Intl. Quds Day embodies Muslims’ vigilance against Israel, accomplices: Iran’s parliament speaker

Iran’s Parliament speaker has highlighted the significance of International Quds Day, describing the annual pro-Palestine event as the embodiment and supreme symbol of the Muslim world’s vigilance against the occupying Israeli regime and its accomplices.

In a message sent to the 4th International Congress of the Holy Quds in Tehran on Tuesday, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that Israel’s renewed wave of hatred and racism against defenseless Palestinians in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound “has no justification, and it indicates the Zionists’ desperation.”

“In the past months, the Zionist regime has been entangled in internal crises, which, by their own admission, have been unprecedented in [the regime’s] ominous lifetime. Through fabricating regional crises, the regime seeks to distract attention from what is happening within its fake borders,” he wrote.

“The Islamic Ummah should vigilantly follow up on the current developments in Palestine and use all means at its disposal to expose the destructive role of the Zionist regime in the region and the world. International Quds Day is the main symbol of the Muslim world’s vigilance against the Zionist regime and its accomplices.”

International Quds Day was designated by Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic. It is marked annually across the world on the last Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. This year, the event falls on April 14.

Last week, heavily armed Israeli forces raided al-Aqsa Mosque twice, wounding dozens and arresting hundreds of Palestinians, who were praying at Islam’s third holiest site.

Images of the attacks showed detained Palestinian worshipers lying face down with their legs and arms bound behind their backs, and others with their hands tied being led into a vehicle.

The violence, which took place during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, was followed by Israeli airstrikes on Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip amid rocket fires by Palestinian resistance groups toward the occupied territories. 

Rocket barrages fired from Lebanon as Hezbollah warns Israel over Aqsa Mosque raids

At least 30 rockets have reportedly been launched from southern Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation for raids by Israeli forces.

Also in his message, Qalibaf said the resistance’s “crushing response” showed that the Zionists’ power of response has weakened and that they do not even think about waging a new aggression.

“The Islamic world is today awake and vigilant more than ever. Muslim nations and the world’s freedom-seeking people are the major supporters of the Palestinian nation and Palestine’s strategic depth. Today, the Zionist regime is isolated even among its allies, and its crimes are before the eyes of the world to the extent that it is no longer easy for its supporters to justify its illegal and inhuman measures,” he added.

“Unity is the main strategy of the Muslim world to resolve the Palestine issue... The Islamic world should not allow the enemies to distract it from the main issues by sowing discord and sedition among Muslims.”

The Iranian parliament speaker also said that the Muslim world today agrees that resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine from Israel’s decades-long occupation, noting that the paths of dialog, compromise and normalization of ties with Tel Aviv have all failed.

He also noted that the original inhabitants of Palestine of any ethnicity and religion should decide the fate of their country.

“Palestinian refugees should use the right of return to their homeland and determine the future of their country in free elections. Compromise plans imposed by others will never work as they did not work in the past. However, resistance to uphold the rights of the people has always correlated to success,” the Iranian parliament speaker added.

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