Zarif: Netanyahu Distorts History and the Torah

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, responded on Sunday evening, March 13, to the latest remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told Israeli children: "Iran today, the heir of conspiratorial rulers throughout history, wants to kill Jews like in the time of the Achaemenids." Zarif wrote on his Twitter page: "Iranians have saved Jews from destruction three times throughout history" and accused Netanyahu of "distorting history and the Torah." According to videos released by Israeli media, Netanyahu told Jewish children that Iran has historically sought to kill Jews. The Israeli Prime Minister, who visited a synagogue for the Purim holiday, asked children dressed in costumes for the occasion: "Do you know that Purim is a celebration of the liberation of Jews from being killed in the land of Persia? But they (the rulers of historical Iran) achieved the opposite result, and so it is now." Earlier, during a trip to Moscow, when Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on Purim, Netanyahu responded: "2500 years ago, some in the land of Persia sought to destroy the Jews, and today Iran, as the heir of the land of Persia, writes its intentions in an unbelievable and blatant manner on the bodies of their missiles." Netanyahu's remarks referred to writings against Israel on tested Iranian missiles. Meanwhile, officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have repeatedly threatened Israel with destruction. In recent years, the U.S., the United Nations, and the European Union have strongly condemned the harsh verbal attacks by Iranian leaders against the existence of the state of Israel. According to AFP, Putin responded to Netanyahu's remarks by saying: "These are related to 500 years before Christ; let’s talk about the present." Zarif wrote on his Twitter that Netanyahu "has this habit" of "resorting to fake history and inciting the Torah to sell racist lies against a nation that has saved Jews three times in history." The Iranian Foreign Minister pointed out that Cyrus and Xerxes were "saviors of the Jews" and that during World War II, "when Jews were being exterminated in Europe, Iranians willingly sheltered them." He expressed regret over the "bigotry and racism" against a nation that has saved Jews three times in its history. According to Torah texts, Cyrus, the first king of the Achaemenid dynasty, sent Jews who had been driven from their homeland, Israel, and were living in exile in Babylon back to Jerusalem with safe caravans based on the Charter of Freedom, and returned the looted treasures of the Jews so they could rebuild their destroyed Jewish Jerusalem. The account of the salvation of Jews in Persia during the time of Xerxes, whose queen was Esther, a Jew, is mentioned in the "Scroll of Esther" of the Jews, and the Purim celebration is held to commemorate this occasion. During World War II, when many Jews were being killed in European lands, some of them went to Iran. At that time, Abdol Hossein Sardari, the Iranian diplomatic representative in Paris, provided some French Jews during the Vichy regime with Iranian passports, with the approval of the Nazis, to save them. Netanyahu's recent remarks are part of his ongoing efforts to form a new international front against the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this context, Netanyahu expressed confidence that his recent meeting with Putin would be "fruitful." Netanyahu stated in his meeting with Putin that Shiite extremist Islam threatens the world. He also had a phone conversation with Trump regarding the "dangers" posed by Iran in the Middle East, stating that 80% of Israel's security problems stem from Iran. The situation is changing for "proxies"; the war against the people in the streets of Iran is ongoing. The recent death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis has also drawn attention. Internet outages lasting 1300 hours have been reported, with claims of horrific killings during protests in Iran. The shadow of war looms over Tehran; Trump is seeking decisive military options against Iran. Trump emphasized the need to "stop executions in Iran" and stated that it is uncertain what will happen in the future. He also mentioned that if the Islamic Republic attempts to assassinate him, it would be "wiped off the face of the earth."