{"id":144777,"date":"2025-07-01T11:37:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/144777\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:52:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:52:37","slug":"war-between-israel-and-iran-minsk-watches-through-lens-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/144777\/","title":{"rendered":"War between Israel and Iran: Minsk watches through lens of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran came as an unpleasant surprise to the Belarusian leadership. For tactical reasons, officials avoided addressing the sensitive topic. Nevertheless, state propaganda aligned with Iran and interpreted the Israeli\u2013US strikes through the lens of the 2020 postelection protests in Belarus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n \"\"\n
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\n (Lara Jameson \/ pexels.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Propaganda avoids Evin prison attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On June 23, Israeli aircraft targeted Tehran\u2019s Evin prison, a notorious facility known for the torture and killing of political prisoners. The strike was intended to demonstrate the vulnerability of the Iranian regime and express solidarity with its domestic opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 28, Fox News<\/em> reported that Hedayatollah Farzadi, the 53-year-old prison director under US and EU sanctions, had received an ultimatum from the Israelis prior to the attack: open the gates and release the inmates or be eliminated. Farzadi neither opened the gates\u2014later struck in the raid\u2014nor remained at his post. He fled, and his current whereabouts are unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Belarusian state media covered the war in considerable detail, they ignored the Evin prison strike entirely. On the day of the attack, regime propagandist Ryhor Azaronak, the leading mouthpiece on the Israeli\u2013Iranian conflict, reposted photos\u2014likely from Iranian or Russian sources\u2014of Iranian soldiers of Jewish origin allegedly fighting against the \u201cNetanyahu regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The omission of the Evin prison story reflects fears of parallels with Belarusian prisons holding political dissidents, and concerns over how the Belarusian security apparatus might behave in a similar emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode highlights how events in the Middle East were filtered by Minsk through the unresolved trauma of Belarus\u2019 2020 political unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s silence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka commented on Israel\u2019s Operation Rising Lion only on June 27\u2014two weeks after the conflict began and several days after it ended. Speaking in Minsk at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, he criticized the Israeli strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, calling them a gross violation of international law. That was the extent of his remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian foreign ministry issued a carefully worded, neutral statement calling for restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guided by Moscow\u2019s cautious stance\u2014aimed at preserving its delicate ties with Israel\u2014and wary of jeopardizing its tentative rapprochement with Washington, Belarusian officials showed little overt interest in the Middle East crisis. Still, state media adopted a clearly pro-Iranian line, echoing Russian and Iranian claims of Tehran\u2019s military resilience and supposed victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media aired commentary by Russian admirers of the Ayatollah regime, including Aleksandr Prokhanov, Aleksandr Dugin, Maksim Shevchenko and Abbas Juma. In an effort to downplay Israel\u2019s achievements, Belarusian outlets exaggerated the effects of Iranian missile strikes while ignoring Iranian attacks on civilian targets. Israeli cities were portrayed as war-torn ruins, likened to Gaza, and Israeli troops were compared to Nazis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the fighting ended, Belarusian media amplified Tehran\u2019s narrative that Iran\u2019s nuclear program remained intact and that only US intervention prevented a humiliating Israeli defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While criticism of Israel was fierce\u2014at times containing antisemitic elements\u2014criticism of the US was more measured, in line with Russian media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Belarusian state coverage was part of the wider Russian anti-Israeli propaganda effort, though it was less systematic and less extreme than in previous instances. Combined with \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s silence and Belarus\u2019 limited geopolitical weight, this may explain why Israel paid little attention to Belarusian media and did not formally respond to Azaronak\u2019s antisemitic rhetoric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk-centric view<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In covering the war, the \u201cBelarusian branch\u201d of Russian propaganda displayed a degree of independence, interpreting the conflict through the lens of Minsk\u2019s own domestic anxieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-regime commentators Andrej \u0141azutkin, Alaksandar \u0160pako\u016dski and Vadzim Hihin discussed taboo topics such as Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions, the fate of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, potential regime change in Tehran and the hunt for \u201cIsraeli agents\u201d in Iran. These discussions frequently and deliberately echoed the themes of the 2020 Belarusian protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking points rooted in fear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s sudden operation shocked Minsk, and the regime\u2019s propaganda response failed to convincingly diminish its significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commentators in Minsk emphasized that Iran had no intention of developing nuclear weapons\u2014while boasting that Belarus already possessed such weapons, hinting that the regime had secured itself against any Iran-style attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual goal of the Israeli strikes was to cripple Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities; regime change was a secondary issue. Yet Belarusian propaganda insisted that toppling the Iranian leadership and assassinating its supreme leader were the main Israeli objectives. This distortion reflected the lingering influence of the 2020 protests, which state media framed as a Western-backed coup attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian propagandists praised Iran\u2019s crackdown on alleged \u201cZionist agents\u201d as a necessary step toward \u201ccleansing\u201d and \u201cunifying\u201d society\u2014mirroring the language used to justify political repression in Belarus after the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events in Iran also coincided with two developments that unsettled Minsk: the release of opposition figure Siarhiej Cichano\u016dski and rumors of a possible mass amnesty for political prisoners under Western pressure. These factors galvanized the public and heightened the regime\u2019s anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, Minsk\u2019s muted official reaction did not signal indifference. Rather, the regime\u2019s confused, evasive media response reveals how Iran\u2019s vulnerability served as a painful reminder of Belarus\u2019 own fragility during its time of crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More like this: \u0141uka\u0161enka criticizes US, Israel over Iran strikes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran came as an unpleasant surprise to the Belarusian leadership. For tactical reasons, officials avoided addressing the sensitive topic. Nevertheless, state propaganda aligned with Iran and interpreted the Israeli\u2013US strikes through the lens of the 2020 postelection protests in Belarus. Propaganda avoids Evin prison attack On June 23, Israeli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":144562,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-144777","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWar between Israel and Iran: Minsk watches through lens of 2020 | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 12-day war between Israel and Iran came as an unpleasant surprise to the Belarusian leadership. 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