Posted by
Benyamin Solomon on Saturday, April 10, 2010 3:15:08 PM
Townhall note from Benyamin Solomon: Everything including the note below this one has been posted on Jewish insider. The comments I and the MEK apologist Daniel M. Zucker posted were posted on our profiles in Israel insider and then deleted. as I said on my note on Jewish insider, I put these comments as an archive for any reader to see. This post on Jewish insider is waiting for approval.
note from Benyamin Solomon: The comments on Israel insider were
deleted; first mine comments on his profile and then his comments on my
profile. I put them here to keep them as an archive; for any reader to
see. The comments are from latest to earliest. And you can still see
them by clicking catched. I declare victory in that debate.
My comments on Daniel M. Zucker's profile:
At 6:53am on March 24, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Why
isn't there much to
tell me? Because I don't believe that all of Rajavis' opponents are working for the Iranian regime? Who are your "contacts" in
the intelligence community? Are they the MEK people who you say that
you "know"? Of course they'll
tell you that. The MEK will dismiss anything
against them as propaganda from the Iranian regime and will dismiss all
of their opponents as Iranian agents or as people who strengthen the
Iranian regime by not supporting the MEK. It's the same usual and
repetitive insanity. MEK members everyday have to worry if Massoud and
Maryam Rajavi are going to slander them as agents of Iran's regime and
also have to worry about being tortured by the Rajavis. When the Soviet
Union was around and if
there was a neo-Nazi Fascist group that wanted
to get rid of the Soviet regime, would it be right for America to have
supported the neo-Nazi Fascists? Should America have supported Hitler's
invasion of Russia? No. But America stood by the people in the Soviet
empire, who wanted freedom. America should do the same thing for the
Iranian people. To get back to the Khodabandas,
there is no evidence that
they're agents of Iran's regime. Anne Singleton doesn't even wear a
hijab, which is something that the modesty police in Iran harrasses
women over in Iran. Yes, we should focus on what people do more than on
what they say. While the MEK may have all this nice rhetoric about
democracy, they don't behave democratically, not when they kill and/or
torture dissidents [or suspected dissidents] as well as those who want
to leave the cult. As you said, the world
isn't black and white. You
CAN oppose the MEK and the Iranian regime. In fact,
there are plenty of
people who DO oppose them. The MEK and its apologists like you act like
there
are only two options: the MEK and the Iranian regime. Most Iranian
people want neither, as Michael Rubin did a good job explaining. Michael
Rubin was right to call the Rajavi cult "monsters of the left".
At 2:33am on March 24, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
You also mention
Daniel Pipes. Even
Daniel Pipes admitted that "during its 17 years in Iraq, it also had to do Saddam Hussein’s
bidding”. And also, plenty of people have debunked
Daniel Pipes when it
comes to the MEK. Kenneth Timmerman is also on the political right and
is a leading figure and founder of Foundation for Democracy in Iran,
which seeks to replace the Islamo-Fascist regime in Iran with democracy.
Yet Kenneth Timmerman also opposes the MEK. When it comes to Pipes's
support for the MEK, Timmerman stated,"We would be
much better served by
policies that encourage the Iranian people in their aspirations to
freedom, than by trotting out worn-out cult figures who promise a new
form of tyranny.
Daniel Pipes of all people should know better." For your
allegations against Iran-interlink and the Khodabandas, most of your
sources go to an MEK publication and one goes to a site that supports
the MEK. Do I fully agree with the Khodabandas in their politics? No. Do
I think that Iran-interlink should be more forceful in criticizing the
Iranian regime? Yes. But I don't believe that the Khodabandas or
Iran-interlink are agents of Iran's regime. I don't believe that the
Khodabandas or Iran-interlink are getting money from Iran's regime. By
the way, ArasheKamanGeer is a Youtube user and his profile is up and
running [
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArasheKamanGeer].
Notice how he uploaded one anti-
Israel video. To get back to the
Khodabandas, Anne Singleton, when she was speaking, was being disrupted
by MEK fanatics, who accused her of working for Iran's regime. She says
that she feels sympathy for them and talks about the MEK's mentality in
her speech. The accusation of being an agent of the Iranian regime is a
clever tool used by the Rajavis to get more control over their
organization and to silence their opponents. And you nod your head in
agreement with the Rajavis. And you accuse
me of looking at the world in
black and white. This is the insanity of MEK supporters.
At 2:08am on March 24, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr.
Zucker, you make this interesting point that "If my NCRI and MEK contacts attack
me for being a Zionist, they're history." All the MEK has
left right now is its propaganda. And that's why it'll go around duping
our lawmakers and duping people like you. Again, if I was one of the
Rajavis and in their position, I'd do the same thing. With that point,
you also admitted in one of your articles that the MEK received training
from the PLO. Also, as I said, the next time you see Maryam Rajavi, why
not confront her over her eulogy of Arafat, especially below blowing
your shofar in front of her and before you allow her to hold it? The MEK
is centered on getting to power and is willing to make a temporary
alliance with the west if it has to. But that doesn't mean becoming
allied with the west. During the Shah's days, the MEK was publicly
anti-American and anti-western. And it was definitely publicly
anti-Zionist. In fact, Massoud Rajavi even stated at a military trial
that the main goal was to "free" Iran of US "imperialism". The MEK wants
to play the west on a fidel in order to take power; since it pretty
much has
its propaganda left if it wants power. Their propaganda is effective in
duping people like you. The MEK knows that if they reveal its true
self, it'll get less supporters. And you won't be supporting them if
that happens. The MEK is exploiting the terrorist nature of the Iranian
regime and the threat from Iran in order to gain more support. The
tactics are very similar to the tactics Arafat used in pretending to
recognize Israel's right to exist.
At 9:21am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr.
Zucker, the MEK accuses its opponents of working for the Iranian regime and particularly for VEVAK, Iran's terrorist intelligence
agency. You seem to fall for their propaganda and swallow it whole.
At 9:20am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Daniel M.
Zucker,
again, I fully agree with you about the Iranian regime. It is a leading
state sponsor of terrorism, seeks to export their Islamo-Fascist system
around the world, oppresses its own people and is obtaining nuclear
weapons to do it. Iran constantly tortures and/or kills its own people. I
fully agree with you that we need to oust Iran's regime. But I don't
support replacing them with any Islamic-Marxist terror group like the
MEK. You claim that you know MEK supporters who cheered when
Israel
attacked Gaza. Mr.
Zucker, the MEK has publicly condemned Israel's attacks
on Hamas. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the leading MEK propagandist in America,
claimed that
there were "deplorable attacks by
Israel against innocent people in
Gaza, particularly women and children". That article was written for
Fox News and posted on the NCRI website. On Youtube, I'
m in an argument with
ArasheKamanGeer, who is an Iranian who supports the MEK. Yet he is anti-
Israel to
the core. He accuses
Israel of Apartheid and racism and accuses
Israel of
genocide in Gaza. In 1982, one of the reasons Massoud Rajavi said that
the non-alignment movement should not support Khomeini was because he
bought arms from
Israel. The MEK formed close relations with Arafat and the PLO
and mourned Arafat's death. Maryam Rajavi even delivered a eulogy for
him. I told you how to see the eulogy and I hope that you went to the
page and read it. To make sure that you read it, I ask you what you
think of it. According to Michael Rubin, no friend of Iran's regime, the
MEK bombed factories it accused of having Israeli connections. The MEK
is anti-
Israel
and pro-PLO. I'll admit that Trita Parsi does act like an agent of the
Iranian regime. I used to believe that the Khodabandehs were agents of
Iran's regime when I believed the MEK's propaganda. But I don't believe
that the Khodabandehs are agents of Iran's regime any more. I don't
think that Iran-interlink is funded by Vevak. I ask for proof that it
is.
At 7:40am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr.
Zucker, I don't know what you mean when you say 3,000. But here you go again, accusing
me of quoting VEVAK propaganda because I don't
support the Rajavi cult. It's you who needs to get your facts straight.
You can oppose the MEK and the Iranian regime. And in fact,
there
are plenty of people who do oppose both of them. Among them are Michael
Rubin, Kenneth Timmerman, Amir Taheri and Jacob Laksin. Here's what the
Wall Street Journal reports:
"Mr. Abbasloo, the former Camp Ashraf resident, who is now in Europe,
says he doesn't like Iran's current regime but mocks the MEK as an
alternative. 'This would only replace a snake with a crocodile," he
says. "I hope America is not going to be that stupid.'"
Mr. Zucker, is he an agent of Iran's intelligence agency? No. He's just a
former MEK member, who left the cult and who opposes both the Iranian
regime and the MEK cult. Most Iranians hate the regime and want to get
rid of it. But they don't support the MEK either. At least many Iranians
view the MEK as traitors for supporting Saddam Hussein's terror war on
Iran. You just swallow the Rajavis propaganda whole, the very propaganda
that they need in order to survive and to even have a chance of taking
power in Iran. The MEK comes out with this wonderful rhetoric of
democracy cause that's all they have left. If the MEK is all for
democracy, why not practice it with the dissidents in their own
organization? If the MEK doesn't even run their own organization
democratically, why would they run Iran democratically? The MEK wants to
replace the Iranian regime's tyranny with their own tyranny. As you
said, the world isn't black or white; but has some shades of gray. In
the case of the MEK vs. the Iranian regime, there are shades of gray and
a middle ground. And they are the people [both Iranian and non-Iranian
alike] who oppose the MEK terror cult and the Islamo-Fascist terror
regime in Tehran.
At 7:15am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr. Zucker, did you click on the link that I instructed you to click on
and read Maryam Rajavi's eulogy for Arafat? Anyway, do you know
any former MEK members who were tortured in Camp Ashraf and then left?
Or are they just agents of the Iranian regime? You state that Massoud
Banisadr's biography was written by the Iranian regime's terrorist
intelligence Agency. What's your evidence? Is it because your precious
Rajavi fanatics say so? I will admit that I may not agree with
Banisadr's politics fully. But he was a former MEK member who was
tortured by the MEK. By the way, according to Vladimir Kuziskin, the
former head of Iran's KGB agency, the MEK gave the Soviets info and
helped the Soviets fight American influence. How do we know that the
"former" MEK members who left Ashraf who you know aren't propagandists
for the MEK? Are they like Alireza Jafarzadeh, who is the chief American
propagandist for the Rajavi cult and who stated that there were
"deplorable attacks by Israel against innocent people in Gaza,
particularly women and children"? You're the one who swallowed the
Rajavis' propaganda hook, line and sinker. The Communist Rajavis are
using the same crooked propaganda techniques that Arafat used when he
pretended to recognize Israel's right to exist. If I was like the
Rajavis and in their situation, I'd do the same thing. After all, the
MEK is more dependent on the free world because, not only do they hate
the same regime that the free world hates, but Saddam Hussein was
removed from power and is gone. By the way, I do not have Massoud
Banisadr's biography. But I did read about him and what he said on the
internet.
At 6:42am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr. Zucker, how about supporting pro-democracy Iranians instead of an
Islamic-Marxist cult that has close ties to Arafat and that even
did Saddam's dirty work? Replacing Iran's regime with the MEK gets rid
of one mess and starts another. It takes away one form of tyranny and
replaces it with another.
At 6:20am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
To go to the link, go to
http://socyberty.com/issues/the-psychotic-world-of-the-rajavi-coupl... and then click on here for the "to see the html version, go here."
At 6:14am on March 23, 2010,
Benyamin Solomon said…
Mr. Zucker, you're the one with the black and white view, not me. You
basically believe that if you don't support the MEK, You somehow
strengthen the Iranian regime. Is the view that if you don't worship
the Rajavis, you're an agent of the Iranian regime not black and white
Mr. Zucker? Because that's the view that the Rajavis promote! That's the
kind of indoctrination their members get fed while the Rajavis snuff
the individuality out of their members. And anyone who asks questions is
helping the Iranian regime. That's the kind of insanity that you and
your Rajavi friends are promoting.
At 9:55am on March 23, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
I'm not familiar with
Arash Kaman Geer; I will ask about him. As to the Khodabandas and Iran Interlink, go and read my three articles on VEVAK at Global
Politician. Are you familiar with Dr. Daniel Pipes of the Middle East
Forum? He is a staunch supporter of
Israel and definitely well
right of center; he too supports the MEK at this point.
MEK is centered on getting rid of the mullah regime; it is willing to
find allies wherever it can except from among the monarchists.
As mentioned before, politics makes for strange bedfellows; it is the
right of the long suffering Iranian people to choose whom they want to
lead them in a free election. That is what MEK advocates. What is
essential at this point is to get rid of the current regime.
Simply know that the regime regards MEK as its worst enemy--more so even
than the US or
Israel. That doesn't make the MEK perfect, but it counts in
my book. If my NCRI and MEK contacts attack me for being a Zionist,
they're history. But for now we are allies in the battle against the
mullahs and the IRGC. Shalom 'al Yisrael and Freedom for Iran!
At 6:51am on March 23, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
3,000 ? There you go again, quoting VEVAK propaganda. You need to get
your facts strait. And I support MEK because of its anti-regime
stance AND most (1000's) of Iranians that I know, support MEK. However,
it's up to the Iranian people to decide whether they want MEK or anyone
else in a free election--which is what MEK has advocated for over a
decade!
At 6:41am on March 23, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
In your Feb. 17 th article you accuse Camp Ashraf of torturing those
that didn't want to stay. When was the last time that you were in
Ashraf? As I'm Jewish, although I have been invited on numerous
occasions, Iraq won't allow me to visit, but I have many friends who
have been there and also know numerous individuals who used to be MEK
members but left as the life was hard on them physically. Nonetheless,
they still speak well about their experiences in Ashraf.
I fear that your read Massoud Bani-Sadr biography that was co-written by
VEVAK (the Iranian regime's KGB) and swallowed it -- as they say--hook,
line, and sinker!
At 6:21am on March 23, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
Mr.
Solomon: As I wrote before, the real world is made up of shades of grey. Right
now I'm happy to find any allies that vigorously oppose the Iranian
regime, the Syrian regime, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic
Jihad, al-Qaida
, and the Taliban. No, I'm not happy with everything in
MEK's
background, but I'm concerned at this point with the present and
the future. Even Menachem Begin (whom I met before he became PM) knew
when it was necessary to forge alliances with former enemies.
At 6:03am on March 23, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
Your link to Mrs. Rajavi's words on Arafat doesn't work; please provide a working link.
Thank you.
At 11:19pm on March 22, 2010,
Daniel M. Zucker said…
Mr.
Solomon: As I wrote to you before, politics makes for strange bedfellows. Where
MEK started, and where they are today are two very different places. If
you look at the world as srictly black and white,
you will find very
few allies. The US teamed up with Stalin's USSR to
defeat Hitler
and the Nazis (yimaheh shmam).
Is the MEK perfect? No, but right now they are one of the strongest
anti-Iranian mullah regimes around, and fairly popular despite the
regime's propaganda to the contrary.
You condemn the MEK; do you know any MEK or NCRI people? Do you think
that all the Iran Policy Committee and all the European parliamentarians
and jurists that support the NCRI and MEK are all dupes and/or
anti-Semites?
Check out where Jed Babbin sits on the MEK question; Babbin is prepared
to bomb Iran to help protect
Israel. Life is more complicated than the way
you see it while living in Brooklyn.