WATCH: Netanyahu urges ‘help’ for Iranian people in new English-language video
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a new video across his official social media platforms on Sunday in which he calls on the world to “help” the Iranian people suffering under “a regime that oppresses them and denies them a life of dignity, prosperity and respect.”
In the English-language video, Netanyahu takes aim at Iran’s societal woes by telling the story of a fictional 15-year-old girl named Fatemeh.
“This is a tough story, but you need to hear it,” Netanyahu says, before delving into a narrative about the day in the life of Fatemeh, who has no water, is unable to remove her head covering for fear of being beaten by religious police, and whose school has been closed due to deadly smog blanketing the country.
Netanyahu references a nation-wide strike and a fire that has blazed for days on the 20th floor of a high-rise building because the country’s firefighters lack the necessary equipment to extinguish it.
“Fatemeh is completely exasperated. ‘Why is everything in my country falling apart?’ she asks,” Netanyahu continues.
“She wants to voice her concerns on social media but the regime bans Facebook and Twitter. They’re terrified that Fatemeh might get access to information that they don’t control,” Netanyahu says.
Fatemeh’s story concludes with her reading the newspaper and realizing that the Iranian government has spent billions of dollars on intervention in foreign conflicts and the pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“Billions wasted moving Iran’s army to Syria. Billions wasted to get nuclear weapons. Billions wasted on war in Yemen,” Netanyahu explains.
Netanyahu says that while Fatemeh may be an imaginary name, “her story is the real story of millions of Iranians.”
“If you want peace, help Fatemeh, help the people of Iran to raise their voice against a regime that oppresses them and denies them a life of dignity, prosperity, and respect,” he concludes.
The video, a version of which was also released with Persian subtitles, is the latest in a series of such clips in which Netanyahu appeals directly to the Iranian people whom he encourages to stand up to the regime.
Last month, Netanyahu offered praise to Iranian citizens for their staging of rare economic protests sparked by the collapse of the rial.
The currency hit record lows against the US dollar on Sunday as the threat of renewed American sanctions loomed.
The videos are part of a concerted strategy, also adopted by the United States in recent weeks, to foment societal discontent as a means of pressuring the Iranian government.
Israel has reportedly been presented with intelligence which shows that the effects of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal has also caused a greater rift between Iranian moderates and hardliners.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Trump administration would pursue a "diplomatic and economic pressure campaign" that will support the "shoots of liberty" sprouting across Iran, thus forcing the Iranian regime into compliance with stringent US demands.
Pompeo launched his campaign against Iran on Twitter. He said, in remarks echoing Netanyahu’s own criticisms, that the government in Tehran and the Revolutionary Guards - the regime's elite armed body - had "plundered the country's wealth" in proxy wars "while Iranian families struggle."
Protests last month saw Iranians express rare public anger at the regime’s intervention in foreign conflicts throughout the Middle East, with videos posted on social media showing some protesters chanting “Death to Palestine,” “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon” and “Leave Syria and think of us” at some rallies
Tehran's backing of Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and Shi’ite militias in Syria and Iraq is estimated to cost some $1 billion annually.