The Israeli media urged Mitt Romney to give a louder voice in support of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (the MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR), which has been blacklisted by many world states, including the US, as a terrorist organization.
After a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that more than half of American respondents trust US President Barack Obama to manage international issues better than his Republican rival, Governor Mitt Romney, the Israeli media have been trying to persuade both candidates to take a tougher line against Iran. Yet, the Israeli media support for the MKO is more because of the terrorist group’s prominent role in aiding the Israeli Mossad in assassinating Iran’s nuclear scientists
Haaretz in a commentary sought hard to provoke Romney to make him voice support for the MKO terrorist group, saying, "With the US presidential election in full swing and just a third of respondents voicing confidence in his leadership on global matters, Mr. Romney’s failure to draw sharp distinctions on foreign policy may cost him needed votes in November."
The Zionist daily then tried to portray Iran as a major threat, which needs tougher reactions from the US than what is now being exercised by Obama.
"President Obama’s carefully cultivated reputation for not flinching on matters of national security isn’t borne out by his ongoing diplomacy with Tehran. The US president’s reluctance to support the Iranian opposition and his willingness to allow nuclear talks to drag on without tangible results leaves him open to criticism from the American right. It also leaves him vulnerable to claims that the White House is in over its head on the nuclear issue," Haaretz said.
"Romney can capitalize on Obama’s mismanagement of the Iran problem, but his message to the American electorate must be clear: Only a conservative is equipped to manage the Iran threat," it added.
"The Romney camp’s recent expressions of support for terrorist groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government should now be followed with a similar approach to the Iranian opposition’s Mojahedin-e-Khalq or MKO," Haaretz said.
A bi-partisan group of US Congressional leaders and former lawmakers have already expressed support for the terrorist group. Conservatives have been among MKO’s most vocal advocates.
Then, the Zionist daily asked Romney to go to Paris to show his support for the terrorist MKO. The members of the terrorist group will be gathering in Paris this weekend, on June 23.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.
Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In recent years, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.
The UK initiative, however, prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO in December and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.