Israel Matzav

Iran blames the Jooos for the opposition

No great surprise here: The Ahmadinejad regime is blaming the Jooos for the existence of the opposition Green movement in its country.

The regime, evidently anxious about the increasing strength of the opposition and its own inability to curtail the demonstrations, has used a traditional tactic of blaming foreign powers in the hope that the Iranian people will aim their frustration beyond their borders. Fars News Agency released pictures of demonstrators in support of the regime, holding pictures of three reform leaders (Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi and Mohammad Khatami) on the three points of a Star of David with the sign reading ‘lovers of Israel'. The regime has also accused the Mossad of penning the last open letter written by Mousavi, and asserted that he and other leaders of the reformist camp are an Israeli fifth column. Iran's ambassador to Bahrain even claimed that Iranian authorities had carried out investigations and revealed that groups from Britain and the U.S. were carrying out assassinations by infiltrating the opposition.

Blaming others is a part of Iranian culture - just like their Arab neighbors.

This culture of blaming the West has always been used as a tool to divert attention away from the regime's domestic problems. It is exemplified by the popularised Persian novel My Uncle Napoleon, which satirises the widespread Iranian belief that the British are responsible for all of Iran's afflictions. The panjandrum of the book, ‘Dear Uncle', is a paranoid and delusional character who imagines himself as Napoleon and believes there is a British plot to destroy him. As an extension of this, he sees the hidden hand of the British behind every event in Iran. Even when considering the history of Britain's imperial intervention in Iran, the level of paranoia that ‘Dear Uncle' — and indeed many others in Iran exhibit — is so extreme that it goes beyond reason.

But the regime cannot deceive the opposition, who are now in the majority. It exists, it knows it exists and it understands that its grievances are real — not a seed planted in its head by the West. What's more, the opposition is only gaining support — Ahmadinejad is losing backing among his conservative base and his former allies are turning against him in disgust over the abuse of protestors. The protests themselves are no longer exclusively ‘Green' but are being frequented by religious and conservative Iranians who have become disillusioned with Ahmadinejad and by extension, the Supreme Leader and the regime. The protests are also no longer exclusive to Tehran but are spreading across the country, to the less secular and affluent cities.

So why are so many people so convinced that an Israeli attack on the nuclear program will suddenly cause the opposition to rally around Ahmadinejad? It makes no sense.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:25 PM