FifthYears or years ago, long before I fled to Germany, when I was still teaching children in Kabul, I once drew a star in one of my students’ notebooks as a little incentive. The next day, a mullah said to me: “There are no stars in the books. „This is a Jewish sign.”
I love my star students. They did not think about religion, politics, or war. But in many countries of the Islamic world, children are raised from an early age to view Jews as enemies.
Since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, and the Israeli army’s subsequent ground attack on the Gaza Strip, hatred against the Jewish state has escalated. Thousands of people took to the streets around the world to demonstrate against Israel, burning the country’s flags and chanting anti-Semitic slogans.
Particularly aggressive is Iran, which is not only financing the Hezbollah terrorist militia in Lebanon, but is also recruiting fighters against the Jewish state in other countries. The population of the Islamic Republic itself must be persuaded to participate in the fight against Israel through propaganda. But this works worse and worse.
Videos show how Tehran is trying to indoctrinate school children. An Iranian father sent a video To the YouTube channel Manoto-Gozareshgar -Anonymous for security reasons. Iranians saw how harshly the regime dealt with supporters of the protest movement that was formed under the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” more than a year ago after the death of the young woman, Gina Mahsa Amini, at the hands of Al-Akhlaqi. police.
The father says in the video that his daughter was asked to draw the Palestinian flag in the first grade. He suggested that she draw an Israeli flag instead. Then he was called to the school administration.
“I would like to go there, but I would like to point out that we have a lot of problems in our country,” the father says in the video. I do not support the State of Palestine, which deprives me of my bread. I would like to announce this everywhere. “At my daughter’s school, everywhere.”
Popular resistance against the regime
Many dissidents’ videos are posted anonymously, and their social media accounts are under pseudonyms. However, speaking out is brave. People who show their resistance openly are braver.
Video footage from Tehran’s Azadi Stadium showed dozens of fans demanding the removal of Palestinian flags from the stadium over the weekend following the brutal terror attack by Hamas. In chants, they called on regime supporters to “raise the Palestinian flag over their asses.”
At the funeral of Iranian director Dariush Mehrjoi on October 18 in Tehran, participants also expressed their opposition. Mehrjoy and his wife were killed in their home on October 14. At the memorial service, one of the speakers said: “We stand by you and will fight Israel and the Zionist entity.” The attendees interrupted her with shouts of booing so that she could not continue her insults to the Jewish state.
Another video, Regime critic and democracy activist Naveed Mohebi Shared on X, it shows students in their morning meeting. Palestinian flags fluttered in front of them. They should chant „Death to Israel.” Instead they chanted „Death to Palestine.” Importantly, Mohebi writes, “these calls are not intended to express hostility toward the Palestinians, but rather as a response to the regime’s propaganda.”
These cases show that Tehran’s propaganda provokes open protests among the younger generation. For many, their freedom and improved quality of life are far more important than historical hostility with Israel.
Political analyst Morad Vaisi said in an interview with Iranian Foreign Television that the war with Israel simply did not make sense for the Iranian people: “When the Iranians used to participate in the war against Saddam’s Iraq (Hussein, ed.), it attacked our country. The Iranians have no national interest in The war between Hamas and Israel.”
“The Iranians do not support Palestine”
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic ignores the mood of the population and continues its propaganda. The pro-government newspaper, Al-Hamshahri, talks about a campaign under the hashtag “I am your opponent.”
The logo is inspired by Qassem Soleimani’s statement about the United States of America. The commander of the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was killed by a US drone in Iraq in 2020. She wrote on X Regime critic and peace activist Sheena Vojodi In response: “Let’s see if they end up like Soleimani.”
Tehran also calls on the Iranian people to actively participate in and register in the fight against Israel in the Gaza Strip. A dedicated website aims to show how many Iranians are willing to fight against the Israeli army in the Palestinian territories.
According to the website, six million volunteers have reportedly already registered. But Iranian social media users believe the numbers are fake and make fun of them.
According to various political commentators, the majority of the population no longer supports the regime. Or as Iranian political scientist Hatem Qaderi said in an interview with Euronews: “The Islamic Republic has lost its people. “The Iranians do not support Palestine.”
Translated from English by Jessica Wagner. Zainab Farahmand worked first as a teacher and then as a journalist in the Afghan capital until the fall of Kabul. After the Taliban came to power, she fled to Germany.