By Iqbal Jassat
The revulsion against Israel in solidarity with Palestine’s freedom struggle and the anger against their leadership’s complicity with Zionism, will fill the streets of Arab capitals if allowed to protest.
On Sunday, the Times of Israel published an article titled “Iranian attack on Saudi air base heavily damages key US surveillance aircraft.” Such a headline would have been unimaginable before February 28, 2026. However, resulting from Israel and the United States’ unprovoked and illegitimate war on Iran, the amazing Iranian retaliation has paved the way for rearranging the political architecture of the Middle East.
Iran’s incredible defensive war has brilliantly lit fires under the feet of Arab oligarchs. At the same time, it offers the Arab population a golden opportunity to wrest control of Israel’s Gulf monarchs by asserting their sovereign duty to revolt against unelected despots.
The dominion of Islam’s civilization, which stretched across the entire Arabian peninsula and was broken by imperialism and colonial powers, needs to be re-established.
Iran provides the opportunity to have the region cleansed of Western colonies and their unwelcome military bases. The paradox of the US and Israel’s regime change agenda in Iran has ironically created space and opportunity for millions of poor and marginalized Arabs to rid their nation-states of Western-imposed monarchs.
The spark was lit by the powerful #ToofanAlAqsa on October 7 and continues to this day to wipe Zionist colonialism and its US hegemony from the region, thanks to the resilience of Palestinian Resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The baton carried by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Ansarallah in Yemen, the resistance in Iraq, and, of course, Iran, carries a huge price. The prize, though, is freedom for themselves but also for the world – freed from Zionist tyranny.
Many analysts may argue that the notion of liberty from entrenched authoritarian Arab regimes is a complex question. However, the desire for justice and freedom is not.
Recent polls, such as from the Arab Barometer, indicate that over 70% of Arab respondents support democracy, with many still viewing the goals of the Arab Spring favorably.
While it is true that the ‘Arab Spring’ was brutally targeted by repressive regimes that were aided by the West to strengthen their control, including by expanding military footprints, resistance to it remains alive.
The intensification of repression, which has seen thousands jailed, tortured, and killed, has not dimmed demands for freedom and liberty, particularly among the youth who were forced to endure the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, as mere spectators.
The revulsion against Israel in solidarity with Palestine’s freedom struggle and the anger against their emirs, sultans and kings for being complicit in Zionism’s war on Iran, will fill the streets of Arab capitals if allowed to protest.
Though the “deep state” in various Arab autocracies, including Egypt, has placed huge barriers to change, what we are witnessing in Iran’s sophisticated and strategic retaliation has attacked these obstacles.
We are at the cusp of revolutionary changes with the potential to finally see the last kicks of a dying Zionist project. The Arab population, whose demands for accountability from their US-backed leaders are not an exception to the anticipated collapse of artificial nation-states. Their voices matter and must be heard.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com
Be the first to comment