Raeisi blames US, West's failed policy for Gaza "catastrophe"

The Iranian and Russian presidents Ebrahim Raeisi and Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on Monday to confer on the ongoing developments in Gaza, an official at the Iranian president’s office reported.

In a telephone conversation between the presidents of Iran and Russia on Monday, President Raeisi warned about the continuation of crimes by the Zionist regime, Mohammad Jamshidi, the political deputy at the office of the President wrote in a post on his X account.

“The president considered the continuation of the blockade, the killing of women and children, the ground assault on Gaza, and the attack on its elected and legitimate government as laying the basis for a long and broadened war,” Jamshidi added.

“In this call, the developments in the Caucasus were also discussed,” he concluded.

The presidential office in Iran later issued the official readout of the telephone conversation, saying that at the beginning of the call, Raeisi expressed happiness with the growing trend of bilateral trade relations between the two nations, emphasizing the need to speed up bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of energy and transportation.

The Iranian president assessed the positions adopted by Russia in condemning the war crimes and genocide of the Zionist regime in Gaza as positive and said that “A look at what is happening in Gaza, it is quite possible that the war could spill over to other regions, and in that case, it will get more difficult to bring the escalated situation under control as time passes. Therefore, we expect all countries, including Russia, as permanent member of the UN Security Council, and international organizations to play a more effective role in stopping the war crimes being committed by the Zionist regime.”

Raeisi also considered the approach adopted by the Western countries, especially the United States in recklessly supporting the Zionist regime as an encouraging factor for the Zionists to escalate the violence and continue the genocide in Gaza, blaming the US and other Zionist regime backers’ failed regional policy for the crisis.

Emphasizing that stopping the Zionist regime’s attacks ASAP today and lifting the blockade on Gaza should be the priority in all efforts related to the Palestinian issue, the Iranian president noted, “Iran’s friendship and neighborliness, along with the common approaches of the two sides on the Palestinian issue, can lay a proper ground for consultation and attempts to establish and strengthen peace and stability in the region.”

In response to his Russian counterpart’s offer for Iran to exercise influence on the Palestinian Resistance groups to stop the conflict and instead their participation in the political process, the Iranian president responded by saying “We have stated many times that supporting Palestine is the priority in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but the Resistance groups themselves are independent in making decisions. Naturally, any action by Resistance groups against Zionist aggression makes sense to everyone, because it is within the framework of legitimate self-defense.”

The Russian president, for his part, emphasized that Russia’s assessment of the causes behind the current crisis in Gaza is the same as Iran’s, adding that there is no justification for the Israeli huge attacks on a densely populated area where more than 2 million people live defenselessly and they should be stopped as soon as possible.

Vladimir Putin stated that carrying out a ground assault in Gaza would come at a heavy price and ramifications in terms of military and humanitarian aspects, explaining more that, “Americans tried to advance their desired strategy to solve the Palestinian issue on their own, but this solution has failed and Russia is also worried about the spillover of the current conflict in Gaza to other areas.”

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Raeisi: US, West 'blind support' for Israel root cause of genocide in Gaza

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says “blind support” of Western countries, particularly the United States, for Israel has given the Zionists an incentive to intensify their crimes and continue genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“The grave catastrophe that is taking place in the region is the result of the policies of the US and other Western supporters of the Zionist regime, which are doomed to failure,” Raeisi said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

He hailed Russia’s positive stance in condemning Israel’s war crimes and genocide in Gaza and warned against the possible spillover of the war to other parts of the region.

“Given the current developments happening in Gaza, there is a possibility of the expansion of the scope of war and conflict to other fronts. In such a case, it will be more difficult to control the situation,” the Iranian president said.

Raeisi called on all countries and international circles, including Russia, as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, to play a more effective role in stopping the Israeli regime’s war crimes in the besieged strip.

He explained that the Israeli regime has resorted to genocide and crimes against the defenseless civilians in Gaza in order to compensate for its ignominious defeats.

He emphasized that widespread bombardment and the use of heavy and unconventional weapons and equipment against residential areas as well as forcing a large population to flee their homes are definitely among the clear examples of crimes against humanity.

He said the Israeli regime’s leaders are trying to link the cause of the recent events to external issues, however, the ongoing incidents are rooted in the 75 years of oppression, crime, apartheid, and massacre of Palestinian people as well as desecration of sanctities.

The Iranian president emphasized that putting an immediate end to Israel’s attacks and lifting the blockade of Gaza should be the priority of all the efforts pertaining to the Palestinian issue.

He noted that the common stance of Iran and Russia on the Palestinian issue can prepare a suitable ground for bilateral consultation and efforts aimed at establishing and promoting peace and stability in the region.

Iran has repeatedly announced that support for Palestine is among the priorities of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy “but the resistance groups are independent in making decisions,” Raeisi added.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime. The operation involved large-scale air, land, and sea strikes.

At least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 others wounded as the Israeli regime presses ahead with its bombing campaign against residential neighborhoods in the besieged Gaza Strip.

During the retaliatory operations by Palestinian resistance groups, more than 1,885 Zionists were killed and above 3,800 injured.

For his part, Putin said that Russia shares the same analysis with Iran regarding the causes of the current crisis in Gaza and said there is no justification for Israel’s extensive attacks on a dense area with more than two million defenseless residents.

The Russian president urged the Israeli regime to urgently stop its aggression, warning a ground operation in Gaza would be costly and would have very heavy military and humanitarian repercussions.

Russia is worried about the spread of the current conflict in Gaza to other areas, he added.

Raeisi asks Islamic world to stop Israeli regime crimes

Speaking in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi condemned the terrible crimes of the usurping Zionist regime against the oppressed people of Gaza.

Raeisi also called on the Islamic world to confront the crimes of the Zionists and to end the barbaric attacks on the defenseless women and children of Gaza.

Raeisi described what is happening in Gaza and against the oppressed people of this region as “genocide” and a “crime against humanity”.

He emphasized the need for the Islamic world to play a role in ending these attacks, lifting the blockade of Gaza, and giving the people of this region access to basic items, foodstuff and necessities.

Stressing the need to reopen the crossings to send humanitarian aid to Gaza, he expressed the readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran to participate and cooperate with Turkey and other Islamic countries to end this human and inhumane tragedy.

The Zionist regime once again proved that it is a racist and anti-human regime that does not stop any crime to achieve its goals, he said, warning against expanding the scope of developments to other parts of the region if the criminal attacks of the Zionists in Gaza are not stopped.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, said for his part, “What is happening in Gaza today has saddened all the Muslims of the world and we are trying to help the people of Gaza and we will continue our efforts in this field.”

The President of Turkey considered establishing a ceasefire, stopping the attacks, and lifting the blockade from Gaza as three important and essential priorities to control the situation in this critical period of the region

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Resistance attack lawful reaction to decades-long occupation

Reza Najafi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs made the comments at the 61st Annual Session of Asian African Legal Consultative Organization in Bali, Indonesia on Monday. 

“For nearly eighty years, the Zionist regime, which has roots in terrorism, aggression and brutality, has become a source of instability and insecurity in the West Asian region and has violated the basic rights of the Palestinian people,” Najafi said at the conference.

“The actions of the Palestinian people against the Israeli regime are based on the intrinsic right to self-determination and are a legitimate reaction against the decades-long oppressive occupation and heinous acts of the Israeli regime,” he added.

Referring to the international obligations that originate from international laws and emphasizing the solidarity of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the Palestinian people, the Iranian diplomat said that, “Considering the current complex situation in Palestine, the international community of governments and the United Nations Security Council should as soon as possible end the savage actions of the Israeli regime.”

The 61st Annual Session of the Organization is scheduled to take place at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali, Republic of Indonesia from 16th to 20th October 2023 (Monday to Friday).

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11 Journalists among 2,750 Palestinian martyrs

So far, 11 Palestinian journalists have lost their lives in the Israeli regime’s bombing of Gaza, more than 20 others have been injured, and two journalists have gone missing, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said in a statement.

Today Gaza health-based ministry announced that the bodies of at least 1,000 Palestinian martyrs still are under the debris of the bombarded houses, and rescue forces could not take them out. 

The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and 199 others, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.

Palestinian Resistance fighters launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the positions of the Israeli regime in the occupied territories last Saturday morning, October 7, from the Gaza Strip, which shocked the regime, because such an inclusive and unprecedented operation occurred for the first time in 75 years of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The operation entered its 10th day with the Israeli regime getting disappointed against the Palestinian resistance forces thus resorting to hitting civilians and their houses in Gaza with fighter jets.

MNA/Iran Press 

Hamas denies reports of ‘ceasefire in Gaza’

Hamas media office made the statement on Monday after Reuters reported that the US, Israel and Egypt have agreed to a truce in southern Gaza to begin at 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) to coincide with the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Press TV reported.

Citing two Egyptian security sources, the report said that the ceasefire would last for several hours.

The US, Israel and Egypt had agreed that the Rafah crossing would be open until 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) “as a one-day initial re-opening,” it added.

However, Israel denied the reported ceasefire, with a statement from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying, “There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out.”

Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Rafah border crossing is set to reopen to allow humanitarian aid in.

MNA

Malaysia PM backs Hamas ties in defiance of West pressures

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rejected Western pressure to condemn Hamas, saying his government will continue to maintain relations with the Palestinian Resistance group.

Anwar said that Western officials have repeatedly asked Malaysia to condemn Hamas in meetings but his government “does not agree” with their attitude, Al-Jazeera reported.

“I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before, and this will continue,” Anwar said on Monday in remarks to parliament.

“As such, we don’t agree with their pressuring attitude, as Hamas, too, won in Gaza freely through elections, and Gazans chose them to lead.”

Western governments have condemned Hamas and called on other countries to stand with Israel after Hamas earlier this month carried out the most successful operation dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm in decades.

More than 1,400 Israeli soldiers and settlers were killed when Hamas launched the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation by attacking southern occupied territories via air, land and sea on October 7, according to Israeli regime officials.

Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 2,750 people and wounded nearly 10,000 others, according to Palestinian officials. Another 1,000 people are believed to be trapped under rubble in the besieged enclave.

Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the population is Muslim, is a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights and does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

MNA/PR

How India abandoned its traditional pro-Palestine policy under Modi govt


By Mehdi Moosvi

Hours after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ operation against the Israeli regime last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to X, formerly Twitter, to extend his support to the Benjamin Netanyahu regime in Tel Aviv.

“Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.” Modi wrote on X on October 7, referring to the Palestinian resistance fighters as “terrorists.”

The tweet was later shared by Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other ministers and members of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which led to a massive social media disinformation campaign aimed at the vilification of the Palestinian resistance.

A former colonel in the Indian army, Rohit Dev, who now serves as a chief operating officer of a renewable energy firm, also took to X and had a message for the illegitimate regime in Tel Aviv – show “no mercy: no pity: no remorse” towards Hamas.

The disinformation campaign has now led to “India is with Israel” hashtags trending on social media platforms, which left the Israeli regime ambassador to India Naor Gilon awestruck as he lauded Indians who were willing to volunteer to fight on behalf of the regime.

In the last week, New Delhi has even sanctioned force against protests in solidarity with Palestine, while allowing demonstrations in support of the Israeli regime.

From the Aligarh Muslim University, the top minority educational institute in India, to the capital New Delhi, several protesters have been detained in the past week, suggesting that the Indian government is going to walk the talk on its support for the Israeli regime.

Former Indian ambassador to Palestine and West Asia expert, Zikrur Rahman in an interview with the Press TV website said the Zionists have sought to portray themselves as victims.

“The Israelis have very cleverly tried to divert the narrative from a colonizer and colonized or an occupier to an occupied into a Muslim and Jewish issue, which it has nothing to do with it. It is the issue of occupation, occupier and occupied,” Rahman said in a telephonic interview.

“Palestinians are not only Muslims, they’re Jews also and also Christians, so it is not a matter of Islam or being Muslim or non-Muslim, it is a matter of subjugation,” he added.

Change in policy under Modi

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological parent organization of India’s ruling party BJP, has been accused in India of fueling anti-Muslim violence.

Many human rights activists have even drawn parallels between “Hindutva and Zionism.”

It was in 1992 that India and Israel normalized relations, but after the BJP government took over in 2014, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the occupied territories, a departure from the policy pursued by his predecessors since 1948.

“With the rise of the BJP to power, things have definitely changed as the two countries have now stronger relations,” Rahman said. “There’s a personal bond between Modi and Netanyahu, and both sides are also doing that.”

Zafarul-Islam Khan, the former chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission and editor of The Milli Gazette journal, delved into history and said India was “the first country to recognize Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974 and the State of Palestine in 1988”, and became the first country to allow PLO to open an embassy in Delhi.

“India’s policy started to change slowly during Narasimha Rao’s (former Indian Prime Minister) time, basically as a result of militancy in Kashmir and also because of the Oslo Accords, which were marketed by Israel as the end of the Palestine problem,” Khan said in an interview with the Press TV website.

“Israel promised India to train its forces to fight the insurgency (in Kashmir), while India offered it military gadgets that it manufactured or improvised to fight the Palestinian freedom fighters. Today, India is the largest importer of Israeli arms. All this while India has continued to say that it supports the “inalienable rights” of the Palestinians.”

Khan said the relations between the two sides “took a new turn” under the Modi government, which started describing ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv as “strategic.”

“India under Modi found itself attracted to Israel, which “tackled” the (Muslim) Palestinians the way Hindutva fanatics would like to tackle the Muslims of India,” he remarked.

Pertinently, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit the occupied Palestinian territories in July 2017.  The visit came weeks after he welcomed the Israeli counterpart in New Delhi.

Zionism and Hindutva

In India, Islamophobia has become a serious issue in recent years, fanned by the Hindutva ideology that lies at the heart of the policies pursued by the incumbent BJP government,

The Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi seeks to establish a Hindu-dominated nation and marginalize religious minorities, especially Muslims, who have witnessed a surge in hate speech perpetuated by Hindu extremist groups in recent years.

The unrelenting calls for genocide against minority Muslims by BJP leaders, and other right-wing forces, have exposed the grave threat that Islamophobia poses to India’s social fabric.

According to Khan, Hindutva and the Zionist ideologies go together, as the binding factor for both is animosity towards Islam and Muslims.

“BJP and Hindutva suffer from strong Islamophobia, and any country or power they perceive as “anti-Muslim” is automatically their great friend. Both Modi and Netanyahu share a disdain for Muslims and Islam, and this is a key reason for their bonhomie,” Khan told the Press TV website.

“They (Hindutva supporters) look at Israel in great admiration, for it has subdued a “Muslim” nation. Hindutva wants to replicate the same model in India, though the situation in India is totally different from what prevails in the occupied territories.”

New Delhi is today the biggest and most dependable purchaser of Israeli-made weapons, spending in excess of $ 1 billion per year, according to weapons monitors.

The history of military cooperation between them can be traced back to the early 1990s when New Delhi for the first time started purchasing weaponry from Tel Aviv.

Over the years, especially under the incumbent BJP government, India has become one of the largest buyers of Israeli military equipment, purchasing weapons such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), radar systems, missile defense systems, and ammunition.

Change in India’s policy on Palestine

India was not always a supporter of the Israeli regime. It opposed the creation of Israel and backed the rights of Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the country’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, had both expressed their sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians.

“The time has changed (for India), the time Nehru was there, was a different time. During the Janta Party period, then-foreign minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (former Prime Minister and a senior leader of the BJP) had very clearly stated that “Israel will have to vacate the land occupied by the Arabs,” Rahman said while referring to Vajpayee’s 1977 speech.

But as New Delhi looked for new partnerships in line with its strategic and regional interests, the Palestine cause was put on the back burner, or as New Delhi-based security and diplomatic analyst, Qamar Agha describes it Modi “de-hyphenated” Palestine and Israel.

Modi government has worked hard to improve its ties with West Asian countries, such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, which have shown more pragmatism and flexibility towards the Israeli regime, but on the other hand, has also risked its moral high ground and credibility.

“When there was the bipolar world, we continued to support the Palestinian cause, but with the arrival of the unipolar world, the changes in our foreign policy towards Israel started surfacing,” Agha told the Press TV website.

“It was during this period that a number of Arab countries, Egypt, Jordan, and many more, started establishing direct relations with Israel. So India thought why should we wait, when the Arabs themselves are recognizing, it is better to talk to them and establish ties.”

According to Khan, the Modi government knows that Arab or Muslim countries “pay only lip service to Palestine, and it too is doing the same while doing real business with Israel.”

“The Palestinians are very clear about this that India is not the India it used to be in the 1970s and 80s, and so they have accepted it as it is that if you’re going to support us and help us that is good, otherwise, the other countries are also like that,” stated Rahman.

The reasons for this change in India’s policy are manifold, including the growing security and military cooperation between the two sides.

“The Palestinian embassy still exists in Delhi and an Indian diplomatic office also operates in Ramallah, while India’s relations with Israel have touched the sky, so much that Modi saw it fit to openly stand with Israel against “terrorist” Hamas during the current Israel-Gaza face off which was a revolt against the 16-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s overtures to Arab countries while the Palestinian issue remained unsolved,” Khan said.

Khan hastened to add that India is not a big player in the West Asian region and is only interested in keeping the regional markets open for its goods, importing oil and gas at favorable terms and safeguarding the 7.5 million Indians working there, who contribute massively to India’s foreign exchange earnings.

Apart from this, he noted, India has no strategic interests in the region.

Raeisi, Putin hold phone call on ongoing developments in Gaza

In a telephone conversation between the presidents of Iran and Russia on Monday, President Raeisi warned about the continuation of crimes by the Zionist regime, Mohammad Jamshidi, the political deputy at the office of the President wrote in a post on his X account.

“The president considered the continuation of the blockade, the killing of women and children, the ground assault on Gaza, and the attack on its elected and legitimate government as laying the basis for a long and broadened war,” Jamshidi added.

“In this call, the developments in the Caucasus were also discussed,” he concluded.

The presidential office in Iran has not issued the official readout of the telephone conversation yet.

This item will be updated…

KI/