John Kerry of D.C., Meet Terry Greenberg of North Vancouver

You two seem to have so much in common. John--you're having a hard time trying to figure out what Khomeini's successor means when, entirely in keeping with his mentor's philosophy, he says "Death to America." And Terry--you're having a hard time discerning Iran's genocidal intentions re Israel, as per your letter in the National Post (scroll down to "Human rights not the issue") wherein you opine this:

Re: Keep Up The Pressure, Shimon Koffler Fogel, July 17.There are dozens of countries that practise some human rights abuses, including Israel and Canada; Iran is not the worst offender in the world. The recent negotiations were not about human rights, they were about nuclear proliferation. It serves no one’s interest to try to pretend otherwise, as Shimon Fogel does. 

If Fogel truly cares about the human rights situation in the world he would not just single out Iran. He leads the chorus in claiming the “singling-out” of Israel for criticism is proof of anti-Semitism. Can we then conclude his singling-out Iran for criticism is evidence and proof of an irrational hatred and racism against Iranians?
Terry Greenberg, North Vancouver, B.C.

My response to the latter's letter:

Since letter-writer Terry Greenberg apparently operates under the misimpression that "singling-out" Iran is akin to "singling-out" Israel, please allow me to explain why that equation is fallacious.  While Israel may, during the course of its ongoing fight for survival, commit "human rights abuses" as the United Nations and Israel's critics and enemies understand them (for example, by constructing "apartheid" barriers and checkpoints that prevent Palestinian terrorists from entering Israel and wreaking havoc as they have done in the past), here's the salient--and glaring--difference between the two countries: Iran is a totalitarian Shiite theocracy helmed by megalomaniacs who view Israel, the Jewish state, as an alien and toxic presence in the Middle East and the world at large (which is not unlike how another megalomaniac, a German one, viewed Jewry in another time) and whose mantra is "Death to Israel" and "Death to America"; Israel is the region's sole democracy that is looking to live in peace with its neighbours, including Iran. No one in Israel is chanting "Death to Iran."

 

That said, Israel has every right to defend itself against an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction and that may soon have the nuclear means to follow through on its threats.