Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's video offering to share Israeli water technology with the Iranians 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.
All in all, this was the second-most watched Netanyahu video, after a presentation in April in which Netanyahu unveiled an Iranian nuclear archive smuggled out of Iran by Israeli agents.
In the video, posted a week ago, Netanyahu addresses the Iranian people directly, offering to teach Iran how to manage its water resources.
In the video, Netanyahu pours himself a glass of water and says, "I want to help save countless Iranian lives. Here's how: Iran's meteorological organization says that nearly 96% of Iran suffers from some levels of drought."
"Israel has the know-how to prevent environmental catastrophe in Iran. I want to share this information with the people of Iran. Sadly, Iran bans Israelis from visiting," Netanyahu says in the video.
Netanyahu also said that Israel would be setting up a Farsi website that would teach the Iranian people how to recycle water.
The video received wide media coverage in Iran, including on the state news agency IRNA and the website of Radio Farda (the most popular station in the country) and Radio Zaman.
However, news agencies affiliated with the Iranian regime were, unsurprisingly, critical of Netanyahu's video. The ISNA agency claimed that "while the residents of Gaza are suffering because the Zionist regime took away their water, the leader of the Zionist regime announces that he wants to help the Iranians overcome the drought."
The coverage of the video was so widespread that even the regime itself was forced to discuss it. Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian told reporters on Wednesday that Iran was not in need of any external help to solve its water crisis, adding that "the prime minister of this regime [Israel] or anyone else who claims to have the ability to manage water resources is aware that Iran is a country that has a proven record going back thousands of years in the field."
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Barham Qassemi attacked Netanyahu, saying that Tehran had no need for a "trickster" to solve its water shortage problem.
While the Tehran regime rejected Israel's offer, Iranian Internet users welcomed the idea and leveled criticism at their own government.
One user commented, "We wish them [Israelis] death and they bless us with life. I am ashamed to be Iranian."
Another posted: "God will bless Israel and Netanyahu. I'm sure that Iran and Israel will once again be allies."
