It’s all Israel’s fault
(And other Middle East fairy tales)
By Khaled Salih
Try to locate Israel on the map!
On 18 August 2025, the official website of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published an article titled “Building the dream of ‘Greater Israel’ on the ruins of Arab lands; Does Israel ensure security or undermine it?” [Khamenei 20250818] in which the core argument is that Israel:
- is inherently expansionist, and from its founding in 1948, Israel has pursued a long-term strategy of “Greater Israel,” an empire stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates;
- its existence rooted in occupation, as Israel was established by displacing Palestinians, seizing their lands, and continuing to expand through wars (1948, 1967, 1982) and settlements;
- has an endless appetite for Arab land, evident in annexing Palestinian territories, occupying parts of Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, and expanding settlements; Israel allegedly proves it cannot coexist peacefully; and
- is a threat to regional security, because its nature is colonial and imperial, and normalisation with Israel only empowers aggression and undermines Arab security.
In short: Israel is portrayed as a colonial project, permanently bent on territorial expansion, empire-building, and destabilising the region.
