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A Love Letter From Israel to Iran

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Israel, Arts & Culture, Ideas, International Relations, War & Conflict

We love you Iran [1]

A message of love from Israelis to Iranians sounds stranger than fiction in these tense years where Iranian and Israeli governments threaten [2] each other with any imaginable words.

But we see examples of just this in a Facebook campaign launched by Pushpin Mehina (real name Ronny) in his timeline [3] that says: “We will never bomb your country. We love you.”

Israel considers Iran a potential nuclear threat to its existence. Meanwhile Iranian leaders claim that their nuclear program is peaceful, but also call for Israel to be wiped off the map [4].

Both Israelis and Iranians are now uploading photos of themselves with the logo [1] saying either “Iranians We love You” or “Israelis We Love You” and it has attracted the attention of Israeli media [5].

For several people it is the first time they have communicated directly with either an Israeli or Iranian, and some Iranians voiced fears of repercussion from their government.

“I never met an Iranian”

Ronny from Tel Aviv in Israel writes:

To the Iranian people
To all the fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters. For there to be a war between us, first we must be afraid of each other, we must hate. I'm not afraid of you, I don't hate you. I don't even know you. No Iranian ever did me no harm. I never even met an Iranian… Just one in Paris in a museum. Nice dude… I see sometime here, on the TV, an Iranian. He is talking about war. I'm sure he does not represent all the people of Iran… If you see someone on your TV talking about bombing you… be sure he does not represent all of us. To all those who feel the same, share this message and help it reach the Iranian people.

Love from Iran to Israel by Navid Mashayekhi [6]Beauty beyond culture

A message from an Iranian lady says:

Hi Pushpin, I am an Iranian lady. I just saw your warm and beautiful message to my country mates. Reading your message brought tears to my eyes and warmness to my heart. Just wanted to ensure you, we all Iranians feel the same, we just want peace and beauty on the earth, we hate war and slaughter, we all are the parts of one body and it hurts when you see a human suffering since she or he is a part of your soul. I have been always curious about you guys if you hate us, because I have been sure that the actual face of Iranians would not be introduced to you guys… All in all, just would like to thank you for your beautiful message and say that we all love you because you are our brothers and sisters. The only thing that matters is your beautiful heart not your culture, language, skin color, religion or homeland.

It seems this campaign is offering a real connection between Iranians and Israelis to share a message we can only dream for: love and peace in the name of mankind.