In his January 30, 2025 column in the Emirati daily Al-Arab, which is based in London, Yemeni journalist Hani Salem Mashour mocks Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for boasting about the "victory" of the resistance axis over Israel and the "steadfastness" of the Palestinian people when the images from the devastated Gaza Strip reflect a completely different reality. He writes that Khamenei exploited the Palestinian cause to strengthen Iran's regional status, and therefore he is the one that should be primarily responsible for rebuilding Gaza and aiding its residents, who paid a high price for the disastrous war waged in their name. Mashour also castigates Hamas' officials, who did not consider the likely consequences of the October 7, 2023 attack and did not provide the people of Gaza with the minimal protection, but instead used them as human shields while they themselves stayed far away from the war zone.[1]
Hani Salem Mashour (Source: Al-Arab, London)
The following are translated excerpts from his column:[2]
"On his account on the American [social media] platform X, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei keeps posting messages that underscore the victory of his Iranian axis in the 'Al-Aqsa Flood,' as they call it [i.e., in the war against Israel that began with the Hamas attack on October 7]. Khamenei is not the only one repeating these slogans of victory over Israel; all the political Islam organizations [namely groups affiliated with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood movement] and their members are echoing his statements. This is another instance of consensus among the rival extremist religious schools [i.e., the Shiite and the Sunni ones], with everyone agreeing that the Israelis have been taught a painful lesson unlike anything they had experienced before.
"But the humiliating sights of the Palestinian people returning [to the northern Gaza Strip] after being displaced to the south and after Hamas surrendered and agreed to a lull and a ceasefire are the only ones that reflect the truth and cannot be refuted. Hundreds of thousands of hungry and frightened [Gazans] are returning to the ruins of their homes. That is the picture Khamenei must be honest about when he sees it and follows it, as the entire world is doing.
"What Khamenei called 'the steadfastness of the Palestinian people' is actually hunger, fear and pain without end. There is no such thing as steadfastness amid this Israeli attack. The Hamas officials who carried out the October 7, 2023 attack didn't bother to consider the fate of hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians. They did not build them shelters or provide them with the minimal [amount of] food or [water to] drink. They did not even provide them with secure routes to flee from the war zones. On the contrary. Hamas' officials turned the civilians into human shields, as usual, in accordance with the fatwas of Ibn Taymiyyah, his disciples and his followers…[3]
"The Al-Jazeera news channel, which always claims that Hamas won, aired a detailed report titled 'The Immense Challenge of Rebuilding the Gaza Strip – Facts and Figures,' which claimed that 'clearing over 50 million tons of rubble left behind by the Israeli bombardment could take 21 years and cost $1.2 billion.' According to UN estimates, the overall cost of rebuilding what the war has destroyed comes to $40 billion, and it will take 80 years to rebuild all the housing units that have been destroyed. A report issued by the UN and the World Bank noted that [the cost of] damage to infrastructure [as of] January 2024 was estimated at around $18.5 billion, and that homes, commercial and industrial buildings and basic services like education, health and energy had been destroyed.
"That is [only] part of the reality in the Gaza Strip, and that is what takes us back to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who is the first and last [figure] responsible for repairing [the damage] caused by the October 7 attack, which he welcomed and supported… There is no denying that the Palestinian people is paying a very heavy price for the conflicts waged in its name and in the name of its cause, while [Hamas'] political and military leaders remain far away from the weight of the daily suffering borne by the civilians [in Gaza].
"It seems that Khamenei, who espouses a religious and political discourse that is based on exploiting the Palestinian cause to increase Iran's regional influence, is [also] very far removed from the reality in Gaza. He brandishes slogans of victory while ignoring the immense devastation caused to infrastructure and to the daily lives of the Palestinians. Talking about 'steadfastness' and 'victory' in these circumstances seems like an attempt to beautify the grim picture of thousands of [Gazans] still suffering from a shortage of food, water and medicines and living in tragic humanitarian conditions.
"Clearly, the Iranian discourse represented by Khamenei is based on a long-standing strategy of exploiting the Palestinian cause as a means to strengthen Iran's standing as a regional power, but it appears that this strategy totally ignores the tremendous human price paid by the Palestinian people. Because, while declaring its support for Hamas and adopting the discourse of resistance, Iran does not present real solutions for the suffering of the Palestinians and doesn't appear to be prepared to assume responsibility for the reconstruction of what was destroyed in the war.
"What is happening in Gaza is a human tragedy in the full sense of the word. The discourse about empty victories does not alter the fact that the Palestinian people suffer on a daily basis from the implications of a conflict whose conclusion is not visible on the horizon. Khamenei, and anyone who pretends to support the Palestinian cause, is obliged to perceive reality clearly and take action to assume responsibility for the rehabilitation of Gaza. As for the Arab capitals, cities and villages that were pulverized on what Hassan Nasrallah referred to as "the road to Jerusalem" – they will be rebuilt by their people, [first of all by] Beirut, which has begun to throw off the dust of illusion and to strengthen its homeland anew after it was usurped by rotten religious ideologies…
"Khamenei must also rehabilitate Gaza in order to thwart the plan of American President Donald Trump to exile its residents. This begs the question: Will Khamenei dare to declare overall responsibility for the rehabilitation of Gaza, as he declared his support for Hamas and for the October 7 attack? Or will Iran suffice, as it always does, with disseminating slogans of resistance and leave the Palestinians to cope alone with the catastrophic consequences that can only be described as a 'victory' by people who are accustomed to falsifying facts [?]
"The time has come to redefine the concept of 'victory' – not from the perspective of hollow political slogans, but based on the reality of the peoples that have paid the price. Gaza's fate will not be determined by Khamenei's slogans or by his posts on X, but by the will of its residents, who must ask themselves: how many [more] times will they pay the price for the 'flood' that drowned, starved, and humiliated them [?]"
[1] Mashour has attacked Hamas in previous columns as well. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10919, Columnist In UAE Daily: Hamas, A Muslim Brotherhood Faction, Seeks To Topple Arab Countries And Revive The Caliphate; It Does Not Represent The Palestinians And Has No Right To Embroil Them In Wars, October 31, 2023; and MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11492, Columnist For Emirati Daily: Hamas, Like Other Terror Organizations, Commits Crimes Against Humanity; Yahya Sinwar Should Be Prosecuted, August 8, 2024.
[2] Al-Arab (London), January 30, 2025.
[3] Taqi Al-Din Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah, a 14th century Sunni religious scholar, is a major source of authority for the jihadi-Salafist current of Islam.
