Iran is demonized by Western neocons and were meant to see the country as an evil, monster regime of foaming-at-the-mouth religious fanatics who hate everyone.
So it goes against the dominant narrative somewhat that Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted a Christmas message and wished peace and joy to all in 2019, on Christmas Eve.
Javad Zarif
?@JZarif
Dec 24, 2018
The angels said, "Mary, God gives you good tidings of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; high honored shall he be in this world and the next, near stationed to God. (QURAN 2:45)
May the blessings of the birth of Jesus usher peace and joy to all in 2019.
Javad Zarif
?@JZarif
The angels said, "Mary, God gives you good tidings of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; high honored shall he be in this world and the next, near stationed to God. (QURAN 3:45)
May the blessings of the birth of Jesus usher peace and joy to all in 2019.
834
5:19 PM - Dec 24, 2018
It also goes against the narrative, that Zarif, back in September, wished Jews, in Iran and across the world, a very Happy New Year filled with peace and harmony.
Were told repeatedly that the Iranian regime is anti-Semitic, but do anti-Semites wish Jews a happy Rosh Hashanah? If so, it's a rather strange definition.
The Iranian Foreign Minister also tweeted on December 26 a message of goodwill to Irans Zoroastrian community.
Javad Zarif
?@JZarif
In commemoration of the passing of Zoroaster, great Iranian Prophet, the composer of the Gathas & founder of principles of good thoughts, good words, good deeds.
??? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ???.
4,695
4:31 PM - Dec 26, 2018
Contrast this consideration to people of different faiths from Tehran, with the lack of congratulations on other religious holidays from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A week before Irans Foreign Minister was tweeting positively about Jesus, the KSAs Customs Authority was also on the social media platform, confirming that Christmas trees were banned from entering the Kingdom for the festive season.
Ben Norton
?@BenjaminNorton
The US government spent years trying to destroy Syria which protects religious rights for minorities and has a vibrant Christian community while selling billions of dollars of arms to the Saudi monarchy which bans Christmas trees and supported ISIShttps://twitter.com/maramkasem/status/1074292976782860289?s=19
Maram@maramkasem
Christmas trees are banned in Saudi Arabia.
Santa is not welcome, only extremists are allowed. https://twitter.com/cnnarabic/status/1074192407279874048
298
8:43 PM - Dec 16, 2018
In fact, despite the large number of Christians from other countries who work in the country, including many Britons, the holding of any Christmas-related services or commemorations in Saudi Arabia is strictly banned. The Christmas season often a season where Christians around the world are most visible is a tense time for Christians in Saudi Arabia, who have to celebrate the holiday in secret, risking arrest and deportation, said Jeff King, President of the International Christian Concern, in 2016.
Imagine being a Christian and not being able to openly celebrate the birth of Christ. It happens in Saudi Arabia, yet Western leaders, so keen to lecture others about human rights and religious freedom stay silent, preferring to pick on Iran where Christmas can be openly celebrated.
Syria is another country monstered by the endless war lobby but where, against all the odds, the Christmas spirit is still maintained. Big seasonal celebrations were held this year in Aleppo and Damascus. Remember Aleppo?
It was recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army from Islamist rebels two years ago this month, and the neocon/liberal interventionist commentariat, and most of the political class portrayed it as a most terrible thing. Ian Austin MP said that people in Aleppo faced slaughter.
John Woodcock MP called the Morning Star newspaper traitorous scum for referring to the recapture of Aleppo by Syrian forces of their own territory, as a liberation. But if you look at the pictures of Christians celebrating Christmas there once again, which they were forbidden to do under the western-backed head-chopping rebels you can see that the L word was indeed appropriate.
This year in Damascus though, the festive celebrations were defiled by another act of aggression against Syria from a Western-supported-country, one which incidentally Ian Austin and John Woodcock have been Parliamentary Friends of.
On the evening of December 25, loud explosions could be heard seven miles from the center of Damascus. Russias Defense Ministrysaidthat Israels Christmas Day F-16 strikes endangered two civilian flights as well as injuring three personnel at the logistics compound.
Whatever your stance is on Middle Eastern affairs and leaving aside the illegality of the operation whenever it took place the question is: did Israel really have to bomb Syria on Christmas Day?
Would Israels security have been lessened if the raid had taken place on December 28 and not the 25th? Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did tweet Christmas greetings out to Christian friends in Israel and around the world on December 24, but why did his forces attack a country where Christians were celebrating one day later?
Sarah Abdallah@sahouraxo
On Christmas, a national holiday for Syria, Israel is bombing Damascus and inflicting terror on tens of thousands of Syrian families in the midst of celebrating. Horrifying.
RT
?@RT_com
Replying to @RT_com
MORE: Reports indicate that the attack came from Israelhttps://on.rt.com/9l7l
1,330
12:47 AM - Dec 26, 2018
Just imagine the enormous outcry if Russia had carried out air strikes on Ukrainian targets on the evening of 25th December. In fact, the US magazine Newsweek, doing its best to ratchet up East-West tensions still further, predicted such an event only last week. Theypublishedan article on Christmas Eve which began with the wordsAs people in Western Europe and the United States get comfortable for the holidays, the chances increase that Russia will take advantage of the distraction to launch attacks against its neighbor Ukraine, experts said.
And who are these experts, I hear you ask. Well, guess what, they were all from the Atlantic Council.
Nina
Byzantina?@NinaByzantina
How West's 'objective' media works: Newsweek republishes Atlantic Council that is funded by Ukrainian World Congress
24
8:41 AM - Jan 10, 2016
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The experts, surprise surprise, were wrong. The monster Russia did not launch attacks on Ukraine over Christmas. But Israel did attack Syria and there was silence from those who would have screeched very loudly (and be calling for RT to be taken off the air immediately) if the Kremlin had ordered such a sacrilegious act.
Neil Clark
?@NeilClark66
Yes- I have an agenda. Its called humanity. Two civilian flights were threatened by the attacks on Christmas night.
NotoBene@NYCGuy922
Replying to @NeilClark66
Convenient you leave out the fact that its Assads Syria, and that the Israelis were bombing the IRGC and other known terrorists. Not like you have an agenda or anything.
395
7:11 PM - Dec 26, 2018
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Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) were also busy bombing on Christmas Day. The genocidal group carried out suicide bomb attacks on Libyas Foreign Ministry inTripolion Tuesday morning, killing three and leaving over half-a-dozen injured.
One doesnt expect IS to respect Christmas, but you would expect Western leaders of predominantly Christian nations to regard the group as public enemy number one. Yet in Syria, the US and its allies welcomed the groups growth precisely because it threatened the secular, Christian-protecting government of Bashar al-Assad. A declassified US intelligencereportfrom August 2012 predicted the establishment of aSalafist principality in Eastern Syriaand said that this isexactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.
Furthermore, in a leaked taperecordingthe former Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that the US allowed IS to expand its territory to threaten Damascus.
At the same time, those fighting IS, and other al-Qaeda-linked death squads in Syria, namely the Syrian Arab Army, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, have been monstered by the West and its regional allies propaganda machines.
Reflect on this: It wasnt Syrian, Russia, Iranian or Hezbollah forces or followers who slaughtered British and other Western holiday-makers on the beach in Tunisia in 2015 but an IS terrorist who is thought to have trained at a jihadist camp in neighboring Libya and whose government had been forcibly toppled by NATO powers four years earlier. Similarly, it wasnt Syrian, Russian, Iranian or Hezbollah forces or followers who carried out murderous attacks against civilians in Paris, Nice, Brussels, and London, or at Christmas markets in Berlin andStrasbourg.
Respecting Christmas and what it stands for is an important litmus test, as it tells us a lot about the actors involved, especially if they are not themselves Christians.
The monstering of those who do show the proper Yuletide spirit, and the turning of a blind eye to those that dont, highlights the spectacular hypocrisy of those in power in the West who profess to support 'Christian values but in fact do everything possible to subvert them.
If anyone needs an Ebenezer Scrooge-style epiphany this Christmas, it's the 'monster-slayers' themselves.
