The Iranian Regime: Anti-Semitism, Expansion in the Middle East & Refugee Crisis #noAlQuds

Anti-Semitism is a core element of the ideology of the Iranian regime. It manifests itself in classic anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and hostility towards the Jewish state. On so-called Quds Day, this hatred culminates regularly in calls for Israel’s destruction. Introduced in 1979 after the “Islamic Revolution” in Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini, the “Day for the liberation of Jerusalem from Zionist occupation” – i.e. the propaganda event calling for the annihilation of Israel – is to be held annually at the end of Ramadan.

But after last year’s rotten nuclear deal, which institutionalized the components of Iran’s nuclear weapons program rather than dismantling them, noone really wants to talk anymore about the regime’s character. Amid this silence on the one hand, and the European political and business delegations traveling to Tehran on the other hand, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have succeeded in massively expanding their influence in the region and now pose as a partner in the “war on terror”. The rise of the “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria is closely connected to the Iranian regime’s export of the revolution and the policies of the Assad regime. While the IS enjoys great attention because of its abhorrent atrocities, politics and media tend to ignore the Iranian regime’s policy of regional destabilization and its support for Assad and Hezbollah as one of the causes for the flight of millions of people. The discussion will highlight why the “Islamic Republic“ cannot be a partner for the West in the fight against the “Islamic State” and for a peaceful solution in Syria.

Thaer Al-Nashef is a Syrian journalist and dissident who fled from the Assad regime to Austria via Egypt, Turkey and the Balkan route. International media like the TIME Magazine, Haaretz and Austria’s Der Standard featured his story.

Florian Markl is the chief analyst at the independent Middle East think tank MENA and co-autor of “Der Iran. Analyse einer islamischen Diktatur und ihrer europäischen Förderer” and “Iran im Weltsystem. Bündnisse des Regimes und Perspektiven der Freiheitsbewegung“

Simone Dinah Hartmann is Executive Director of the Middle East Democracy Alliance (MEDEA) and co-editor of “Der Iran. Analyse einer islamischen Diktatur und ihrer europäischen Förderer” and “Iran im Weltsystem. Bündnisse des Regimes und Perspektiven der Freiheitsbewegung“.