Emails from a friend of Norman Finkelstein apparently living in Tehran that Finkelstein has shared
Norman Finkelstein is is an American political scientist and activist. His primary fields of research are the politics of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. His newest book, Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High has just appeared
Cross-posted from Norman’s Substack HERE and HERE
Salam Dr Norman
On the thirty-seventh day of the war, Monday, we woke up at around four in the morning to the sounds of heavy bombing. Fortunately, we learned to tire our grandchildren out enough so that they were at least in a deep sleep so that they wouldn’t suddenly jump out of their sleep in terror. In the morning, we realized that several assassinations had been carried out, and many families had been killed in their sleep. Previously, the Mossad carried out assassinations with sniper fire, but now with trench-busting bombs. One of these sounds was the destruction of Sharif University in Tehran, and the howling sound of the gas station next to it could be heard for kilometers for an hour. Trump, like the new head of the division of hell, has announced that starting tonight he will send us bastards there. A friend joked that someone would say that with his rapes of children on Epstein Island, talking about being bastards and being legitimate should not be mentioned in the language of other people. In the morning, the petrochemical plants in Asaluyeh, Tabriz, and Marvdasht were hit. It turned out that Netanyahu had already started destroying Iran’s infrastructure before his friend. At my daughter’s insistence, we bought some buttered bread and honey to give to the hardworking municipal sweepers on the way to the exhibition, who are still cleaning the streets under fire and emptying the trash cans. They have also killed and injured several people so far. Perhaps one of the questions everyone has about the stupid officials of the Trump administration is why terror doesn’t work in Iran. This is due to the lack of knowledge of the history of resistance in Iran. For example, during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, due to the popular nature of the war and the presence of patriotic volunteers, about four million people went to the front and were moved from the rank of regular combatant to division commander according to real history. About three major operations took place every year, and a large number of commanders were martyred in each operation and quickly replaced by others. Because everyone had learned war experiences together. These rapid transfers with people of similar experience have led to a method that has no alternative in Western armies. Four million people have gone to the front and know tanks. They know artillery, amphibious operations, and combat operations up to… everything. Iran will never need military academies like West Point to train its personnel because it relies on the sea of experience from an eight-year war within four million combatants. And now they are a model for a new generation of fearlessness and courage. The American Heliburn operation two days ago has become a laughing stock here because so many planes and helicopters were destroyed for no reason other than to rescue a pilot, and Trump wanted to cover up a major failed operation under the guise of rescuing a pilot. The future will clarify everything. The interesting thing is that in cities, training and delivery of anti-aircraft shoulder-launched launchers to people, even in villages, has begun in large numbers. And this is another big mistake, that stupid operation in Isfahan, where everyone was following them with simple rifles, and from now on, they are using shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles. Trump’s new insults have also hit people hard. I don’t know if anyone has taught these politicians anything called family education in their lives. I take the prepared bread and honey and put the grandchildren in the car to give to the street sweepers. I wish people like Trump understood how enjoyable it is to be human. I am also happy for the mothers of those two rescued American pilots. Maybe for a moment they will also wish me and my grandchildren well. In any case, we stand by our country so that our homeland does not become a new Epstein Island with your leaders. Is this a wrong wish for a grandfather?
The 38th Age of War Tuesday Supplement to the previous message After Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization and return the people of different cities of Iran to the Stone Age at 8:00 AM US time, these human chains were formed on bridges and next to power centers. These photos are of people gathering on the (White Bridge), the most famous bridge in the city of Ahvaz in the center of Khuzestan province. It must be believed and assured that this nation is no longer afraid of anyone except God. They are ready to sacrifice themselves with their children. The West never wanted to understand with all its research faculties that it is not possible to force and sanction a nation for years. This is the result of all these crimes in the history of all the presidents of different American governments. And this last one is not accepted even by its own people.https://mailbusiness.ionos.de/appsuite/#!!&app=io.ox/mail&folder=default0/INBOX
On the 40th day of the war and the night of the ceasefire, on Wednesday evening, people gathered in groups with Iranian flags and started moving from the city squares to gather on bridges and power stations. Women, children, and even patients in wheelchairs were seen among them. I took my two daughters and grandchildren and some blankets and went to one of these power stations. The crowd was so large and everyone was upset by Trump’s words that he wanted to destroy Iranian civilization. There is a saying among Iranians that says that God always chooses our enemies from among fools. Saddam was fooled by the royalist propaganda and attacked Iran. This is what the then Iraqi Foreign Minister said in his interview with Al Jazeera at the start of the Iraq War, when he was present at a meeting in which Saddam and the generals of the Shah’s time, on behalf of Farah Pahlavi and Bakhtiar, the last prime minister of the Shah’s regime, told the Iraqi dictator in Baghdad that attacking Iran was like having fun and taking a walk in a deserted park because the entire army of this country had been destroyed by the revolution. And Trump repeated this foolishness in being fooled by Netanyahu and the monarchists. Until the dawn and the declaration of the ceasefire, my grandchildren and I stayed under the blanket in the cold of the night. We had all come to perish for our country. All together, at the hands of the most evil and most psychotic people in the world. Netanyahu and Trump. Nowhere in the world are the good and the bad so different from each other. At the same time, a video was being circulated among the people in which a reporter asked Trump if the Iranian people had gathered on the bridges and electricity infrastructure of our country, and Trump, panicking and saying like fools, that this was illegal and they shouldn’t do this. Illegal! Is his war crime attack legal, and is it illegal for the main owners of these centers, built with their tax money, to prevent it? Suddenly, with the announcement of Iran’s acceptance of the conditions, shouts of enthusiasm went up in the air. With the lightening and the official confirmation of the ceasefire on the radio and television, we returned home. The cold weather caused the eldest grandson to catch a cold, but it was worth it. All the news speaks of Trump’s helplessness. This morning, after forty days without the sound of missiles and airplanes, I am lying next to my tired grandchildren. My family and I, with all our peace-loving and hatred of war, were just a drop in the ocean of people who stayed in the streets until morning so that the dirty hands of Trump and Netanyahu would not reach our country. Truly, God is greater than all the aircraft carriers and bombs for people who believe and have human morality in practice, not Hollywood propaganda. Our people have proven this to the world in these forty days of fearlessness. I try to sleep with my grandchildren, but it doesn’t work. In this current silence without bombs exploding, I am mostly thinking and remembering the memories of my friends who were killed innocently with their families in this unjustified and aggressive war in a horrific way. Really, why? I am leaving you a photo of my two grandchildren in the cold last night next to that power plant to prevent Trump’s attack.
The 40th night of the Lebanon war, Wednesday, news this afternoon and the killing of more than three hundred Lebanese civilians by Israeli planes, has once again destroyed all hope for peace in the region. Everyone here feels that the West has betrayed them as usual. In my entire life, I have never heard of a peace agreement between Westerners and the people of the Middle East where the Western side has truly followed its provisions. Last night, Trump’s text stated that Iran’s ten-point text was the basis for negotiations, but now the White House spokesman announced that that text has been thrown in the trash. I think the White House leaders talk first and think later, which is why they don’t understand the consequences of their decisions and don’t take responsibility for them. Now at around eleven o’clock at night, I see a procession of people on the street, carrying a large number of Lebanese and Hezbollah flags with them as a sign of solidarity with the victims of today’s war in this country and chanting slogans. Tonight is much busier than other nights. People are more aware of the danger of the enemy’s deceit. Many say that a maternity hospital full of new mothers, newborns, and medical staff in Lebanon was completely destroyed by today’s Israeli bombing. This new crime deeply disturbs me. What if this crime had happened in the West? After forty days of the crime of killing children in Minab, have you ever seen the US government make the slightest apology or announce the results of the investigation for this crime and all the lies it has told so far? Just now, anti-aircraft guns started shooting above us in Tehran’s Revolution Square. But people here were just chanting. My grandchildren, with all their colds and lack of sleep, came back to the painting booth last night to help their mother. Frankly, with all my peace-loving nature, I don’t enjoy a false ceasefire in which I am like a frog in a pot of water slowly boiling on a low gas stove. It has been about fifty years since an Iranian in America has committed the slightest act of terrorism, but in all these years our people have been called terrorists while their own military commanders have been playing basketball with Golani in Washington. So far, more than sixteen million people have registered to fight the US and Israel. And this list is only of men, not women. Because in Iran, only men go to the military. I wish many in the West knew that sixty percent of our university students are women. The religiousness of women is not a reason for them to stay home. But the Western propagandists consider us and the Taliban to be the same. I just heard that Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament and the potential negotiating party, has officially announced the ceasefire violation by ENRICA and said that he will not go to Pakistan for negotiations. The people’s distrust of the Trump gang is so great on these streets that no one is at all frightened by hearing this news. Tomorrow, the 40th anniversary of the Iranian leader’s death will be celebrated on the streets of Iran from morning to night. But now I’m waiting for the grandchildren to get tired of drawing and playing with other children so that we can return home later in case the war starts again tonight and the bombings start again. According to my experience, as I said before, it’s better for them to be so tired that at least in deep sleep they are less afraid of the sound of explosions.
Why Trump doesn’t understand Iran. The 41st day of the war. First thing in the morning, Friday, Tehran time. It’s midnight now as I write this, and since morning, millions of people all over Iran have been marching to mark the 40th anniversary of the death of the country’s leader and are still on the streets. To not give Trump and Netanyahu the slightest chance. Right now, I’m sitting behind a white curtain on the street where paintings are drawn every night for small children at the painting exhibition for the children killed in Minab. My friends are showing Iranian cartoons. Tonight, there’s a cartoon about an Iranian leopard called (Yuz) that is on the verge of extinction, and Iranian children should learn to take care of it and love it, and I’ll leave you a picture of it at the end. But why doesn’t Trump understand Iran? When I was a teenager, I read a book by Maurice Maeterlinck called The Honey Bee, which had a strange point in it. Before reading this book, I thought, like everyone else, that the queen was somehow the absolute god of the hive and that everything was done in her hands. However, Maurice Maeterling’s simple experiment proved that this idea was wrong. When the hive was threatened, the bees would save the queen at the first opportunity and would sacrifice themselves to save her. In Maurice’s experiment, a ring was placed on the hive door that ordinary bees with smaller bodies could easily pass through, but the queen bee got stuck in it because of her larger body. When the hive was threatened, the other soldier bees did everything they could to kill the queen because she was trapped in the ring and chose another queen and saved her. Maeterling proved that there was a law that transcended the material existence of the queen and ruled the hive, which he called the “soul of the hive.” If Trump and his ignorant American think tanks had a proper understanding of even bees, apart from materialism, they would never have assassinated the Iranian leader because they only paved the way for a younger and more determined leader to rule Iran according to the spirit of the hive. The instinctive reaction of the Iranian people to sleep on bridges and be ready to die for their homeland will never be understood by the likes of Epstein’s islanders. Around me, people are marching and chanting slogans with many Lebanese and Hezbollah flags next to their country’s flag. They all feel that more than three hundred civilians were killed in the bombing because the people were defending themselves and they strongly think that something must be done. The Iranians have proven that they will not forget such crimes in the course of history. Just as they will not forget the crime of Minab.
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