Specialized Panel “West Asia After Al-Aqsa Storm” Held in Tehran

A specialized session titled “West Asia After Al-Aqsa Storm” was held on Thursday morning, May 8, at the IRIB Conference Center as part of the Third Sobh International Media Festival. The panel featured Radwan Mortada, journalist, documentarian, and political analyst, David Miller, political activist and broadcaster, and Louis Allday, writer and journalist.

“No Path but Resistance”
Radwan Mortada opened the session by saying, “The international community has closed its eyes to the genocide in Gaza. The Zionist regime is trying to crush our will to resist. The occupiers seek our surrender, and we know full well that the cost of surrender is greater than the cost of resistance. In essence, there is no other path but resistance. The resistance movement is conducting a liberation war. There is no path to survival except resistance.”
He added, “This war is a brutal one. Media outlets and social networks even remove pictures of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other resistance commanders. The killing of women and children in Gaza is unacceptable.”
Mortada continued, “Western media claim that the resistance, especially Hezbollah, fights for money. If they were after money, they would have fought for the Saudis.”
At the end of his remarks, he said, “The Zionist regime is trying to fragment Syria – one part for Sunnis, one for Kurds. When Syria was invaded during the time of Daesh, General Qassem Soleimani even gave weapons to Sunnis so they could defend their own land.”

“The Flame of Resistance Cannot Be Extinguished”
David Miller, who has been dismissed from a university for supporting Palestine, stated during the meeting, “I am Scottish. In 2021, I was expelled from the university and banned from teaching because I expressed anti-Zionist views. Zionist students attacked me because of this.”
He continued, “I have also worked on Islamophobia. The Zionist regime has been weakened. It is facing various problems on its northern borders. The fake regime has become fragile and will collapse. The United States and Britain are supporting the Zionist regime.”
According to Miller, “Zionism is not just a criminal and genocidal society, but a corrupt one. The Zionists are so corrupt that they broadcast videos of their crimes in Gaza. Their behavior is outside the bounds of civilization. Zionist leaders in Britain are serial child abusers. Their society is deeply corrupt.”
He emphasized, “Resistance in Gaza is alive and has had a significant impact on destroying Zionist troops. The occupiers cannot extinguish the flame of resistance. I saw the countdown clock in Palestine Square in Tehran, marking the days remaining for the destruction of Israel. According to that countdown, we are awaiting the day of the Zionist regime’s end.”

“Surrender Does Not Bring Security”
Louis Allday, another speaker at the panel, said, “The Zionist regime has destroyed various research centers in Beirut. Violence is the nature of this regime. It does not even accept peace and reconciliation. It seeks to expand its occupation.” He added, “We must understand that surrender does not bring security.”
Referring to Trump’s recent statements about the Persian Gulf, Allday said, “The issue of calling it the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf is not new. Westerners have worked on this for years. Geographically, even in Arabic texts, it is referred to as the ‘Persian Gulf.’ Just as the West tries to rename the Gulf of Mexico the ‘American Gulf,’ they are trying to push the name ‘Arabian Gulf.’”
He concluded, “Over the past 18 months, we have learned painful lessons. We are facing a lack of solidarity in the West, and the reason for this lack of unity is insufficient understanding of the history of Zionism.”