| ▲ | AlecSchueler 11 hours ago |
| I'm not sure that answers my question. They could have a political belief that Israel must fall but you haven't shown a reason to believe it's based on their religious beliefs. Obviously the two things are tied up together but I don't believe that if a Jewish homeland state had been created in Western Europe or in Antarctica that Iran would have an issue with it. Their problem is surely that Israel represents an historical and continuing power play by Western forces, a springboard from which the US and it's allies can encourage coups, wage wars and dominate the trade of the natural resources in the region. It seems like a very practical concern more than a religious one. |
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| ▲ | loandbehold 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| It doesn't matter for Israel weather it's based on religious belief or not. But Iran does frame their opposition in Islamic context in its communication to Iranian people. E.g. Khamenei says things like "fighting Israel to liberate Palestine is an obligation and an Islamic jihad."
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-supreme-leader-israel-cancerous... |
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| ▲ | AlecSchueler 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | It might not matter for Israel but it matters for me as an Irishman watching the rest of the world getting sucked into a conflict. Framing it as a religious opposition paints Iran as an irrational actor which can't be reasoned with, when it appears to me that it's behaving the way it's been pushed to behave by encroaching colonial forces. I don't believe in Islam or in Judaism but I do believe in radical discourse and trying to understand the position of the other. Saying "it's their religion to be bloody violent and destructive, what can we do?" throws any space for understanding out of the window. |
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| ▲ | Ray20 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| >but you haven't shown a reason to believe it's based on their religious beliefs. Their religious leaders like literally come out and say, "This is based on our religious beliefs." |
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| ▲ | AlecSchueler 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Does every Shi'ite hold these same beliefs then? What is the religious basis for the belief? Henry VIII used religious justification for breaking off from the pope as well but surely we're grown up enough to recognise those movements came about from a desire for political autonomy more than disagreements over bible interpretations? | | |
| ▲ | simonh 8 hours ago | parent [-] | | You're looking for this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Israel_in_Irani... >In 2024, Ali Khamenei told Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: "The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea." In particular check out the "clerics" section of that article for the statements of multiple leading religious authorities in the regime on the religious justifications. | | |
| ▲ | AlecSchueler 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | Well, to start off I want to reiterate what I said about the reformation era political upheavals in Europe and religion being used as a justification and easy explanation for very real geopolitical concerns. But just for argument's sake and to respect your position I always want to point out that your quote subtly talks about "the Zionist entity" and not about Israel or Jews. So I can assume that you're equating Israel with Zionism, which is arguably fair. Now the question I would have is do we recognise the inherent violence of Zionism and, if so, why do we decentre that in our conversation and instead focus on the reaction to it? |
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| ▲ | nec4b 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Are you proposing moving Israel to another location? |
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