Can Iran’s Ayatollah Tweet About Cats?

Some social media users can attest to having that one friend who incessantly posts about the same thing, whether a romantic partner, a political issue or a really impressive tub of homemade sourdough bread starter. This may lead followers to wonder if the person has any other interests.

I recently wondered this about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. Nearly every day on his English-language Twitter account, he refers to the same subject: the victimized Palestinians and the deplorable Zionists. There’s rarely anything about Iran. He posts so much about the Palestinians that I imagine Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas feels guilty if he deviates on his own Twitter account and writes instead about some amazing tabbouleh.

On May 21, the Ayatollah tweeted, “The elimination of the Zionist regime does not mean the massacre of the Jewish ppl. The ppl of Palestine should hold a referendum. Any political sys they vote for should govern in all of Palestine. The only remedy until the removal of the Zionist regime is firm, armed resistance.”

The following day he tweeted, “First, I would like to highlight the magnitude of the tragedy of the occupation of #Palestine and the formation of the Zionist cancerous tumor in that country. Among crimes against humanity in recent times, there is no crime in recent times that equals this crime in terms of scope and gravity.”

Frankly, I’m starting to get a little bored. What I wouldn’t give for the Ayatollah to post about a cat or a rash that just won’t go away. On second thought, a tweet related to the country of 82 million people he rules probably would be more relevant.

I’ve never seen anything like the Ayatollah’s Twitter activity. Any Martian intercepting his tweets would confuse him for the Palestinian president rather than the dictator of Iran. It reminds me of an apt Persian adage: “The pot is hotter than the stew that’s in it.” In this case, Iranian leaders seemingly are more Palestinian than the Palestinians.

What I wouldn’t give for the Ayatollah to post about a cat or a rash that just won’t go away.

If you’re Ayatollah Khamenei, what do you do to break the monotony of posts about #Palestine? You shake things up. A lot.

On May 20, Khamenei posted a cartoon on his website of jubilant Palestinians raising their flag over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, apparently after having captured the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem from Israel. At the top is written “PALESTINE WILL BE FREE: The final solution: Resistance until referendum.”

Does the Ayatollah know the term “final solution” is a Nazi euphemism for genocide against Jews? Did Mahmoud Abbas write a dissertation downplaying the Holocaust?

The answer to both is yes.

On Twitter, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to the cartoon saying, “The leader of the world’s top sponsor of terrorism and anti-Semitism denies the Holocaust, sends money and weapons to anti-Israel terrorists, and now has invoked the Nazi call for the Final Solution. I ask all nations: Is this someone who can be trusted with deadly weapons?”

Many Westerners would be shocked by the words “final solution” on the poster, but as someone who escaped Iran as a young girl, I immediately was drawn to an image in the bottom left corner of two women (in of a sea of men) wearing hijabs.

Did they have a choice to cover their hair once the triumphant Palestinian fighters conquered Jerusalem? About as much choice as the women of Tehran have had in the past 41 years.

I also noticed the faces of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, and former Al-Quds leader Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a targeted American airstrike in January.

What are they doing on the wall of a Sunni mosque in Jerusalem? I’d like to ask the average Palestinian if he or she would hang a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini anywhere.

If a peaceful Palestinian state is established alongside (rather than in place of) Israel, Palestinians should invest less in terror leaders and more in tabbouleh cafes. Whether the Ayatollah tweets about that remains to be seen.

Tabby Refael is a Los Angeles-based writer and speaker.