{"id":30115,"date":"2013-10-21T17:05:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T13:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=30115"},"modified":"2013-10-21T17:05:05","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T13:05:05","slug":"rouhanizarif-twitter-exchange-improved-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-politics-analysis\/rouhanizarif-twitter-exchange-improved-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rouhani\/Zarif Twitter Exchange: Improved Dialogue?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It just might be that big changes between Iran and the Jewish world are afoot. It all began on the eve of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah<\/i>, when Hassan Rouhani, Iran\u2019s newly-elected President, tweeted “As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah.”<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent a similar greeting, to which Christine Pelosi, daughter of US House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, responded: “The New Year would be even sweeter if you would end Iran’s Holocaust denial.” Zarif replied, “Iran never denied it. The man who was perceived to be denying it is now gone.” These tweets were followed by further, albeit nuanced, acknowledgements of the Holocaust in Rouhani\u2019s interview with CNN in New York a few weeks later.<\/p>\n

After eight years of unabashed hostility from Rouhani\u2019s predecessor, these words hint at a welcome sea change.<\/p>\n

Rouhani\u2019s presidential campaign offered Iranians a new, more productive relationship with the West. Hungry for widespread reform, tired of isolation on the world stage and exacting sanctions, Iranians elected him resoundingly.<\/p>\n

Rouhani is, without question, reaching out to the West \u2013 and also specifically to Jews \u2013 in ways unheard of during the past decade. But he and Zarif also operate in a political reality that includes the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and a cadre of hard-liners. So, while exploring new avenues of communication, Rouhani and his government are navigating carefully.<\/p>\n

In Christiane Amanpour\u2019s CNN interview Rouhani described the Holocaust as a \u201ccrime that the Nazis committed toward the Jews\u201d that was \u201creprehensible and condemnable.\u201d But he also said that he would leave it to the historians to judge its \u201cdimensions.\u201d While seemingly neutral, to some observers this second statement suggested \u2013 to their dismay\u2014 that for Rouhani the magnitude of the Holocaust\u2019s horror may be overstated.<\/p>\n

A few days later, on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week,\u201d Zarif affirmed that the Holocaust was no myth, and that a statement suggesting otherwise on Ayatollah Khameini\u2019s website was a mistranslation. He continued, \u201cWe condemn the killing of innocent people whether it happens in Nazi Germany or\u2026is happening in Palestine.\u201d Zarif acknowledged the Nazis\u2019 mass murder of European Jews, but also alluded to Iran\u2019s claim that Israel has used that history to deflect criticism of its treatment of the Palestinians. His statement, like Rouhani\u2019s, was viewed by some as a degradation of the Holocaust\u2019s immensity.<\/p>\n

Both comments are framed by the domestic backdrop of a Supreme Leader and Revolutionary Guard, neither much inclined toward Holocaust recognition.<\/p>\n

Taking issue with the Holocaust\u2019s enormity is offensive, and will continue to hamper Iran\u2019s efforts at normalisation with the West. At the same time, invocation of the Holocaust by some Israeli leaders as justification for that nation\u2019s continued occupation of the West Bank \u2013 including, for example, reference to the pre-1967 lines as “Auschwitz borders” \u2013 is at best unhelpful. And insofar as Iran is concerned with both the Palestinians\u2019 plight and with repairing relations with the West, its leaders could do no better than endorse the Obama administration\u2019s efforts at brokering a comprehensive agreement, designed to result in two sovereign states, a secure Israel and a viable Palestine, living side by side in peace.<\/p>\n

With their messages to Jews and to the West, Rouhani and Zarif are treading new ground, but carefully. This is understandable: they\u2019re speaking to multiple audiences, each with their own interests. As they manage these pressures, we\u2019ll listen for conciliatory words, and more importantly, we\u2019ll watch for concrete actions that support those words.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t a one-way street.<\/p>\n

It also falls on the United States, Israel and the international community to speak and act in ways that help the new Iranian leadership, and their people, move closer to reconciliation with their neighbours and the broader world. As talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme begin this week, there is no better time than now.<\/p>\n

As a Jewish American, I thank Mr Rouhani and Mr Zarif for their Rosh Hashanah tweets. And with hope for reconciliation and peace, on this Eid al-Adha<\/i>, I say to them, and to the Iranian people, Eid Mubarak<\/i> (a blessed holiday).<\/p>\n

Michael Felsen is an attorney and former President of Boston Workmen\u2019s Circle, a 110-year old communal organisation dedicated to secular Jewish education, culture and social justice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICHAEL FELSEN, CGNEWS: A recent exchange of tweets hints at a more positive future dialogue between two regional superpowers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,82,171,483,60,482],"tags":[4008,17899,17902,17896,17897,17497,16647,18306,17901,17900,18286,16884,17903,17898],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30115"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30120,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115\/revisions\/30120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}