Twenty-Five Head-Scratching Questions About Jews, Israel and the Middle East

Writing a weekly column isn’t for the faint of heart or the perpetually bored. Sometimes, I tire of attempting to write heartfelt words and reflections week after week. Therefore, I’ve devoted this week’s column to asking readers 25 head-scratching questions about Jews, Israel and that harmoniously peaceful corner of the world known as the Middle East:

1. If Jews control the media, why does the media generally depict Israel in such a harsh and even untruthful manner, and in the same vein, if Jews control the world, why isn’t the world more sympathetic toward Jews?

2. If Jews are white, why do the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups chant “White Power” while demanding their demise, and if Jews aren’t white, why are they excluded from progressive groups that vow to protect non-whites?

3. Why do Jew-haters get to keep their jobs, but those who espouse prejudiced views toward other groups are canceled? Case in point: Why has it taken more than two weeks for Adidas to drop Kanye West? (Thanks to Balenciaga, though).

4. Given that the regime in Iran is currently butchering protestors, including young girls, why have Iranian diplomats still not been expelled from any Western countries, with the exception of one (see below)?

5. Why did Iran conduct a major cyberattack against Albanian government websites (yes, Albania) last month, resulting in the expulsion of diplomats from the Iranian embassy (and can the rest of Europe take a cue from Albania)?

6. Why did the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) just ask the Supreme Court to overturn Arkansas’ anti-boycott (BDS) law against Israel, citing concern for Palestinians’ rights, but the organization hasn’t uttered a single word about Iranians dying to protect the civil liberties of their fellow citizens?

7. Now that Canada has officially banned the senior leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from entering the country, does that mean these terrorists were free to visit Canada before?

8. If senior IRGC leaders have been banned, can medium-level, junior level or even mediocre members who nevertheless show some promise still enter Canada?

9. Speaking of Canada, why did Ottawa allow the son of Iran’s Vice President for Women and Family Affairs (G-d help those women and families) to live and work freely in British Columbia for years, but deny visas for relatives of Iranians killed aboard a downed Ukrainian airliner when they wanted to attend memorial services in Canada?

10. And nearly three years after that horrific plane crash mentioned above, why did Iran shoot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, killing all 176 on board?

11. Why don’t more people know that Qatar’s U.N. Ambassador, a woman named Hend Al-Muftah, has previously called Jews “enemies” and gay people “disgusting,” and, given the fanatics that are allowed to speak on campus today, exactly when will Al-Muftah be invited to speak freely at an American university?

12. If Israeli scientists discovered a cure for cancer, would BDS supporters who suffer from cancer take advantage of the treatment?

And wouldn’t it be ironic if Israel, which Iran’s leaders have called “a tumor” and “a cancerous cell” for decades, were to discover a cure for cancer?

13. And wouldn’t it be ironic if Israel, which Iran’s leaders have called “a tumor” and “a cancerous cell” for decades, were to discover a cure for cancer? Would Iranian leaders say that Israel cured itself?

14. If Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dubbed this year as “the year of knowledge-based production,” does currently denying internet access to 86 million citizens help attain such lofty goals?

15. Speaking of the Ayatollah, why has he been tweeting messages in Spanish every few days, using the Twitter handle “Ayatolá Jameneí” and praising Latin American countries for “standing up against direct colonization”?

16. Why did MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan recently interview Congresswoman Ilhan Omar as part of a segment about antisemitism, if StopAntisemitism.org crowned Omar “Antisemite of the Year” in 2019?

17. Really, Ilham Omar as an expert on antisemitism? That’s like sending Colonel Sanders to speak about obesity.

18. Why hasn’t there been a Women’s March in America in support of Iranian women?

19. Why are so many children and other relatives of the Iranian regime (some 4,000, according to IRCG commander Morteza Mirian) enjoying life abroad in America, Canada and Europe? Is it that unbearable to live in Iran? (That was actually two questions).

20. And why do so many adult children of Iranian mullahs — the same clerics who seem obsessed with matters of modesty — like to drive Maseratis in plain sight of oppressed and impoverished Iranians, and from where do their supposedly modest-means families obtain such ridiculous wealth?

21. Has the adult child of a mullah ever been pulled out of his or her Maserati and beaten up by the average, irate Iranian?

22. Why didn’t LGBTQ rights groups condemn the recent horrific murder of a gay Palestinian man who was living in Israel as an asylum seeker, and who was kidnapped to the West Bank City of Hebron, where he was beheaded?

23. And why did a gay Palestinian man feel safer in Israel than in the Palestinian territories?

24. If the current 22 member-states of the Arab League collectively cover an area of five million square kilometers, is there space on the face of the earth for Israel’s 22,000 square kilometers to also exist?

25. And finally, why don’t I ever receive compliments on my Persian-style matzah ball soup?

Tabby Refael is an award-winning LA-based writer, speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter @TabbyRefael.