Iranians React With Anger To Netanyahu Comments
While many Western-oriented Iranians mocked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments about Iranians not having access to blue jeans, others seemed most angered by his threats to bomb Iran and push for more sanctions.
Compared to four years ago, satellite jamming by the Iranian government has decreased in volume. This is perhaps one reason why millions of Iranians were able to watch Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with BBC Persian on Saturday evening just before going to bed.
In the past few days, tens of thousands of internet users reacted, mostly in a mocking tone, to what Netanyahu said in his interview. The Israeli prime minister, who noted the absence of democracy in Iran, had said, "I think if the Iranian people had their way, they'd be wearing blue jeans, they'd have Western music, they'd have free elections.”
Iranians who were critical of Netanyahu, most of them westernized, denim-wearing youth who are supporters of the Green Movement, responded to the leader of Israel with a cynical motto which was repeatedly shared in cyberspace: “You saw the nuclear bomb, but you did not see our pants.”
Hanieh, 22, coming out of Tehran University of Art campus near the Valiasr junction, said, “All we needed was this rascal making decisions for us! For two years he used the Israel lobby in the United States and maliciously interfered until Europe and the United States imposed sanctions on Iran. Now suddenly you who were pushing for sanctions, which make the Iranian people poor, are worried about us? I actually think that the expression he used to describe Rouhani, 'a wolf in sheep’s clothing,' fits him much better. He sits in front of the TV camera and smiles at the Iranian people and then goes and does his best to destroy their country’s economy and deprive them of their basic needs. He thinks we are stupid. We will never choose him over Rouhani.”
