COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE NATIONAL POST
This article by Kelly McParland is rubbish propaganda.
Bob Rae introduces his statement about why he supports the
Iran agreement with words "conceding that Iran is a repressive regime that
can’t be trusted, hates Jews, represents a threat to the very existence of
Israel, encourages terrorism, destabilizes the region...."
That is not so much a statement of conviction, I believe, as
it is what it is absolutely necessary to say if you don't want to be pilloried
in the press and by many politicians for a view on an important issue which
happens to be at odds with the one prevailing in Israel.
His “necessary” statement contains almost nothing but echoes
of myths and propaganda repeated a thousand times in our corporate, and very
biased, press.
Iran can't be trusted? Where's one scrap of evidence for
that? So far as I am aware they keep all their agreements and obligations.
Iran hates Jews? There is nothing to support that. Tens of
thousands of Jews live good lives in Iran. I guarantee that the Jews of Iran
live far, far better lives than do the occupied Palestinians.
Iran encourages terrorism? I'm not aware of any such events.
Iran lives at peace with its neighbors and has not started a single war in its
modern history. Yes, it supports allies in the region, as do the United States
and Israel, but I can’t accept they qualify as terrorists in quite the same
fashion as America’s thuggish recruits now working to destroy Syria.
Contrast that with Israel whose brief modern history is one
of continuous attacks on every neighbor it has, many more than once.
Indeed, the Six Day War was deliberately started by Israel
to seize lands it still holds half a century later against the will of all
those living on them.
It seized part of Lebanon too and occupied it for many
years, until Hezbollah drove them out, Hezbollah receiving Iran’s assistance. But
that was not terror, it was self-defence by any reasonable reckoning.
Hezbollah, in contrast to Israel, never invaded and occupied any part of
Israel.
If you want an example of genuine terror, look to the two recent
invasions of that refugee camp called Gaza in which about a thousand children
were killed, apart from thousands of adults. And look to an endless blockade of
the same unfortunate people, a blockade which in its earlier days, before
international intervention, actually included a calorie count for allowed
imports just sufficient to keep the population alive. Even Gaza’s humble fishermen
can only go a short distance into the sea before being shot at.
How about the Israeli bombings of Southern Lebanon in which
a million horrible cluster bomblets were dropped where farmers and children
could step on them?
Iran is a theocratic state, but it is not quite the
miserable place so often glibly described in our corporate press. You may
easily finds sites with lots of photos of these lovely people smiling huge
smiles and doing a great variety of things you might expect to see in a free
society.
Meanwhile Israel has not an imaginary but a genuine nuclear
arsenal, something about which it daily lies. It is not a member of the nuclear
proliferation treaty, as Iran is, and it allows no inspections around Dimona.
And, speaking of proliferation, it is an historical fact that Israel conspired
with apartheid South Africa to assist them in gaining nuclear weapons.
We are far, far freer of danger originating from Iran than
we are from Israel.
