Iran International
A pro-Palestinian social media campaign using an image with the text ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ has raised huge controversy among Iranians. Those who oppose the campaign have launched their own ‘All Eyes on Iran’ version.
The AI generated image of tents in a camp of displaced Gazan Palestinians arranged to read ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ turns the spotlight on the situation of the Palestinians who have been displaced after Israel’s deadly offensive.
The image which was created and shared as an Instagram ‘story’ template by a Malaysian Instagrammer named Shahv4012 has been shared by nearly 45 million users of the platform including some Iranian hardliners. The campaign has also found its way to other platforms such as X.
Activists and social media users opposing the campaign argue that Hamas is directly responsible for the war in Gaza and the deaths of Palestinian civilians and children, whom it uses as 'human shields.' They are part of a large segment of Iranians who say their own people have been suffering under the repression of the Islamic Republic, which also supports and arms Hamas with their money.
“It is Hamas that has forced Israel to go to war, with heinous crimes against Israeli civilians. It wants to force Israel to end the war using the civilian card, now that it is on the verge of destruction. My anger and curses over the killing of Palestinian children are all directed at Hamas terrorists,” journalist Sheragim Zand said in a tweet May 29.
All Eyes on Rafah posted by a student Basij militia group in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan
“Defending Israel is defending morality,” another opponent, pro-monarchy activist Ali Ashtari, tweeted.
As candidate registration began on Thursday, the main question remained whether Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other hardliners will signal to reformists and other factions to come forward as candidates in the snap elections following President Ebrahim Raisi's death on May 19.
While moderates and reformists hope that Raisi's death will facilitate their political comeback, they seem to overlook that their isolation and exclusion from political activity are not the results of a democratic competition with Raisi and other hardliners. Rather, it was Khamenei’s loyalists who systematically barred other insiders from three elections since February 2020, pushing them out of the government.
While centrist and reformist newspapers put forward the names of more than 30 reform-minded political figures this week, Khamenei and hardliners in the government have not changed their mind and keep repeating what they said even before Raisi was officially pronounced dead. They are adamant that nothing is going to change. They want someone exactly like Raisi, meaning a hardliner loyal to the Supreme Leader.
During the week after Raisi's death officials and clerics have been glorifying him and fabricating "achievements" for him. And as they know it is difficult to convince the public about those achievements, they have been telling stories about links between Raisi and Muslim saints who died centuries ago.
Posters shout in large fonts: "You were not illiterate," referring to the public view that the late president had only a sixth-grade standard education and he spent the rest of his teenage years in Shiite seminaries. They also claim that under Raisi Iran had the second biggest economic growth rate in the world, while more than 10 million were added to the ranks of the poor under the heavy burden of a persistent 50% annual inflation rate.
Others highlight Raisi's broken promises: building four million homes, providing free Internet for low-income Iranians, supporting online businesses, reforming the banking system, facilitating the return of expats, cracking down on government corruption, halving medical costs, controlling inflation and exchange rates, and reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
None of these promises have been even partially fulfilled, and the situation has worsened in the three years since Raisi took office. Nevertheless, hardliners still want someone similar to him as the new President. Mohammad Mokhber, the vice president and now acting president, has stated that the plan to build four million houses was intended to begin in Raisi's fourth year in office, had he survived.
Dozens of names put forward by political groups include vice presidents, cabinet ministers and other state officials from the past, individuals such as former vice president Es'haq Jahangiri; the former chief of staff of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hossein Marashi; former vice president Mohammad Reza Aref; Former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani; former Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, and Expediency Council member Mohammad Sadr who has even prepared an election campaign video days before registration of candidates start.
But politicians proposing these names cannot explain what those individuals and others on their long lists have achieved during their long careers in the past 45 years.
On the conservative side, individuals close to the Supreme Leader's office, such as Parviz Fattah—a key figure in Khamenei’s “charity-business” conglomerate—have been named as potential candidates. Their careers have primarily involved protecting Khamenei's assets and channeling funds into ineffective projects and Iran’s regional ambitions.
During the past week, Vice President Mokhber has been mentioned at least five times as the best candidate to replace Raisi. However, he has repeatedly demurred, stating that he is currently too busy to run for the presidency. Other hardliners, like former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, have also declined, saying they have their current jobs and do not need to run for President. It is not clear if they know something others don’t.
With over 30 years of experience in dealing with every one of these possible candidates Khamenei knows them better than anyone else, and when he says there will not be any major change, he means it.
Ashtari argued that the only way for Israel to eliminate the threat of Hamas is a military one. “But unfortunately, a military attack, especially in the densely populated area of Gaza, causes civilian casualties too,” he maintained while accusing Hamas of intentionally seeking higher civilian casualties to force the international community to stop Israel’s military operations.
Another expatriate journalist, Neda Sanji, however, in her tweets warned about “fake news and fallacies” which she listed as “opposing the massacre in Gaza equals support for the Islamic Republic”, “Those who oppose the Gaza massacre were silent about the [government’s] killing of the Iranian people”, “opposing the massacre in Gaza equals supporting Hamas”, and “Israel has no choice other than doing what it does to destroy Hamas”.
Post by former football star, Ali Karimi, is now a social heavyweight in Iran
Sanji also maintained that the social media controversy would benefit the Islamic Republic’s cyber army. “The dust will eventually settle but humanity will be scarred [forever],” she wrote.
Many celebrities in Iran have posted the image as a ‘story’ on their Instagram accounts in the past few days.
Apparently referring to the current controversy over Gaza, Fariborz Karami-Zand, an expatriate activist with a large social media following, in a tweet Thursday criticized celebrities for “closing their eyes to the crimes of the Islamic Republic”. “Why are they silent about issues related to Iran and their fellow countrymen?” he asked.
Instagram stories of Iranian celebrities in support of Palestinians
In protest against the government’s increasing political and financial support for Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, some demonstrators chanted “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I’ll sacrifice my life for Iran” during the protests that followed Iran's disputed 2009 presidential elections. This marked the first time such a slogan was used in the history of the Islamic Republic.
The slogan has since then become one of the top slogans during anti-government protests.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly condemned this slogan. In a Friday sermon in January 2020, following widespread anti-government protests two months earlier, he accused those who chanted it of hypocrisy. “These people have never sacrificed their lives for Iran or forsaken their comfort and interests for the sake of the country’s security,” he said.
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