Iranian General Stresses Using Arbaeen Procession to Expose Israeli Crimes
Speaking at a ceremony held in Tehran on Tuesday to unveil cultural works related to Arbaeen, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated that over 72,000 people have been killed by the Israeli regime in the past two years—a figure he contrasted with the 72 martyrs of the 7th-century Battle of Karbala.
“Just yesterday, over 100 people were martyred in Gaza, half of them from starvation—many of them children,” Safavi said. “Is there any oppression greater than this? Is there a tyrant worse than (Israeli prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu?”
He highlighted the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq, which attracts 20 million people from all over the world, as a model of Muslim solidarity and highlighted its extensive reach. “Globally, there is no phenomenon as vast as Arbaeen,” he said. “Yet, have we used this platform to expose Israel’s crimes? Two billion Muslims witness these atrocities—in Palestine, Lebanon, even Iran—but we’ve failed to adequately convey our plight to the world.”
The general criticized Muslim-majority nations for not leveraging their collective influence, noting Egypt’s 110 million Muslims, Iraq’s 43 million, and India’s 150–200 million Muslims (60% of whom he identified as Shia).
“We have thousands of professors and media networks across the Islamic world,” he said. “Why aren’t we waging an intellectual and artistic ‘jihad of clarification’ to defend Palestine?”
He urged protesters in Europe and the US to adopt Arbaeen’s messaging, calling Israel “absolute evil” and resistance against it “absolute good”.
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Arbaeen is a religious event observed by Shia Muslims on the fortieth day after the Day of Ashura, commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the third Shia imam.
It is one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world, with millions of Shia Muslims, as well as many Sunnis and followers of other religions, walking to Karbala from various cities in Iraq and neighboring countries. This year, the day of Arbaeen will fall on August 14.
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