Muhammad Mahdi Rahimi, journalist and researcher
Twenty-five years ago, on September 30, during the Second Intifada in Gaza, a short video shook the conscience of the world.
A father and his young son, caught in a demonstration, were trapped when the Zionist gunmen advanced. They could not escape. Muhammed al-Durrah and his father, Jamal, sought shelter behind a barrel, desperately hoping for a chance to flee the relentless hail of bullets. That chance never came. Mohammed was struck. His anguished father, stripped of all hope that an ambulance might reach them, no longer cared for his own life, his heart was already shattered.
The footage of that moment, broadcast on a French television channel, pierced hearts across the globe.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, that day was named the National Day of Solidarity and Sympathy with Palestinian Children and Adolescents, so that each year, in memory of this tragedy, the reality of Palestine could echo in Iran and beyond. Imam Khamenei described the martyrdom of Muhammad with these words:
“A martyrdom, like the martyrdom of that young boy in his father’s arms, stirs a storm in the hearts of nations across the world.”
The Islamic Republic and the Iranian people understood a truth: Real protection for Palestinian children cannot come from words, condemnations, or televised statements. It requires action on the ground. And less than six years after Muhammed’s martyrdom, through the sacrifices of Palestinian mujahids, with the unwavering support of the Iranian people and the Resistance Front, the Hamas movement succeeded in expelling Muhammed’s killers from Gaza, doing all it could to shield the children of Palestine.
But unlike Iran and the Resistance Front, much of the world soon forgot Mohammed. Nations normalized relations with his killers, assisted in strengthening and securing their oppressive rule, and even launched major political and economic projects to expand it. All of this only paved the way for Mohammed’s tragedy to repeat itself year after year, for dozens of other Palestinian children, and for another little girl from Gaza, Hind Rajab.
As Imam Khamenei reminded: “Did you see the teenager who was killed in his father’s arms? That was not the only case.” History has shown, it did not remain the only case.
On January 29, 2024, the criminal soldiers of the Zionist regime opened fire on a car in Gaza carrying Hind and her family. Throughout the gunfire, Hind’s trembling voice reached the Red Crescent rescuers over the phone. But the Zionists who had the experience of Muhammad’s story, left no witnesses alive. They slaughtered her entire family, and even the Red Crescent team that rushed to save them.
And now, on September 30, as we mark the Day of Solidarity and Sympathy with Palestinian Children and Adolescents, perhaps the most urgent question is this: Could Hind’s life have been saved?
Mayve if, on that very day when Muhammed’s blood soaked the soil of Gaza, when the Islamic Republic strove to reveal the truth behind that pure blood to the world, if then, the peoples of other nations had chosen to cut ties with the Zionist regime, to work for its collapse, Hind Rajab might be alive today.
The blood of Muhammed al-Durrah could have protected the life of Hind Rajab, if only the world had taken real, decisive steps to end these crimes.
Two years into the genocide in Gaza, not a day passes without the blood of Palestinian children being spilled by Zionist soldiers.
The blood of Hind, and of thousands of children like her, can still save the lives of the next generation of Palestinian children, if only…
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
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