this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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Today, in a symbolic act, Iranians set fire to the flags of Israel and the United States, as well as an obelisk and a statue of Baal—which they described as a symbol of Satan—in various cities across Iran in response to the release of the Epstein documents.

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 46 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Say what you want, but their effigy-burning commitment is absolutely top notch.

They build a fucking statue that any Baal-worshiper would be thrilled to have in their home and then burn it.

That statue is awesome. Blows Banksy's picture-shredder out of the water.

I'm just wondering if they contracted the statue out to some artist without sharing their plans.

"You did what with it? Dude, that took me fifteen fucking months. MY WIFE LEFT ME!!!"

[–] absentbird@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Burning a statue of Baal is metal as fuck. Set flame to the dying and rising god Baal, let his ashes bring strong harvests and renewal 🤘

I really wish he and his wife could have made it through the ordeal. They held a lot of promise.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I’m just wondering if they contracted the statue out to some artist without sharing their plans.

I think the first part is a safe assumption, but I can I can’t imagine any reason for secrecy. It may have been state or community or corporate funding.

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[–] bampop@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

It's a pretty random bunch of things to burn though. My guess is they had this stuff lying around for a while and they needed to make room for something else

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 2 months ago

Western Mainstream Media: look at these 5 iranians we found who want the US to bomb Iran and install the Shah

  • Iranians burning US and Israeli flags

Western Mainstream Media: check out these AI slop videos of Jared kushners plans for gaza

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If I learned anything from Burning Man it’s that, in order to burn something in effigy, you first need to construct a combustible effigy.

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 9 points 2 months ago

Israel and US flag fit that description

[–] BarrelsBallot@lemmygrad.ml 17 points 2 months ago

Good reminder for all those who were calling on U.S intervention just some weeks ago

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

... Now I wanna know why there was a statue of Baal on the street in iran. Like, is there a Baal worshipping segment of the population? Was it some ancient statue? An art piece? Ragebait? I have so many questions.

[–] Armio2@lemmy.ml 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They built the statues specifically to burn them down for this symbolic act, they are not stone statues. I answered this to our other friend who asked as well🙏🏻

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Oh that explains it, thank you! I wonder why Baal was singled out instead of just building a statue of satan himself? There's a cultural aspect here I'm missing.

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Baal is actually in the Bible of Christians and Hebrews

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (8 children)

Yeah, but... why go after baal for being satanic, instead of going after satan directly? I don't quite understand why baal is taking the spotlight when you could have simply made a statue of satan, but I'm sure there's a reason.

[–] Sandouq_Dyatha@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Muslims don't generally don't have a representation of what Satan looks like, Baal is an idol, already has a shape

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[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Because Baal is actually in the religious texts

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If you're going for textual literalism sure fair enough, but what's confusing me is that they then go outside the bounds of that to invoke satan anyways. And aside from that, it's not like (figures that you can reasonably call a satan/devil analog if you dont want to start a fight) aren't in the Torah, Koran and Bible - why not build a statue of Iblis, the progenitor of devils? And why describe Baal as a symbol of satan instead of just going after satan directly, since that means you already believe satan exists?

I guess I'm just trying to figure out the symbolism here. Burning the flags is pretty clear, but the statue and the obelisk seem more like they're an act aimed at worshiping false idols (what Baal is primarily used for in the various texts) which... is that what they're accusing the US/Israel of? Because that seems like a largely semantic question given they're all worshiping the same god, and just burning a satan-analog would be a much clearer message about opposition to evil than the sorta abstract concept presented by Baal in any of the texts.

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[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Baal isn’t Satan - that’s just ignorant.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Also, building a statue of Baal and then burning it is just standard Baal-worship.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Exactly. That's how sacrifice worked. You burned shit to give it to the gods. These guys just gave Baal a really nice statue of Satan to put in his living room.

[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 3 points 2 months ago

I'd totally have this be a valid form of worship if I were a god. Especially if they cook hot dogs and marshmallows over it

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 7 points 2 months ago

No, that's just monotheism. All "pagan" gods are Satan to these mouth breathers.

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[–] tryagain@sopuli.xyz 14 points 2 months ago
[–] HarryLime@hexbear.net 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Why did they have an obelisk and a statue of Baal?

[–] Armio2@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Obelisk and statue of Baal are both associated with satanism, Obelisk is way more famous and way more used, Baal is a god representing high corruption and requiring child sacrifice from it's worshippers (even in bible). Jeffery Epstien also named his bank accound Baal which was seen in the Epstien Files.

[–] woodenghost@hexbear.net 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Baal was just a normal local god for a long time. Actually several different gods, as the word just means God, but one was most famous. He was associated with weather and fertility. There's absolutely no evidence for human sacrifices. The Romans were more tolerant than the abrahamic religions. When they build the largest temple complex ever outside Rome in the city of Baalbek in Lebanon, they allowed the locals to worship Baal in the huge entrance hall to the Jupiter temple. The intolerant monotheistic religions invented all the bad stuff about him to gain influence. Today, you can get tours and visit jazz concerts in the temples, if Israel is not currently bombing the site of the irreplaceable world cultural heritage, which they did of course.

[–] HarryLime@hexbear.net 7 points 2 months ago (4 children)

But my question is, what are they doing there? Who built them and for what purpose? I'm assuming this is in Iran. Those don't look like ruins, Baal was never worshiped in Iran to my knowledge, that Obelisk is decorated with hieroglyphs which aren't Iranian.

[–] Armio2@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

They built them to burn them down for this symbolic act

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 6 points 2 months ago

That's a level of petty I can get behind! Built specifically to destroy.

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[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Iranians set fire to the flags of Israel and the United States, as well as an obelisk and a statue of Baal which they described as a symbol of Satan in response to release of the Epstein documents.

These bingo wins are getting way too specific ...

How is this a real event that got to world news?
(I'm not disputing anything, just the combination of events that lead to this.)

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 months ago

Missiles and anti-Israeli chants: Iran marks the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution

One of the most striking scenes involved protesters setting fire to a sculpture representing Baal, an ancient Canaanite deity often invoked as a symbol of evil. The figure was depicted with a Star of David and an image of U.S. President Donald Trump, as crowds chanted “Death to Israel.”

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I feel like I don't understand what the message being sent here is. Are they mad that the Epstein files got released? Mad about what's in them? Something else?

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[–] protist@mander.xyz 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (12 children)

Isn't there evidence that the Canaanite gods El and Ba'al were merged into Yahweh, who remains to this day the Christian god and the Islamic Allah? These people are burning their own god

Edit: My Lemmy client is messing up and won't let me respond to comments. Just wanted to add that yeah, the Muslim Allah is the same Abrahamic God that Christians and Jews worship. In fact, the name "Allah" is directly derived from the god "El":

The majority of scholars consider[Allah] to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and ilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the deity, the God." Originally, ʾilāh was used as an epithet for the West Semitic creator god ʾIlu (the Ugaritic version of El), before being adopted as the proper name itself for this god

El, Ba'al, Yahweh, God, and Allah are all wrapped up in each other

[–] testingtester@lemmings.world 3 points 2 months ago (12 children)

I don't really know about christians but for muslims, Allah was never a merge of other gods, so what you are saying is not correct when it comes to muslims.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 months ago (10 children)

Not canonically, but they mean historically and like sociologically.

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[–] HeadfullofSoup@kbin.earth 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Religion are just belief stolen from other religion that stole it from other religion since the start of religion anyway

So in that way yes it’s true for muslim too

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah but the guys who stole my religion were being guided by the real God!

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[–] railcar@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago

It's likely better to think of baal and yahweh as effectively the same deity for rival regional clans. Many psalms etc in the Bible are directly plagiarized from baal.

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[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Blood Angels are stored in the Baals.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] svcg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago

I love that at some point the SG-1 writers must have asked themselves "what if a Goa'uld had rizz?" And thus Ba'al was born.

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