Why do Westerners, Jews and particularly Israelis mistrust Iran so? That seems to be the question that this historical defense of Iranian morality and behavior seeks to address. From Iran’s state-run Kayhan newspaper, Kian Mokhtari writes in part:
“The first major incident on record involving Iranians and the Jewish people goes back 2,500 years. This was when ‘Eranshahr’ – i.e.: the Persian Empire as it has come to be known in the West – was on its first major foreign incursion under Cyrus the Great [photo, left].
Eranshar’s army entered Babylon in triumph and set about dismantling a cruel system based on the enslavement of other tribes, one of which was the Jews who had been brought back from Judea and forced into slavery. A highly romanticized version of these events has even been recorded in the [Jewish] Torah [the story of the Jewish holiday of Purim as recorded in the Book of Esther].
Babylon’s Jews were freed and escorted back to their land, having been given back all that had been stolen from them. A universal declaration of human rights issued about that time has survived the ravages of history and is known today as the ‘Cyrus Cylinder’ [photo, right].
Later, in explaining a terrible misunderstanding having to do with a comment repeatedly made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Mokhtari writes:
“Just as cruel and unjust rulers and domains have faded from the map throughout history because Iran has moved to assist those under their mace, the same fate will visit today’s victims who have become the instigators of oppression and cruelty.
“‘Israel will fade from the map’ is a prediction based on Iran’s thousands of years of experience with those who undertake to uproot and destroy other cultures. It is a prediction made based on Iranian mysticism: ‘what goes around comes around.’”
“However, in the age-old Greek tradition, this comment [made repeatedly by President Ahmadinidjad] has been mistakenly translated as ‘Israel will be wiped off the map,’ to a Western political audience keen on kicking Iran’s reputation.
By Kian Mokhtari
November 26, 2009
Islamic Republic of Iran – Kayhan – Home Page (English)
An article published in Massachusetts, USA, around 1973 or 1974, depicts an image of the former Shah of Iran in full dress uniform. The caption reads: “The Shah of Iran is sitting on top of one of the largest reservoirs of oil in the world. Yet he is building two nuclear power plants and planning two more …”
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