Iranian Domestic Terrorist Politics
Charles Johnson
Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 9:22 pm PDT • Views: 237
The mullahs have publicly promised $50 million to the destruction of Israel, but the Iranian public isn’t happy about it: Iran’s Hamas largesse gets mixed reaction at home.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran may win Arab friends by pledging $50 million to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, but at home the Islamic Republic’s largesse received a mixed response on Monday.
“I wish they had thought of the likes of me before they went lavishing Iranian money on others,” said Farideh, as she sought donations in a south Tehran street to buy her dead son a gravestone.
“Do the Palestinians look more needy than I do?” said the 65-year-old, who like others asked for her full name not be used when criticizing the government on a sensitive political issue.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at a conference on the Palestinian cause in Tehran, said on Sunday his government was giving $50 million to the Palestinian Authority to fill gaps left by Western aid cuts.
The Islamic Republic has long championed the cause of fellow Muslims in the Palestinian areas, and some analysts say the latest move is part of a diplomatic effort to win regional backing in its nuclear dispute with the West.
But the Palestinian issue does not stir the same popular emotions in non-Arab Iran as it does in nearby Arab states.
“As they say, a lantern that can light your home, should not be donated, even to the mosque,” said 60-year-old retired government worker Kourosh, adding that the Iranian government would be better spending its money at home.
Frank says: