© ReutersPrior Israeli attacks inside Syria targeting 'Iranian Assets'
A foreign ministry spokesmen told the major Israeli national Hebrew-language daily newspaper Maariv that "Israel has carried out attacks that were intended to destroy our nuclear program for peaceful purposes." Saeed Khatibzadeh declared "the war with Israel has already begun" - in an ominous message intended as a warning to the Israeli public and leadership.
The spokesman added that Israel "has murdered nuclear scientists and harmed the Iranian people. Iran is blamed for terrorism, but there is no good or bad terrorist. The entire crisis in the region is the fault of Israel."
Rare or unlikely as it is for a top Iranian official to speak to Israeli publication, it's the closest Tehran has come in years to direct communication with Israeli entities. It's a sign that the two countries are truly on the brink of direct conflict.
"Israel severely harmed our civilian and research system," he described. "They speak about the Iranian nuclear threat, but Israel has hundreds of bombs, and it never signed the non-proliferation treaty for nuclear weapons."
He's no doubt referencing the prior Natanz nuclear facility sabotage attack - now widely believed an act of covert espionage by Israel (likely via cyberattack) - as well as the brazen assassination outside of Tehran of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizade by a "remote controlled gun". There's also the near weekly Israeli attacks on Syria, which Tel Aviv says is part of campaign to disrupt Iranian and Hezbollah operations there.
In the interview Khatibzadeh also alleged that the United States too is still waging a campaign of "soft terror" through far-reaching sanctions. He said that the Iranian people are even prevented from obtaining crucial life-saving medicines through Washington sanctions. By design the US-led sanctions also pressure and punish any nation wishing to transfer goods into Iran, including European Union countries which have long taken are more sympathetic stance to the Iranians' plight.
Just in the past week there's been more possible attacks on Iranian military sites...
The official also charged that Israel is actively seeking to subvert high level nuclear talks in Vienna, which have been stalled since last June, though US and Israeli officials have blamed the Iranian side for the stall.
"The region is tired of wars," Khatibzadeh added, while arguing Iran is honestly seeking a diplomatic and peaceful breakthrough with Western powers in Vienna. "We must find a new approach to solve the problems according to United Nations decisions. All of the sides must display a political desire to reach agreements."
Reader Comments
The Israel of today is going to be very different,
relatively speaking compared to other
sovereign nations per current
definition.........
~
Very different versus the Israel of the future.
I hope we all get to witness this and be
around when that future exists
in present time and minds of said.
~
That future already exists in my mind.
OK, whatever - poem of the day.
I've already posted ideas on this
What is the harm of a good idea?
BK
10421 945 est of another poem
There must surely be a quick quip to put that stupidity in its place, but I'm blanking on it. Any ideas?
(Of course, it goes without saying the whole stupid CIA thing about unknown knowns and known unknowns or WTF ever, but even that made more sense than the above.)
R.C.
*In case I lost anyone (I never know) every known thing is 'possibly unknown' etc. That's just the writer trying to sound astute when it instead shows cluelessness.
RC
Peace is easy,
BK
A nice low-stakes poker game amongst some of the best players might be fun to observe. It could be a great way to learn, about the minds of others.
Peace,
BK
Too bad we can't go back and assassinate every proponent of game theory that ended up working for the MIC. Economists and game theory look at the world through the lens of a zero-sum game, meaning (for those who don't know) that there is only one winner and the other side loses absolutely. With this mindset, is it any wonder we've been at war for most of the last century? It can only lead to mass murder and slavery. First thing we do, kill all the economists!
500+ Israeli Jews call for external intervention to stop Israeli aggression, work towards decolonization
Editor's Note: The following is an English translation of an open letter to the international community from Israeli Jews. Mondoweiss occasionally publishes press releases and statements from...We, Jewish Israelis, oppose the actions of the Israeli government and hereby declare our commitment to act against them. We refuse to accept the Jewish-supremacist regime and call upon the international community to immediately intervene in defense of the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Galilee, the Negev, al-Lydd, Yaffa, Ramleh, Haifa, and throughout historic Palestine.
Jewish supremacy is the cornerstone of the Israeli regime, and its consistent objective is to transfer and obliterate the Palestinian people, their history, and their national identity. This objective manifests in continued acts of ethnic cleansing by means of evictions and home demolitions, brutal military occupation, denial of civil and human rights, and legislation of a series of racist laws culminating in the Nation-State Law, defining the state as "the Nation-State of the Jewish People," and them only.
Property in a sacred place like Palestine (oh, sorry) must be worth a few shekels and perhaps even more with fewer neighbours and less traffic on the street out front.
Very cool...