Dr. Mohsen Farkhani, researcher in Palestinian affairs and Zionist regime studies
The Zionist regime, an entity established in 1948 on the basis of occupying Palestinian lands and the forced displacement of Arabs, has adopted policies such as Zionist supremacy, causing division in the Arab world and leech-like exploitation of regional resources. Not only has it failed to establish lasting security for itself, but it has also become a destabilizing force in the Middle East. By promoting an Iranophobic narrative and forming temporary alliances with certain Arab states, the Zionist regime has deluded their rulers into accepting its permanence in the region. However, history has proven that the Zionist regime rapidly abandons its commitments when its interests shift.
Its anti-Arab nature – rooted in Zionist ideology and the denial of Arab identity and rights – alongside its expansionist and divisive policies, has weakened Arab unity and intensified regional tensions. As Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has repeatedly emphasized, concepts such as the "anti-Arab nature of the Zionist regime," "Zionist supremacy and its leech-like features," as well as "its inability to establish security for itself," not only demonstrate the regime’s evil and illegitimate presence in the Middle East, but also reflect its strategies to produce false enemies, securitization, and destabilization the region.
The anti-Arab nature of the Zionist regime
The anti-Arab nature of the Zionist regime encompasses ideological-identity-based, military, political, and practical dimensions. In the ideological-identity dimension, one of the regime’s primary slogans prior to its occupation and formation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the claim of "a land without people for a people without land." This slogan, promoted by Zionist leaders Theodor Herzl and Israel Zangwill, meant disregarding the presence of indigenous Palestinian Arabs in the land of Palestine. In the documents of the World Zionist Congress in 1897, plans were laid for the migration of Jews to Palestine with no regard for the rights of the native Arab population, which was indicative of the denial of Arab identity from the very beginning.
Zionist ideology emphasizes the discourse of Jewish supremacy as the "chosen people." This perspective, rooted in certain religious and nationalist interpretations based on the Talmud, views Arabs and non-Jews as inferior peoples who must either be subjugated or pushed aside. Accordingly, discriminatory laws in the Zionist regime, such as the 2018 "Jewish Nation-State Law," marginalize the rights of non-Jews, including Palestinian Arabs, and demean Arab identity. This identity-based humiliation has gone so far that the regime, in its effort to solidify a Jewish identity in Palestine, has sought to erase Arab cultural and historical identity. This includes changing Arabic place names, destroying Arab-Islamic heritage sites, demolishing over 500 Palestinian villages after 1948 and replacing them with Jewish settlements or recreational parks, such as Canada Park near Al-Quds, and restricting the teaching of Arab culture.
These policies have led to the degradation of Arab identity and the severing of Arabs from their cultural heritage. For example, the renaming of Arab cities – such as "Umm al-Rashrash" to "Eilat" or "Umm Khalid" to "Netanya" – is part of this strategy.
Militarily speaking, the Zionist ideology resorted to ethnic cleansing in order to establish a Jewish-majority state. This policy was implemented in plans such as "Plan Dalet" in 1948, which aimed to expel Arabs from strategic areas in Palestine. The Zionist regime has carried out military actions against Arab states in various periods. For instance, the bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 demonstrated the Zionist regime’s efforts to prevent the scientific and military progress of Arab nations. Additionally, repeated attacks on Syrian territory, including the bombing of military positions in recent years, support for economic sanctions against opposing Arab states, such as Iraq in the 1990s and Syria after 2011, and sowing discord in the Arab world – such as backing the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen – are all part of these policies.
In the political dimension, the Zionist regime has sought to weaken Arab unity through a "divide and rule" strategy. For example, in the 1950s and 1960s, it exploited tensions between Arab states, such as the rivalry between Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser and conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to prevent the formation of a unified Arab front against itself. Moreover, through secret diplomacy and intelligence cooperation with certain conservative Arab states – such as Jordan in the 1970s – it attempted to isolate Egypt as the leader of the Arab world. This policy reached its peak during the 1978 Camp David Accords, which led to a peace agreement between Egypt and the Zionist regime and divided the Arab world into two camps.
Furthermore, the regime has at times supported separatist or opposition groups in Arab countries to weaken central governments, such as its backing of Christian militias – the Phalangists – during the Lebanese Civil War. This contributed to the weakening of Lebanon’s central government, deepened divisions among Arab groups [Sunni, Shia, and Christian], increased the regime’s influence in Lebanon, and ultimately led to the occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982. This support included providing weapons, intelligence, and logistical aid to groups opposing Arab governments.
The Zionist regime has not stopped there but has also interfered in the internal affairs of Arab states through intelligence operations and espionage. In the infamous "Operation Susannah" or "Lavon Affair" of 1954, Zionist agents attempted to carry out bombings in Egypt and blame Arab groups to damage Egypt’s relations with the West. This operation aimed to destabilize Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government. The regime also tacitly supported Jordan’s monarchy against Palestinian factions during "Black September" in 1970, seeking to weaken Palestinian Resistance groups and maintain Jordan as an unofficial ally. These actions fostered distrust among Arab states and undermined Arab Resistance movements.
The Zionist regime has also exploited political tensions between Arab states to weaken a unified Arab front, such as indirectly supporting the Qatar-Saudi-UAE dispute to undermine the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and reduce Arab coordination. Additionally, by backing Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project, it has indirectly fueled tensions between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, as the project threatens the water interests of Arab nations. By providing political and military support to non-Arab countries [such as Ethiopia] or by strengthening ties with certain Arab states against others, the Zionist regime has contributed to division, reducing regional cooperation among Arab countries while bolstering its own influence in the region.
Zionist supremacy and the blood-sucking nature of the Zionist regime
The concepts of "Zionist supremacy" and the "blood-sucking nature of the Zionist regime" are two key aspects of its policies and actions, both rooted in Zionist ideology and its practical behavior toward Arab states and the region – two sides of the same coin. Both concepts stem from the Zionist ideology of Jewish supremacy and domination over the region.
The notion of supremacy provides an ideological justification for stripping Arabs of their rights and humiliating them, while acting like a leech is the practical outcome of this perspective, treating Arab resources and provisions as the natural and confiscatable right of Zionists. In the Zionist view, based on Talmudic teachings, Arabs are considered inferior peoples, subjected to dehumanization. This outlook has led Zionists to deny Arabs equal rights and independence, legitimizing the seizure of their lands and resources.
The supremacist and blood-sucking nature of the Zionist regime has even caused countries like the UAE and Bahrain, which have established diplomatic relations with it, to face public and regional distrust. Conversely, it has strengthened the standing of Resistance groups like Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansarullah, and Hamas in the public opinion of Arab and Islamic nations, as their actions are seen as responses to the Zionist regime’s crimes and exploitation of Palestinians. Clear examples of the regime’s blood-sucking nature can be clearly seen in the 2020 Abraham Accords with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Through this agreement, the Zionist regime gained access to Arab markets, regional technologies, and economic resources, while the Arab states received no lasting benefits.
The regime’s inability to create security for itself
Despite military superiority, extensive Western support, and advanced intelligence systems, the Zionist regime faces serious multidimensional challenges in establishing lasting security for itself. This inability stems from multiple factors, including the regime’s occupying nature, persistent Palestinian resistance, regional tensions, and internal instability.
Missile and drone attacks from Resistance groups – particularly from Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza – highlight the Zionist regime’s failure to create a secure environment for itself and its inhabitants. Additionally, political and social divisions within the regime, including rifts between religious and secular groups, protests against government policies, and state corruption and economic crises, have undermined internal cohesion. This instability weakens the Zionist regime’s ability to manage external threats.
Political corruption and public distrust in government institutions have further exacerbated this problem. Political corruption in top government positions, including allegations against senior officials like Benjamin Netanyahu, has eroded the public’s trust in their governmental institutions.
In its relations with other countries, the Zionist regime is heavily dependent on military, financial, and political support from the US, and several other Western countries. This reliance not only weakens its strategic independence but it also makes it vulnerable to shifts in global politics. For example, in the West, the decline in public support and the collapse of the Zionist regime’s victimhood narrative following war crimes and the killing of civilians in Gaza – due to criticisms of human rights violations – have created a legitimacy crisis, endangering the Zionist regime’s security.
From a military-defense perspective, after Iran’s legitimate retaliatory strikes – in the form of Operation True Promise 1 & 2 – with advanced defense systems like the Iron Dome, the myth of the Zionist regime’s impenetrable skies and its invincibility has crumbled. This has instilled a sense of weakness and vulnerability among the Zionist settlers in the occupied territories.
Domestically, the Zionist regime is a society of diverse religious groups including Orthodox, secular, and reformist Jews, ethnicities – Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and African/Asian Jewish immigrants – and political factions – leftists, rightists, and extremist parties. Rather than fostering unity, this diversity has deepened divisions. Conflicts between Orthodox and secular Jews over the role of religion in politics, military conscription, from which Orthodox Jews are often exempt, and lifestyle have fueled social tensions. These divisions disrupt major government decisions, such as occupation policies or peace negotiations.
Thus, such a regime which is unable to establish peace domestically, regionally, or internationally is definitely not a reliable guarantor of security for Arab countries.
Ultimately, numerous examples – including the 1948 Nakba, the 2018 Nation-State Law, illegal settlement expansion, and military attacks on Arab states – serve as a testament to the Zionist regime’s supremacist ideology and hostility toward Arabs and the Islamic world. Its inability to establish security, stemming from the Palestinian people’s continuous resistance, regional tensions with groups such as Hezbollah and Ansarullah, internal instability due to political and social divisions, and dependence on foreign support, confirms the Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s assertion that the Zionist regime lacks legitimacy and long-term viability in the region. This instability, combined with divisive and expansionist policies, has not only prevented the Zionist regime from providing security for itself, but it has also exposed its Arab allies to distrust and regional vulnerability.
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
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