Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews

I like to think that I am no longer shocked by what Islamists do, by who they kill, by how they behead, by what they mutilate. I like to think that I am no longer shocked by what historical sites Islamists detonate, deface, or deform, or what rich and multi-layered cultural sites they wipe out, like the Bamiyan statues, Joseph's tomb, or Rachel's tomb, all in order to infuse their zealous, twisted belief on to the rest of the world that history renewed itself with a singular event - the birth of their Mohammad. By wiping out other culture's pre-existing statues, sites, temples, tombs, churches, and cemetaries, Islamists can point to an empty acreage and deceitfully proclaim - Look there! There is nothing there! There was no one there before us!

But every now and then, I do get floored by their pathogenic and ethno-centric behaviour, and now, is one of those times. According to INN,

Iran is planning on submerging the tomb of King Cyrus, the Persian King known for authorizing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Holy Temple. Cyrus, who lived from 576-530 BCE, liberated Babylonian Jewry from their exile in the famous Declaration of Cyrus which is mentioned in the book of Ezra in both Hebrew and Aramaic.

Cyrus was praised in the Tanach (Isaiah 45:1-6), though he was also criticized for believing the false report of the Cuthites, who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple. They accused the Jews of conspiring to rebel, so Cyrus in turn stopped the construction of the temple, which would not be completed until 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, the grandson of Queen Esther.

As one commenter wrote, "Cyrus is a historic symbol of Jewish freedom; it is Jewish freedom Iran seeks to destroy." Indeed. This depravity is staggering in its scope; the Islamists are planning on destroying the tomb as part of a general campaign to sever the Persian people from their non-Islamic heritage.

What depths Islamists will go to rewrite history. What an outrageous crime accompanied by yet another crime - the crime of silence and tacit approval - from the international community.

The People's Cube Pwns Iranian Propaganda

pwned: A corruption of the word "Owned." This originated in an online game called Warcraft, where a map designer misspelled "owned." When the computer beat a player, it was supposed to say, so-and-so "has been owned."Instead, it said, so-and-so "has been pwned."It basically means "to own" or to be dominated by an opponent or situation, especially by some god-like or computer-like force.

The excellent satirical website, The People's Cube, has pwned Iran's propaganda website, Press TV, which used one of The People's Cube's spoof images to illustrate a "true" statement that Jews are welcome in Iran and that Western reports about mass emigration of Iranian Jews are "lies spread by the Zionist hegemony." From The People's Cube:

The spoof image in question first appeared in 2005, in our parody called Israel Dismantles; World's Problems End, which revealed the absurdity of demands to dismantle Israel, with various nations, including Iran and Germany, celebrating the return of their long-missed Jews.
It gets better. Our Iranian friends tell us that the original Farsi-language placard says "Nuclear power is our absolute right," which means that you, dear Mullahs, used that image as a propaganda tool to advance your nuclear program - so you could threaten and maybe even annihilate the Jews in Israel. In our spoof, we changed the message of the placard to the complete opposite, making it appear improbable. To be fair, your story about Iran's love for the Jews was just as improbable, so it would seem only logical to put them together. It would, we repeat - if your goal were to publish a self-parody. That wasn't your intention, however. You only did it because you didn't know better.

The original propaganda message from Iran's propaganda website is on the left. The People's Cube photoshopped image used to ridicule the Iranian government's grotesque spin, is on the right. Excellent coup, Commissar Pupovich!

Update from The Peoples Cube:

(Dec.29) PressTV realized they were being pwned and replaced the image in the morning of Dec. 29, 2007, ending more than two full days of pwnage. We expected it to happen, that was why we made the following screen capture for historical purposes. Other sites that reported it made their own screen captures.

My favorite pwnage is this one.

Iranian Jews Leave Their Silent Nightmare, Come Home to Israel

Jewish life in Iran. Via INN:

Ten Iranian Jewish families – 40 Iranian Jews in all -- began new lives Tuesday night when they came home to Israel. "How they were brought to Israel and information about who they are is classified information, " Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelovitch said in an exclusive interview with Israel National News.

"This is a new initiative," said Jankelovitch, "a joint project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and the Jewish Agency for Israel."

A total of 200 Iranian Jews made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) this year, triple the number from just a year ago, when only 65 Jews made Aliyah to Israel from Iran. According to Jankelovitch, the majority of the Jews who left Iran permanently this year came to Israel.

One million dollars – fully half of the budget for this year's project, came from the Fellowship, said Jankelovitch, adding that the entire sum has been exhausted. "The organization is now embarking on a new campaign to raise funds to continue the work for 2008," he added.

Why Iranian Jews, and why now?

"Because their lives are at stake," answered Jankelovitz simply. "They are in a unique situation because of the regime. There are increased cases of discrimination. Learning the Hebrew language has been banned. Jewish day schools have been closed down – all of them. There are no more Jewish day schools in Iran," he said.

Jewish children have to go to school on Shabbat, and on all Jewish holidays including Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

"They come with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a small suitcase with almost no money at all," said Jankelovitch. "Their money is worthless because of the exchange rate. People live in a beautiful house which they sell and it is not even worth $10,000."

In order to balance that hardship, each new immigrant from Iran, including the children, receives a grant of $10,000. A family of five thus receives a total of $50,000 with which to begin their new lives in addition to the usual basket of new immigrant benefits received by everyone else who comes to make Israel their home.

Update: About 40 Jews who left Iran in secret arrived in Israel yesterday — one of the largest such defections — and got a Christmas present of $10,000 per person from U.S. evangelicals.

To whomever those Christians are, I want to personally thank you. May G-d Bless you and your families.