David Rose in the Jewish Chronicle:
An Iranian propaganda video in which dozens of children sing a song that references an apocalyptic myth about massacring Jews was filmed at a school just 15 minutes’ walk from the New London synagogue in St John’s Wood, a JC investigation has revealed.
In the video, shot earlier this year in the playground of the Islamic Republic of Iran School (IRIS) near Queen’s Park station, the children sing about joining 313 mythical warriors in a conflict against the infidels, when (according to the present Iranian regime) Israel will be obliterated and Jews killed....
The song, entitled Hello Commander, has been praised by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who claims its popularity proves his people’s “loyalty to the system”, Iranian pro-regime media has reported....
In the London video, rows of boys in white shirts and pressed black trousers and girls in blue flares, white blouses and matching hijabs can be seen saluting and singing their allegiance to their “commander”, Ayatollah Khamenei.
The children, aged between eight and 15, sing: “Without you, this life has no meaning. This life comes alive when you are here for me.”
They then sing about fighting in history’s final battle for the mythical leader known as the Mahdi, last seen supposedly almost 1,200 years ago.
Shia theology says the Mahdi will return to Earth to lead Muslim forces in the war of the apocalypse, accompanied by an elite band of 313 fighters — including, the song suggests, the children in the video.
They sing: “We wait for under the flag of our leaders. Tell me beloved, will you arrive soon? May Allah hasten your reappearance…
“We may be young but do not see us as too young. For you I will rise up and you will not see me fall. From the 313, you will see I will answer the call… Take my oath of loyalty as a warrior and servant.”
Kasra Aarabi, the head of the Iran Programme at the Tony Blair Institute, told the JC that the “cult” of Mahdi doctrine is now driving Iranian regime policy and its attempts to radicalise Shia Muslims.
“It is antisemitic to its core”, he said, “because it holds that before the Mahdi can return, Israel must be destroyed and all the world’s Jews put to death”.
Mr Aarabi said that those who accepted the doctrine believed this would be accomplished by the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard, using its militias and advanced weapons such as ballistic missiles and — if Iran were to get the bomb — nuclear weapons. “The rise of the military doctrine of Mahdi-ism is the biggest single threat to the world’s Jewish communities and Israel’s existence”, he said.
Imagine if children at a Jewish school in London were filmed singing about the destruction of Muslim countries. The headlines!...the demonstrations! Caryl Churchill would already be working on her next play.....
The JC investigation has also revealed:
- The ICE has hosted numerous speakers over many years who have spewed a torrent of Jew-hatred. In recent weeks, these included an ayatollah who says Jews were responsible for killing of Muslims in Burma and that Zionism “harms all mankind”.
- The ICE is one of several centres across Britain and Europe that are controlled by Iran. Police and security services uncovered links to terrorism at one pro-regime hub in Germany.
- The ICE and its northern UK counterpart, the Manchester Islamic Centre, have hosted prominent Labour politicians including Jeremy Corbyn the year before he became party leader. He made a speech at the ICE in 2014 on what he called “The Case for Iran”.
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