'Iranians Are Pro-Israel'

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From: IsraelNN.com http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) An Iranian pro-democracy activist tells Israel National News that the image of Persians as fanatical fundamentalist Muslims is, for the most part, incorrect. However, he warns, the people of Iran will most likely join together in opposing any attack on their country out of a deep sense of patriotism.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran's Fars News Agency, tens of thousands of students appealed to their government in recent weeks to "authorize martyrdom-seeking volunteers to leave Iran and fight against Israel in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip." However, the nation's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Iranian television Thursday that the government will not be allowing the would-be jihad fighters to travel to Gaza, because "our hands are tied in this arena."

The day before Khamenei's televised appearance, a communique came out of Iran from a previously unknown organization called the Iranian Student Movement for Freedom claiming that Iranian students are not signing up for the Gazan jihad. "Claiming that the Iranian students are signing up to become martyrs is yet another attempt by the Iranian regime to force the world into believing that the Iranian people support the Islamic regime's global terror," says the communique.

Israel National News turned to Amil Imani, an Iranian-born pro-democracy activist currently living in the United States, for an insight into the true picture within Iran at this critical time. Imani is a widely published columnist, with articles appearing in the popular New Media Journal, American Thinker, Faith Freedom International, and this publication as well. He has also been on hundreds of radio talk shows across the world, including BBC World News.

INN: You once sent me a video purportedly filmed in Tehran of a graffiti artist creating a mural celebrating Israel's Independence Day. Do we have any hard numbers on grass-roots opposition to the Islamic regime?

Imani: First, let me thank you for the invitation. Temperamentally and historically most Iranians are pro-Israel. It's in their genes. By that, I mean, we are the followers of Cyrus the Great and his charter. The great king practiced what he believed. He, for example, helped rebuild the Temple of Solomon which had been destroyed by the Babylonian kings and freed some 40,000 or more Jews who had been imprisoned and kept as slaves by the Babylonians, empowering the Jewish people to return to their homeland. Something that was followed by Cyrus's heirs up to this date.

There are only a handful of Iranians, who are directly or indirectly paid by the present regime, who show enmity for Israel, but I think deep down, even they pretend and do not mean it. We have had nothing against the State of Israel or the Jews and we do not have even to this very date. We have always been protective of the Jews in Iran. That is a fact that has been proved many times over.

Sadly, the Jewish people have been used as scapegoats for many centuries by a variety of non-Jews. Regrettably, Muslims and Islamists, for their parts, have adopted scapegoating as an article of faith. The Muslims blame the Jews for all kinds of heinous things, dating back to the time of Muhammad himself.

Realistically, 80 to 90 percent of the entire population of Iran truly despise the current regime. In recent weeks, many cities in Iran have been the sources of ferocious anti-government protest, but, as always, the Western media has ignored reporting it.

INN: How deep has Islamist brainwashing penetrated in Iran?

Imani: Today the Iranian people are having to carry on the work that the dissidents in the Soviet Union had to do at one time - and are suffering the same kinds of oppression and imprisonment and intimidation. The regime has spent billions of dollars for its Islamic propaganda and mass brainwashing. They have tried everything in their power to take away the joys of life from people and make them vessels of Allah. For the past 30 years, very similar to the "Great Purge", the mullahs, the agents of terror, have imposed an Islamic cultural revolution by forcing a prolonged indoctrination of Islamic dogma on people of all ages, particularly the young children. The ultimate goal was to "Islamicize" Iran's universities and schools. Ostensibly mandated to enforce the Islamic Dress Code, enacted in May 2006, armed guards are posted at all centers of higher education to prevent anti-regime demonstrations.

As more time passes, the mullahs are in more trouble. After the mullahs' uprising and their brutal acts, the Iranians found out that they were cheated badly by the Toodeh Party, as well as all the so-called left-leaning intellectuals; therefore, they had no choice but to find out how, why and by whom they were cheated. The result is that they went after soul searching. They went back to rediscover their roots, with the result that today almost all the young generation, which comprises more than half of the 70 million citizens, are more aware of their glorious pre-Islamic past than ever before.

Islam has become taboo for the new generation, so much so that it is taken as an insult to call any Persian "Muslim". This phenomenon is more prevalent among the Iranian diasporas all over the world. They are renouncing Islam and adhering to Zoroastrian faith. This very fact indicates the depth of the mullah's Islamic policy, which is doomed to failure.

INN: What is driving the pro-regime support rallies and statements we do see in the Iranian streets?

Imani: Distribution of money, bribery and brute force. The government employees are forced to participate in all kinds of makeshift demonstrations by the Islamist government thugs, as well as paid-for professional demonstrators from other places, including Lebanese Hizbullah, Palestinian terrorists and Afghani people. They have buses, full of people ready to go for these shows of deceit.

INN: What do you think would be the reaction of Iranians to an Israeli attack to take out the nuclear sites in Iran?

Imani: It would be a mixed reaction outcome which would not be easy to envisage. Some people think that it is our right to have the technology, but not under the helm of the irresponsible present regime. That includes me.

Therefore, it is obvious that many people will not appreciate an attack on the nuclear facilities in Iran that will turn our national wealth into dust. That alone will create uncertainty in predicting what would be the reaction of Iranians towards demolishing the nuclear facilities. Knowing the Iranian patriotism, they would be more or less forced to set aside their differences and fight with the invaders. They think that the present irresponsible regime will pass sooner or later; therefore, we have to safeguard our national assets.

An unsuccessful military action would give [Iranian President Mahmoud]Ahmadinejad more power and popularity in the Islamic world, particularly in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. The regime also has its own missile program that can reach up to London. They can hit Israel with ease and also attack other U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf region.

INN: Do you think such an attack is possible?

Imani: I am not the authority to comment on this question. It is the responsibility of the Israelis' relevant authorities to examine the possibility of such a full-fledged undertaking. I believe neither the military option nor the appeasement of the present regime is the way to defeat the Islamofascists. The mullahs are highly vulnerable, given the ruin they have visited upon Iran and their stone-age discriminatory practices. A comprehensive political, moral and economic measure by the United States and others offers the best chance of ending the mullah's reign of terror and re-enlisting Iran in the rank of free democratic nations.

Iranians are much different today than a few years ago. There are many elements, even within the regime itself, that advocate that mullahs must give up power and go back to their mosques.

INN: How close is a "new Persian revolution"?

Imani: I hear many people always ask me the same question: Why couldn't the Iranian people extricate themselves from their present, very suboptimal circumstances in terms of economic opportunity, freedom of speech and vital human rights? When are they going to revolt?

The previous revolution was not so much a revolution, but a restoration, a significant move backward in time. Let me also say this, most Iranians are not really devoted to the orthodox Shi'a faith, regardless of what the flickering images on Western TV screens show after Friday prayers. Most Iranians are open-minded, multicultural, pragmatic and [are] looking both towards East and West. Iranian people are definitely not hostile to the West in general - or to the United States and Israel in particular. In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll conducted in 27 mostly Muslim countries, only in Iran have sentiments toward the United States improved.

Again, realistically, it appears Iranian people do not wish to have another revolution; they are seeking a peaceful transition. They look to our friends abroad for their support, which till this very day is yet to come.

If all fails, revolution will find its path. The revolution must be directed towards making things better. Iranians have learned that this has not been the case most often. It must aim towards the improvement of certain aspects of society, economics, culture, or any other aspects of a social group. Iranians do not wish an aggressive revolution. They believe violence should not be used, as this only leads to the loss of life, war, and loss of objective. Iranians by nature are peace loving people.

INN: What do you think will be the attitude of a non-Islamist Iran to Israel? To the Arab world? To the Palestinian Authority? To the Kurds?

Imani: 1. The non-Islamic attitude towards Israel will return to the friendly atmosphere of pre-1979 upheaval. 2. The Arab World is not our concern. We are - by sheer numbers and knowledge, industry, etc. - superior to them. Hence, we can keep a proper relation with them as we had before. 3. Iranians, as well as all the Arabs, have unfavorable attitude towards Palestinians. There is no doubt about that. Actually, the Arabs call them "dividers"! 4. The Kurds are true Aryans/Persians. We do not have problems with them. If they seek internal administrative autonomy in their own region, it will not create a problem. We have a provision in the 1906 Constitution and its Amendments for the same autonomy. However, it was not put to work then due to the security of the entire country; whereas, the situation has changed in a way that it does not warrant the same precautions.

INN: From your familiarity with Islam and Islamist regimes - like Hamas - what should be Israel's immediate objective in Gaza? And for the long-term?

Imani: Israel is a sovereign state, but hardly safe. She is surrounded by nations and peoples who are bent on her destruction. It is tragic that your neighbors and you have not been able to find an equitable way of living side-by-side with mutual respect and in peace. I think the people of Israel are fighting for their very existence against a small group who are the elite of elite and want them removed from the planet.

Israel should never have left Gaza; they should have stayed and mopped up the terrorists. I am getting a bit miffed with GLOBAL TV [in Ontario, Canada - ed.] and other networks. Every time Hamas shoots these many rockets into Israel and Israel clouts them back, GLOBAL TV always shows the "poor Palestinian citizenry" suffering under the return fire of Israel. The poor Palestinian "innocent" citizens are taught in their schools, in their textbooks and in class that Israel and the West are bad and must be destroyed. This is promoted while the Hamas terrorists hide behind their women and children in a firefight.

But now that Israelis have left Gaza voluntarily, they don't know what to do with Gaza. I think they should keep their presence in Gaza as long as it takes to completely disarm Hamas, which has become the proxy of the Islamic Republic. But the problem is that the other party, Fatah, cannot be trusted either. Arabs do not trust them, why should Israelis do so? I believe Israel must always do what is in the best interest of Israel and her citizens.