The Conspiracy Theory about Iran and Israel

Conspiracy theories are not always created by individuals. Sometimes governments -with the help of mass media- use conspiracy theories to convince the public that they have to take a certain course of action. One famous conspiracy theory of this type was that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) which were threatening Israel and the West. Today a very similar conspiracy theory is being developed about Iran. According to this theory, Iran, which says they are seeking a new energy source by constructing nuclear power plants is in reality seeking nuclear weapons. This theory is already being used to plant American missiles in Eastern Europe as a part of a missile defense shield. According to this theory, we are made to believe that Iranian prime minister Mahmoud Ahmedinejad wants to destroy Israel. The way things are going, if people do not wake up and see the truth behind this, it won’t be surprising if we hear a similar theory about Syria soon (in fact there are already news about a Syria – North Korea cooperation).

Today the main argument for “stopping Iran” from enriching uranium –supposedly for nuclear missiles- is that Ahmedinejad said that he wants to wipe Israel off the map (so “we cannot let him have those weapons”). Most of us take this as truth without a second thought because it is repeated over and over in the media. And it is being used as a pretext as a possible war against Iran. But is it true?

Here are some clippings from the website Information Clearing House (formatting and text in square brackets are mine):

Does Iran's president want Israel wiped off the map?
Does he deny the holocaust?



To raze Israel to the ground, to batter down, to destroy, to annihilate, to liquidate, to erase Israel, to wipe it off the map - this is what Iran's President demanded - at least this is what we read about or heard of at the end of October 2005. Spreading the news was very effective. This is a declaration of war they said. Obviously government and media were at one with their indignation. It goes around the world.

But let's take a closer look at what Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. ...'New York Times' ... dated 2005-10-30:

"They say it is not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know that this is a possible goal and slogan... We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front? This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world."

It's becoming clear. The statements of the Iranian President have been reflected by the media in a manipulated way. Iran's President betokens the removal of the regimes, that are in power in Israel and in the USA, to be possible aim for the future. This is correct. But he never demands the elimination or annihilation of Israel. He reveals that changes are potential.
...

...To long for modified political conditions in a country is a world-wide day-to-day business by all means. But to commute a demand for removal of a 'regime' into a demand for removal of a state is serious deception and dangerous demagogy.

Marginally we want to mention that it was the former US Vice-Minister of Defense and current President of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz, who in Sept. 2001 talked about ending states in public and without any kind of awe. And it was the father of George W. Bush who started the discussion about a winnable nuclear war if only the survival of an elite is assured.

...the German online-news-magazine tagesschau.de writes ...[as the translation of Ahmedinejad’s speech]: "There is no doubt: the new wave of assaults in Palestine will erase the stigma in countenance of the Islamic world." Instead of using the original word 'wave' they write 'wave of assaults'.

...The term 'map' to which the media refer at length does not even appear. Whereas the 'New York Times' said: "Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map" the version by MEMRI is: "Imam [Khomeini] said: This regime that is occupying Qods [Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history."...- literally translated: from the arena of times. [Just as it was a legitimate desire to end apartheid.]

[And about the holocaust]

[From DPA (German)] 'the Western states devote their energy to the fairy-tale of the massacre against the Jews', Ahmadinejad said...

The Iranian press agency IRNA: ..."'If the Europeans are telling the truth in their claim that they have killed six million Jews in the Holocaust during the World War II - which seems they are right in their claim because they insist on it and arrest and imprison those who oppose it, why the Palestinian nation should pay for the crime...” Ahmadinejad said “some have created a myth on holocaust and hold it even higher than the very belief in religion and prophets."

"In the name of the Holocaust they created a myth." We can see that this is completely different from what is published by e.g. the DPA - the massacre against the Jews is a fairy-tale. What Ahmadinejad does is not denying the Holocaust. No! It is dealing out criticism against the mendacity of the imperialistic powers who use the Holocaust to muzzle critical voices and to achieve advantages concerning the legitimization of a planned war. This is criticism against the exploitation of the Holocaust.

...the reproach of denying the Holocaust cannot be sustained if Ahmadinejad speaks of a great and huge crime that has been done to the Jews.[and he does this in many occasions by saying things like "Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?"]

In another IRNA-dispatch ...the Arabian author Ghazi Abu Daqa writes about Ahmadinejad: "The Iranian president has nothing against the followers of Judaism [...] Ahmadinejad is against Zionism as well as its expansionist and occupying policy. That is why he managed to declare to the world with courage that there is no place for the Zionist regime in the world civilized community."

...Dealing out criticism against the aggressive policy of the Western world, to which Israel belongs as well, is not yet anti-Semitism. We should at least give audience to this kind of criticism - even if it is a problematic field for us.

"Some western governments, in particular the US, approve of the sacrilege on the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), while denial of the >Myth of Holocaust<, based on which the Zionists have been exerting pressure upon other countries for the past 60 years and kill the innocent Palestinians, is considered as a crime' [...]"

The assertion that Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust thus is wrong in more than one aspect. He does not deny the Holocaust, but speaks of denial itself. And he does not speak of denial of the Holocaust, but of denial of the Myth of Holocaust. This is something totally different.


[Regarding the demonization of Ahmedinejad] And someone who is Hitler-like can assure a hundred times that he only wants to use nuclear energy in a peaceful way. Nobody will believe him. Somebody like Hitler can act within the scope of all contracts. Acting contrary to contract will nevertheless be imputed to him. "Virtually none of the Western states recognize that uranium enrichment is absolutely legal. There is no restriction by contract or by the law of nations. Quite the contrary: Actually the Western countries would have the duty to assist Iran with these activities, according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. As long as a state renounces the bomb it is eligible for technical support by the nuclear powers." But - all this does not count if the Head of a state is stigmatized as Hitler.

By the use of misrepresentation and adulteration it apparently succeeded to constitute the statements of the Iranian President to be part and parcel of the currently fought propaganda battle. It is our responsibility to counter this.


[for references please go to the original location of the article.]

Please also see this video on Youtube.