A Step Too Far

Makan is one of these fools like Reza Pahlavi who have nothing to do with the Green Movement but want to gain attention for themselves in stupid ways. Pahlavi still has fantasies about bringing back the monarchy and Makan appears to have fantasies about becoming some sort of political player, or collaborator with Israeli colonialism. No doubt he will have a book coming out soon!

Any time, anyone, anywhere - takes a step towards peace and friendship, it should be welcomed by all. I do not agree with your premise that any contact with the Israeli government is naive or bad.

Israel is the only natural ally of Iran - and Iranians - in the entire Middle East.

The Settlement issue is not an Iranian issue. Its never been.

Iranian people know better than to listen to the Iranian state propaganda. And as for the Iranian government blaming the West or Israel for all their ills - well they do that anyway.

Let the dialogue begin......

Iranians need to GET OVER their misplaced anti-Semitism and their antagonistic hostility to Israel. Good for Caspian for not being cowed by the crowd.

With your reasoning;
1. Makan can be an Iranian agent who went to Israel ordered by IR to damage the Green Movement's image.
2. IR not only would love Israel to attack Iran but even would pay a portion of oil revenues to Israel to attack Iran in order to get Green Movement off their back.

Makan is free to do what he wants to do and does not need advice. Let him make that choice.

As far as what Neda's family say, I don't believe any thing any body say inside Iran. Living under that regime you say any thing to survive another day or overdose in Heroin to end the that version of death called life.
Half of the Ayatollahs lie to survive that prison called Iran.

Ummm .."A representative of Iran Nation". I am not against his trip or Israel and understand how hurt he might feel but at the same time i think he might have been better off to not call him a representative of Iranian Nation.
How about simply being himself and telling his own account rather.....!
Sometimes, Its just about getting too carried away.

Your theory of Makan's reception in Israel as an intrigue to fatally taint the Green Movement is compelling, as is your analysis of Israel's motives for desiring the Greens' early demise.

As for Caspian Makan's own agency in this spectacle, it's worse than criminal, it's stupid.

He has made himself a pariah for life, and added to the grief of Neda's family.

But all is not lost. Perhaps, like Antoine Lahad of the SLA, he can now look forward to opening a kebab joint in Tel Aviv, or else head to WINEP or FDD armed with a job recommendation from Shimon Peres, the butcher of Qana.

You have not touched on the role of Meir Javedanfar in this wretched affair. He can be seen sitting beside Makan in press junkets.

Wenn im Iran ein Umdenken einsetzen soll, dann sollte man auch ueber das Verhaeltnis zu Israel nachdenken. Iraner und Israelis muessen sich nicht direkt in die Arme fallen, aber man kann dennoch kritisch aufeinander zugehen und mal ueber den einen oder anderen unterschiedlichen Standpunkt sprechen. In Israel ist man bereits dazu bereit, man denke ... Mehr anzeigenan die Fussballgruesse, die der iranische Verband versehentlich auch an den israelischen Verband gesendet hat, und die vom israelischen Verbandspraesidenten absichtlich freundlich beantwortet wurden.

The word is STUPID! Stupid not naive, his trip was the best NY gift to IR. And yes Islamic Republic is running the best policy to benefit Israel. As long as they support Hamaz with their weapon supplies, there is a good reason for Israel avoid peace talk. Ahmadinejad and his extreme foreign policy has been in charge of Israel's interest more than US was.
It makes me wonder if the roamers regarding him being from Jewish origin could be true.
Would anyone ever take this guy Makan serious ever again, even if he is an opportunist who wants just a piece of the cake of fame in the political scene, his trip is nothing but a public suicide.
Neda will live but Makan is already dead, just think about that, he can't damage the greens and he can't stop the greens. That a fact despite of his motivation!

You guys are actually hurting peace with an article like this. This should be seen as a positive, that it may change opinions about Iranians. But it seems you guys, you "peaceful" people, also hold biggotry to some extent. Shame on you and I won't be reading your blog anymore.

I think that the analysis is convincing. It is true that Israel will obstacle the growth of an authentic and national movement by Iranians themselves. What an absurd situation Makan has made by turning criminals like Peres to the supporters of justice in Iran.

I hear a lot of talks here in Tehran about the alliance of coup government with Israel's interests. It seems that they are not very wrong.

If this anti-Jewish article is reflective of the Iranian mentality, then I think the Iranian people deserve the government they have. Enjoy getting raped and beaten by your regime.

Sad that PBS has chosen to publish this fool's anti-Israel and conspiracy theorizing.

"There is a strong possibility that Tel Aviv, aware of Neda's iconic status with the opposition, has tried to damage the Green Movement's image by hosting Makan in Israel."

Foolishness. If this visit of friendship brings down the Green Movement, then the opposition must have always been quite marginal -- but of course that's not the case.

Focus on the real issues and don't go chase a red herring in Israel.

Blessed are the peace makers.

The central issue for Iranians is the removal of the Barbaric Republic. Today, Iranians live in a prison known as the Islamaic Republic and their voices are supressed. The Arab Israeli problems do not interest the Iranian people except the Islamist few and their representatives in the West who use Israel as an escape goat to cover up their failures in the last 31 years. I would be surprised if we would not see such shallow reactions from the Islamist supporters.

I have no doubt in a free and safe environment Neda's family would take the very same steps to convey the message of peace from the Iranian people to the rest of the world. We start fighting when we stop talking. Unlike these coward pretenders, Makan has shown a lot of courage and he is a source of pride. Stay focused Iran, victory is at hand.

Of One Essence is the Human Race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base.
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace.
The Unconcern'd with Others' Plight,
Are but Brutes with Human Face.

God bless the Makans of Iran.

@ally yes the settlement issue is not an Iranian issue, it is a humanity issue that the entire world needs to be involved in. Israel openly calls for attacks on Iran based on zero evidence of nuclear weapons (similar to the us attack of iraq based on false claims of wmd's) and Israeli influences such as AIPAC are waging a war with Iran. What kind of "natural ally" is that?

@amir Iran has a long history of openness to jews dating back to cyrus and darius. jews have lived in iran for nearly 3000 years and outside of israel, iran has the largest jewish population in the middle east. the problem is people like you who do not understand that zionism is not the same as being jewish. iran and for the most part the entire middle east is any zionist, as are many other nations and many jews.

RB, your game ended years ago. Opposing Israeli apartheid and perfidy has nothing to do with being "anti-Jewish" ... if that's the game you like to play, the annual AIPAC circus seems to suit you more than the forum here at Tehran Bureau.

Keivon, Cyrus and Darius were both Zionists. It looks like you're the one who doesn't understand history.

@ those who took offence with this being anti semitic.
1- if this criticism of israel hosting Makan coming from an iranian is difficult for you, same can be for those iranians who saw talk of moral and ethics and human rights coming from israelis. so we are even.
2- I personally am not anti jew in any way, but seeing a word of criticim against israel makes you jump out of your seat, makes me think what kind of agenda you pushing forward, only love of israel when millions are living in such a poor condition that beggars belief and one wonders how those who suffered in the hands of others now can do this to others. if this is only politics, so why getting angry of iranian(s) being angry at a foolish act one publicity seeker had done.
3- if one says israel is interested in seeing demise of green movement, a reader says so iranians deserve beaing beaten or raped, as if israel is going to be a source of help and freedom for iranians. far from it. it is not only 31 years of islamic republic that makes people be angry of what israel is doing to palestinians and making threats nonstop towards iran, it is a natural reaction and if iranians are smart and clever enough to despice mullahs, they are smart enough to ask why israeli goverment has stepped into an area that only helps mullahs in crushing image of the green movement. that makes israel an ally of mullahs not an ally of iranian people.

Makan is just an opportunist, who wants to benefit from Neda's death. Not because he has traveled to Israel, but because he calls himself the representative of the Iranian Nation. How dare you?
I can't imagine that his travel could have any positive effect for the Green movement and he could have known that.

Amin,

Green movement? What Green movement? Am I looking and not seeing anything? I am not trying to be smart, but where are these people? Before we brag about anything, shouldn't we be able to show performance? Where is this Green movement Amin? Isn't it time for us Iranians to get real?
Please give me a logical and thoughtful response.
Iranian to Iranian. I am curious. Thank you.

The people here supporting Makan's trip need to grow up and walk in the real world. It doesn't matter whether you support the Islamic Republic or not, Israel is actively making war plans towards Iran, this is obvious to supporters of Ahmadinejad and supporters of the Green Movement. Let's stop living in a fantasy land, after everything that has happened in the last few years, does anyone really believe meeting with Shimon Peres on behalf of "the Iranian people" helps Iran or the Greens?

This has nothing to do with the Palestinians, they could have their own state and Israel WOULD STILL be planning war against Iran just to keep a military hegemony over the region. It's not racial, it's just pure geopolitics.

@RB "Cyrus and Darius were both Zionists. It looks like you're the one who doesn't understand history"

zionism did not exist at that time, not in the sense of today's zionism. thats an absurd comment.

read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism

If you read the Book of Ezra, you will see that Cyrus the Great supported the right of the Jewish people to build settlements in Jerusalem (Zion). He was basically the opposite of Obama.

Even if I completely do not agree with Israeli policy toward Palestinians, even if Makan is ?!#@$% when he impersonate himself as a representative of Iranian nation - main idea which has appeared from this article (Jewish plot) is a sign of author's paranoia. I'm sure he can find zionists even in my fridge.

Cyrus,

Green got nothing to do with it. We are Iranians first and obviously we do not want any foreign government attacking our country.

However, if I recall correctly it was Rafsanjanii who threatened Israel first with this idiotic statement, "It takes several bombs to destroy Iran and only one bomb to destroy Isreal," and the follow up(s) from another idiot called Ahmadinejad.

Now let's walk in the real world. What would you do if you were in Israel shoes? Would you ignore a regime that has no regards for human life as in the lives of its own people?

What will happen to the future of the Iranian people when these barbaric murderers get their hands on the bomb and your 'Greens' will turn into irrelevancy over night?

Please answer my questions and do not come back with the Islamist rhetoric of Israel vs. Palestine. My concern is my own people before I start worrying about the rest of the world.

So far Israel has gone along with the rest of the world who are just as equally concerned about the Barbaric Republic except Russia and China and for obvious reasons, the gold mine they have inherrited at a cost to our people.

Makan is alright in my book. He showed courage when he told the Israeli people the Barbaric Republic does not represent the Iranian People. The only few people mad about this trip are the Islamist murderers in Tehran and their outside representatives. 31 years of hollow death to/anti Israel, U.S., U.K. ... propaganda has had no impact on Iranian people. In fact it has backfired on themselves. Listen to, " death to the dictator ..." chanted through out Iran.

There are many Makans in Iran and they do not need to be painted in green to prove themselves. They are Persian and proud of it.

Strange logic of this article: If the Iranian regime demonizes Israel, than the opposition against it should do the same or even find more political correct reasons for it. This is shameful cowtowing in front of the mullahs, nothing else.

Dear RB,

The lesson I learned from Cyrus the Great's emancipation of Babylon's Jewish exiles is that he was UNIVERSALLY opposed to ethnic cleansing, deportation and 'population transfer', regardless of the tribe or race involved.

The brutishly selfish lesson that you draw from it is that Cyrus made a special dispensation for the Jews, due to his alleged belief in Jewish exceptionalism, ie. Zionism, the conviction that Jews have a Yahweh-given EXCLUSIONARY right to Palestine, and that any other people living there, whether ancient Canaanites or modern Palestinians, are just interlopers.

Of course, if you read the Old Testament literally as the definitive guide to ancient history, this sort of ethnocentric myopia is unavoidable.

In your disregard for Palestinian rights, you share common sentiments with Churchill, pioneer of poison gas attacks on the Kurds and prime architect of the anti-Mossadeq coup of 1953, who in his savage testimony to the Peel Commission in 1937, opposed Palestinan demands for self-determination with this brilliant Anglo-American logic:

__________________________________________________

"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger, even though he may have lain there for a very long time...

"I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

__________________________________________________

But there is no doubt in my mind which people's modern exile and dispossession Cyrus the Great would seek to redress if he was reigning in our era.

So, my dear Zionist RB, please don't appeal to our pride in the magnificent early Achaemenid kings to garner cheap brownie points for your nasty, West-sponsored project of expulsion and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

The charge of anti-Semitism has become so absurd that soon filmgoers who do not enjoy Woody Allen's later films will be labelled anti-Semitic. It is now a blanket charge against anyone who seemingly disagrees with any Jewish or Israeli person.

And I hope this Makan guy takes his visa to Europe and crawls inside his rat hole and never appears again. He and Neda were separated at the time of her martyrdom and today he is doing nothing useful for the people of Iran.

This silliness reminds me as to why I abandoned keeping up with the by now decadent compulsion of the modern intelligentsia to rationalize Islamic totalitarianism. What is the point of this entire diatribe with its uneasy back text of cries, whispers, and rumors in the wind? That because the Iranian authorities killed this man's wife, he makes himself an enemy of the Iranian "Green Revolution" by going to Israel? What? Do your editors read copy any more? At least run it by the office pooch mascot and reconsider if he cocks his head, squints his eyes and gives out a sad, querulous interrogative whine.

Let us take another look at our own people three decades ago and ask ourselves a simple question, were we ready? Perhaps it is only natural for us to be where we are at today.

All those concerns expressed by outsiders about the human rights in Iran when Iran only lacked political freedom,(most countries did not have political freedom at that time anyway).

Where are those outsiders now? Where are those concerns today for a country that lost all its freedoms? It was not about freedom, was it?

Look and decide for yourselves.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc61e8_untold-stories-about-islamic-revolu_news

I agree with Ali from Tehran.

This is a momentary headline grab, a brief distraction and further grief for the family.

That's all.

Very interesting observation regarding the role of Meir Javedanfar. I've been commenting here at Tehran Bureau that this Zionist activist should not be making editorial contributions. Let's see if this enough for the TB editorial board to finally come to its senses.

"Israel is actively making war plans towards Iran"

Really? Was it Israeli president who called for destruction of Iran?
I'm an Iran-Iraq war veteran and I can assure you Israel was Iran's strongest ally during that booldy 8 years war (google it).
As an Iranian I don't want to be insensetive toward the plight of Palestinians but in my book arab-Israeli conflict is their problem, I don't mind to extend helping hand but at the same time I would rather let their 27 arab nations berthren (many quite wealthy and politically influential BTW) to step fwd first.
And if you speak about humanity and ethics I would like to share that moral higher ground with Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Chechnya, Tibet and Zimbabwe as well.