Khurram Khan
Israel views the Iranian government as an existential threat given the avowed declaration of the latter to free Palestine and Al Quds from the occupation of an illegitimate state. This policy was reiterated by the current President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran when he was elected as President in 2024 stating, “The Islamic Republic has always supported the resistance of the people of the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime..”. Iran before the revolution of 1979 had cordial relations with Israel except during a brief interlude during the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh from 1951-53, when Iran severed relations with Israel in the wake of its nationalisation of oil companies of Britain adopting a belligerent stance against the Western Bloc.
The revolution in 1979 in Iran brought in power the clergy that was anti US and its protege – Israel. It held that the state of Israel was illegitimate. It took up the cause of Palestinians very early on. Ayatollah Khomeini the spiritual leader of Iran in 1979 announced observing Al Quds Day on the last Friday of Ramadan to free Jerusalem from the occupation of Israel. The clarion call was given in the backdrop of tension between Israel and Palestinians living in Lebanon.
Establishment of Zionist state at the behest of the USA in 1948 that was earlier committed by the British in the Balfour Declaration in 1917 became the pawn of the Western Bloc against the competing Communist Bloc led by the USSR. The alignment of Israel with the Western Bloc and with their full support it had in 1948 Arab Israeli War, disillusioned Arab states, which one after the other overthrew pro-West Arab monarchies/regimes through military led pro USSR coups. The cause of Palestine became the rallying point of Arab nationalism. With the demise of the USSR, these states became rudderless and weak but lingered on before the Western Bloc decimated them through stoking internal strife and civil wars.
The Arab countries one after the other have recoiled to accept the existence of Israel starting with the peace agreement signed by Egypt in 1977.The Oslo agreement brokered by the US between Israel and Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) proved to be the abject surrender by the latter and all its famed leader Yasir Arafat was able to gain was a toothless head of a municipality called Palestinian Authority. Failure of Arab states to protect the rights of Palestinian people gave rise to the Islamist forces to take up cudgels against Israel. Hamas a avowed Islamist Palestinian armed organisation aligned with Iran’s Arc of Resistance that included Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Syrian forces of Bashar al-Assad. Palestinian issue was transformed from an Arab cause to an Islamic cause. Iran espoused the Palestine cause to become leader in the Muslim world when other (predominantly Arab) Muslim states could not deliver and gave lip service to their cause.
Armed incursion by Hamas on October 7, 2023 inside Israel – the first time after the 1948 Arab Israel War – killed 1139 Israelis and Hamas took 251 of its citizens as hostages. The Hamas attack ignited a series of retributory attacks by Israel inside Gaza that is continuing unabated till today in which over at least 55,104 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and 127,394 have been injured till June 11, 2025. Israel with murderous intent has flattened infrastructure, homes, buildings, hospitals, and schools in the tiny strip of Gaza. It stopped humanitarian aid to the starving inhabitants of Gaza and bombarded aid centres and camps. The brutality exhibited by Israel against unarmed Palestinians has no parallel since the conventions and treaties have been framed against war crimes and establishing UN Humanitarian Law.
Israel seized the opportunity of eliminating the only threat to its existence that is Iran and its allies in the region. It has decimated the leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon and considerably weakened the organisation that is totally aligned with Iran. Removal of Bashar al Assad in Syria severed the crucial link of Iran with Hezbollah. Rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme in the event of a deal between US and Iran has never been the aim of Israel. It wants to destroy the nuclear programme of Iran and for that is working to topple the Iranian government as it thinks that continuation of the current Iranian government would be a lurking threat.
Will Israel be secure after the Iranian threat is overcome? Ruthless and murderous assault on Palestinians and those who stand by them will not be erased from the memory of the victims. The bitterness and resentment will simmer. If the Jews couldn’t forget their exodus some 2000 years ago from Palestine and stake their claim to the land (in the wake of anti Semitism sweeping across Europe during the 20th Century )after that long time then we should not write off the desire of the Palestinians to make a comeback and continue to fight the Zionist Goliath.
The author is former Joint Director General, Intelligence Bureau, Govt. of Pakistan
