Following a video message to the Iranian people by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thousands of Iranians took to Israel to express their support and love for the Jewish state.
According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the hashtag #WeStandWithIsrael was featured in tens of thousands of tweets written by Iranians who took part in a campaign to separate their opinions of Israel from that of the strongly anti-Israel Iranian regime.
Sharona Avginsaz, the Foreign Ministry Persian-language digital-media manager, told Mako news that the “Israel in Persian” Twitter page has been gaining serious steam, with approximately 60,000 followers, despite the fact that the Twitter social-media platform is actually banned in Iran.
The campaign was set to coincide with “Quds Day,” an annual day established by the extremist Muslim Iranian regime to support Arab claims to Jerusalem and decry Israeli control of the historic city.
According to Avginsaz, Iranian Twitter users decided to take the anti-Israel day and turn it into a show of Iranian support for Israel and disapproval of the controlling Iranian government.
“Most of the Iranian people oppose the regime and its policies towards Israel, and Iranians are always writing to us that they love Israel—that they do not want their regime to use their money to bolster Hamas and Hezbollah,” Avginsaz told Mako.
Iran and Israel maintained good relations prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On Sunday, Netanyahu released a video in which he promised to create a website to help Iranian farmers recycle wastewater and learn water-saving techniques. The country is undergoing a severe drought, and Israel is internationally renowned for its water-saving technologies.
“The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water,” said Netanyahu. “Israel stands with the people of Iran.”
“Now, Israel also has water challenges. We’ve developed cutting-edge technologies to address them,” he explained.
“We are with you,” said Netanyahu. “The hatred of Iran’s regime will not stop the respect and friendship between our two peoples.”
