By Hossein Moradi
President Ebrahim Raeisi was one of the 57 Muslim leaders who attended the extraordinary summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday and called for an immediate halt to the Israeli regime’s genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip.
President Raeisi, who was on his maiden official visit to the Arab kingdom, outlined the Islamic Republic of Iran’s position on the Palestinian issue and the ways to end the Israeli regime’s ongoing military aggression in the coastal territory.
Originally, the 22 members of the Arab League were expected to attend the Riyadh summit, but it was later expanded to include the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
This intergovernmental organization consists of 57 mostly Muslim-majority countries from four continents, including all members of the Arab League.
The meeting assumed extra significance as it brought together leaders of many regional countries despite political differences between them on a myriad of issues.
On the sidelines of the high-profile summit, President Raeisi met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the first high-level meeting between the two Persian Gulf countries since the restoration of their diplomatic ties in March.
He also met other Muslim leaders, including Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh al-Sisi, which was the first meeting between the presidents of the two countries in 10 years.
Muslim leaders presented several proposals at the summit, and in a final communiqué they condemned “the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the war crimes.”
They also condemned the occupying regime’s “barbaric, inhumane and brutal massacres” perpetrated a against the Palestinian people, calling on the UN Security Council to take “a decisive and binding decision” that ends the Gaza carnage.
The meeting urged the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to complete the investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the Tel Aviv regime against the Palestinians.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli aggression since October 7, including more than 4,300 children. It is estimated that some 3,000 civilians are also trapped under the rubble, with chances of rescue very thin.
Raeisi’s speech highlight of the summit
President Raeisi, unlike other Muslim world leaders who attended the meeting, minced no words in unequivocally condemning the genocide in Gaza and urged the world community to boycott and prosecute the child-murdering regime, which he said is an “illegitimate child of the US.”
At the outset, President Raeisi strongly denounced Israel’s brutal aggression against people in densely-populated Gaza, stating that the Zionist regime is currently committing one of the most heinous crimes in the history of humanity.
“What has happened in the past five weeks in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank is a historic source of shame for ethics, law, and humanity,” Iran’s president asserted.
He urged the OIC to act as a unifying force in order to help the Palestinian people and take action against the Israeli regime and cautioned about the urgency of it.
“Realizing this important fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran has decided to warmly embrace Islamic nations based on a policy of good neighborliness and regional unity,” Raeisi asserted
“Today is the day of action,” he stressed, adding that countries in the region must muster up all they have to defend the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Palestine.
He heaped praise on the heroic Palestinian nation that has stood up bare-handed against the Israeli regime’s oppressive policies for two decades, which include a total land, sea and air blockade, making Gaza the largest open-air prison.
President Raeisi also underlined that the ongoing bombing campaign is in violation of international law, pointing out how the regime has been using white phosphorus bombs and other prohibited weapons in its deliberate targeting of civilian areas.
He referred to the large number of civilian casualties resulting from monstrous Israeli airstrikes, noting that the bigger tragedy is that more people are losing their lives due to lack of medicine and the spread of diseases amid the crippling siege.
Iran’s president added that the United States is Israel’s biggest partner in crime, criticizing the American incitement of Israeli crimes against the defenseless people of Gaza, under the guise of “the right to self-defense.”
“The claim of legitimate self-defense by the occupying forces who are always invading the rights of Palestinians is one of the bitter ironies of history, which is incompatible with any of the established legal rules and international standards,” he stated.
President Raeisi also listed the US support measures to the Tel Aviv regime, including the dispatching of troops and military equipment to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, airlift of deadly bombs and weapons to the Israeli regime, and blocking ceasefire efforts in the UN Security Council.
“The most destructive role is that of the US. All evils are under their control. The slaughter of millions of people around the world, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other Islamic countries is under American control,” he asserted.
“The US has been igniting this conflict by disabling all international organizations in the world.”
Raeisi reiterated Iran’s long-standing official position on holding a referendum in which all Palestinian Muslims, Jews and Christians, from the sea to the river, including those exiled from those areas, would participate.
Holding such a comprehensive referendum, according to him, would resolve the decades-long crisis.
Ten-point proposal
During his speech, President Raeisi also proposed a series of measures that should be taken against the Israeli regime and in support of Palestine, summarized in ten key points.
The first three points refer to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. The first point calls for an end to the massacre of the people of Gaza and blind attacks on civilians, listing it as a priority.
The second point calls for the complete lifting of the humanitarian blockade of Gaza and the immediate and unconditional reopening of the Rafah border crossing, in cooperation with Egypt. The third point calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Zionist regime’s military from Gaza.
The next three points deal with the attitude of the OIC members towards the Zionist regime and call for the suspension of political and economic relations with the occupying regime, the designation of the Israeli army as a terrorist organization, and the establishment of an international court to punish Israeli crimes.
The last four points deal with post-war Gaza, and include the reconstruction of infrastructure in the besieged territory through a fund, as well as humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The ninth point proposes to include the date of the bombing of the Arab Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza as a day of genocide in the official calendars of Islamic countries. The hospital bombing by Israel was widely condemned across the world.
The tenth point proposes arming the people of Gaza if the Israel regime’s relentless crimes and the US support for it continue.
Most of the talking points were derived from remarks made by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in recent weeks, who has repeatedly emphasized boycotting and prosecuting the regime for its war crimes in Gaza while urging Muslim nations to unite for Palestine.
Upon his return to Tehran on Sunday morning after attending the Riyadh summit, President Raeisi said the United States plays a key role in aiding the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Palestinians, especially women and children.
“Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has had clear-cut views on the rights of Palestinian people, while at the same time, considering the Zionist regime as a fake and usurping regime with no identity,” he said, echoing what he said at the Riyadh summit.
