TEHRAN - The "For Palestine" group, a collective of Iranian workers, academics, artists, and intellectuals, has released a second statement denouncing Israel and the complicit global order for the regime's crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The group noted that Israel is an "international terrorist organization" headquartered in Palestine, and that collective endeavours are needed to restore the rights of Palestinians.

Below is the full text of the statement:

We, a collective of Palestine supporters and comrades of October, despite our diverse interests and preferences, have come together to reach out to you for solidarity against Zionist fascism and to unite with you for Palestine and in opposition to its sale, division, and oblivion. 

What is being shattered in Palestine is not only the lives and bodies of Palestinians. The dominant world order and all its associated concepts, values, and institutions are also being destroyed. It has become clear that everything promoted for decades under the guise of human rights, democracy, NGOs, tolerance, diversity, freedom of expression, awards and festivals, the United Nations, civilization, civil institutions, and so on—presented as sacred stars in the constellations of the world—is mere paper, falling one by one. Their freedom of expression has been nothing but censorship and confiscation of the free flow of information. Where the sound of bombs and the gush of blood could not be silenced, they freely expressed how utterly heartless they are.

Their non-violence and civilization are valid only within their own borders. Beyond them, they all become Hitler. It is alignment with them that reveals which forces are reactionary and dangerous and who is progressive and freedom-loving. No institution, summit, resolution, or ceasefire has been able to stop Israel from continuing its genocide and ethnic cleansing. In the name of human rights, freedom, and democracy, and against ideology, fundamentalism, and terrorism, they have dragged the world into blood and ruin, yet they established Israel as an undemocratic state/garrison in our region. A fabricated entity that is racist, considers itself a superior race, and is more religious (!), ideological, and extremist than all the governments in the region.

It commits terrorism, murder, torture, rape, genocide, and territorial usurpation without any limits, yet we are still the ones labeled as Middle Eastern (!), warlike, backward, and dangerous! From now on, those who use such terms and concepts will have to account for Israel as well. Their ailment is the dominance of capital and global imperialism, led by the United States, which, by projecting the Jewish question onto the Middle East, has subjected us to such fascism. Israel is not the name of a state but an international terrorist organization headquartered in Palestine. The daily terrorism and occupation that we Middle Easterners (!) face—known by another name, colonialism—has been our struggle for centuries.

Israel is one of the fundamental bastions and guardians of the current world order. It is the point from which the world’s blood and filth spill. It is the point that shows how imperialism breeds fascism and what dispossession and forced labor camps mean. Israel is the epitome of capital, just as Palestine is the name of all the workers and oppressed of the world. Those who, through dispossession, have been rendered stateless, forced to remain captive in an open-air prison and labor camp. Any perspective, even one supportive of Palestine, peace-loving, or against Israel’s crimes, that does not consider Israel’s very existence a crime, is playing a role on Israel’s usurped land.

The issue is not about sifting through Israel’s actions to find its crimes. Israel itself is the crime. A racist regime built on genocide, its existence predicated on the non-existence of Palestinians. This is why Palestine is the identity of our era. It is the intersection where all crimes converge. It is a body bearing the scars of all the criminals of history. A star that shows us what a dark night it is. A light and a call for awakened souls and those who wish to cross the desert barefoot. “When God asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother?’ Cain replied, ‘I don’t know.

Am I my brother’s keeper?’ God said, ‘What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood cries out to me.’” And now, the blood of Palestine cries out to the entire world.

The savagery unleashed by Israel and its allies in Gaza does not only victimize Palestinians and neighboring countries. This deadly poison will also contaminate those who witness it. Supporting Palestine is not merely defending Palestinians but opposing the fascism of our time—Zionism. The destructive hand of imperialism seeks not only to annihilate Palestine but also the very idea of Palestine. A garrison that is not only hostile to governments but also to the peoples of the region, striving to crush their history and grandeur and reduce them to the level of its own wretched existence.

No one has understood and articulated this better than the Master of the Storm: “With an enemy that makes no distinction between child and elder, stone and tree, there can be no compromise... Every step toward freedom has a cost, but the cost of surrender is greater.
Al-Aqsa Flood was the voice of every Palestinian who dreamed of freedom, at the moment when all factions united in one trench against this enemy... Homeland, dignity, and our rights are not negotiable.” These, and more, were the lessons of October 7 for us. The day Palestine’s response to eighty years of Israel’s and its allies’ crimes was heard by the entire world, though few understood. An event that divided the world into before and after, so nothing would ever be the same. We owe this rupture and insight to Al-Aqsa Flood. A moment that birthed a new world and vision. The issue of Palestine is not merely a matter for Palestinians; it is an issue for humanity at large and, in particular, for the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the exploited. 

A focal point intertwined with human liberation, obliging every person who sees themselves as part of the social fabric to support Palestine and fight against the cancerous tumor of Israel. No one who remains silent on Palestine can be trusted. In the words of George Habash: “In this world, no one is innocent or neutral. You either stand with the oppressed or with the oppressors. Those who are indifferent effectively bless the existing order, the order of the ruling classes and exploitative forces.” Palestine is now the front line in the battle against barbarism, and society, to prevent decay and ruin, must destroy Israel. Thus, our pledge, alongside Palestinian fighters, is with every orange and olive tree and every sprout that grows in Palestine... Our pledge is to remain in this struggle, however long it may be. 

Because Palestine is neither for sale, nor divisible, nor forgettable. Therefore, at a time when there is talk of selling and forgetting the “beating heart of the Palestinian struggle,” we declare that it is no longer permissible to merely be sorrowful, protesting spectators. There is no room left for optimism or hope, and no reason for silence. Now, more than ever, we find it necessary to take to the streets, like millions of people worldwide, and raise a resounding cry in solidarity with the struggle of the heroic Palestinian people, shouting: