With the war drums between Israel and Iran beating at a fevered pace, an Israeli couple has launched an online campaign with the hope of reaching out on a personal level to the people of Iran.
Roni Adri, 41, said that he and his partner Michal Tamir, 35, both graduates of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, created the poster campaign last Thursday on something of a lark, with no idea that within days it would take on a life of its own.
"The idea is very simple; to come and try to reach out to the other side and express the feeling that maybe he thinks like me. It's to say from the beginning that I love you and I don’t want a war with you because I don’t know you."
The "posters" uploaded to Facebook on Adri and Tamir's graphic design page "Pushpin Mehina" are simple and their message is clear. They include pictures of Israelis, most of which appear to be secular, good-looking, and healthy, above the slogan "Iranians, we will never bomb your country. We love you".
While the campaign may favor kitsch over content, within 48 hours of posting the first picture Adri said he was receiving hundreds of messages from Iranians, many of them expressing gratitude for his efforts. In addition, some Iranians began making their own graphic designs expressing their love of Israelis and posting them on the group's wall.
When asked why he uploaded the posters, Adri said he wanted "to send a very clear message: before they send us off to war, let's see if there is someone against whom to fight. I'm trying to break the demonization in a very simple way."
While there appears to be a shared sentiment of universal brotherhood among those posting on the Pushpin Mehina page, the overwhelming majority of responders are Israelis. Virtually all of the Iranians posting appear to be expatriates living abroad, mostly young English speakers far from the regime in Teheran.
Those Iranian supporters of the campaign contacted by theJerusalem Post on Sunday expressed their enthusiastic approval of such efforts, before asking that their real names and photos not be used.
One respondent, "Nima" a 24-year-old resident of Teheran told the Jerusalem Post that "we want to spread our voices as people of Iran that we respect all people with different beliefs and we want peace as much as you guys do."
Nima added that he believes the tension between the two countries "has nothing to do with the people of Israel and Iran, it's just some stupid political games between the governments and not the people."
When asked if he thought such an online campaign could make a difference, Nima expressed his doubts, saying "here in Iran the government usually don’t care that much about what people want or need", but added that he is sure the campaign could put some smiles on people's faces and diffuse some tensions.
"Reza", a native of Shiraz who also asked to remain nameless, said "we are two civilizations with more than 2500 years of friendship. For what reason should I hate Israel?"
"We are not afraid of war but we will have no way to fight against brethren and friends from Israel. Brothers and sisters do not kill each other .If our governments think that we are fighting against each other, they should continue dreaming," he added.
Back in Israel, Edri said that he has no political affiliations whatsoever, though he is a supporter of "social causes" in the country. He said he created the posters as a citizen, with no nod to his political leanings.
"In a war you aren’t left or right in a war you are just a soldier. I made this as a citizen and as a citizen I turn to the other side and I say do you know they're planning a war? Maybe you don't feel like it, neither do I."
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