The reactions in Israel are moving. It has been a long time since we showed such solidarity with a people groaning under tyranny. As always, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fitting his role as a beacon of justice illuminating the world, set the tone.
"We in Israel identify with the struggle of the Iranian people and their aspiration to liberty and justice," Netanyahu said in the Knesset last week, as his words echoed to the ends of the earth. "There is a global struggle here between countries that espouse the values of freedom and progress and violent countries," said the prime minister of one of the leading members in the enlightened camp of free nations.
In the summer, he directly addressed the "proud people of Iran." Tears flowed freely then, too. There is no water for Iranians, lamented the man who supplies water in abundance to his subjects in Gaza and the West Bank. "To live like this isn't fair to you. It's not fair to your children," he said. "But I have very good news: Israel is the number one recycler of water in the world…. We know exactly what to do."
Water Minister Netanyahu recounted that he had opened a Telegram channel in Persian to teach water management to Iranians. "The thirst for water in Iran is only matched by the thirst for freedom," our Nelson Mandela waxed poetically, ala Shimon Peres. "Here is the great news: The moment your country is free, Israel's top water experts will flood into every Iranian city," he said.
Netanyahu spoke of rivers and lakes in Iran filling up once again, of walking hand in hand along their banks. All this isn't a dream, he assured, as it'll happen tomorrow or the day after that. "Such repression. Such cruelty," sighed the Martin Luther King, Jr. of Jerusalem's Balfour Street in anguish.
"I urge you to be bold and brave – to dare to dream. Take risks for freedom. For your futures. For your families…Take to the streets. Demand justice… Protest tyranny…And know this: You are not alone… Israel stands with you. The entire free world stands with you," the Israeli prime minister assured.… "Iran baraye Irani (Iran for Iranians). Theodor Herzl said, 'If you will it, it is no dream,' and I say to you, if you will it, a free Iran is no dream."
Just dare to criticize Netanyahu as a tyrant, or Israel as a tyranny ruling over other people. Today, Netanyahu says, "Iran for the Iranians," and tomorrow it'll be "Palestine for the Palestinians." And don't imagine this is merely Netanyahu's own progressive worldview. Most Israelis are appalled by what is being inflicted on protesters in Iran: live fire, thousands killed. Just imagine. Such cruelty.
The newspaper of the revolution, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, devoted its front page to the following words, written by Iranian protester Azita before she was killed: "We are fighting for minimal dignity; we are fighting against collective punishment; we are fighting for our future."
Her words could just as well have been written by an Azita from Gaza. If Azita had indeed been from Gaza, however, Yedioth Ahronoth would certainly not have published a single word of hers, not even on its back page. Azita "was killed in the street," wrote those who won't use the word "murder" when a Palestinian protester is killed in similar fashion.
Behold, this is what freedom fighters look like, and this is what a struggle against tyranny looks like. This is what the Iranian protesters look like, and this is what freedom fighters in Gaza look like. Most of their goals are similar.
When demonstrations took place near Gaza's border fence with Israel, Israeli forces fired mercilessly, much as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is doing now. More than 200 protesters were killed by IDF gunfire. Some 28,000 Gazans were wounded, including 7,400 by sniper fire. Was Netanyahu appalled? Did Yedioth Ahronoth publish the last words of a female protester?
There's yet another Israeli feat: the hypocrisy concerning hypocrisy. Israelis rail that the global left rallies for the Palestinians, but not for the Iranian people. Although there is some truth to this claim, Israelis are the last ones entitled to criticize others for hypocrisy. Once we sang Arik Einstein's song about dreaming of Prague. Now we have a song about dreaming of Tehran. I guess we'll never sing a song dreaming of Gaza.