Middle East Press on: Israel, Gaza, Jewish, Syria, Iran: New Age Islam's Selection, 13 January 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
13 January 2025
Why Israel Is The Losing Side In Gaza
How Many More Attacks Before Australia Defends Its Jewish Community?
Five Tips For A Successful Start-Up
Syria Does Not Need A ‘Handshake Litmus Test’
The Herculean Task Facing Syria’s New Government
Iran's Endless Winter Of Despair
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Why Israel Is The Losing Side In Gaza
By Bünyamin Esen
Jan 13, 2025
The genocide that has been experienced in Gaza in the last year and a half has reached dimensions that deeply wound the conscience of humanity. According to the data of the Gaza Ministry of Health, the number of people who lost their lives and the number of people injured has increased to 46,537 and the number of people injured to 109,500 in the attacks that Israel has been carrying out since Oct. 7, 2023. Alongside those killed with bombs multiplying what was thrown at Hiroshima, people were subjected to ethnic cleansing via means of malnutrition, lack of clean water, destruction of medical infrastructure and wiping out of cities. The prestigious medical journal, the Lancet, conservatively estimates that the death toll in Gaza has reached 186,000 or more, which is almost 8% of the total population.
While the majority of those who died were women and children, thousands of civilians were also injured and disabled. In addition, the collapse of the health infrastructure due to the blockade and attacks has increased the number of deaths caused by preventable diseases. In this process, millions of people have been left homeless and approximately 2 million people have been deprived of basic living conditions. Human rights organizations state that these death and destruction rates meet the definition of "crimes against humanity" and "genocide" and emphasize that the international community must take action.
Collapse of founding myths
However, in this commentary, I did not want to write about the victims but the perpetrators. With all its military machine, so-called strong political apparatus and enduring occupation, is Israel winning in Gaza? I wanted to write about this.
My answer is that, in fact, by transforming Gaza into the Warsaw Ghetto, Israel is losing. I am not taking a romantic attitude. I wanted to express Israel's failure in this piece from a realistic point of view. The State of Israel is losing its ethical, legal, diplomatic and relational power to a point that has never been lower since its establishment. In fact, this could be the start of the very end for Israel.
The tragedies experienced in Gaza reveal how fragile the myths Israel has built since its founding are. Although Israel seems to be winning on the ground with its military superiority and brute force, it is losing more and more in the conscience of humanity and the international diplomatic arena with each passing day. Expecting all to be the same after Gaza is an illusion for the Israeli people, which they need to be aware of.
Losing ground
Israel is a country that introduces itself as "the only democracy in the Middle East" and "the state of an oppressed people." However, the bombs dropped on Gaza, the mass killing, the genocide, which far exceeded the level of a passive apartheid regime and the deprivation of the most basic living conditions of millions of people have turned these myths upside down. Israel is no longer a state representing an oppressed people; on the contrary, it is known as a symbol of oppression. Whatever conventional international media says to you, this is the reality for the overwhelming majority of 8 billion people on Earth today.
This collapse is particularly evident in the diplomatic arena. The increase in resolutions condemning Israel's actions in the United Nations General Assembly is a concrete indicator of this. In recent votes, criticism of Israel has increased even in Western countries that previously gave unconditional support. This isolation shows that Israel's policy of brute force has reached its limits and is no longer sustainable.
Israel's claim of being an “Island of Democracy,” in fact, “the only democracy in the Middle East” has also collapsed in the face of the human tragedies in Gaza. The occupation of Palestinian lands, apartheid practices and discriminatory policies against Arab citizens render this discourse baseless.
Democracy gains meaning through not only elections but also the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as the protection and upholding of human values. Israel has systematically and utterly failed this test. The videos and reels spreading worldwide from the cell phones of people subjected to genocide are harming Israel much more than the bombs it dropped on these people.
In fact, by repeating exactly what had been done to their ancestors by the Pharaohs or Nazis, Israeli people are now becoming the very thing they are claiming to be the antidote of. This is why Israel is digging its own grave in Gaza.
Triumph of conscience
On the other hand, although the people of Gaza appear to be suffering heavy losses, they are exhibiting a resistance that stirs the conscience of humanity. Even though their cities have been destroyed and their families have been torn apart, their yearning for freedom is creating a global solidarity movement. The Gazans have never won much on the diplomatic and psychological side.
Alongside worldwide rallies, symbolic events such as support events organized at leading universities such as Harvard, Columbia and Yale reveal that the Palestinian cause has now become a global struggle for justice, the medium for resistance against the regime for all the oppressed of the world.
The increasing appeal to Islam in Western countries echoes Gaza’s symbolic power and resistance. Gaza has become a mirror of conscience not just for Palestinians but for the entire world.
As another aspect of this, economic and diplomatic boycotts have never been harming the Israeli economy and polity before but now things have changed. The tragedies in Gaza have strengthened the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel. Consumers, investors and companies boycotting Israeli products are directly affecting the Israeli economy. These movements are seriously undermining Israel’s long-term strategic goals and are cornering the country both economically and diplomatically.
Winning for tomorrow
Modern wars are no longer won with weapons alone but by winning hearts and minds. In the age of social media, you cannot control hearts and minds only with Hollywood and news conglomerates dominance. Israel may think it has prevailed in Gaza by brute force but it is suffering a major defeat in the conscience of humanity and the international diplomatic arena.
A state losing its founding myths and its legitimacy is a loss that cannot be compensated for even if it empties its entire arsenal of weapons and ammunition on those it sees as its enemies. Israel is in exactly this situation. Bigoted, psychopath leaders of the country are exactly those who have cornered Israeli people into this situation.
It is impossible to think that it can continue where it left off after Gaza and become a legitimate actor in the international arena. It has destroyed all the arguments it has been trying to establish for 60 years with its own hands in one year, exhausted its own capital and legitimacy. With the Gaza Genocide, which will be remembered as a symbol of the world's minds and hearts, Israel has destroyed all its long-term interests and legitimacy for the sake of short-term political attractions in the hands of its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel seems to have won by dropping tens, hundreds of times the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Hamas seems to have lost by martyring all its leaders, eliminating its regional dominance and exiling millions of its people. However, history will show that the situation is exactly the opposite.
Gaza is losing today but winning tomorrow.
Victory or defeat?
Sun Tzu, who is considered the father of military strategies, says, "War is best won without weapons." This saying emphasizes that war is not only a physical struggle but also a psychological and strategic game. Using brute force, instead of weakening the enemy, can fuel hostility and prolong the war in the long run; an evidence gain of the short term may be your long-term demise.
The year 1941 is considered to be the peak of Hitler’s power and Nazi Germany. In this year, Germany conquered France, took control of most of Western Europe and launched a major attack on the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa. However, four years later, the capital of Nazism fell and its leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the Führerbunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945. The tide of fate shows itself in very strange ways. When the waters rise, the fish eat the ants; when the waters recede, the ants eat the fish. The flow of the water decides who eats whom.
The brutal genocide – not a war, even wars have rules – in Gaza, shredding thousands of babies into pieces, is the start of the end for Israel. The struggle for a free future for Palestine represents the quest for justice not just by one person but all humanity. When a free Palestine is established, the heroes of this resistance will take their place as epics in the collective memory of humanity.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/why-israel-is-the-losing-side-in-gaza
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How Many More Attacks Before Australia Defends Its Jewish Community?
By Jpost Editorial
January 13, 2025
Australia has a problem. A couple of days after the October 7 attacks, a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the steps of the Sydney Opera House and chanted, “Gas the Jews.”
To reaffirm, this was weeks before Israel responded militarily against Hamas in Gaza. This was weeks before any accusations of “genocide” could be thrown at Israel, weeks before Israel responded to the barrages of Hezbollah rockets hitting the North, and weeks before Israel was able to return any of the hostages.
“Gas the Jews.” Australia should have known there and then that it had a problem.
Just this weekend, two Sydney synagogues, a home, and cars were vandalized, with one of the houses of worship also targeted with attempted arson as part of the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents in Australia.
The alarming attacks that took place are an “escalation in antisemitic crime,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said.
This comes a week after Ice Hockey Australia announced that a planned international tournament, scheduled to take place in Melbourne in April, was canceled following consultations with police and participating venues.
Australian media reported that safety concerns over Team Israel’s attendance were central to the decision.
Graffiti and anti-Jewish harassment
This itself, among many minor spates of graffiti and anti-Jewish harassment, came after a devastating fire ripped through the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in early December, wounding two people and causing significant damage to the historic building.
The Australian Federal Police in response announced Special Operation Avalite to investigate threats, violence, and hatred toward the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians.
Sky News Australia fired lead journalist Erin Molan in December, which she claimed was due to her pro-Israel stance. Molan, who received death threats for stating the truth about the war, stated that Sky News fired her “because she cared too much” about “innocent children in Gaza at the hands of terrorists who attack, kill, kidnap Jews” and her efforts “exposing the support for unfathomable evil among young people in the West.”
Molan explained why she supported Israel so staunchly: “I’m not from Israel, I’m not Jewish, I’m not American, I have no skin in this game. But, you see, I do. When hate is allowed to fester, we all lose; when stupidity isn’t called out, it becomes very dangerous.”
December saw perhaps the most damning statistics of all for the safety of Australia’s Jews. Anti-Jewish incidents in Australia rose by 316% from October 1, 2023, until September 30, 2024, compared to the previous 12-month period, according to an Executive Council of Australian Jewry report.
Some 2,062 anti-Jewish incidents were logged by community security groups, local Jewish organizations, and the ECAJ. That works out at 68 incidents a day.
If a country is registering 68 antisemitic incidents a day (against a community that makes up around 0.4% of the Australian population), you have a problem. A serious problem.
Stretching back a year, in February a number of prominent Jews in Australia had their personal information outed by pro-Palestinian activists in a doxxing incident that stunned the country. The New York Times Melbourne-based reporter Natasha Frost was responsible for the leak of personal information of over 600 Australian Jewish members in a WhatsApp group.
Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has felt it necessary to weigh in on the matter, accusing Australia’s Labor government of helping to cause the rise in antisemitism thanks to its anti-Israel stance during the war against Hamas.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate [the Melbourne synagogue arson] from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible,’” the prime minister stated.
So, what is to be done?
Launching special operations and recognizing an “escalation in antisemitic crime” is all well and good, but these incidents are a daily issue for the Jews of Australia, a well-respected community, many of whom descend from Holocaust survivors.
Perhaps the authorities down under need to heed the words of Molan before it is too late: When hate is allowed to fester, we all lose.
Australia has a serious antisemitism problem, and it is time for the country to stand up, before it loses a community for good.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837230
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Five Tips For A Successful Start-Up
By Tal Slobodkin
January 13, 2025
As we begin 2025, following a challenging year, Israeli founders are preparing to capitalize on the opportunities that the new year brings.
However, the path to start-up success is filled with obstacles, particularly with the ongoing challenges both within and outside the country.
By focusing on what we can control and based on my experience as an early-stage Venture Capitalist, I’ve identified five key factors that I believe start-ups should focus on to succeed, especially in 2025.
These factors include targeting the right market, raising the appropriate amount of capital, building the right team, understanding the competition, and solving a real problem.
Additionally, a proactive mindset is essential to drive progress and overcome obstacles.
Here’s a closer look at the “Five for 2025” and how they can set the stage for a successful year ahead:
1. Be in the right market
Identifying the right market is the first and most important step. It’s not just about choosing a market with potential; it’s about finding one that aligns with your start-up’s strengths and capabilities. This requires a deep understanding of market trends, customer needs, and competitive dynamics. Targeting a market that is growing at the right time is crucial but also inherently challenging. Success depends on being both strategic and agile.
2. Raise the right amount of capital
Funding is the lifeblood of any start-up, but it’s not about raising the most money possible; it’s about raising the right amount to support your growth plans. Overfunding can create unrealistic expectations and pressure both from yourself and your investors, while underfunding may delay your ability to execute your vision. Align your capital-raising efforts with clear, achievable milestones.
3. Hire the right people
Your start-up is only as strong as the team behind it. Building a team of individuals who share your vision, bring the necessary skills, and fit the company’s culture is essential; establishing that culture is something every founder needs to do from the start. The right hires will not only help you execute your strategy but also contribute to the company’s long-term resilience and success.
4. Understand the competition
Knowing your competitors is essential, but it goes beyond identifying who they are. You need to understand their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses to carve out your own unique value proposition. In crowded markets, this differentiation can be a game-changer, particularly for early-stage startups.
5. Solve a real problem
The most successful start-ups focus on solving real problems. Start by putting customer needs ahead of product features. As a founder, you should ask yourself:
What problem are we trying to solve?
Why are we best equipped to solve it?
How does our solution address the customers’ needs better than alternative solutions out there?
Too often, start-ups get caught up in their technology or product without fully addressing the core need. A customer-first approach ensures your product is impactful and resonates with the market.
Bonus tip: Be proactive.
Don’t wait for opportunities to find you – create them. Whether it’s reaching out to potential partners, following up on leads, or pushing forward on key initiatives, taking initiative can make all the difference. For example, don’t wait for an email; be the one to send it first!
The road ahead
Success in 2025 isn’t just about having a great idea; it’s about executing that idea effectively, at the right time, with the right resources. The five factors – market alignment, smart fundraising, building a strong team, competitive insight, and solving real problems – are interconnected, each playing a vital role in shaping a start-up’s trajectory.
These factors are not standalone; they are pieces of a larger puzzle that require proactive and coordinated execution. By addressing them, founders can position their start-ups to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities effectively.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837214
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Syria Does Not Need A ‘Handshake Litmus Test’
12 Jan 2025
On January 3, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot travelled to Damascus to meet with Syria’s interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. The visit came less than a month after the sudden downfall of one of the most violent regimes in the Arab world – the Baathist dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad.
There are a myriad of issues on the agenda of Syrian-European relations, not least regional stability, economic recovery, post-war justice and reconciliation, the refugee crisis and so on.
And yet, Western media chose to focus on al-Sharaa’s decision to greet Baerbock with a nod and a smile instead of extending his hand to her, in observance of Muslim religious norms. Western media pundits characterised the incident as “a scandal” and a “snub”.
A Politico editorial went as far as suggesting that trivialities like shaking hands should become the new “litmus test” on how “moderate” a Muslim leader really is. In the name of inclusivity, the Politico piece implied that devout male Muslim leaders like al-Sharaa should be forced to shake women’s hands – regardless of what their religion instructs – or else, it should set off “alarm bells” in the West. The old adage “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” has become “when in Syria, do as the Germans and French do”.
As a Syrian American whose father was exiled from Syria for 46 years and whose family friends have been tortured and killed by the al-Assad regime, I find the Western “litmus test” of Arab leadership laden with contradictions and simply offensive.
I wonder where was media’s fury when the British royal, Prince Edward, explained he preferred non-physical contact with ordinary Brits trying to greet him? Should we offer grace when the motive is personal preference and anger when the motive is religious observance?
It is not surprising that Western media is trying to impose Western cultural values as the new litmus test for the “moderation” of Muslim Arab leaders. It has done so for decades.
As anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod has argued in her book, Do Muslim Women Need Saving?, there is an assumption in the West “that liberal culture is the acultural norm and should be the universal standard by which to measure societies. Those who fall short are the barbarians outside the gates…”
The very characterisation of Muslim religious norms as “extreme” is a symptom of a hegemonic discourse by which Western norms are masked as universal ones.
The bad news for those who subscribe to this viewpoint is that Western cultural values are not as dominant as they may imagine. Muslims and Arabs also have agency – the agency to choose to observe their religious values even when they defy the dominant cultural expectations in the West – although we’ve seen a willingness to bend those expectations when it comes to British royalty, fear of COVID-19 transmission, etc.
The media’s hyperfocus on trivialities – like al-Sharaa’s dress or personal mannerisms – appears trite in the context of brutal repression that Syrians have endured for 61 years under the authoritarian Baathist regime.
Syrians have their own “litmus test” for evaluating their new leadership, like the government’s ability to deliver democracy and freedom, restore and improve civilian infrastructure, unite Syrians and protect constitutional rights, not whether male government members shake the hands of women. Most urgently, Syrians are concerned about their new leadership’s ability to steer the country towards peace, prosperity and stability.
Half of the Syrian population is currently displaced and more than 90 percent of the people within Syria live below the poverty line. There are extreme shortages of food, water, and electricity. Unemployment is rife and the economy is in tatters.
Then there is also the trauma of living through a 13-year-long civil war and 61-year-long authoritarian rule.
There is not a single Syrian family I know that has not lost family members or friends to al-Assad’s brutal repressive regime. My childhood friends lost their father, Majd Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist and a US citizen, when he went to pay condolences to his mother-in-law in Syria in 2017. A relative from Aleppo lost two teen brothers to torture in al-Assad’s notorious dungeons. My female cousin spent a month in an underground prison for passing out bread in a poor neighbourhood in Damascus during the civil war. Family friends – like Heba al-Dabbagh, who spent nine years in Syrian prison in the 1980s because the regime couldn’t find her brother – shared harrowing stories of torture.
After suffering for decades under one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world, Syrians are desperate for a new beginning, holding on to tattered threads of hope. They may have faced unimaginable horrors – mass killing, torture, systemic rape, repression, and displacement – but they are no helpless victims. They have a clear vision of the future they want.
If the Western media wants to get Syria right, it needs to practice introspection and recognise how its discourse and expectations may be shaped by decades of hegemonic bias. Instead of imposing a Western “litmus test” on Arab leaders, it should ask Syrians what they want in their leadership.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/1/12/syria-does-not-need-a-handshake-litmus
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The Herculean Task Facing Syria’s New Government
By Alon Ben-Meir
January 13, 2025
It is hard to exaggerate the immense tasks facing Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani as he attempts to peacefully consolidate power with other rebel groups and act on his far-reaching domestic agenda.
All signs show that al-Julani is determined to set Syria on a transformational trajectory that leads to a democracy where social and political equality prevails and prevents Syria from sliding back into the abyss. With Syria having endured hell over the past 14 years, he must demonstrate to the world that he means what he says and will deliver on his promises to earn international recognition and support.
Al-Julani must address – in stages – several key issues laden with enormous difficulties that will determine whether or not he will rise to the historic occasion and resurrect Syria from the ashes left behind by the Assad regime.
Given how shattered the Syrian people are after 14 years of systematic persecution, displacement, destruction, and the death of over 600,000 Syrians, nothing is more urgent than a concerted effort by the new government to heal the nation. Uniting all rebel groups under one roof is a central first step to making such a national effort possible.
The new government must develop a new social contract by prioritizing human rights and the rule of law and begin the monumental task of rehabilitating displaced persons. Bringing to justice those who have committed crimes against humanity, preventing arbitrary detention, and following lawful procedures are critical.
Establishing a ministerial-level body for peace, justice, and reconciliation is a must, as well as prohibiting revenge and retribution, making it clear that the perpetrators will face justice while preserving evidence of atrocities to ensure future accountability.
Inclusive political system
Given that Syria has nearly 20 different ethnic and religious groups, including multiple Christian denominations, the new political system must be inclusive and allow the participation of all groups in the political processes.
It is crucial to reform the constitution to recognize the political rights of all segments of the population to ensure a smooth transition to a decentralized democratic system, including abolishing all discriminatory laws and practices and ensuring religious freedom and equality for all.
Nearly all ethnic and religious groups, except the Alawites who ruled the country, have been politically sidelined. Thus, political inclusiveness and free and fair elections are critical to social cohesiveness, which the Syrian people are in dire need of.
Socio-economic equality
Fourteen years of devastation have left the country’s social fabric shattered and economically crushed.
Economically, the new government urgently needs to repair this epic dislocation by taking the following measures, among others: developing a sustainable reconstruction plan to rebuild the economy, revitalizing the private sector, and creating job opportunities; working with international investors, donors, and local organizations transparently and collaboratively to help revive the economy; and supporting financially and technically small and medium-sized businesses to stimulate growth.
A custodian of donors should be created to provide financial aid tied to the reconstruction progress as well as to full adherence to democracy, where human rights reign high.
Socially, the government must invest in education, healthcare, poverty alleviation, and food insecurity. It must implement sustainable agricultural support programs and remove all obstacles to allow humanitarian aid to reach all regions and collaborate with international countries to ensure the flow of humanitarian assistance.
Most importantly, it must create the conditions that would allow refugees and internally displaced persons to return home while restoring demographic changes that might have occurred under Assad’s brutal repression.
Barring foreign troops
For the past several decades, foreign troops and military installations from Russia, Turkey, and Iran have been stationed in Syria. To emerge as a truly independent country, the new government must ask foreign powers to withdraw their forces from the country. It needs to stress that, given that Syria has entered a new era, hosting foreign powers is no longer necessary and only undermines the country’s sovereignty.
Russia: The Syrian government has already demanded that Russia withdraw its military contingent by mid-February and can now take advantage of Russia’s limited military capabilities due to the continuing war in Ukraine.
The Syrian government should also abolish the Astana process that allowed Russia and Iran to use their militaries to ensure the survival of Assad’s regime while serving their strategic regional interests. Furthermore, it should assert that the two countries can develop an alternate mutually beneficial relationship in many spheres, including economic development.
Turkey: Given that Turkey supported the rebels in their drive to oust Assad, it will be much harder for the Syrian government to rid itself of the Turkish military presence in Syria. Like Russia, Turkey also used the Astana framework to justify its military buildup, especially in northern Syria, to battle Kurdish forces, which Ankara views as critical to its national interests.
Other than emphasizing Syria’s sovereignty, the new government should offer Turkey plans to combat terrorist groups, negotiate the return of Syrian refugees, and engage with Syrian Kurds to reach a compromise that deals with Turkey’s security concerns. It should also offer extensive economic cooperation, propose a phased withdrawal of forces, and seek international support to exert diplomatic and financial pressure on Turkey.
Iran: al-Julani has already demanded that Iran withdraw its forces and all of its military installations from Syria. His government should demand non-interference in sovereign Syria, revoke access to military compounds previously used by Iran, strengthen border security to avert Iran from reentering Syria and prevent it from smuggling weapons to Hezbollah.
Moreover, the new regime should threaten to cancel all bilateral economic cooperation if Iran does not respect its sovereignty, seeking support from the UN to pressure Iran to respect Syrian sovereignty and make it clear to Tehran that it will not permit the use of Syria as a staging theater to threaten Israel.
Israel: Israel took advantage of Assad’s fall and started massive bombardments to destroy Assad’s military installations and weapons depots while occupying the buffer zone and Mount Hermon. Given that Israel is extraordinarily sensitive about its security, the al-Julani government ought to tread carefully with Israel to prevent any military conflagration that would dangerously undermine the urgent need to rehabilitate the country.
The new government should fully adhere to the 1974 disengagement agreement (to which it has already committed itself) and ask Israel to do the same, making it clear that it will seek a peaceful solution to all conflicts with Israel. It is essential to establish back-channel communications to discuss border security, propose confidence-building measures, including water management in the border area, and work with the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) to ensure efficient monitoring of the buffer zone.
It is hard to overstate the colossal task that al-Julani and the new Syrian government must undertake on all fronts to stabilize the country and avoid violence internally and externally. It should be noted that Syria cannot tackle this monumental task alone.
The US, the EU, the Arab states, and Israel have a vested interest in maintaining regional stability and security and need to collaborate with the new Syrian regime to achieve their mutual objectives, starting by lifting the designation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization and bestowing legitimacy on its governing authority.
Thus far, all signs point to the new government’s commitment to executing its publicly stated goal of ending suffering and forging a new path to peace and security, which the Syrian people desperately long for.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837212
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Iran's Endless Winter Of Despair
By Erfan Fard
January 13, 2025
Iran is engulfed in an unprecedented state of despair. The nation is paralyzed – choked by relentless air pollution, soaring inflation, authoritarian rule, unqualified leadership, lack of strategic governance, and a pervasive disregard for the rule of law. These compounded crises have driven its citizens to the brink of psychological and physical collapse, with many succumbing to life-threatening conditions. The country teeters on the verge of internal upheaval, where an inevitable collapse could unleash long-suppressed fury and a wave of uncontrollable, bloody retribution.
How many grieving mothers have been left to mourn their innocent children, officially executed or simply gunned down by this regime?
How many families have been shattered under the weight of prolonged imprisonments of political activists and intellectuals?
How many vibrant young lives, full of passion and promise, have been extinguished – blinded, crippled, or paralyzed by the regime’s relentless brutality?
How many cemeteries have been expanded, standing as solemn testaments to the relentless grief and despair endured by the Iranian people?
In this land, joy and the essence of life have become distant, forgotten relics.
From the very beginning, the criminal mullahs have resorted to Islamic terrorism as a means of imposing their delusional and barbaric ideology. Cloaking their actions under the guise of Islamic movements, they established terror cells to further their agenda.
When Reza Shah the Great departed Iran on September 16, 1941, his deepest concern was the resurgence of the Shiite clerical mafia. During the reign of his son, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – an adored ruler known for his patriotism, modern vision, adherence to the law, and humanitarianism – the dishonorable clerical mafia operated without shame, committing egregious crimes against humanity. Ultimately, through alliances with Islamic terrorist groups, Marxist factions, certain Arab nations, and even the KGB, they seized power and amassed wealth in Iran.
Mossadegh: The People's Prime Minister
The Islamic terrorist factions drove the late shah out of power, threatening to destroy the country if their demands were not met. Meanwhile, supporters of Mohammad Mossadegh – the populist and lawless prime minister – joined forces with Khomeini, fabricating a sanctified – yet entirely false – image of him in the global media.
The so-called “people’s prime minister” is a title falsely attributed to a man never elected by the people. What is often conveniently omitted is that, under constitutional law, it was the shah of Iran who appointed him. When this very prime minister dissolved the parliament, leaving the nation in disarray, the shah had no choice but to issue a decree for his dismissal. In retaliation, the prime minister plunged the country into three days of chaos, desperately clinging to power.
EVEN MORE egregiously, the followers of this prime minister were involved in conspiracies, from assassination attempts against the shah to destabilizing plots. They later aligned themselves with Khomeini in a movement that fundamentally betrayed the nation’s future. The bitterness and resentment that marked the period from August 19, 1953, to February 11, 1979, continues to this day, with the same baseless rhetoric, falsehoods, and fabrications being obsessively and relentlessly echoed in the leftist media.
His is a “forbidden” story, one that remains deliberately untold in English. To perpetuate the myth, the mullahs even fabricated the title of “Dr.” for this individual, presenting him as a national hero – a blatant lie. For the past 45 years, Iran’s history has been ensnared in such fabrications, its narrative distorted by deceit and deliberate obfuscation.
Since 1979’s Khomeinist revolt that began the long winter of the Iranian nation, the regime has relentlessly spread hatred, violently crushed dissent, plundered national resources, sponsored terrorism, manipulated the narrative with propaganda, and fueled a cycle of destruction and malice.
Reformists and hardliners within the regime are united in one aim: to preserve their financial and ideological interests at any cost. Beyond Iran’s borders, a second “Islamic Republic” operates, infiltrating and corrupting Persian-language media like a pervasive cancer, entangling the truth in a web of deceit and making it nearly impossible to escape this multi-layered mafia.
When the late shah left the country, he tearfully foretold that under the rule of these lawless and inhumane rebels, the brainwashed and euphoric masses would come to regret their actions within three months.
Today, Iranian society – particularly the younger generation, who despise the upheaval of 1979 and the barbaric regime of the mullahs – has embraced a profound sense of nationalism and pride in their Iranian identity.
In the figure of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the only credible opposition leader, they find a poignant reminder of their national pride and the grandeur of Iran, eroded since 1979. Under the current occupiers, the country has been reduced to a lawless ruin, plundered by a gang of looters.
The growing wave of internal dissatisfaction has deeply unsettled the regime. In response, they have staged military maneuvers involving 110,000 Basij and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces – exercises so chaotic that casualties occurred even during the drills.
To the Iranian people, these spectacles evoke haunting parallels to the parades of the late dictators Saddam Hussein (of Iraq) and Muammar Gaddafi (of Libya) – hollow displays of power that preceded the swift and total collapse of their oppressive regimes, bringing down the walls of tyranny with them.
ISRAEL AND America serve merely as scapegoats, while the regime’s true enemy is the Iranian people, which is poised to rise at any moment.
A nation suffocated by oppression and tyranny and desperate for change anxiously awaits the inevitable collapse of the regime. Reformists and the state’s propaganda machine cannot mask the grotesque reality of this monstrous system with superficial embellishments.
Many of those who participated in Khomeini’s 1979 chaos – figures with tarnished records and zero credibility – have lost all popularity among the people. Most are little more than media figures, lacking real influence or a genuine base within Iran. Trapped in their delusions, they continue to wage imaginary battles against the late shah, ignoring Khamenei and his theocratic dictatorship.
This regime is rotting from within, like a tree hollowed out by worms, its scorched roots incapable of sustaining its structure.
Long-term rule cannot be upheld by bayonets, clubs, or bullets. The nation is paralyzed, grappling with crippling energy shortages, while the remnants of the national treasury are squandered – either to fund terrorism and wage futile wars against Israel or to sustain the machinery of propaganda and repression.
The future of Iran appears destined for collapse, an inevitability that the Middle East, too, seems to anticipate. Such a collapse will almost certainly usher in a period of unrest and chaos. Yet, given the shallow roots of the destructive ideology born in 1979, there is reason to hope that the regime’s hysterical reactions and relentless propaganda will fail to gain traction or establish any semblance of legitimacy.
We would do well to reflect on the parting words of the late shah of Iran, who, upon leaving Niavaran Palace, urged: “Let us all think of Iran in these critical times!”
In the harsh reality of today, little of the Iran he envisioned remains. Decades of mismanagement by incompetent and unqualified rulers have driven this once-beautiful nation into an abyss of destruction. In this devastated land, the people await their spring.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837210https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837210
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URl: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/israel-gaza-jewish-syria-iran/d/134312
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