The year 1979 holds a grim resonance for anyone who understands the interplay between ideology and global power structures. In that fateful year, the shah of Iran was toppled by a revolution led by none other than the shrewd Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. While the world witnessed the fall of a monarch, it failed to see the far more insidious play being orchestrated by Khomeini.
Behind his promises of justice, equality, and democracy lay a far darker ambition – the creation of a theocratic regime determined to wage ideological war against the West.
The youth of the day, particularly students, intellectuals, and left-wing activists, were swept up in the fervor of Khomeini’s revolution. They rallied behind the dream of an egalitarian society, oblivious to the totalitarian nightmare that would follow.
Khomeini’s genius lay in his ability to sell a facade of freedom, while underneath, he built the foundations for a war against the very values that the West holds dear.
Khomeini’s true revolution was not merely political but also ideological. His rise to power marked the beginning of an unrelenting war against liberalism, democracy, and secularism. His co-opting of the left-leaning factions, who believed they were fighting for a just cause, was an act of unparalleled manipulation.
Those well-intentioned revolutionaries, too blinded by their ideals, failed to see that they were not contributing to the building of a just society but instead they were laying the groundwork for the suppression of freedoms they held dear.
Fast forward to today, and Khomeini’s ideological war is very much alive, albeit in a new form. The tools may have changed, but the objective remains the same: to destabilize the West by undermining its core values.
In this contemporary struggle, the Palestinian cause has been hijacked and weaponized by Iran to serve its broader ideological agenda. Once a legitimate movement for Palestinian self-determination, the Palestinian cause is now cynically manipulated by the Islamic Republic as a tool to wage war against Western values.
This manipulation is evident in the Iranian regime’s support for Palestinian factions and in the co-option of a new generation of activists, intellectuals, and students. In their pursuit of justice for Palestinians, they have unwittingly become foot soldiers for a cause much larger than they realize.
They are marching in line with Iran’s revolutionary ideology, attacking Israel with slogans and protests, but what they fail to understand is that they are helping to dismantle the very freedoms that make their activism possible.Irony, of course, is the hallmark of this situation.
These youthful idealists, in their eagerness to dismantle Israel, are, in effect, advocating for the destruction of the very system that allows them to express their dissent. They are working to tear down the freedoms that enable them to shout their slogans and protest in the streets. They are, without realizing it, aligning themselves with those who would strip away their right to protest, their right to free speech, and their right to live in a democratic society.
Pawns in Iran's ideological war
In their naivety, these young people have become pawns in Iran’s ideological war. Iran, ever the puppet master, has turned Palestinian solidarity into a tool for sowing division and chaos in the West.
The true goal of Iran’s intervention is not Palestinian liberation – it is the destruction of Western liberalism itself. By rallying young people around the cause of Palestinian self-determination, Iran has masked its true intentions, using the rhetoric of liberation to create an ideological battlefield in the heart of Western democracies.
These young activists are not acting in isolation; they are part of a much larger geopolitical game. Iran’s objective is to create unrest, to undermine the West’s cohesion, and to weaken the democratic foundations upon which our societies are built.
The Palestinian cause, once a legitimate and important movement, has been repurposed to serve Iran’s broader war against the West. And in the process, it has become a battleground for ideologies, with the future of democratic values hanging in the balance.
What is particularly tragic about this manipulation is the disconnection from the reality of the conflict. These young activists, many of whom have never faced the horrors of war or the oppression of totalitarianism, are being fed narratives that do not reflect the complexities of the situation.
They repeat slogans and chants about liberation and justice, without understanding the deeper implications of their actions. They are, in essence, using “click-bait” rhetoric, manipulated into supporting a cause without truly understanding the consequences.
For those of us who value the freedoms of democracy, secularism, and individual rights, it is incumbent to recognize the true scope of this ideological war. This is not just about Israel; it is about the very values that underpin our society.
Khomeini’s legacy lives on in the manipulation of youth, in the hijacking of causes for ideological purposes. Iran, through its support of Palestinian factions, has weaponized the idealism of young people, using their passion for justice as a means to further its own revolutionary agenda.
The tragic irony is that these youth, in their desire to see justice for Palestinians, are inadvertently helping to undermine the very freedoms that they believe they are fighting for.
It is time for us to recognize this manipulation for what it is. Iran is not interested in justice for Palestinians. It is interested in the destruction of the West.
The youth who march in solidarity with Palestinians are not simply protesting against Israel; they are marching in step with a regime that seeks to dismantle everything the West stands for. The Palestinian cause, in its current form, has become a tool in a larger war against the West. The very system that allows these young activists to speak out is the one they are helping to dismantle.
If we are to protect our democratic values, we must resist this manipulation and make it clear that the fight for justice must not come at the expense of our freedom. And it is time to defend it.
The writer is the executive director of We Believe In Israel.