Sky News lets Iranian professor spread anti-Semitic lies about Israel without challenge

Sky News this morning allowed an Iranian professor to accuse Israel of being “apartheid” and for carrying out “ethnic cleansing” – two lies that were not challenged by the broadcaster.

The segment took place on All Out Politics with Adam Boulton introduces Mohammad Marandi as an Iranian “government academic” and a professor at the University of Tehran.

He was speaking to Sky News following the deaths of 35 Iranian mourners who were killed in a stampede during General Qasem Soleimani’s funeral procession. The professor claims that it was the United States who were responsible for those deaths, despite the Iranian regime themselves responsible for the crowds, blocking streets and not managing the situation correctly.

Marandi was then given air time to repeatedly smear the US, calling it a “rogue regime, they are judge, jury and executioner, they murder at will”.

Boulton tried to argue back that the destruction of Israel and the US were “sanctioned policies of the Iranian regime”.

Marandi replied: “Well, I wouldn’t call it (Iran) a regime because regime is a derogatory term. If we want to have a discussion I think we should refrain from using these terms.”

The professor was simply shutting down the argument. He was calling the US a “rogue regime” before Adam Boulton called Iran a regime and his very next words after saying this was to call Israel an “apartheid regime”.

Marandi said: “From Iran’s perspective, Israel is an apartheid regime. It is not a legitimate regime. It is like apartheid South Africa. And the Iranian official position is that the South African model is what should be pursued in Palestine.”

This is an absolute lie. There is nothing about Israel that is “apartheid”. You can see for yourself here. To suggest such a thing is simply to smear. However, this lie went unchallenged by Boulton.

The professor then makes the audacious claim that “Iran has a Jewish population in Iran, we have synagogues, we have kosher restaurants and people live their lives normally here. But the Palestinian people have been colonised, we’ve had ethnic cleansing and so on, so the Iranians have that policy.”

The Iranian regime has long used its dwindling Jewish population in its propaganda against Israel and the West. The vast majority of Iran’s Jews left during the Mizrahi when Jews were being persecuted and exiled throughout the Middle East following the rebirth of Israel. The Jewish people who remain in Iran are sadly now being used a political pawns by Iran to fool people into believing the regime is free and inclusive. Clearly this is not true. Iran carries out public executions of those who disagree with the regime, imprisons women who take of their hijab and the Christian population in Iran is one of the most persecuted in the world. These are just a small number of the atrocities carried out by Iran, the world leader of state-sponsored terrorism and a dictatorship which is hell-bent on the destruction of Israel.

When Mohammad Marandi tried to then talk about chemical weapons provided by the West, Boulton, to his credit tried to give a balanced view, arguing, “in recent months we’ve had the attack on the Saudi oil facilities, the attack on tankers, the killing of the American contractor, the Iraqi militia marching on the embassy and doing damage there. I mean there is no doubt about it, there are what the Americans and their allies would interpret as hostile acts which General Soleimani was inspiring if not was ordering.”

Marandi, seemingly tried to justify the terror attack on the Saudi oil facilities saying it was in response to “the atrocities carried out by Saudi on the people of Yemen”. He then said there was no evidence Iran was behind this attack and that “we shouldn’t accept American propaganda”.

The interview was then closed out after the professor was given yet more time to air his regime’s views.

It is sad that Sky News gave a platform to such anti-Semitic propaganda from an Iranian regime mouthpiece and allowed his hatred of Israel to go unchallenged. Anyone watching would have been given the impression that Israel is an “apartheid regime” which carries out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. This is totally unacceptable and the Sky News should do better.

Israel and the United States are both cherished allies of Britain and it is shameful that the British media, from various parts, is not doing more to challenge this hatred. There is always room for legitimate criticism and open discussion, but lies and propaganda for the Iranian regime should not be allowed onto British airwaves and definitely shouldn’t be left unchallenged.

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