WarSclerotic

The past couple of days have been particularly fascinating: The “historian” and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was kind enough to inform us that the Palestinians are actually the descendants of the Canaanites, and while he did not specify whether they descended from the Jebusites, Girgashites or Amorites, he insisted that, nevertheless, they were here before us.

At the same time, in Munich, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in the role of political analyst, warned that the failure of the negotiations would lead to Israel suffering an international boycott, and that all our “prosperity” was nothing but a “temporary illusion.” On Monday, journalists who normally enjoy applying pressure on Israel had to admit that at hand was at most a “limited boycott.” In days such as these, in which the facts are not really important, it is possible to go on rewriting the past, the present and future — as long as it pushes Israel into a corner.

Yesterday, for example, we learned that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (the hero of the Geneva accords) has promised that after the Palestinian problem is resolved the conditions will be created for the recognition of Israel. Zarif, in his generosity, also honored us by delving into the “Holocaust of the Jews, which was tragically cruel.” Zarif dropped a veritable Iranian bomb, and it wasn’t even nuclear. It caused a considerable degree of excitement among the pundits. Iran truly has changed (and simultaneously, so has Israel). Prepare your passports. After stopping in Damascus for humus, get ready to enjoy some ghormeh sabzi in Tehran.

However, just a short time after the exciting news was aired in Israel — which could have certainly embarrassed Jerusalem, had it been true — Iran’s state-run news agency rushed to provide a quote from the country’s deputy foreign minister, who reportedly spoke with Zarif and denied all the comments attributed to him. The backtracking pertained not only to Israel, but to the Holocaust as well.

Moreover, as if to clarify to the world that Iran is still the same old Iran, they added a few words from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said that Iran was not involved in Bahraini affairs (debatable) but admitted to its involvement in Lebanon and Palestine. Translated to Hebrew, Iran is admitting that it is an accomplice to terrorism. Iran “will support and help everyone who opposes the Zionist regime,” said the country’s supreme spiritual leader, adding that “the Zionist regime is a real cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut, God willing.” And by the grace of Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani as well.

Iran hasn’t really changed, and Israel will apparently survive the “limited” boycotts, and apparently Erekat’s great-grandfather was not a Jebusite. But why squander the opportunity for a juicy headline, and who needs fact checkers anyway?