Nightmare of Jerusalem Part 7

Press TV (2025)

Film Review

This episode briefly summarizes the decline of secular Arab nationalism and rise of Islamic nationalism.

Following World War II, the socialist Arab parties across the Middle East united under the pan-Arab Baath Party. Built on ethnic pride, the Ba’ath Party took power in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Constrained by internal struggles and deliberate destabilization by Western governments and Israel, it eventually collapsed (Syria was the last Ba’ath party regime to fall in December 2024).

Beginning in the 1960s, Shiite scholars in Homs (Syria) organized to to rebirth the movement along Islamic principles. Integral to this movement, Iran’s revolutionary leader Iman Khomeini wrote many letters to the Shah, warning him about negative US and CIA influences on Iran. Once he began addressing public gatherings, he was arrested and exiled. He spent his 14 years in exile continuing to organize against the Shah’s government.