Anti-Israel activists and commentators took to social media to blame Israel for the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday.
Communist political activist Jackson Hinkle posted a poll questioning whether bad weather or Israel caused the crash, with the majority of his followers voting for “Israel.” He also posted a graphic of a helicopter with the text “Mossad, it’s never an accident.”
“Only one of the three helicopters in the Iranian President’s Convoy crashed – the helicopter he and the Iranian foreign minister were in,” said Hinkle. “Why is it taking hours to locate the crash site and why is Israel claiming they know the Iranian President died before any Iranian confirmation?”
Pro-Syrian regime commentator Maram Susli warned Sunday that “If this is Zionist sabotage, the response is going to shake Israel to its core.”
Too early to tell if someone played a role in the helicopter crash
British journalist Richard Medhurst suggested on Monday that a “certain someone” may have played a role in the crash, but added that it was “too early to tell at this stage.”
Writer Nadira Ali noted that Raisi had been at the border before the crash to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalasi Dam joint project with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, whom she accused of being a “Zionist slave.”
“If there is any indication that Israel is behind this incident, you will witness World War III,” said Ali.
A Hamas-affiliated Telegram account took seriously an Israeli joke about a Mossad agent named “Eli Copter” being responsible for the crash, repeating the claim before deleting the post.