Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji has strongly denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for citing his book "The Road to Democracy in Iran" during a video message aimed at urging Iranians to rise against their government.

In the video released on August 12, Netanyahu held a glass of water while pledging that "Israel’s" water technology would "flood into every Iranian city" once the Islamic Republic’s leadership was overthrown.

Linking Iran’s severe drought and water shortages to political change, Netanyahu called on Iranians to "take to the streets" and demand "justice, accountability, and freedom." He concluded his remarks with the Persian protest slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom."

During the nearly five-minute video, Netanyahu held up Ganji’s 2008 book, framing it as a voice of Iranian opposition. The book, published by Boston Review, outlines a path to reform based on democracy, human rights, and gender equality, and calls on the US to engage with Iran peacefully rather than through threats or military action.

Who is Akbar Ganji?

Born in 1960, Akbar Ganji was once a supporter of the Islamic Revolution but turned into a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic by the mid-1990s. Ganji later moved abroad, where he continued to speak out against both the Iranian government and Western interventions in the region.

Ganji has long rejected "Israel's" policies in the region, labeling them as colonial and violent in nature. His past works include harsh criticisms of Netanyahu, including a Huffington Post article titled “The Jewish State of Israel: An Apartheid State.”

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In two scathing social media posts, Ganji condemned Netanyahu’s use of his book as political propaganda. In the first post titled “A Thousand Curses on Reza the Traitor, and a Thousand Curses on Me the Patriot,” Ganji wrote:

“Now Netanyahu has set aside ‘Reza the treacherous sellout’ and instead introduces my book The Road to Democracy in Iran, me, a constant critic of Israel and this genocidal war criminal.” He continued:

"A million curses on Reza the traitor, and a hundred thousand curses on myself, who loves his country. But why a hundred thousand curses on me? Because this eternal disgrace will remain with me: that the greatest Holocaust-maker of the 21st century, the biggest child-killer with 20,000 murders, the world’s leading terrorist... has introduced my book.”

In his second post, Ganji lambasted monarchist exiles and "Israel's" Mossad intelligence agency:

“If Mossad weren’t compromised, my book would never have ended up in the hands of Netanyahu the child-killer for him to use in his propaganda to Iranians. These wretched monarchists still grovel before their genocidal masters, begging them to bomb our country.”

He ended the post by cursing Reza Pahlavi and likening him to Netanyahu:

“Let Reza the traitor and these coffin-bound monarchists be Netanyahu’s shroud, burning alongside him in hell.”

🎥یک میلیون خاک بر سر سلطنت طلبان و «رضا وطن فروش خائن» که هنوز نفهمیدند که «موساد» شان هم سوراخ است👇👇

👈اگر موساد سوراخ نبود که امروز کتاب مرا به دست نتانیاهوی بچه کُش نمی دادند تا در پیام به ایرانیها تبلیغ کند.

✅ اما این سلطنت طلبای بدبختِ بی چاره همچنان مثل هزار برده در… pic.twitter.com/avVKu0NCab

— Akbar Ganji (@GanjiAkbar) August 12, 2025

A political weaponization of dissent

The episode has sparked renewed debate over how dissident voices like Akbar Ganji can be politicized and misrepresented by foreign actors. Despite his sharp critiques of the Islamic Republic, Ganji has never advocated for foreign intervention or alignment with powers like "Israel." Instead, his work consistently calls for internal reform grounded in human rights, justice, and peace.

The controversy serves as a stark reminder of how opposition narratives, particularly those advocating non-violent reform, can be distorted in the service of foreign agendas.