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as I sat in our bomb shelter waiting for
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the hundreds of Iranian drones and
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missiles headed for Israel I had one
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simple question why does Iran hate
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Israel if I was making a likely list of
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Israel's enemies Iran wouldn't be at the
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top just look at this map Israel's wars
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were primarily fought against its direct
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neighbors Iran is on the other side of
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the Arabian Peninsula also the
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Palestinians are Arab all of Israel's
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neighbors who fought Wars against Israel
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Arab but Iran they're Persians not Arabs
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most of Israel's Muslim neighbors are
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Sunni Palestinian Muslims are Sunni but
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Iran Shia and the Sunni and Shia they
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haven't exactly gotten along for well
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almost 1500 years and on top of all of
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that for over 30 years Iran and Israel
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were allies which might feel like
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ancient history but at the end of the
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episode we'll get a glimpse of how that
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history could make a comeback so why
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does Iran hate hate Israel so much the
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simple answer is that Iran wants power
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power against the west or the Saudis or
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Taylor Swift fans okay I haven't heard
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the swifties one but I hate that
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explanation in working on this episode I
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wanted to find answers that went beyond
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the simplistic so my deep dive into
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Iran's hatred of Israel led me to six
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reasons why these former friends became
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enemies and the first is Iran's hatred
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of the West let's back it up check out
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this footage of people partying back in
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the' 70s normal right except these are
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Iranians and Israelis partying in Iran
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see shortly after Israel's independence
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in 1948 things were pretty chill between
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Iran and Israel Iran was actually the
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second Muslim majority country to
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recognize Israel they collaborated on
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trade and Israel's National Airline had
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daily non-stop flights between Tel Aviv
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and tahan huh what how'd that happen
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well even though Iran was a Muslim
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majority country it was run by a secular
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dictator and the Sha was a big fan of
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Western values like education women's
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rights religious freedom but not a big
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fan of other Western values like
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democracy freedom of the press not
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jailing and torturing dissidents and yet
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his iron fisted rule of Iran was propped
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up by Western countries which made the
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West very unpopular with Iranians who
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didn't like the Sha and in the 1970s
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that population was growing then came
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the Tipping Point in 1979 a popular
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Uprising known as the Islamic revolution
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swept through the country the Sha was
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out and an Islamic cler known as the
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Ayatollah was in establishing the
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Islamic Republic of Iran okay so given
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that history I can totally understand
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why Iran's a little bit wary of Western
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influence you know with how the West
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supported the Sha despite his brutal
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policies and I get why Israel might get
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lumped in with all of that but I was
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still left with the question why does
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Iran have this special focus on Israel
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the Islamic Republic of Iran wasn't just
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annoyed with the West's interference in
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internal politics an important part of
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ayatollah's movement was to oppose
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Western imperialism more generally and
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push for the establishment of Islamic
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States ruled by Sharia law and where is
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the front line of the battle against
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Western imperialism Israel Iran sees
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Israel as the first step taken by
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Western countries to take over the
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entire region and Destroy Islam it's
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just the smaller version of the bigger
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imperialist problem posed by the Us and
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other countries H even had cute
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nicknames for Iran's new enemies he
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called the US the great Satan and Israel
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the little Satan so if Israel is the
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first foothold of the West's imperialist
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expansion there's a logic to Iran
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wanting to put the kabash on the Jewish
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State before things got out of hand now
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I'm going to put the kabash on you
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though with a thousand miles between
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Israel and Iran things would have to get
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pretty out of hand and this narrative
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totally ignor the Jewish narrative that
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Israel is not anyone's Colony but rather
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an indigenous people reclaiming their
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Homeland for Israelis and their
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supporters around the world they see
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Israel as a successful example of
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decolonization a Jewish return to their
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ancient tiny slice of Homeland after it
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was colonized by Rome 2,000 years ago a
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Jewish return that was begrudgingly
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supported by the West in the wake of the
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Holocaust and after a Jewish Rebellion
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against British imperialists but for now
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Iran would prefer to agree to disagree
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but I want to go beyond this whole
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imperialism thing and look at how Iran's
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hatred of Israel plays a part in
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Regional politics because it's not all
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just about the Satan Brothers B to be
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bad let's zoom out and look at the
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overall power dynamics in the Middle
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East remember Iran went through an
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Islamic revolution and Islam has two
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main camps that don't get along on one
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side are the Sunni and on the other are
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the minority Shia not clear on the
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differences that's okay lots of
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non-christians don't understand the
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difference between Catholics and
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Protestants and that didn't stop them
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from fighting three centuries of Wars
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nobody understands this but in short
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after Muhammad's death there was a power
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struggle between Muhammad's son and a
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group of political leaders called the
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cffs the sunnis went with the cffs while
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the Shia went with Muhammad's son and
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they haven't exactly gotten along since
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then today the Shia make up only about
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10% of all Muslims around the world so
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Iran is Shia a minority group within
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Islam that doesn't get much love and
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after the Islamic revolution they had
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lost all their Western backing in order
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for the new Iran to survive the
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Ayatollah needed to make some friends
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and fast and rule number one in
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international politics is the enemy of
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my enemy is my friend cue everyone's
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favorite scapegoat hello
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everybody heni saw the fight against
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Israel as a way to unite Shia and Sunni
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Muslims giving Iran the the next best
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thing to credibility with other
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governments street cred which ultimately
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helped give Iran a foothold in the
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region using Israel as a common enemy
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Iran has successfully built a network of
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allies among states and militant groups
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across the Middle East but while the
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Islamic revolution wanted to unite the
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Muslim World it ended up mostly doing
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the opposite exacerbating divides
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between Shiites and sunnis see the Sunni
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dictatorships out there aren't exactly
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on board with some Persian Shiites
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leading the Arab Muslim world they're
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mostly into pan arabism Which not only
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puts sunnis in the majority but closes
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the door on the non-arab Iranian Shia
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but now that we've zoomed in let's Zoom
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back out all the way because Iran has
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big plans the Islamic revolution isn't
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just for Iran it's for the whole world
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here's a few Choice quotes from the
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Ayatollah that I came across we shall
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export our Revolution to the whole world
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until the cry there is no God but Allah
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resounds over the whole world there will
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be struggle establishing the Islamic
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State worldwide belongs to the great
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goals of the Revolution
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dream big but if every Journey begins
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with a single step Israel has kind of
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tied Iran's shoelaces together from the
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Iranian perspective Israel has played a
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major role in blocking its goal to
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globalize the Revolution and here I'm
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going to paraphrase something I heard
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from Israeli journalist kiv rur in a
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podcast from the Free Press Link in
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description gur said that in the Iranian
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narrative for over 2,000 years the Jews
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were were the weakest people on Earth
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after all they're the little Satan and
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as a first step to conquer the West
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Islam must first conquer the West's
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weakest link Israel its problem with
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Israel is that Islam tried and failed to
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destroy Israel now I would think that
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sunnis could also get behind Islam's
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domination of the world and 20 plus
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years ago apparently I would have been
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right because for decades Sunni States
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quietly supported radical jihadists bent
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on world domination but what I learned
00:07:56
is that with the writing on the wall for
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economies that rely on oil Saudi Arabia
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and other Gulf States have seriously cut
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down on the demonization of the West and
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in many ways those states are seeing
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their own cultural westernization
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something Iran is definitely not on
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board with so we've talked about Iran's
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beef with the West the US Israel Europe
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and all those jerks who know Latin
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phrases pretend to like Opera and wear
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suits and ties and yes Iranians Don't
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Wear Ties because ties are Western
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that's because Iran isn't just pissed
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about Western power it's pissed about
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Western culture
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which in many ways we Jews should be
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able to identify with because some of
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our most formative centuries were spent
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fighting Western culture first Greek
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culture and then Roman culture but
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unlike most cultures that lost their
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battle with the West we survived by
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adapting go aie but Iran's not on board
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with that because to them Western
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culture and Islam are oil and water one
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Central example of this has been western
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style promiscuity AKA women's rights
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several waves of protests have hit Iran
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in recent years as Iranian women protest
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against laws forcing them to wear hijab
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the regime has cracked down violently on
00:09:08
these protests accusing the west of
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trying to spread promiscuity in Iran
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women in Iran are also banned from
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singing or dancing in public and their
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freedom can be restricted in many ways
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by their husbands Israel with its
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Western values like freedom and
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democracy and rights for women is a
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giant Western thorn in Iran's side which
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is just one more reason why Iran hates
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Israel and while I've known about the
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culture wars for a long time the next
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issue is one I only learned about in
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preparing for this episode Justice what
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I learned is that Shiite Muslims believe
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strongly in a concept called adle or
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justice so much so that it's counted
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among the pillars of faith for them now
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in the past Shiites were resigned to the
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idea that Justice could never be
00:09:49
achieved on Earth until the return of
00:09:52
the Maki a sort of Messianic figure from
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what I understand this wait for justice
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approach developed in the wake of Shia
00:09:58
defeats in the early Sunni Shia conflict
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kind of similar to how militarism was
00:10:03
largely beaten out of Jewish identity by
00:10:05
the Romans after the last great Jewish
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Revolt but the Ayatollah decided to push
00:10:09
for justice now even before the coming
00:10:12
of the Maki for the Islamic revolution
00:10:14
Justice Means actively supporting the
00:10:16
oppressed against the oppressor and the
00:10:19
oppressor here goes Way Beyond just the
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sha who they overthrew even before the
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Islamic revolution heni supported and
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trained Shia terrorist groups and even
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the Sunni pales Ians Iran's message of
00:10:30
justice found a receptive audience among
00:10:32
Muslims around the world living under
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sometimes brutal dictatorships this
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commitment to justice found Universal
00:10:39
appeal among both sunnis and Shia
00:10:41
bringing together disperate groups in
00:10:43
the bigger vision of Islam's Reign
00:10:45
spreading around the world and while I
00:10:47
think a lot of us could get behind this
00:10:49
idea of Justice Iran's brand of Justice
00:10:51
isn't exactly what most of us have in
00:10:53
mind I mean capital punishment for
00:10:55
homosexuals subjugation of women or how
00:10:58
about the fact that Iran's supports
00:10:59
these guys The houthis Who literally
00:11:01
brought back slavery to Yemen okay so
00:11:04
regardless of its source Iran's hatred
00:11:06
for Israel is deep and dangerous but
00:11:09
it's really important to point out the
00:11:10
difference between the Iranian
00:11:11
government and the Iranian people many
00:11:13
everyday Iranians have been speaking out
00:11:15
in support of Israel and in opposition
00:11:18
to the Iranian regime these are Really
00:11:20
Brave voices that maybe give us a
00:11:21
glimpse of hope that the days of hate
00:11:23
are numbered with any luck we'll find
00:11:25
ourselves back in a golden age of
00:11:27
friendship between Israel and Iran
