Iranian President Orders Ban on Israeli Products

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has instructed his government to implement recently passed parliamentary legislation banning the use of any Israeli products in the country, including computer hardware or software, according to the Fars news agency on Tuesday.

The law was carried by unanimous vote by Iranian MPs in the Majlis last week. It denounces any cooperation with Israel as an act against the faith.

But far more than it might harm Israel, it will harm Iran itself.

Times of Israel editor David Horovitz predicted that “given the centrality of Israeli innovation and technology to so many aspects of modern life, the new anti-Israel legislation, if implemented as required by the Iranian parliament, will set Iran back decades, raise Iranian public disaffection with the repressive ayatollahs to new heights, and likely spell the demise of the brutal, rapacious and cynical regime.”

Noting the impracticality of the law, he pointed out that, if taken seriously, it would mean shutting down all the country’s computer systems, since they all run on Intel chips and/or technologies designed and/or developed in Israel.

Most mobile communications would also be forbidden, as cellphones are full of Israeli tech.

“In fact all of Iran’s international connections — communications, banking, freight shipping, even its vital oil exports — are going to require careful examination by the Majlis, for fear of cooperation with us Zionists,” writes Horovitz, who suggests that the law is little more than “hot air.”