'Israel Loves Iran': Online Initiative Debuts Spreading Love and Peace

An online call for peace between Israel and Iran is gaining support among the citizens of both the countries which are busy exchanging war threats over Tehran's alleged clandestine nuclear weapons program.

The online initiative started by the Israeli couple Ronny Edry and wife Michal Tamir, with the support from the students of Pushpin Mehina, a graphic designing preparatory school, has already received support of over 1,000 Israelis and Iranians.

In the blog, Israellovesiran.com, which carries posters spreading love in the region, Edry tells Iranians: To all the fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters, For there to be a war between us, first we must be afraid of each other, we must hate.

I'm not afraid of you, I don't hate you. I don't even know you. No Iranian ever did me no harm. I never even met an Iranian...Just one in Paris in a museum. Nice dude, Edry says in the blog.

I see sometime here, on the TV, an Iranian. He is talking about war. I'm sure he does not represent all the people of Iran. If you see someone on your TV talking about bombing you ...be sure he does not represent all of us.

I'm not an official representative of my country. I m a father and a teacher. I know the streets of my town, I talk with my neighbors, my family, my students, my friends and in the name of all these people ...we love you. We mean you no harm. On the contrary, we want to meet, have some coffee and talk about sports.

The blog urges Iranians to send in their thoughts and their pictures, with messages spreading love, to be published online.

Edry, whose first Israel Loves Iran poster on Facebook received heavy criticism, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he never thought his initiative would gain such momentum: After the first poster people started criticizing me, saying I'm an idiot, that I'm naïve. 'Why are you telling them you love them? Why are you giving up before the war has even started?'

However, the poster struck a chord soon among Israelis as well as Iranians and was shared and liked numerous times.

This is a wonderful initiative. Even if very idealistic, it's the right step in the right direction, an online user wrote in response to the initiative.

Amazing how much enmity can create politicians from both sides. Two countries, that don't have even common border, had never been in conflict, are on edge of war. I don't think in Israel or in Iran any normal person hates the other side, unless he is brainwashed by some religious or ideological non sense, another comment read.