Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made what he termed an “unprecedented” offer to Iran – or to the people of Iran – whom he described as “victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water.” Netanyahu offered to share Israeli water saving technologies with them, in a two-minute video released Sunday.
In order to help Iranians, Netanyahu announced the launch of a Farsi-language website with instructions on how to extend their water resources.
Citing Iran’s meteorological association, Netanyahu explained that 96% of Iran suffers from some level of drought meaning that some “50 million Iranians could be forced out of their homes due to environmental damage.”
He added that “millions of Iranian children are suffering due to mismanagement, to incompetence, and the theft of vital resources by the Iranian regime.”
Israel, Netanyahu observed, also faced water challenges but “we’ve developed cutting-edge technologies to address them.” For example, the prime minister said that Israel recycles 90% of its waste water. Israel also developed drip-irrigation, which does not waste water but “targets the plants with exactly the nutrients they need.”
Netanyahu explained that Israel had the knowledge necessary to “prevent environmental catastrophe in Iran,” and was willing to “share this information with the people of Iran.”
However, because Iran won’t allow Israelis to visit, Netanyahu said, Israel would have to be “creative.”
“We will launch a Farsi website with detailed plans how Iranians can recycle their waste-water,” Netanyahu explained. “We will show how Iranian farmers can save their crops and feed their families.”
“The Iranian regime says, ‘Death to Israel.'” Netanyahu continued, “In response Israel shouts, “Life to the Iranian people.'”
The prime minister concluded by saying that the “good and decent” Iranian people “shouldn’t have to face such a cruel regime alone.” Israel, he said, is “with you.”
In a review of Seth Siegel’s Let There Be Water, which tells of how Israel faced up to the challenges of water scarcity, David Hazony, founding editor of The Tower, wrote that Israel’s success in this effort “means that, suddenly, water scarcity has become something you can solve simply and decisively. All you need is a coastline and a lot of money, but nothing beyond the financial capacity of any national government. For the cost of a few fighter jets, you can build a world-class RO plant and pump the water into the system. Suddenly, water has transformed from a problem of natural resources to a problem of finding the political will and the budget. Today any country that doesn’t have enough water has only its leaders to blame.”
In The Slow Destruction of Iran’s Water Supply, which was published in the March 2017 issue of The Tower Magazine, Nik Kowsar, an expatriate Iranian cartoonist and geologist, explained how political opportunism and corruption has destroyed Iran’s water infrastructure.
In an interview with The Tower, Avi Jorisch, author of Thou Shalt Innovate, explained that Israel has been able to leverage its status as a water superpower into diplomatic gains, “Israel’s water technology is now being used in over 150 countries – including some that have no formal ties with the Jewish state. For example, IDE has built the largest desalinization plants in China and India. Amazing organizations like Innovation: Africa have brought Israeli water technology to remote African villages. And Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation have also proliferated Israeli water technological innovations around the developing world.”
[Photo: IsraeliPM / YouTube ]