Now, a few contextual remarks are in order, given our duty to properly discern and respond to the signs of our times. (In this case, it is my unpleasant duty to publicise an inadvertent expose of the sort of thinking that is influencing Iran's leadership. Where as responsible, praying, voting and speaking citizens, we need to be aware of key global trends.)
So should those who make editorial decisions regarding what we see, hear or read in our media.
This issue takes on particularly important colour given the recent fiasco where I think it was an Iranian man obtained a diplomatic St Kitts passport for $ 1 million, and went to Canada wishing to see the Prime Minister of that sister Commonwealth nation. A scandal broke, one that does not reflect well on our region. (And, other Caribbean territories hoping to attract investors by holding out the prospect of economic citizenship on condition of big enough investments or payments, should take due note.)
Back to the analysis . . .
Clipping the transcript of the video, HT Jihad Watch:
Mahdi Tayeb: If you pay attention to the Star of David on the Israeli flag, you may understand what the Jews want. It embodies all the desires of the Jews. The one thing that the Jews want is to take over the entire world . . . . The first stage is Jerusalem. They want to liberate Jerusalem and settle in Palestine. The second stage is the liberation of the land from the Nile to the Euphrates. [--> This is based on a common propagandistic misinterpretation of the Israeli flag, cf. comment below, also cf; here on IslamIST end of days black flag armies and here on wider geostrategic- spiritual issues at stake because of IslamISM] The third stage of their operation is to take over the entire world.That's a lot of fairly extreme inferences from a simple object, a national flag, to the point where questions of blame the intended victim blood libel must be raised. A few corrective remarks are in order:
The Star of David symbolizes this. It has six points, each of which is an arrow. This star must rise in Jerusalem. When it appears, the two blue lines above the star will assume their positions. They respect the Nile and the Euphrates. They will assume their positions, and then the six arrows of the star will move in different directions around the globe, until they meet again.
[...]
They have divided the people of the world into three classes: first-class people, second-class people, and third-class people. The Jews, or the Israelite race, are the first-class people. God created the world for them. He awarded the world to them. He told them to take over the world.
[...]
The second-class people are people who do not belong to the Israelite race – they are not the descendants of Jacob – but who accept the Jews to be first-class people. They do not belong to the Israelite race, but they accept that the Jews rule the world. These are second-class people. They have the right to live, but they must serve the Israelites.
[...]
Who are the third-class people? They are the ones who do not belong to the Israelite race, and do not accept Jewish supremacy.
[...]
What do they deserve? They deserve [to be buried] one meter under ground.
[...]
Therefore, all the Muslims must be killed because they do not accept Jewish supremacy. They must all be killed. Let me tell you something... In this world, who is in need of an atomic bomb? Who would benefit from an atomic bomb? The only ones who need an atomic bomb in order to become global are the Jews. We Muslims number 1.4 billion people. No Muslim accepts Jewish supremacy.
In order to become global the Jews must kill Muslims en masse. In other words, they have to kill 1.4 billion people. If they wanted to kill them with conventional means, like rockets and conventional warheads... A conventional warhead weighs a maximum of one ton and can kill up to 500 people. In order to kill 1.4 billion people, you would need 10 million such bombs. There is not enough room to store all these bombs.
So they need means of mass killing, which can kill 500,000 people in one go. They need the means to kill 400,000 people in one go. Only the atomic bomb can achieve this.
1 --> The remarks trace to an all too common propagandistic twisting of the meaning of the Israeli flag,
 |
| Jamaica's Flag of August 6, 1962, directly based on the Scottish and UK flags, with a cross of St Andrew in the colour that represents the light of the sun.Thus Jamaica's flag subtly reflects the African [black], Scottish-Celtic, British and Christian heritage of that famously "Green Isle of the Indies" (HT: JIS) |
2 --> The two stripes and white background are evidently derived from the prayer-shawl, which again is ancient. Regardless of how one may wish to interpret the various OT prophetic texts of end of days situations where by the direct intervention of God the Assyrian and the Egyptian are envisioned as God's people too, the historic settled land of Israel (which is in the land of Canaan) is the region of the territories the -- largely secular and socialist -- Zionist movement sought to settle. JVL notes:
Flag of Israel. (Cf discussion here) Zionist tradition credits the design of the Zionist flag to David Wolffsohn. Legend even tells precisely when Wolffsohn had his brainstorm, namely, that during a meeting in Basel Herzl raised the question of the Zionist flag. When his proposal of a white banner with seven gold stars failed to marshal a consensus, Wolffsohn stood up and said: "Why do we have to search? Here is our national flag." Upon which he displayed his prayer shawl and showed everyone the national flag: a white field with blue stripes along the margin.
|
3 --> Common decency alone -- much less sound historiographical principles -- would tell us that where there is an innocent and credibly authentic interpretation of a symbol, it should prevail. The burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt that we should hold otherwise therefore being upon those who would project a loaded, accusatory and toxic interpretation. One that in this case is patently utterly unlikely to be met.
4 --> Where also, Jews living in what we call Iraq and in Syria for 2,500 years saw and see themselves as exiles and descendants of exiles hoping to go home, not conquering settlers, and those of Egypt see themselves as in a traditional and often hospitable land of Jewish refuge for the same 2,500 years.
5 --> Note Wikipedia on the Israeli Flag:
The blue stripes are intended to symbolize the stripes on a tallit, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. The portrayal of a Star of David on the flag of the State of Israel is a widely-acknowledged symbol of Judaism.
The Israelites used a blue coloured dye called tekhelet; this dye may have been made from the marine snail Murex trunculus.[4] This dye was very important in both Jewish and non-Jewish cultures of this time, and was used by royalty and the upper class in dyeing their clothing, sheets, curtains, etc. (The dye from a related snail can be processed to form Tyrian purple called argaman.)6 --> However, by projecting a very different meaning unto the flag, in hostile propagandised minds, it becomes a symbol of projected genocidal intent ascribed to Jews and especially those who have successfully sought the restoration of their historic homeland. For which, the ideals can be deduced from the Israeli Declaration of Independence, 1948, which reads in key parts:
In the Bible, the Israelites are commanded to have one of the threads of their tassels (tzitzit) dyed with tekhelet; "so that they may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them (Num 15:39)." Tekhelet corresponds to the colour of the divine revelation (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xv.). Sometime near the end of the Talmudic era (500-600 CE) the industry that produced this dye collapsed. It became more rare; over time, the Jewish community lost the tradition of which species of shellfish produced this dye. Since Jews were then unable to fulfil this commandment, they have since left their tzitzit (tallit strings) white. However, in remembrance of the commandment to use the tekhelet dye, it became common for Jews to have blue or purple stripes woven into the cloth of their tallit.
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home . . . .
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
7 --> Again, where there is an innocent interpretation, common decency and sound historiography should prevail.
8 --> The Wikipedia article goes on to note:
It has been alleged by some groups that the blue stripes on the Israeli flag actually represent the rivers Nile and Euphrates as the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael, the land promised to the Jews by God.[12] Those making this allegation insist that the flag "secretly" represents the desire of Jews to conquer all of the land between the Nile and Euphrates rivers, which would involve conquering and ruling over much of Egypt, all of Jordan, and some of Syria and Iraq. Yasser Arafat, Iran and Hamas also made the allegation,[13] and repeatedly tied this notion to the stripes on the Israeli flag.[14][3]
Both Zionist and anti-Zionist authors have debunked the claim that the stripes on the flag represent territorial ambitions. Daniel Pipes notes "In fact, the blue lines derive from the design on the traditional Jewish prayer shawl",[15] and Danny Rubinstein points out that "...Arafat... added, in interviews that he gave in the past, that the two blue stripes on the Israeli flag represent the Nile and the Euphrates... No Israeli, even those who demonstrate understanding for Palestinian distress, will accept the... nonsense about the blue stripes on the flag, which was designed according to the colours of the traditional tallit (prayer shawl)..."[3] Persistent critic of Israel and Zionism Israel Shahak is equally explicit. In his The Zionist Plan for the Middle East he states
A good example is the very persistent belief in the non-existent writing on the wall of the Knesset of the Biblical verse about the Nile and the Euphrates. Another example is the persistent, and completely false declarations, which were made by some of the most important Arab leaders, that the two blue stripes of the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the Euphrates, while in fact they are taken from the stripes of the Jewish praying shawl (Talit).Saqr Abu Fakhr, an Arab writer, has also spoken out against this idea. He writes that the "Nile to Euphrates" claim regarding the flag is one of seven popular misconceptions and/or myths about Jews which, despite being unfounded and having abundant evidence refuting them, continue to circulate in the Arab world.[16]
Nevertheless, the Hamas covenant states "After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates," and as recently as January 29, 2006, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar issued a demand for Israel to change its flag, citing the "Nile to Euphrates" argument.9 --> In such a situation, the projection of genocidal intent multiplied by bad history (Einstein, a physicist, pacifist and secular Jew discovered the energy equivalence of rest-mass through reflections on relativity of the laws of physics and the constancy of the speed of light in non-accelerated frames of reference; he did not design or develop the atom bomb), is obviously unworthy, propagandistic, shrilly hateful and unjustified.
10 --> However, in a context of repeated public threats of genocide against Israel by Iran, it is historically and psychologically unsurprising to find projections of blame and demonisation to the intended victim of aggression.
11 --> It is, however, quite saddening to see such irresponsible rhetoric coming from the mouth of a leader of a think-tank that advises leaders of a state seeking to develop the technical means that enable creation of a nuclear arsenal and the means of delivery of such weapons at ranges of 1 - 2,000 miles, just the range to reach Israel.
_____________
It is only reasonable to call for the leadership of Iran to denounce, correct and repudiate such destructive propaganda and to change their path before it is horrifically too late. And, failing that, world leaders who act as though such an irresponsible and patently dangerously unstable regime is within the norms of civilised conduct, would be for cause be deemed irresponsible for failing to take the threats and actions of Iran seriously, enforcing sanctions and such other steps as are credibly necessary to block access to the means of genocide. END
