Israeli Officials: Let’s Starve Iranian Civilians, Does 1917 Genocied Resurge

Israeli Officials Figure Starving Iranians Would Probably Impose Regime Change

Hot on the heels of the US “food for nukes” deal with North Korea, officials in the Israeli government are calling for mass starvation to be imposed on Iran as a way of forcing regime change and abandonment of the nation’s civilian nuclear program.

“Suffocating sanctions could lead to a grave economic situation in Iran and to a shortage of food,” one of the officials claimed. Though thanks to inflation the price of food is rising and causing hardships for average Iranians, it isn’t clear how officials propose to force a famine on the nation.

Unlike North Korea, with its backwards, state-run agricultural industry, Iran is actually a net food exporter, and while more sanctions could make the industry less efficient and perhaps curb exports, it would not make the food Iran does grow disappear into thin air. The comments suggest that Israel is growing impatient with the ongoing sanctions against Iran, and is looking for something that will be a “game changer” that finally forces regime change or at least spawns an international objection that can be used as an excuse for a unilateral attack. The idea that a suddenly starving populace is going to overthrow its government on behalf of those that are starving them, however, seems to fly in the face of the history of sanctions.

If Happening, this famine wont be the first that Iranians will suffer due to their resistance.

With the advent of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the Middle East was partitioned into British, French and Russian spheres of influence. Britain extended her control over the rest of the southern and eastern regions, and eventually captured Baghdad in March 1917. At this time, the war began to extract a toll on civilians. Widespread famine began to devastate the local populations in Persia in early 1917. Local crops withered and the import of foodstuffs from India, Mesopotamia and the United States became nonexistent, due to the use of the local transportation means for war supplies by both sides.

In addition, the Allies refused to pay for local oil, which greatly aggravated the conditions brought on by the drought and famine. Between 1917 and 1919, it is estimated that nearly one-half (9-11 million people) of the Persian population died of starvation or disease brought on by malnutrition.