Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released a series of viral videos over the past year addressing and expressing solidarity with the Iranian people, an unusual step by a foreign leader to speak directly to another nation's citizens.
Netanyahu continued that theme in remarks to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19 when he addressed the Iranian people in Farsi and told them they are Israel's friends.
Iranian leaders have continually threatened to destroy Israel—including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has called the Jewish state a "cancerous tumor"—and sponsor terrorist entities that also vehemently oppose Israel's existence.
Netanyahu's video addresses have expressed contempt for the Iranian government's conduct as well as hope that the Iranian people will be free of what he calls a tyrannical regime.
On Jan. 1, Netanyahu blasted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's "laughable" claim that Israel is behind the recent nationwide protests in Iran against the theocratic government. The Iranian people "deserve better" and should have the justice that has been denied to them for decades, Netanyahu said, hitting the regime for spending billions of dollars "spreading hate."
"When this regime finally falls, and one day it will, Iranians and Israelis will be great friends once again," he said. "I wish the Iranian people success in their noble quest for freedom."
The video has been viewed on Twitter more than 800,000 times.
In a video published on Dec. 29, Netanyahu castigated Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for hypocritically wishing a peaceful Christmas, given the regime's jailing of practicing Christians.
Netanyahu highlighted the story of an Iranian wrestler named Alireza Karimi-Machiani in a Dec. 4 video. Karimi-Machiani's coach ordered him to intentionally lose his match to a Russian opponent at the U23 World Senior Wrestling Championship to avoid facing an Israeli opponent in the next round. Iranian athletes are forbidden from facing Israelis in any sports competition.
Netanyahu issued a social media challenge, asking people around the world to upload videos of themselves competing in a sport against someone of a different race or religion.
"I want you to show Iran's regime that hating others will never make you a champion. It only makes you a pathetic and insecure loser," he said.
Netanyahu's conclusion to Iran and others who threaten to destroy the Jewish state: "They'll go down for the count."
In a Nov. 15 dispatch, Netanyahu discussed the earthquake that rocked the Iran-Iraq border and killed hundreds days earlier, and Israel's offer of medical aid to the disaster's victims.
"Israel has no quarrel with the people of Iran. We never have. Our only quarrel is with the cruel Iranian regime, a regime that holds its people hostage, a regime that threatens our people with annihilation," he said.
On Oct. 16, Netanyahu blasted Zarif for a tweet stating that the Iranian people see themselves as part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. has designated for supporting terrorist organizations around the world.
After saying that Iranians would not agree with Zarif's characterization if they could see his tweet—the regime bans Twitter—Netanyahu offered the diplomat some advice: "Delete your account."
In a speech on Jan. 21, Netanyahu hoped that the Iranian people would be able to be free of government censorship and said the Israeli people are their friends.
"The regime is cruel. The people are not. The regime is aggressive. The people are warm," he said. "I yearn for the day when Israelis and Iranians can once again visit each other freely in Tehran and Esfahan, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv."