Assassination of Haniyeh another ‘act of war’ by Israel against Iran: Legal expert

By Alireza Kamandi

Based on evidence, the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran constitutes another act of war against Iran by the Israeli regime, says a legal expert.

Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer, geopolitical commentator and journalist based in Canada, in an interview with the Press TV website, said Haniyeh was the representative of a foreign state (Palestine), and he came to Iran on state business and at the invitation of the Iranian government.

This assassination must also be viewed in the context of Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April, and its targeting of Iranian military personnel in Syria, he noted.

“Israel’s murder of Haniyeh was the latest episode in a low-level war that Israel has been waging against Iran. That war cannot be justified on the basis of Iran’s support for resistance groups, because those groups are simply defending themselves from Israel’s criminal aggressions,” Lascaris asserted.

“Based on all the evidence, the assassination of Haniyeh was another act of war against Iran.”

Haniyeh, who was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian, was assassinated in an attack engineered by the Israeli regime with the support of the United States early on Wednesday.

Top Iranian political leadership has vowed to avenge the blood of the visiting Hamas official.

Asked if it is Iran’s inherent and absolute right to carry out a retaliatory operation against Israel, the lawyer said the answer is “absolutely yes”.

To defeat Israel, he said, the Axis of Resistance does not have to destroy the regime’s military. All the resistance has to do is create a sense of insecurity among settlers in the occupied territories.

If that happens, Israel will lose the ‘demographic war’ against Palestinians, and Palestine will be reborn.

“The resistance is eminently capable of creating a strong sense of insecurity among the Zionist population. This is especially true if its aerial attacks are coordinated. Israel’s air defense systems have already been defeated,” he told the Press TV website.

“A coordinated attack with simply overwhelm them. Once Israelis see this, many of them will decide to abandon the Zionist colony.”

Regarding the silence of the United Nations on the matter, the lawyer said the world body was never intended to be an enforcer of international law but an instrument of US hegemony.

“That is why the US, Britain and France were given the veto power. That is why the UN is based in New York. That is why Western states dominate the funding of the United Nations,” he stated.

“As long as Western states dominate the UN, the UN will fail to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.”

Lascaris further stated that by assassinating Haniyeh, the lead negotiator for Hamas, Israel has “destroyed any pretense that it genuinely seeks a ceasefire in Gaza.”

“Now, it is clearer than ever that Israel’s overarching objective in occupied Palestine is to complete its genocide of the Palestinian people,” he remarked.

“During the past ten months, Israel has negotiated in bad faith. In reality, Israel had no interest in a ceasefire. But none of this is new.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk