Quds Day march, promoting hatred and violating human rights

Critics considered the Quds Day march, with its strong anti-Semitic slogans, to be a promotion of hatred and a violation of human rights.

Quds Day is the last Friday of Ramadan, when the government of the Islamic Republic and other Islamic countries hold a march every year to support the Palestinian people and oppose Zionism and the Israeli government. This day was established by Ruhollah Khomeini after the 1979 revolution.

In 1958, Ruhollah Khomeini, in a message on the last Friday of Ramadan, called on the people of the world to show their solidarity and support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people on this day, and named this day Quds Day. He said about this day: “Quds Day is not just the day of Palestine, it is the day of Islam. It is the day of the Islamic government, it is the day when the flag of the Islamic Republic must be raised in all countries. It is the day when the superpowers must understand that they can no longer advance in Islamic countries. I consider Quds Day the day of Islam and the day of the Holy Prophet, and it is the day when we must equip all our forces.”

Today, Friday, March 28, corresponding to Farvardin 8, 1404 and the last Friday of Ramadan, a march on the occasion of Quds Day was held in some cities of the country with slogans such as "Death to Israel," "Quds will be liberated," and "Palestine is alive." The people of Gaza chanted slogans against the Quds Force, Hamas, and Qassem Soleimani, shouting: "Qassem Soleimani, where are we now? Where is our home? Soleimani, you caused the destruction of Gaza, shame on you."

Critics also believe that holding this ceremony and march with harsh and sometimes anti-Semitic slogans can lead to promoting hatred and violating human rights. Today, on the occasion of Quds Day, the Jewish community also sent its representatives, including board members, to the Quds Day demonstration on behalf of this community. More than 90 percent of the Jews in Iran have been forced to emigrate from the country.

Analysts also believe that this forced participation is due to security and political pressures from the government, which forces Iranian Jews to attend the ceremony to demonstrate their loyalty to the Islamic Republic and avoid possible government consequences.