces in Iran while the Arabs and Israelis kill each other. They are enjoying their success in provoking both Palestinians and Israelis in a war which is providing the grounds for the Islamic Republic to become a major player in politics of region without being accountable or without being hurt. The regime considers both, enemies of Iran and Iranian Shiism, and helps both to become the victims of their own hatred and anger.
The Iranian version of Shiism is a fundamental manifestation of Iranian nationalism whose roots are to be traced in Persian Imperial Empire. There are two kinds of nationalists in Iran: Shiism based nationalism and racial, secular nationalism which is based on Arianism. Both of them hate Jews, Muslims and Arabs. The secular nationalists hate the Arabs because they destroyed their empire which they consider as the greatest civilization of all times. Cyrus, the great and Darius, the great, represent this nationalism. They claim that Cyrus, the great, introduced the first human rights charter in the world and Darius followed the same tradition.
Those who have some real Islamic beliefs obviously hated the Jewish people in the old traditional ways of Muslims. The ordinary people, the public who are not aware of such historical facts are aroused by old Jewish-Arab rivalries. The excessive reactions of Israel give them a good reason to use the massacre of innocent women and children as an excuse to incite the Arabs and Muslim public. There is another group of Iranian nationalists who rejoice the present conflict. These are the supporters of the last Shah of Iran who was dismissed from power in 1979. They believe that Israel had a part in the overthrow of the Shah of Iran because Iran was acquiring its old power and prestige under his leadership in the world. Israel did not trust a powerful and strong Iran who may be somehow under the influence of Iranian leftist groups or Iranian fanatic public which naturally side with the cause of the Palestinians.
The conflict in Gaza, as some Iranian officials announced, is the beginning of the conflict in the region between the Arab people and their governments. The Arab masses are looking for a unified response to Israel. The Arab governments obviously are not capable of giving any unified response except what they have already done which is condemnation of the massacre of the Palestinians by Israeli state. The Arab governments are not in any position to attack Israel. Hamas has not coordinated its plans with the Arab leaders. They get their instructions from the Islamic Republic of Iran in the same way that the Hezbollah of Lebanon received their instructions from Iran. There is no doubt that Hamas is acting on behalf of the Islamic regime. It receives its training, logistic, financial support and moral encouragement from Iran. Iran knows that Israel cannot militarily attack Iran and gain some substantial victory. It is using Hamas to fire rockets into Israeli soil so that Israel reacts strongly and strikes Gaza, in which innocent people have been killed and will be killed in future.
The Iranian regime is bombarding the Arab masses through its various Arabic channels. It shows the long queues in Iran that the young men are registering for suicide bombing missions and urging the government to facilitate their transport to Gaza. More than 200 members of Iranian parliament also registered voluntarily to go to war against Israel. A large number of provoked Iranians have organized a sit-in strike in side Iranian airports to go and fight in support of Palestinians. Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is provoking the public to organize demonstrations in front of Arab embassies to show support for the Palestinian people. These are all propaganda. .
The Iranian regime wants to offer certain political models for the Arab masses to follow in their countries. The regime wants to give ideas to the Arabs that they must press their governments for sending them to war, arranging suicide bombings, and demonstrating in the streets, day and night until the demonstrations get out of hand and somehow the government of one of the Arab countries collapses and a new radical Muslim movement replaces it. As far as the Arab governments are concerned, they have to allow certain demonstrations against Israel but they cannot allow demonstrations against their own systems. Since the masses want the governments to take action and the governments cannot take action, the confrontation between the masses and the governments will become inevitable
Any conflict between the Arab masses and Arab governments would be welcomed in Iran as the regime hates both of them equally.
Reza Hossein Borr is author of A New Vision for the Islamic World and is active in issues involving Baluchistan.