“All the talk about me in Iran doesn’t excite me; it’s already ‘passé,'” is how Kamal Penhasi, the IDF spokesperson in Farsi, describes his attitude to the reactions he’s been receiving since the outbreak of the war, and especially in recent days. It should be noted that the IDF Farsi account, which was launched several years ago, is separate from the Mossad Farsi account that was recently launched and is also experiencing great popularity. On Thursday, the Mossad wrote, “We expected it, but not to this extent! Hundreds of active IRGC soldiers and officers, fed up with this regime, are reaching out to us. We promise to contact you, please be patient.” “I dream of the day I’ll walk the streets of Tehran, and it will happen,” Penhasi said in an interview with the IDF website. The numbers speak for themselves. “Last Thursday, the IDF’s Farsi Instagram page had 365,000 followers, and as of Thursday, it has 922,000 followers, more than 95% of them from Iran, despite all the restrictions and surveillance there on the internet.” “The citizens there encourage us to continue attacking. We see it in the responses and comments. It strengthens us to continue creating content on various platforms, with an emphasis on young people who were born into this regime and see us as friends. It’s something that cannot be described in terms of joy and hope.” Even before the war, Kamal was preparing the ground—to clarify that the enemy of the State of Israel is not the Iranian people, but the Revolutionary Guards. “The communication systems there are a political tool in every sense of the word,” he said. “They serve the draconian regime and convey distorted information to the citizens. Our goal is to provide them with reliable information and to explain the situation to them in unconventional ways in order to reach the heart of the Iranian people.” And as someone who grew up with them, the Iranians are indeed close to his heart: “I lived there for 15 years, and I have very beautiful childhood memories. We were two Jewish families, one Christian family, and the rest of the families in the neighborhood were Muslim. We lived in harmony with each other; there was no hatred or antisemitism of any kind.” But all this changed when the previous regime (the Shah) fell in 1979. “Those were days of fear, pressure, and worry, which culminated in the blackest day—the day of the revolution. It was a cruel regime. Those were dark days—until we managed to immigrate to Israel.” “I may be Israeli in my head but completely Persian in my heart. As a person who loves history, culture, and literature, especially Iranian, I would research, study and read a lot. I think that the Iranian people, like each of us, have the option for a good life. I am optimistic. They will gain freedom, even if it takes time—I believe in them.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)