Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi used his Ramadan holiday message on Monday to urge Muslim nations to set aside their differences and unite to fight Israel and the “arrogant powers” of the Western world.
Iran’s PressTV summarized the more belligerent passages of Raisi’s Ramadan message:
The usurping Israeli regime has occupied the Palestinian territory for more than seven decades and committed heinous crimes, he said.
Over the past months, he added, the regime has killed more than 30,000 innocent civilians, particularly children, in the Gaza Strip.
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Raeisi expressed confidence that the continuation of the Muslim Palestinian people’s battle against Israel and constant and firm support by the Muslim world would lead to the liberation of Palestine, al-Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque.
By the “liberation of Palestine,” Raisi meant genocide – the absolute destruction of the people of Israel. Of course, he did not dwell on who the Israelis are fighting in Gaza, or why.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian echoed Raisi’s Ramadan sentiments, urging Muslim nations to make the Palestinian cause their highest priority:
“Gaza’s developments showed that, as the common ideal of [all] Muslims, the issue of Palestine rests at the top of the Muslim world’s [list of] priorities,” he added.
The holy month, he added, can serve as a “premium opportunity” for Muslim countries “to effectively take the initiative, under the aegis of all-out unity and convergence, towards stopping the apartheid Zionist regime’s genocide and war crimes in Gaza.”
Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, expressed confidence that “the resistance and the Palestinian people are the main victors of this arena.”
Neither Raisi, Amirabdollahian, nor Iranian state media mentioned that Hamas just walked away from pre-Ramadan ceasefire negotiations after refusing to make the slightest compromise to their maximalist demands. The Israeli government accepted a ceasefire proposal from mediators in Paris weeks ago, with plenty of time left before the beginning of Ramadan, but Hamas never responded to the offer.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sunday chided the Biden administration for accepting the “nonsense” idea that “it is wrong to fight an Islamic country during the holy month of Ramadan,” when Muslim nations have never hesitated to wage war during the holiday season, including war against other Muslims.
Hamas cynically used the administration’s determination to have a headline-friendly ceasefire deal before the beginning of Ramadan to its advantage, correctly predicting the pressure against Israel to make unilateral concessions would increase tremendously as the big Muslim holiday approached.
An Iranian Shiite Muslim devotee reads from the Koran, Islam’s holy book, at the Emamzadeh Saleh mosque in Tajrish square in northern Tehran on March 12, 2024, on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty)
“This was America’s Operation Ramadan: Spook and threaten Israel into accepting a hostage deal that would end the war much sooner than Mr. Netanyahu wants, because victory is unattainable anyway,” the WSJ said.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency pointed out on Saturday that Hamas “prefers an escalation of violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to a hostage deal” and, to that end, the Palestinian terrorist group actually increased its demands instead of negotiating.
“At this stage, Hamas is fortifying its position as if it is not interested in a deal, and it strives to ignite the region during Ramadan at the expense of the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip,” the Mossad said in a rare public statement.
Iran certainly is not calling for Hamas to make any compromises for peace, as its belligerent Ramadan messages demonstrate. Western media is now filled with headlines bemoaning the grim holiday season awaiting Palestinians: “Ramadan Begins as Hunger and Fear Stalk Gaza” from the radical leftist New York Times, “Ramadan Begins in Gaza with Hunger Worsening and No End to the War In Sight” from the Associated Press, and so forth.
