Khamenei’s ‘strong’ message to pro-Palestinian students in America

By Dr. Mohsen Maarif

As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it, was the underlying message from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei wrote the letter addressed to the young conscientious students who support the Palestinian people in American universities, which was published on May 30, 2024.

This is the third letter from the leader of Iran addressed to the youth of Europe and North America since 2015. He wrote the first letter on January 21, 2015, which came after a new wave of Islamophobia in the West following the terrorist activities of Takfiri groups such as ISIS and specifically after the attack by members of this group on the office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in France on January 7, after the publication of a caricature of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by the magazine.

In that letter, the leader of Iran wrote about his motivation for adopting this method of public diplomacy: I address you, the youth; Not because I want to ignore your parents, but because I see the future of your nation is in your hands, and I also find the sense of seeking truth in your hearts more alive and alert. Also, I will not address your politicians and statesmen, because I believe that they have consciously separated the path of politics from the path of honesty and correctness.

The second letter from the leader of Iran was written on November 29, 2015, after the terrorist incidents in Paris on November 13, 2015, and in it, he wrote I ask you, the youth, to Lay the foundations of a correct interaction with the Islamic world with correct knowledge and insight and use of unfortunate experiences.

The text of the third letter, which was published on May 30 by his office, is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I am writing this letter to the young people whose awakened conscience has moved them to defend the oppressed women and children of Gaza.

Dear university students in the United States of America, this message is an expression of our empathy and solidarity with you. As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it.

You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honourable struggle in the face of your government's ruthless pressure—a government which openly supports the usurper and brutal Zionist regime.

The greater Resistance Front which shares the same understandings and feelings that you have today, has been engaged in the same struggle for many years in a place far from you. The goal of this struggle is to put an end to the blatant oppression that the brutal Zionist terrorist network has inflicted on the Palestinian nation for many years. After seizing their country, the Zionist regime has subjected them to the harshest of pressures and tortures.

The apartheid Zionist regime's genocide today is the continuation of extremely oppressive behaviour which has been going on for decades. Palestine is an independent land with a long history. It is a nation comprised of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

After the World War, the capitalist Zionist network gradually imported several thousand terrorists into this land with the help of the British government. These terrorists attacked cities and villages, murdered tens of thousands of people and pushed multitudes into neighbouring countries. They seized their homes, businesses and farmlands, formed a government in the usurped land of Palestine and called it Israel.

After England's initial help, the United States became the greatest supporter of this usurper regime, ceaselessly providing it with political, economic and military support. In an act of unforgivable recklessness, the United States even opened the way and assisted in the regime's production of nuclear weapons.

The Zionist regime used an iron-fist policy against the defenseless people of Palestine from the very beginning and has, day by day, intensified its brutality, terror and repression in complete disregard for all moral, human and religious values.

The United States government and its allies refused to even frown upon this state terrorism and ongoing oppression. And today, some remarks by the US government regarding the horrific crimes taking place in Gaza are more hypocritical than real.

The Resistance Front emerged from this dark environment of despair, and the establishment of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran expanded and fortified it.

The global Zionist elite – who owns most US and European media corporations or influences them through funding and bribery – has labelled this courageous, humane resistance movement as "terrorism".

Can one call a people a terrorist nation for defending themselves on their own land against the crimes of the occupying Zionists? And is helping such a nation and strengthening it, an act of terrorism?

The oppressive leaders of global hegemony mercilessly distort even the most basic human concepts. They portray the ruthless, terrorist Israeli regime as acting in self-defense ­– yet they portray the Palestinian Resistance which defends its freedom, security and the right to self-determination, as terrorists!

I would like to assure you that today the circumstances are changing. A different fate awaits the important region of West Asia. The people's conscience has awakened on a global scale, and the truth is coming to light.

Moreover, the Resistance Front has grown in strength and will become even stronger.

And history is turning a page.

Besides students from dozens of American universities, there have also been uprisings in other countries among academics and the general public.

The support and solidarity of your professors is a significant and consequential development. This can offer some measure of comfort in the face of your government's police brutality and the pressures it is exerting on you. I too am among those who empathize with you young people and value your perseverance.

The Quran's lesson for us Muslims and all of humanity is to stand up for that which is right: "So be steadfast as you have been commanded" (11:112).

The Quran's lesson for human relations is: "Do not oppress and do not be oppressed" (2:279).

The Resistance Front advances by a comprehensive understanding and the practice of these and hundreds of other such commands – and will attain victory with the permission of God.

My advice to you is to become familiar with the Quran.

Sayyid Ali Khamenei

May 25, 2024