Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke directly to the Iranian people on Tuesday night against the backdrop of mass protests over the Islamic republic's deteriorating economic situation. Netanyahu also discussed the Iranian national team's recent performance at the soccer World Cup in Russia.
"Can you imagine how hard it is to stop [soccer superstar Cristiano] Ronaldo from scoring a goal? I used to play soccer, let me tell you, it's almost impossible. But the Iranian team just did the impossible," the prime minister said in reference to the Iranian team's 1-1 World Cup draw against a heavily favored Portugal.
"To the Iranian people I say, you showed courage on the playing field. And today you show the same courage in the streets of Iran," Netanyahu said.
He added: "Iran has many problems: air pollution, water scarcity, billions wasted on terror. Can you imagine what would happen if the Iranian government, instead of wasting your money on Syria and Yemen and unnecessary wars in the Middle East, would start investing it in solving these problems in Iran?
"The solution to all these problems is the Iranian people. That's why I offered medical aid to save Iranian lives after a devastating earthquake. That's why I opened a Farsi Telegram group, to teach water conservation to Iranian farmers. And that's why I'll never stop advocating for peace with the Iranian people. One day, one day I'll hope to watch the Iranian soccer team go head-to-head against Israel in a free Tehran. On that day, we'll all be winners," Netanyahu concluded.
Thousands of Iranians angered over their country's failing economy have taken to the streets in recent days. The economic crisis has been highlighted by the Iranian rial's plunge to 90,000 to the U.S. dollar on the black market despite government attempts to control the exchange rate.
Videos posted on social media showed protesters chanting "Death to Palestine," "No to Gaza, no to Lebanon" and "Leave Syria and think of us," indicating widespread anger at the Iranian regime for spending billions of dollars on proxy wars in the Middle East and supporting terrorist groups – such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen – instead of investing in the struggling economy at home.
As a reminder, earlier this month Netanyahu appeared in a video offering to share Israeli water technology with the Iranians. The video racked up 5 million views in the first five days it was online, 1.6 million of which were on Netanyahu's own social media channels.
Perhaps more significantly, nearly 100,000 Iranians joined the Israeli government's Farsi-language Telegram account within 24 hours of the video going live.
