At an October 24, 2023 poetry event at a Tehran public library that was dedicated to Gaza and Palestine, Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili announced that October 7, the day of the Hamas massacre of 1,400 civilians in Israel, would be designated on the Persian calendar as the "Day of the Epic Valor of the Young Palestinians."
Esmaili also noted at the poetry event, which was titled "The Name of the Evening is Dawn," that according to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 7 marks the beginning of the countdown to the destruction of the occupying regime (i.e. Israel). He went on to call Hamas's "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation an "unprecedented epic of valor in the historical memory of the region and in the struggles of the Muslim people of Palestine."[1]
Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Esmaili (Source IRNA, Iran, October 24, 2023)
Below are highlights from Esmaili's statements at the poetry event.
Esmaili went on to state: "The issue of Gaza has become a global issue. In previous decades, because of the shortage of media outlets, the Zionists could control public opinion with false propaganda. However, in recent years, and especially [in light of] what happened [the October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel and the Israel-Gaza war], this issue has been taken from the Zionists' [control]. As a result, the atmosphere is one of public protest against Israel's actions across Europe, America, and the Islamic countries.
"For over a century, Britain worked for a Zionist presence in the Holy Land, with all kinds of stratagems. The [Western] agencies attempted to transfer Jews in order to disrupt this region's demographics. In 1948, an independent government was declared, and with the support of the West, these moves have continued for 74 [sic] years."
Esmaeili went on to call "the epic October 7" unprecedented in the Palestinian people's struggle and said that it this "number of dead Zionists is unprecedented in history." He added: "We at the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution have set this day [in the Persian calendar] as the day of the valor of the young Palestinians, and [have also set in motion] the administrative procedure [to designate this national day], because this day is the source of new change."[2]
Esmaili at the poetry event at a Tehran public library (PressTV, October 24, 2023)
