Breitbart - On the October 12 broadcast of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, host Ari Shapiro discussed Iran's appeal as a tourist destination with Iranian-born, U.K.-based writer Kamin Mohammadi.
While Mohammadi is no regime puppet--she was vocal in her opposition to the 2009 crackdown--her Twitter feed is lately full of anti-Israel rhetoric and government retweets, and she did her best to put an absurdly positive spin on Iran for NPR.
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| Public hanging in Iran |
Mohammadi praises Iran's history, beauty, and culture, pointing out that parts of the country are quite modern, and that those coexist with artifacts of ancient civilizations.
All true--and irrelevant to the question of whether Americans might, in fact, be able to travel to the country safely. Eventually Shapiro poses a tough challenge to his guest:
SHAPIRO: I'm Jewish, and I'm gay. Would I be able to have a nice vacation in Iran?
MOHAMMADI: You so would. You know that Iran has the largest population of Jews outside of Israel in the Middle East. One of the places that I didn't mention 'cause I got so enthusiastic about Isfahan that must be visited, of course, is also Shiraz, outside of which in the desert lies Persepolis, which was the old kind of main palace and, let's say, capital of the ancient Persian kings. It was built in the sixth century B.C.
Now, one of our great Persian kings, Darius, he is actually mentioned in the Bible for freeing the Jews from slavery and welcoming the Jews into the Persian Empire. And in fact, the Persian Empire was known for being very tolerant - the ancient Persian Empire, and that's something that's gone on and again is something that we tend not to know about Iran, how much religion tolerance there is. So I don't think you're going to have any problems being Jewish.
Being gay - first of all, in Iran as a foreigner, I think you're going to be left alone as long as you respect the laws on the outside. So women, if they can cover the hair and cover their - you know, you respect the dress laws and the sort of behavior laws, which are just logical things really, you know. There's no problems. The fact is that everything exists in Iran as it does here. It's just that the way that we have to approach things there are slightly different.
Shapiro does not press Mohammadi further. He could have asked about the ongoing repression of Jews in Iran, which has resulted in tens of thousands leaving the country since the 1979 revolution.
He could have challenged Mohammadi to explain the execution of gays by the regime, or to acknowledge the intrinsic antisemitism and intolerance of a regime that denies the Holocaust.
He could have questioned Mohammadi about the religious police that enforce the modesty laws that Mohammadi describes as "just logical things really, you know."
Read more on this NPR segment, on Iran's hundreds of executions a year, on Iran's cruel conviction of youngsters who made I'm Happy video, and the SECRET VIDEO that caught NPR executives praising Muslim Brotherhood while accepting $5 million donation from fake Muslim Brotherhood front group.
For some reason, Shaprio declines to follow further. Perhaps he is just being polite. Perhaps he trusts listeners to figure out Mohammadi's evasions for themselves. Perhaps, like the Obama administration, he wishes to dial down confrontation with Iran, even as the regime escalates its nuclear program.
Who knows? This is NPR.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/10/12/NPR-Whitewashes-Iran-in-Weekend-Tourism-Segment
NPR segment - transcript
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=355563487
RELATED
Iran: Executions and an Amputation
The number of executions in Iran in 2014, up to June 5, now totals 325; the Iranian government has admitted to only 122. These numbers do not include the Iranian regime's "silent executions" -- depriving prisoners who were tortured of medical care, and then claiming they died in prison of "natural causes."
Read more
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4350/iran-executions-amputation
Iran Court Sentences ‘Happy’ Dancers to 6 months incarceration and 91 Lashes
The sentences faced by the young people who answered Pharrell Williams’ call are suspended for the moment, but could be carried out any time in the next three years.
The group was arrested in May 2014, a month after their video—part of a global campaign launched by pop star Pharrell Williams—was viewed by more than 100,000 people on YouTube. During their incarceration, they were humiliated and forced to confess on national television. They apologized for making the video, and said they had been tricked into doing it. After the confession they were released on bail.
Read more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/17/iran-court-sentences-happy-dancers-to-6-months-and-91-lashes.html
MONEY TALKS AT NPR
2011 - Sting operation with (fake) Muslim Brotherhood donors of a five million dollars for NPR - What NPR executives said at the meeting.
NPR executives caught on secret tape saying that only "uneducated Americans" oppose Muslim Brotherhood.
MEAC, an Islamic website, was set up in a sting operation by investigative journalist James O'Keefe to see if NPR was receptive to Islamic jihadists and whether they would accept a five-million-dollar donation from a "Muslim Brotherhood" group.
O'Keefe's people told NPR that their funding came from the Muslim Brotherhood, and both National Public Radio senior executive Ron Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, warmly welcomed them and practically prostrated themselves at "MEAC's" feet.
Worse, Schiller went on to smear Christians, Republicans, Jews and tea partiers (of course). So not only did they welcome the Muslim Brotherhood blood money, but National Public Radio senior executive, Ron Schiller, referred to Christians and tea partiers as "the radical, racist, Islamophobic."
http://pamelageller.com/2011/03/npr-executives-caught-on-tape-welcoming-muslim-brotherhood-donors-calls-christians-radical-and-extre.html/
SECRET VIDEO
Of NPR executives with Muslim Brotherhood front group (actually a sting operation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd9OYJMX9t4
NPR executive resigns as a result of executives opinions revealed by secret tape
NPR executive Ron Shiller:'Our job would be a lot easier if people weren't confused... a lot of Americans, a lot of philanthropists, actually think we get most of our money from the federal government.'
(Indeed, who is funding NPR?)
Read more -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364619/NPR-CEO-Vivian-Schiller-quits-shes-caught-branding-Tea-Party-seriously-racist.html
Blatant anti-Israel bias in NPR reporting
Specific cases:http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=4&x_outlet=28
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