ISRAELI MINISTER PLANS BROADCASTS TO IRAN TO FOMENT DOMESTIC OPPOSITION

AZG Armenian Daily #128
Ma’ariv, Tel Aviv
Middle East
10/07/2007

Uri Yablonka: "Lieberman to cooperate with NATO against Iran"

Eight months after being appointed Israel’s supreme coordinator in
dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat, Strategic Affairs Minister
Avigdor Lieberman has devised a practical plan of operation.

Israel, NATO, and the EU are considering cooperation in the
establishment of television and radio broadcast stations and websites
that will air anti-government messages to the Iranian public in a
bid to destabilize its government.

Ma’ariv has learned that the plan will include, among other things,
the establishment of an Azeri-language television station, since
Azeris, whose loyalty to the radical regime in Iran is not absolute,
make up 25 per cent of its population. Moreover, the new broadcast
stations will appeal to young people in Iran, particularly students,
in an effort to encourage elements already critical of the regime
to take practical measures to topple it. The aim of the project is
to undermine the radical regime by imparting values of democracy and
peace to the local population in Iran.

Lieberman’s bureau did not comment on the report Thursday evening, but
it has been learned that these steps were discussed in Lieberman’s
talks with senior diplomatic sources in Europe during his visit
there this week. At the beginning of the week Lieberman left for a
comprehensive round of meetings in Madrid and Brussels, where he also
met NATO Deputy Secretary General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo. On 28 June,
Lieberman said he had emerged optimistic from the meetings, where
he says he discussed, among other issues, the possible inclusion of
Israel into NATO and the assignment of a NATO force to the Gaza Strip.

Although Lieberman did not receive an answer on the spot, on 28 June
he said that it was his strong impression that there is a chance this
proposal would ultimately be accepted.