TEHRAN – The Persian phrase "Harifat Menem," meaning "I am your adversary," has been topped by search engines in Iran, the slogan of a volunteer campaign adopted by Iran's state television and supported by other institutions such as the Directorate of Islamic Tabligh after it was launched by a group of young volunteers.
The "I am your adversary" campaign aims to mobilize a popular mobilization that declares its full readiness to confront the Israeli occupation on various fronts, by clicking on an electronic link, and more than two million volunteers joined the campaign during the first hours - since the link was shown on official television - and the number reached after 3 days to nearly 5 million volunteers.
The campaign was very popular among Iranian citizens, and the title of the campaign became a slogan chanted by demonstrators in the streets and in marches in support of the Palestinian cause.
"I am your adversary" campaign gives an impression of the number of Iranians wishing to participate in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (social media)
Motivation to launch the campaign
Ali Kermani, one of the young people who launched Iran's "I am your adversary" or "I challenge you" campaign, explained that in the first moments of the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, "the Iranian street witnessed popular celebrations and great joy, which were observed throughout the country and on social media, we noticed that there is a large group of young people talking on social media about their readiness to join the battle."
He adds – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – that the subject of the flood of Al-Aqsa is the focus of talk of young men and women today in Iran everywhere they meet, such as universities, cafes and parks, in addition to their search for any way to catch up with the front in Gaza.
Kermani added that this trend motivated the decision to launch a campaign, so that volunteers, women and men, registered their data through a link dedicated to this purpose, in addition to other institutions that supported the campaign, such as the Islamic Reporting Directorate and the Jamaran website, according to Kermani.
Regarding the official media support, Kermani explained that the official radio and television welcomed the idea after presenting it to them, and the third channel supported the campaign or adopted it to some extent, as it continued to display the link dedicated to the campaign on the screen, and displayed the number of volunteers, and allocated a number to send text messages by volunteers.
Regarding the name of the campaign, Kermani said, "We were thinking of choosing a title for the campaign, and we learned that there is a similar campaign in the Arab world entitled "I challenge you", so we decided to adopt a similar title in Persian, so we called it "Harifat Menem", with which we address the occupation army and the Israeli soldier and challenge them."
Real Packing
Media expert Yacoub Karimi believes that this voluntary campaign delivers a direct message to the Israeli occupation, which fears Iran's position, capacity, population accumulation and area, and pointed out – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – to other aspects of this campaign such as the solidarity side that strengthens the resolve of the Palestinian people, and the side of showing Islamic unity on the Palestinian issue.
Karimi believes that popular mobilization to confront the occupation is real in Iranian society, not just psychological warfare. In the same context, the spokesman added that the Iranian people believe in the capabilities of their army, explaining that Iran is ready at the military and popular levels to enter the battle in one way or another.
Karimi did not fail to mention the targeting of Iranian nuclear scientists by the Israeli occupation, considering that it doubles the Iranian people's position against the occupation.
The scene of the signing of petitions declaring readiness to join the front of the war against the Israeli occupation has become frequent in the Iranian demonstrations (Reuters)
Signing petitions
Iranian citizens signed a petition declaring their readiness for war against Israel in the "Edab Square" in the center of the capital, Tehran, on the sidelines of the march condemning the targeting of the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation.
This scene has been repeated dozens of times over the past few days, as many universities and seminaries (religious schools) announced that their students had signed petitions expressing their readiness to join the front of the war against the Israeli occupation.