Friday , 19 April 2024

Tehran responds to letter from Netanyahu to the Iranian people

Iran’s Foreign Ministry responded to a letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed to the Iranian people, in which he said he “distinguishes between the Iranian regime and the people.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said at news conference on Monday that “Netanyahu ought to stop the massacres against the Palestinian people, and not talk about Iran, the Iranian people or the Plasco incident.”

In his letter entitled, “We are your friends, not your enemies,” published on his Facebook page Saturday, Netanyahu talked to the Iranian people in English, translated in Farsi saying that he intended to have a discussion soon with US President Donald Trump on how to confront the threat posed by the Iranian regime.”

The Israeli PM told the Iranians: “You have a long amazing history – you have a rich culture. Unfortunately, you are handcuffed by theocratic tyranny.”

He continued: “I intend to talk soon with US President Donald Trump on how to address the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which calls for Israel’s extinction, recently it occurred to me that I talked a lot about the Iranian regime, but I did not talk enough about the Iranian people, or rather to the Iranian people.”

Netanyahu said he hoped his message would reach every Iranian, adding: “I know you want to speak candidly and love whoever you want without fear of torture or death by hanging from cranes.”

He added: “I know you want to browse the Internet openly without having to watch videos like these through virtual private networks to evade censorship. You are the owners of a great history. You have a rich civilization. But, tragically you are captured by the tyranny of theocracy.”

The Israeli Prime Minister expressed his sympathy to the Iranian Green Movement against the Iranian regime maintaining: “I will not forget the images of the brave students hungry for change as they were executed in the streets of Tehran in 2009. I will never forget the beautiful Neda Agha Soltan as she passed away on the sidewalk.”

He continued: “The brutal regime continues to restrict your freedoms. It is preventing thousands of candidates to run for office. Stealing money from the poor to finance a killer like Assad. Through intimidation and calling for the demolition of Israel, the system hopes to instill hostility between us. This is wrong. We are your friends, not your enemies. We’ve always distinguished between the Iranian people and the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime is a brutal regime. The people are not like that. The regime is an aggressive system, but the Iranian people are friendly.”

Netanyahu stressed that he is looking forward to the day when Israelis and Iranians can visit each other freely in Tehran and Isfahan, in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv,” he said.

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