How Iran and Israel stopped being partners

Ksenia Fomina exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

One of the closest allies of Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Mehdi Taeb, stated that Jews have actively used enchantment to harm Iran, Gazeta.ru reported yesterday, citing The Jerusalem Post. Whether magic was used or not, relations between Iran and Israel were spoiled when Ahmadinejad came to power in Tehran.

By the end of the 1980s Iran needed to radicalize its policy and a new wave of revolutionary rhetoric, as its influence on people began to weaken, especially after the Iran-Iraq war. This war was associated with the Islamic revolution and the new regime in Iran. When it appeared that the potential of the new system established by military supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini was close to extinction, politicians-reformers appeared in the country – at first Ali-Akbar Khashemi-Rafsandjani, then Sayed Mohammad Khatami. As a result of socio-economic reforms and attempts to establish a dialogue with the West, the leaders of the country could speak about Iran’s breakthrough in the international leadership.

However, the era of Islamic pragmatics lasted only till the middle of the first decade of the 2000s. The logical continuation of the reforms should have been a transformation of the regime, but Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei and his environment couldn’t allow this – they needed the restoration of Khomeini’s regime. As a result, the presidential elections of 2005 launched Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s figure to the top of Iranian politics; he was able to fulfil the plans of the religious authorities of the country.

Right after the elections, it appeared that the Iranian authorities’ policy toward Israel would become tougher. “I will strive for development of relations with all countries, except for Israel,” Ahmadinejad said. At the scientific conference “World without Zionism” in October 2005 Mahmud Ahmadinejad cited Ayatollah Khomeini’s phrase that the Zionist regime must be destroyed and stated that in Palestine a new wave of hatred had appeared, which was able to wipe Israel out. Such a statement wasn’t criticized by any representative of the country’s authorities.

Later, Ahmadinejad confirmed his position toward Israel many times in public speeches. His statements included traditional rhetoric – Khomeini’s heritage – and new elements. For example, the new president of Iran soon realized that rejection of the Disaster of European Jews is one of the easiest and most effective ways to attack Israel. The most important peculiarity of anti-Zionism by Ahmadinejad was an attempt to connect the Holocaust with the problems of the Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.

The idea of denying the Holocaust was not only a strategy for Ahmadinejad, but also a tactic. Initially the rejection of the Holocaust was aimed at sidetracking attention from the Iranian nuclear program, which was the focus of the international community. The Iranian mass media of those years stated that due to such an approach to the Holocaust problem, the West is ready to make concessions in the negotiations on the nuclear program, trying to make Iran shut up.

Ahmadinejad has many times predicted that Israel would face the Soviet Union’s fate. “Where is the USSR now? What happened to it? Nobody wiped it out or destroyed it from outside – it was a choice of its people,” Ahmadinejad answered an American journalists’ question on whether he recognized Israel.

Radicalization of the Iranian foreign political course toward Israel became obvious. The second Lebanese war in summer 2006 and the operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza in January 2009 confirmed that Iran is ready to support anti-Israeli military actions. According to official statements by the Iranian authorities, the pure goals of Iran’s interference with these actions included one more aspect. Ahmadinejad thinks that it is time to spread the Islamic revolution.

Thus, when Ahmadinejad came to office, the fragile balance in Iranian-Israeli relations was destroyed. Iran and Israel became open enemies: hatred began to be expressed not only through criticism of Israeli policy, but also through the rejection of the Holocaust, which was very significant for Israel.