On Sunday, October 5, I was at Rav Aron Schuster Synagogue in Amsterdam to commemorate the October 7 attack on the Jewish people.
This gathering was scheduled to take place around 6 p.m. However, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema (GL/PvdA, The Labor Party and Green Left) was unable to guarantee security due to an anti-Israel demonstration in which her party leader Frans Timmermans was participating. What are they protesting? Are they protesting against Hamas or the Ayatollah regime? No, they are protesting against the Jewish state and rejecting President Trump's peace plan. Does the left want the Gaza war to continue?
The meeting was attended by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. In conversation with him prior to the meeting, I told him that we must not abandon Dutch Jews. Dutch Jews are threatened by rising antisemitism and concern about the security of the Jewish people in Israel. Dick Schoof is a dignified leader. Other politicians were also present, such as Carolien van der Plas, Ulysse Ellian, Don Ceder, and Claudia van Zanten. Left-wing politicians did not appear.
The EU, America, and other democratic countries condemned the October 7 attack and affirmed Israel's right to self-defense. The Gaza war began. On October 10, Iranian leader Khamenei said in a speech to his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers that he kissed the foreheads and arms of those who planned and carried out the October 7 attack. What role did Khamenei and his IRGC play in this horrific attack?
As early as October 8, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Iran had been helping to plan the attack on Israel for several weeks. WSJ spoke with several Hezbollah commanders who revealed that “Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas's Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed terrorist group.” The Biden administration claimed in the same article that they had seen no evidence of Iranian involvement. That was a false claim.
Last week, General Esmail Qaani, commander of IRGC-Quds, said that Hezbollah had helped with Hamas' plan for the attack. He himself was in Beirut on October 7, 2023, and spoke with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Qaani said, "During this meeting on October 7, it was decided that Hezbollah would start rocket attacks on Israel on October 8."
So, keep in mind: One of Khamenei's top commanders was in Beirut on October 7 at a Hezbollah meeting. However, according to various sources, he was already in Beirut before October 7. We must also not lose sight of the fact that IRGC General Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the air strike on the Hezbollah bunker in Beirut (September 2024). He is said to have been in the bunker with Nasrallah when it was blown up.
The underground networks of the dissident movement 7 Aban Front in Iran told me that Khamenei and the IRGC were deeply involved in the October 7 attack and its aftermath. President Biden, like President Obama, apparently wanted to maintain the Iranian regime. The Jewish state did what a state does: with the exception of Qaani, all other commanders of Hezbollah, the IRGC, and Hamas are in hell.
Even now, the Iranian regime is still working to sabotage President Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the Gaza war. All major Arab and other Islamic countries have supported the peace plan. The Ayatollah regime, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis are opposed to this peace plan. Gaza is the last place where the IRGC can reach Israel on foot. That is now coming to an end. If Hamas in and outside Gaza does not implement the peace plan, this horrific war will continue and ultimately end in Tehran. On October 7, the fate of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah was sealed. The axis of evil celebrates hatred of Jews.
'Haaretz' repeats IRGC propaganda
While Khamenei's regime has hanged an average of nine people per day since the beginning of this year, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published an article entitled The Israeli Influence Operation in Iran Pushing to Reinstate the Shah Monarchy.
Haaretz apparently knows more than Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Monarchy? Reza Pahlavi does not defend a monarchy or a republic. Over and again in recent decades, he has said: “After the fall of the regime in a referendum, the Iranians themselves must decide which model of state they want, monarchy or republic.”
For the editors of Haaretz, see his speech at Oxford University. Perhaps their left-wing editors think I am part of a Jewish conspiracy. So, here is more evidence for left-wing friends: in 2021, Prince Reza Pahlavi said, “Iranians do not need a ‘master,’” he says in the audio file. He argues that “person-centric [political] culture” should be replaced with a “system-centric [political] culture.” That is why there are still monarchists who are angry about Reza Pahlavi.
Pahlavi becoming more popular in Iran every day
All Iranians know what Pahlavi wants: the supremacy of human rights, secularism, and democracy. That is why many asked him to take the lead in the struggle against the regime. He is now doing so. Reza Pahlavi is becoming more popular in Iran every day because he wants to unite all Iranians, regardless of their views on the model of government (monarchy or republic), left or right.
Haaretz claims that the Israeli government is helping Iranian dissidents. That is actually the claim of the Iranian regime. In reality, Israel does little for Iranian dissidents. And that is precisely the problem. We are currently unable to help our friends in Iran. Haaretz confuses Iranians with Palestinians, who are supported by almost everyone. All Hamas leaders, including Sinwar, were guests of Khamenei at some point. Now they are even distributing images of those meetings.
For the first time in its history, Israel received Prince Reza Pahlavi a few years ago. If Israel gave half of the support that Khamenei's regime gives to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah to Iranian dissidents, little would remain of Khamenei and his IRGC. Left-wing Israelis need to know that the IRGC, Hamas, and others do not distinguish between left-wing and right-wing Jews when it comes to exterminating Jews. Because they are well-seasoned anti-Semites.
The proper article in Haaretz should be: "We should be ashamed. Israel does little to nothing for Iranian dissidents." That would have been a truthful title.
The left must be careful not to end up on the wrong side of history. As long as the Ayatollah regime remains in power, Jews inside and outside Israel will not be safe.
Afshin Ellian is a legal philosopher and professor of jurisprudence at Leiden University.