Islamic Republic Recruiting Iranians to Fight for Hamas Against Israel

Following Hamas’s surprise attack against Israel, new information from the Iran news website Khabar Online revealed that the Iran’s regime's broadcasting authority aired a chyron during broadcasts calling on viewers to sign up and declare their readiness to assist Hamas to fight Israel.

"State broadcasters are trying to incite hatred in line with official ideology, but ordinary Iranians will have none of it," said Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), specializing in Iran, Turkey, and the broader Middle East.

The chyron message from the broadcasting authority read: "1,373,720 [Iranians] love to fight Israel [and have already registered]. Send your name to [phone number] 3000212 to sign up [also] to participate in this initiative."

"Only I can defeat you," the message added, a statement made by the former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force Chief Qassem Soleimani, who addressed it to then-United States President Donald Trump.

The website Alaqsastorm/aqsa launched an official recruitment campaign for Iranian volunteers to register to fight Israel, urging others to sign up. According to the website, which is still active, states: "Al-Aqsa Storm, Alaqsastorm.com/aqsa, Number of supporters: 2,284,031."

The website calls on applicants to "click the button above and declare that you are ready to be sent to the occupied territories in order to support the legitimate defense of the oppressed Palestinian nation."

It asks for individuals to "invite a friend [to join]," and to " add a response, phone number, city, and first and last name."

Applicants are asked to their province of residence. Finally, the website asks applicants what they are doing to "support the Palestinian people?"

Following the first week of the war, Hamas called on jihadist terrorists to come to the battlefield and assist them in their terrorist attacks.

"Iran's dirty little secret is that most Iranians consider Ayatollah Khamenei more an enemy than they do Benjamin Netanyahu. No chyron is going to change that," Rubin told The Foreign Desk.