International Quds Day: Iran urges Muslim unity to counter Israel, support Palestine

Iran has slammed the “shameful” silence of the United States and some European countries in the face of Israel’s crimes and murders, calling for unity among Muslim nations to counter the Zionist regime and support the oppressed people of Palestine.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday to mark International Quds Day, the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan which was named by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic, more than four decades ago.

“Now, Palestine and holy Quds have turned into the symbol of unity in the Muslim world and represent the cause of the world’s right-seeking oppressed and freedom seekers from any race and religion,” it said.

The ministry criticized the so-called advocates of human rights who are indeed supporters of the occupying Israeli regime, such as the US and some European countries, for keeping a shameful silence on crimes and murders committed by Israel, which has killed about 100 Palestinians, including women and children, in the first three months of 2023 alone.

It underscored the Islamic Republic’s “principled and unchangeable” policy of supporting the liberation struggle and legitimate resistance of the Palestinian nation and the necessity of effective and deterrent confrontation with the Israeli regime.

The ministry “asks all the Muslim governments and nations as well as world’s freedom seekers to become united to confront this cancerous tumor and disrupter of regional and international stability and security and to render real support and assistance to the oppressed people of Palestine.”

It once again emphasized the legal obligation of international organizations and human rights entities to support the Palestinian people’s rights and terminate Israel’s savage crimes in al-Quds and other occupied territories of Palestine and the regime’s aggressions and role-playing in the region.

The statement pointed to the move by the forces of the short-lived Zionist regime in recent days to violate the sanctity of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the first qibla of Muslims across the globe, and kill worshipers in this sacred place, adding that such actions once again portrayed the “vicious face of this apartheid regime before the global public opinion.”

It noted that the Israeli regime continues its crimes, blatantly violates the primary principles of human rights and desecrates religious and Muslim sanctities, particularly al-Aqsa Mosque, urging Muslims “to get united and consolidated once again and support the heroic resistance of the Palestinian nation with the ultimate objective of liberating all the occupied territories of Palestine from the sea to the river and forming an integrated Palestinian establishment with holy al-Quds as its capital.”

As reiterated by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the ministry said, the main policy of hegemonic powers and Zionism is to undermine the significance of the Palestinian issue in the minds of Muslims across the world so that it falls into oblivion. 

Since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli regime has imposed strict restrictions on the entry and exit of Palestinians to and from the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque. Amid heightened tensions with Palestinian worshipers, Israeli settlers also press ahead with their frequent incursions and provocative rituals at the holy site.

Syria denounces international silence, raps Israeli settlers’ incursions into al-Aqsa

Syria censures recurrent incursions by extremist Israeli settlers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.

The resistance movements in Gaza and elsewhere have vowed to confront the Israeli regime on multiple fronts. 

On April 6, at least 30 rockets were reportedly launched from southern Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation against the Israeli aggression against al-Aqsa. Resistance fighters based in Gaza also fired several rockets toward the occupied territories.

Palestinian sources said the regime’s Iron Dome failed to intercept most of the retaliatory rockets. Following the rocket attack, Israeli warplanes hit targets inside Gaza and positions of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in Lebanon.

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