Israeli Ad Mocks Iran’s Nuclear Program, Mystery Explosions
February 8, 2012 by Jack Blood
Filed under World
The Israeli government had nothing to do with the ad.
Samsung had nothing to do with the ad.
But an ad for an Israeli cable company featuring cross-dressing Mossad agents who blow up an Iranian nuclear facility using a Samsung tablet has caused a furor in both Iran and Israel. Iran has threatened to ban the sale of Samsung tablets and the commercial itself has now disappeared from Israeli television.
The ad, produced by the HOT cable company, features cast members from the Israeli comedy series “Asfur” dressed head-to-toe as Muslim women to infiltrate Iran. Wearing chadors and clutching purses, the four spies walk past missiles and giant portraits of religious leaders and into the city of Isfahan — the site of a uranium conversion facility and a mysterious explosion in November 2011. As they arrive, one of the travelers smears sunscreen on his face. When his companions look puzzled, he says, “Don’t you know how much radiation there is here?”
The spies then meet a jaded undercover Mossad agent waiting at an outdoor café and looking at his Samsung Galaxy tablet. He tells them that watching on-demand episodes of their comedy series on the tablet has helped him kill time during the two months he’s been in Isfahan conducting surveillance.
“Nuclear reactor or no nuclear reactor, I’m not missing ‘Asfur,’” he tells them. He and his wife received the Galaxy for free after subscribing to HOT.
“What is that application?” the comedian with the sunscreened face asks, and then presses the screen. A fireball explodes at the nuclear facility behind them. His companions appear shocked. “What?” he shrugs. “Just another mysterious explosion in Iran.”
WATCH a clip of the commercial.
Since 2007, Iran has experienced a series of unexplained explosions that have caused the deaths of numerous nuclear scientists and untold damage to the country’s nuclear and long-range missile programs. Iran’s nuclear program was also hit by the Stuxnet computer worm, a cyberattack widely believed to have been launched by Western intelligence agencies. The virus reportedly sabotaged centrifuges at a uranium-enrichment facility. Iran has blamed the attacks on the U.S., the U.K. and Israel. The U.S. and the U.K. have denied any involvement in the attacks, while the Israelis have not commented.
PHOTOS: Covert war against Iran? A timeline.
The ad ends with an Israeli slang reference that is also a jab at Iran’s most revered leader. One of the comedians slaps a bug on his neck and says, “Ick! Khomeini!” According to the Jerusalem Post, Israelis believe that a particularly pesky beetle was introduced to Israel by a traveler from Iran in 1979, around the time the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power.
Israelis have also been known to dress in disguises, including drag, during covert operations. Former prime minister Ehud Barak, now Israel’s defense minister, famously dressed as a woman while a member of an elite commando unit during a 1973 raid on Beirut that killed three PLO commanders.
The Israeli government declined to comment on the HOT ad. The cable company had stopped airing the ad as of Monday and also pulled it from the internet, though YouTube versions still exist.
lolol they pretty much tellin’ us like it is
For what it’s worth, there is no such thing as “peaceful nuclear program” it is the most expensive and dangerous way to boil water. And as long as Israel is destroying everyone else’s nuclear they should do the same to theirs. Apparently no one else is allowed to use nuclear power but who THEY say can do so. Had it been up to me, NO ONE would be entertaining even the thought of using nuclear power of any kind. Just because we CAN, does not mean that we SHOULD. It’s all baloney, no matter WHAT anyone says, I will say again there is no such thing as a “peaceful nuclear program”