LONDON - In a press statement, Moshe Dayan, the War Minister of the Zionist entity, described the Islamic Revolution in Iran as a “great earthquake” that would have a negative impact Israel.

He warned that this revolution would increase the military threat against it from both the northern and eastern fronts and that the presence of an Islamic system at the head of power in Iran would inevitably support Palestinian organizations, which would, in turn, harm Tel Aviv (Jaffa). At that time, few realized the profound impact this revolution would have on the future of regional events. The furthest that Western and Israeli security centers understood was that this revolution would not remain confined to Iran’s borders but would influence the political culture of other countries, especially within the region.

The West believed that the Iranian Islamic Revolution contained dangerous concepts that would not only influence the nations of the region but also threaten their interests and security, particularly that of the Zionist regime.

They were well aware that beyond these concepts and their origins, there was a powerful leadership at the helm—none other than Imam Khomeini. He had a clear vision of the direction and process of continuing the struggle and managing political operations. He was the focal point of the Iranian people.

Imam Khomeini institutionalized the inherited charisma of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which was particularly present among Shia religious scholars, in the form of religious authority. He established the concept of an independent religious leader who remained uninfluenced by external or even internal pressures within the religious institution itself.

This independence played a crucial role in Imam Khomeini’s rejection of dependence on either the East or the West. Theoretically, the Imam was comprehensive—meaning he was able to integrate various intellectual fields such as mysticism, ethics, politics, and jurisprudence. Thus, if these principles were implemented in society, there would be no need to rely on external ideologies.

The Imam believed that there was no reason to embrace Russian socialism or American capitalism. Meanwhile, the Western world came to the conclusion that this revolution, along with Imam Khomeini’s ideas, would elevate the awareness of the Islamic world regarding Palestinian rights and, consequently, threaten the interests and very existence of the Zionist entity.

In this context, they pointed to Imam Khomeini’s declaration of the last Friday of Ramadan as International Quds Day—a day for the entire Islamic nation and indeed for the world. He emphasized the religious duty of liberating al-Quds and Palestine, holding Muslims accountable for every moment Palestinians remained imprisoned within an entity called “Israel”—an entity whose removal he predicted from the map.

Even before overthrowing the Shah’s regime, Imam Khomeini demonstrated through his practical life that freedom, as he envisioned it, stood in stark contrast to concepts such as occupation, imprisonment, and usurpation—concepts that deeply move people’s emotions. The form of freedom that the late Imam promoted was the most dangerous concept for the Zionist regime and its protectors. It was the greatest threat—a vision of a world shaped by free human beings.

Imam Khomeini’s concern was not limited to the oppression and occupation of Palestinian land and people. He saw another crucial dimension to the issue: the struggle of the oppressed worldwide against their oppressors. In order to provide the oppressed with a practical global entity, Imam Khomeini introduced a set of concepts related to freedom and resistance, tying them to the Palestinian cause and outlining a roadmap for them. One of the most critical elements of this roadmap was Quds Day.

Imam Khomeini insisted that Quds Day should not only be for the oppressed in al-Quds but for all the oppressed people of the world. He called for the eradication of U.S. dominance, arrogance, and that of other colonial capitalist powers, along with their servants such as Israel. He advocated for purging history of the symbols and figures of American-Western hegemony and arrogance, emphasizing that as long as these forces persisted in history and maintained their influence, justice would never prevail in the world, and colonialist currents would continue to dominate different parts of the globe.

By transcending geographical boundaries, Imam Khomeini sent a special message to the Islamic nation: that the revival of Quds Day would serve as a source of their awakening.

Even after his passing—when the Palestinian cause was neglected amid normalization agreements with Zionism—Imam Khomeini’s vision reignited the hope of the ummah in reclaiming al-Quds. His establishment of International Quds Day and the Islamic Republic’s strong support for Palestinian Resistance forces significantly altered the balance of power in the latest missile war, shifting the equations in favor of liberating Palestine from the river to the sea.

This was precisely what the late South African President Nelson Mandela acknowledged when he said:
“From the very inception of his revolution, Imam Khomeini was devoted to Palestine and Jerusalem. No global challenges could sway him even by a single word. The issue of Palestine was a matter of belief, not a subject for negotiation or fragmentation. The Imam was a perpetual advocate for unity and integration among Muslims and among the oppressed as well.”

Similarly, the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, paid tribute to Imam Khomeini, stating:
“He thought beyond time, and space could not contain him. He was able to leave an enormous impact on the history of the world.”