Tag Archive for: 2023

Iranian Officials Acknowledge Iran’s Role In Planning And Executing October 7 Hamas Invasion And Massacres In Southern Israel

On several occasions, Iranian officials have revealed that the Iranian regime was involved in the planning and execution of Hamas’s “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres in southern Israel in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 240 were taken hostage. Statements by these officials contradict the regime’s official stance, as expressed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on October 10, 2023, that Iran was not involved in the attack.[1]

Below are recent statements by Iranian regime officials and mouthpieces acknowledging the Iranian regime’s involvement in the October 7 attacks.

Coalition Council Of Islamic Revolution Forces: Zahedi “Played A Strategic Role” In “The Planning And Execution Of Al-Aqsa Flood”

On April 3, 2024, the Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces, which is affiliated with the conservative ideological faction in Iran, published a notice of mourning and appreciation for Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the IRGC Qods Force commander in Syria and Lebanon, along with his deputy Mohammad Hadi Rahimi and five other senior Qods Force officials, who were all killed in the April 1 airstrike in the Iranian consulate complex in Damascus that has been attributed to Israel.

The Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces is headed by Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, who is advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as well as the father-in-law of Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei. He is also a member of the Expediency Council, and a former Majlis speaker.

The April 3 announcement clearly indicates that Gen. Zahedi was involved in the planning and execution of the October 7 attack. It stated: “The strategic role of the martyr Zahedi in consolidating and strengthening the resistance front, and in the planning and execution of Al-Aqsa Flood, are part of the great pride that will transform the quiet efforts of this great commander into the eternal history of the struggle against the occupation by the Zionist regime.”[2]

The seven IRGC Qods Force officers killed in the April 1, 2024 airstrike against the Iranian consulate complex in Damascus. Source: Mashregh News (Iran), April 3, 2024.

For more details, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11264, Close Associate Of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei: The IRGC Qods Force Commander For Syria And Lebanon Who Was Killed In Damascus Was Involved In Planning And Execution Of October 7 Hamas Attack, April 9, 2024.

IRGC Qods Force Deputy Operations Chief Gen. Mohsen Chizari On Qods Force Deputy Commander In Syria And Lebanon Hajj Rahimi, Killed In Damascus Iranian Consulate Compound Airstrike: Under Khamenei’s Command, The Resistance Axis Commanders – Including Hajj Rahimi – Successfully “Advanced The Resistance Front To A Certain Place, The Result Of Which Was Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”

In a May 12, 2024 interview with Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, IRGC Qods Force deputy operations chief General Mohsen Chizari said that Qods Force Deputy Commander in Syria and Lebanon Hajj Rahimi, one of the officers killed in the April 1 airstrike in Damascus, had been responsible for training resistance axis members, and that his command and efforts had “resulted” in the Al-Aqsa Flood.

General Chizari elaborated: “The honorable [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] is the commander of the resistance axis, and he alone directs, leads and commands it. At one point, the command in the area was in the hands of Hajj Qassem [Soleimani], who worked under Khamenei. Under this command, other commanders [including Hajj Rahimi] successfully advanced the resistance front to a certain place, the result of which was Operation Al-Aqsa Flood [on October 7, 2023].”[3]

Left: IRGC Qods Force deputy operations chief General Mohsen Chizari. Source: Tasnim News Agency (Iran), May 12, 2024. Right: Hajj Rahimi (center) alongside IRGC Qods Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani (left). At the time this photo was taken, Hajj Rahimi was the commander of the Imam Ali special forces unit. Source: Tasnim News Agency (Iran), May 12, 2024.

For more details, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11392, IRGC Qods Force Deputy Operations Chief Gen. Mohsen Chizari On Qods Force Deputy Commander In Syria And Lebanon Hajj Rahimi, Killed In Damascus: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ‘Directs, Leads, And Commands’ The Resistance Axis; Under Him, The Resistance Axis Commanders – Including Hajj Rahimi – Successfully ‘Advanced The Resistance Front To A Certain Place, The Result Of Which Was Operation Al-Aqsa Flood [On October 7, 2023]’, June 11, 2024.

IRGC Spokesman Ramazan Sharif: October 7 Was “One Of The Resistance Axis’s Acts Of Vengeance Against The Zionists For The Killing Of [Qassem] Soleimani”

Marking the third anniversary of the January 3, 2020 killing of the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. air strike, along with the December 25, 2023 killing of senior IRGC officer Gen. Razi Moussavi in Damascus in an Israeli air strike, IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif said that the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023 was “one of the resistance axis’s acts of vengeance against the Zionists for the killing of [IRGC Qods Force commander Gen. Qassim] Soleimani.”[4] Several hours after Fars News published Sharif’s statements on its website, his sentence stating that the October 7 Hamas operation was revenge for Soleimani’s killing was removed.

Screenshot of Fars News publication of Sharif’s statements. Source: Farsnews.ir, December 27, 2023.

For more details, see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1736, IRGC Spokesman Sharif Asserts That Hamas’s October 7 Massacre Was ‘One Of The Resistance Axis’s Acts Of Vengeance Against The Zionists For The Killing Of [IRGC Qods Force Commander Qassem] Soleimani’ – And His Statements Were Later Edited In Iranian Media Coverage Of Them, January 2, 2024.

Iranian Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan: Iran Is The Mind And Hands Behind Hamas; Operation Al-Aqsa Flood Was Planned And Orchestrated By Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani Before He Was Killed; Khamenei Hinted In August 2022, August 2023 At “The Complete Conquest” Of Israel

In an October 10, 2023 article titled “[Operation] Al-Aqsa Flood Is the Beginning Of The End Of [Israel’s] 75-Year Occupation,” the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan stated that a plan for Israel’s destruction, formulated and organized by Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani and dictated by him to the commanders of the resistance organizations just before his assassination by the U.S. in January 2020, has begun to be implemented. Kayhan in fact clarified that Khamenei was party to the plan and hinted twice that a great victory was on the horizon. Kayhan also wrote that Khamenei had hinted at victory in August 2022 and in August 2023 had suggested that a major operation would take place soon, indicating that Khamenei had clearly known about Iranian plans for the attack. The article stated:

“Today it emerges that his powers of planning and operational strategy were boundless. In the last meeting he held before he was martyred, Soleimani spent [seven hours], from 8:00 until 15:00, outlining the future plan for all the resistance factions and the way they would interact with one another. What the resistance factions found unusual in that meeting was that Hajj Qassem [Soleimani] stressed that everybody had to write down [what he said]. ‘Write down what I say, [he insisted]. I am outlining the charter for the next five years!’ The unity of the resistance factions based on this five-year charter is the fruit of Soleimani’s martyrdom and part of the resistance factions’ harsh revenge…

“The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave ‘the promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest.”[5]

For more details, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10857, Iranian Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan: Iran Is The Mind And Hands Behind Hamas; Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Was Planned, Orchestrated By Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani Before He Was Killed; Khamenei Hinted In August 2022, August 2023 At ‘The Complete Conquest’ Of Israel, October 12, 2023.

Iranian Armed Forces Commander Ali Bagheri: The Entire World Is Witnessing How The “Sapling” Planted By Soleimani Has Become A Strong And Stable Tree Waging Resistance That Will Destroy The Zionists

Iranian armed forces commander Ali Bagheri said on November 21, 2023 at the tomb of slain IRGC Qods Force commander Qassim Soleimani, killed in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020:

“These are the days when the entire world is witnessing how the sapling planted by the lord of the martyrs of the resistance front, [Qassem] Soleimani, and his colleagues has become a strong and stable tree that is waging resistance and that will destroy the Zionists. We in [Iran’s] armed forces, along with all the young people who join the army, see Hajj Qassem Soleimani as a role model whose footsteps must be followed and whom we must try to imitate.”[6]

Iranian armed forces commander Ali Bagheri. Source: Tasnim News Agency, November 21, 2023.

For more details, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1729, Iranian Regime Officials Praise Iran’s Proxies In The Palestinian Resistance And The October 7 Massacres, Call For Eradication Of Israel, December 1, 2023.

Exclusive Report By Iranian News Agency Tasnim: ‘The “Mighty Pillar” Maneuvers Were The Resistance [Organizations’] Planning For An Attack On Israel; [They Constituted] Four Years Of Training The Palestinians For ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’

The Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), published, on October 15, 2023, an exclusive report titled “The ‘Mighty Pillar’ Maneuvers Were The Resistance [Organizations’] Planning For An Attack On Israel; [They Constituted] Four Years Of Training The Palestinians For ‘Al-Aqsa Flood.'” The report extensively reviewed documentation of Hamas members’ training in maneuvers held in the past four years in advance of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The report stressed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had declared that the operation’s name would be “Al-Aqsa Flood” many years before its execution, and that he had ordered the establishment of a joint command and control center – commanded by Iran – for the resistance groups, with Iran providing weapons and training under the command of IRGC Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani, and later by his successor Esmail Qaani.

Left: Simulated capture of “Zionist” soldiers in the “Might Pillar” military exercise. Right: Capture of Israeli soldier during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023. Source: Tasnim News Agency (Iran), October 15, 2023.

For more details, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10889, Exclusive Report By Iranian News Agency Tasnim: ‘The “Mighty Pillar” Maneuvers Were The Resistance [Organizations’] Planning For An Attack On Israel; [They Constituted] Four Years Of Training The Palestinians For ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’, October 19, 2023.

SOURCES:

[1] Khamenei.ir, October 10, 2023. It should be noted that on the following day, an editorial published by Aser-i Iran (Iran) called on Iranian regime officials – and specifically the ideologically radical ones – to not say anything about Iran’s ties to the “Hamas-Israel conflict,” since this may harm Iran’s national interests. The article, titled “Beware Of A Own Goal In The Hamas-Israel Conflict,” said that Iranian officials should not deviate from the official stance voiced by Khamenei, which says that Iran is proud of the Palestinian resistance that carried out the attack and encourages its continuation, but is not involved in it. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10860, Iranian Website Asr-e Iran Calls On Iranians Not To Speak Out On Iranian Involvement In ‘The Hamas-Israel Conflict’ – For Fear Of Harming Iranian Interests And International Status, October 13, 2023.

[2] Mashregh News (Iran), April 3, 2024.

[3] Tasnim News Agency (Iran), May 12, 2024.

[4] Farsnews.ir, December 27, 2023.

[5] Kayhan (Iran), October 10, 2023.

[6] Tasnim News Agency (Iran), November 23, 2023.

RELATED ARTICLE: Ignore the Reformer Charade in Iran

EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Franklin Graham after Seeing Hamas’s Carnage: ‘It’s Like Every Demon in Hell Was Let Loose’

Warning: Graphic descriptions of Hamas torture are included below.

Everyone who’s witnessed the aftermath of Hamas — who’s stepped inside the charred houses or walked the bloody streets of a kibbutz after October 7 — has been changed. Like so many people who’ve seen pictures of the destruction on news sites across America, nothing prepared Franklin Graham for the sight of real graves, of bullet-holed walls, and haunted survivors. “These communities are empty,” he said somberly, but the echoes of their tragedies live on.

Back from the Israel-Gaza border, Billy Graham’s son tried to put into words the barbarity and destruction he saw. “The people have had to flee,” he explained to “Washington Watch” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice. “They can’t live that close to the border with the fighting, so they’re in hotels throughout the country.” Instead, Graham said, “The Israeli army is there — a lot of them.”

Scanning what remained of the houses — some in rubble from rockets, others black from fire’s ash — Graham walked through the ravaged neighborhoods. “They took me to the command centers to show me the video pictures from just their surveillance cameras on that day.” He remembers seeing truckloads of people, streaming across the borders “with “heavy machine guns in the back of the trucks, with soldiers or terrorists that jump out and just shoot people on the side of the road and go on.”

“And then you meet people and talk to people that lived through this and somehow escaped, but they lost loved ones.” That was difficult, he admits. “I met a woman whose husband was a doctor, and they remember they didn’t know what was going on. At 7:30 in the morning, they just heard some gunshots. And this doctor said, ‘Please come to the clinic.’ And so he runs to the clinic, which was maybe a block away, and there he was shot. All the patients were shot.”

Graham relayed horror after horror. “Hand grenades were thrown into the clinic. Women were captured, raped. One was raped, and while the man was doing this act, he takes a gun and shoots her in the head. And then things like cutting their breasts off and throwing their breasts like a like a football to each other.” He stopped. “I’ve never witnessed brutality like this. And some of the terrorists that were captured were asked, ‘Why did you kidnap children? Why did you take children as hostages so that they could rape them?’ And it’s like every demon in hell was let loose.”

He met with families still stunned by shock and grief. “It’s had a huge impact,” Graham insisted. “And I just pray for these families that have lost their loved ones. I pray for the families who have loved ones down in those tunnels that were taken hostage. One lady who lost her daughter, whose daughter was killed in that [same] clinic, she said, ‘I’m so glad my daughter is dead.’ She said, ‘I wouldn’t know what to do if she was a hostage. I wouldn’t know how to handle that.’ But just the fear that’s in people’s hearts.”

Graham says he tried to pray with “everybody I met.” “I would quote Old Testament Scripture to them and remind them of God’s promises and His love. … And they were so appreciative of prayer.” He tried to remind them that “the only one that can heal their hearts is God, and He’s the God of all comfort.”

Meeting with the parents whose sons and daughters were kidnapped and taken into Gaza was especially heart-wrenching. “I prayed for these mothers,” he told Hice, “for their children and loved ones that are down in those tunnels that are being held hostage. I said, ‘[They’re] not down there alone. God is there with them.’ And we would pray that God would put his loving arms around those hostages, and that they would sense the presence of God as we prayed. And everyone was so appreciative of prayer. [Their] people are hungry spiritually. They don’t have any answers. They’re not getting answers from anyone. And when you pray for them, it touches their heart.”

Including, Graham said, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “First of all, I wanted to encourage him. … And so we talked for a while. But then I asked him, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, is it okay if I pray for you?’ And he was very appreciative of that. And we prayed and just prayed that God would give him wisdom and strengthen him and guide and direct him as they move forward here in these next few weeks and months. It’s going to be very difficult, and I just pray that God would just be with him and strengthen him.”

For now, the evangelist wanted people to know, Samaritan’s Purse is going to be “working there for some time.” “We’ve got great teams on the ground helping those [who] are stuck in the hotels and have no place to go.” But for everyone here at home, he said there’s one thing we can all do: pray. Pray for the hurting families, pray for Israel’s leadership and America’s leadership, but most of all, Graham urged, pray for the church and volunteers. “Pray that we will be faithful to lift up Christ wherever we go.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: What Does Osama bin Laden’s Viral Moment on TikTok Mean for America?

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 42

Today is day 42 since the October 7th unprovoked attack by Hamas against the sovereign state of Israel.

This date will go down in infamy because 10 days before the attack Hamas and Israel signed a cease fire agreement.

Watch This Pat Condell video from nine years ago to understand.

Watch Robert Spencer with James Kaddis on how the ‘Palestinian’ cause is based on lies

Israel is following up on its promise to destroy Hamas by either killing or capturing the Hamas leadership and its followers.

Recently, top Hamas officials Ahmad Bahr and Palestinian Freedom Movement Secretary-General Khaled Abu Hilal  were killed in an IDF Gaza airstrikes.

Here are two articles on the Hamas hiding in a hospital from the IDF and how the media lies about Israel.

  1. WEAPONS. HOSTAGES. BENEATH A HOSPITAL: Hamas and Islamic Jihad Stockpiling Weapons, Holding Hostages in Gaza Hospitals
  2. BBC Forced to Apologize for Another Inaccurate Report on IDF in Gaza, Admits They LIED and Falsely Made Claims Against IDF (Again)

Who is funding these pro-Hamas protests. George Soros, a Jew and Nazi collaborator, is funding these anti-Israel protests and fueling antisemitism.

Watch: Soros and the Middle Easterners Funding U.S. College Protests.

Here are three articles on  an attack, the dhimmitude of Dearborn Heights, Michigan and the growing existential threat to America by supporters of Hamas.

  1. Jew-Hating Bus Drivers Refused to Drive Jews to Pro-Israel Rally in DC, “Deliberate and Malicious Walkout,” Leaving Them on Tarmac at Dulles for 11 Hours
  2. TERROR TOWN: Dearborn Heights, Michigan Raises “Palestinian” Flags in Support of Hamas 
  3. Al Qaeda Reboot Coming for America!

VIDEO: Hundreds of Thousands March for Israel in Washington, D.C.

WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 42 on X

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

VIDEO: A Call To The Civilized World


Ladies and gentlemen, believers in democracy and modernity.

My name is Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a researcher of the Middle East and Islam.

Israel is at war.

A war between the Jewish state and Isis-like terrorists who believe that Jews should not have a state at all, should be subjugated to Islam, should be humiliated as it says in the Koran and should pay the jizia (head tax). According to their belief, if Jews dare to establish a state, even on their fore-fathers’ land, they should be exterminated.

On October 7th, in the early morning, Hamas attacked thousands of Israelis, for no reason. They murdered, raped, tortured and mutilated children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children and then shot them. It wasn’t enough to kill them however, and they desecrated the bodies, cutting of heads and burning them so that in some cases it is almost impossible to identify them.

Many of the terrorists filmed their barbaric acts and uploaded them to their social media.

Many Gazans followed the armed terrorists into Israeli territory in order to gloat, kill and loot. Others in Gaza went out to the streets and distributed sweets in celebration of this grand victory over the Jews.

Some 15 hundred Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered that day in cold blood. Entire families were wiped out and people who came to enjoy themselves at a music festival fell victim to hatred towards anything western. Statistically, 1500 Israelis can be compared in number to 45,000 Americans. 15 times the amount that were murdered on September 11th 2001.

Over 200 people were kidnapped and are held as hostages in Ghaza.

Hamas is the Palestinian tentacle of the Iranian octopus which has reached also into Lebanon, Hezbollah, militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, who are all preparing to wipe out Israel as per the orders of the Ayatollahs regime in Iran.

Israel’s struggle for survival is not only for Israel. If the jihadists succeed to destroy Israel, Europe will be the next and the Atlantic Ocean is not wide enough to keep America safe from this evil.

This is a war between good against evil, civilization against savagery, normalcy against barbarism. It is the struggle between western culture and the jihadists lead by Iran, who want to destroy it. Just imagine how the world will look like if Iran succeeds to acquire the doomsday weapon.

Your support of Israel will save you from this jihadist campaign against western values and culture.

Don’t stand idly by.

Thank you so much.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar