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From the West Bank to U.S. Campuses, Iran's Psychological Influence Is Spreading

(Jerusalem Post) Aviram Bellaishe interviewed by Ohad Merlin - "The supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei...sees himself as a sort of guide for the minds. He puts much effort into crafting narratives against Israel, even tying his struggle for Palestinians to attempts to affect universities in the U.S. He mentioned explicitly that influencing through means of communication is key to victory in conflicts, more than a missile or a fighter plane. He also said that whoever influences minds and hearts and controls the means of communication will succeed." "Many times, if you analyze Khamenei's statements, you find out where he is going next. When he said on Oct. 7 that Israel's 'most vital arteries' should be stopped, not much later the Houthis attacked for the first time. When he talked about Muslim countries that should end relations with Israel, [Turkey's] Erdogan issued a statement halting trade with Israel." "The Iranians aim to turn Judea and Samaria into a new Gaza and create a new front against Israel. We saw this in the Iranian attempts to act in Jordan, because in their eyes it is clear that the axis of smuggling arms and arming the West Bank must pass through the Hashemite Kingdom....What they want is to arm Judea and Samaria, Jenin, and from northern Samaria they also aim to reach the Arab citizens of Israel." "When the Iranians talk about turning Judea and Samaria into Gaza in terms of armed military capability, we must stress in return that it also means turning the West Bank into how Gaza looks today, warning those trying to build Gaza-like capabilities in the West Bank that it means the West Bank will end up looking like Gaza." "There is a common enemy for many around this region: first the Islamic Republic [of Iran], and then the Muslim Brotherhood and Sunni extremism. Israel is the only democracy that sits at the intersection between the efforts of the Iranian Shi'ites and their proxies, and the Muslim Brotherhood axis, such as Hamas and others. We have to convey the fact that Israel is not the problem but the solution to fending off these two." "We have partners who are first-class intellectuals and journalists in the Arab world and [who] explain, together with us, about the dangers of the radicalism of the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots...and what the Iranian threat is....We must refuse this frame of "Israel against the world" and flip it backwards to a worldwide struggle against Iran's influence." Aviram Bellaishe, vice president for Strategy, Security, and Communications at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has served in senior government positions for over 25 years.
2024-07-28 00:00:00
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