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Today I was dismayed to read of a $1million dollar business deal done between an Israeli hi-tech company and the Tehran Chamber of Commerce.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of free trade and am an advocate of doing business with our neighbours in the Arab world. It just seems to me to be far beyond the pail when facilities are being provided to a regime that has stated its absolute determination to wipe Israel from the face of the map. No prizes for guessing what the punishment was during the Second World War if British or US firms or individuals were found to be selling 'support systems' to Nazi Germany?

In an attempt to take control of the impending media storm, a spokesperson for the company in question, DaroNet, said that his software had been sold to the Iranians through a third party in Holland and that the Israelis knew nothing about it until being asked to produce a version that supported the Farsi language. Maybe that should have been the point at which he and his colleagues should have said. 'Well maybe we shouldn't be supplying this product to these people'.

It appears that this thought never crossed their collective minds, as he went on to crow to the Jerusalem Post: "The deal is signed and delivered. They can't go back on it now." Possibly not, but maybe you can, mate!

I don't know very much at all about the Tehran Chamber of Commerce. I'd like to think that it is similar to such organizations anywhere in the world, a jovial bunch of local shopkeepers doing their best to support each other and promote their businesses as a combined unit and using the forum as an opportunity to catch up on the latest gossip and grumble about the impending rent increase imposed upon them by their landlord.


Then again, there might well be people amongst this august body who have businesses that supply the national government with facilities that could be used to jeopardize the safety of the State of Israel and other countries in the region.

Because of this, it seems ridiculous to me that any Israeli business should be able to act legally in supplying goods and services to Iran. Going back to the DaroNet spokesman, he went on to point out that, "Lots of Israelis do business with Iran. From cherry tomatoes to high tech, it's a $250m trade."

How much more proof does the government need that, given the chance, Ahmedinajad and his cronies would do something very nasty to the general Israeli population (both Jewish and Arab) if he could get away with it? Why aren't they clamping down on these business deals in the best interests of the Israeli public?

It might very well be that behind the scenes Israeli agencies are doing what they can to try and limit the potential damage the Iranian president might cause; there's certainly no end of posturing taking place in public. If he starts to feel that his grip on power is slipping, for instance, if the anti-government protests gain strength once again, Ahmedinajad could well reckon he has nothing to lose in letting rip against Israel.

I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of people in Iran just aspire to being able to live their life in peace, make a living have a comfortable home and possibly a holiday once or twice a year. Recent riots have shown that many people are being brutally repressed by this despicable regime. 

I have a personal interest in the suffering of the many moderate Iranians (most of whom refer to themselves as Persians), as they didn't support the Islamic Revolution.

One of my best friends at primary school in England was a girl from a Persian family called Nicky Nersessian. We'd been in the same class since the age of 5. In early 1979, aged 11, she and her parents went over to Tehran to visit relatives for a two-week break. I never saw her or her family again. Only days after the Nersessian's landed in Tehran, Ayatollah Khomenei returned and the Islamic Revolution took place. Many of our friends tried to contact the Nersessian's but to no avail. Their house stood empty and untouched for more than three years. One day, I passed by and saw it had been sold. By whom, I don't know. 

Every time I see the demonstrations, read of the torture of opposition supporters and of the 'disappeared', I wonder if maybe Nicky, possibly now (as time has marched by) even her children, were part of the protests. I am certain that she and many like her would love to see an end to this awful regime.

Iran's plight highlights the extreme dangers in combining politics with religion, a mistake that I hope here in Israel, we don't end up making as well. We're already at the beck and call of nutty religious minority parties who, because of our warped electoral system, end up as the tail wagging the dog. Going any further down that particular path would be a disaster.

As for those Israelis and those from the many others countries lining their pockets in trading with Iran, I'll let their conscience – if they've got one - be their ultimate judge.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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