By NZ Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses on Stuff…
Former MP and Iranian refugee Golriz Ghahraman was recently interviewed (on Stuff) about the theocratic regime that has oppressed Iran since 1979.
She also offered unsubstantiated and questionable comments about the Gaza war and Iran’s geopolitical role – including the astonishing assertion that “it’s not a war-mongering regime” and that (regarding last month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran) “[Iran was] the victim in terms of the laws of aggression”.
Ghahraman is entitled to her opinion, but her audience should be given the facts to form their own.
Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, annihilating Israel has been integral to its regime’s eschatological ideology, as repeatedly declared by its leaders, often with cancer metaphors. In 2017, a visiting Iranian cleric spoke at an Auckland Mosque alongside an Iranian embassy official, referring to “the cancerous tumour known as evil Israel”.
ather than doing the dirty work directly, the regime has traditionally provided arms, training and financial support to an “axis of resistance” – Islamist non-state actors that operate elsewhere, including Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Yemen.
Read Juliet Moses op-ed in full on Stuff HERE.
