Raisi urges Muslim countries to stop Israel’s ‘killing machine’
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called on all Muslim countries to use all means to stop Israel’s “killing machine” in the Gaza Strip and its attacks on hospitals, schools and refugee camps. Speaking at a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Raisi said that Israel’s use of phosphorus bombs has turned Gaza into a pile of rubble. The Iranian president said that the regime’s brutal actions have killed more than 11,000 people – most of them women and children. Raisi noted that 3,000 others are buried under rubble.
The Iranian president hit out at the United States for providing financial and military support to Israel.
Undoubtedly, the US government is the mastermind and main accomplice of Israel’s crimes, Iranian president said, adding that claims of legitimate self-defense is the history’s bitter irony. He was referring to remarks by US officials who have claimed that Israel is acting in legitimate self-defense following Hamas’ October 7 attack on the occupied territories.
Raisi also said that US officials, in their statements, claim that they are not seeking to expand the scope of the conflict but, in action, they provide the fuel needed for Israel’s war machine.
He urged the leaders of Muslim countries to adopt a decisive decision on the situation in Gaza.
“Islamic governments should designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime as a terrorist organization,” Raisi told the summit.
Boycott Israel
He called for “cutting any sort of political or economic relations with the Zionist regime” as important steps to be taken by Islamic countries.
Implementing a “trade boycott against the Zionist regime, especially in the energy field, should be prioritized,” he added.
He also called for an end to the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory by the Israeli regime, which has restricted the entry of water, fuel, electricity and medicine to the besieged territory since the beginning of the conflict.
The Iranian president said the crimes committed by the regime in Gaza are a clear example of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and called for setting up an international tribunal to prosecute the leaders of the US and Israeli regime.
Raisi also urged nations that have ties with Israel to sever them and called for greater support for Palestinians.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized ties with Israel in 2020, and Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the regime’s officials for months to normalize relations.
Raisi said that if it were not for the resistance of the people of Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon, today many Arab and Islamic countries would be engaged in a war with the Israeli regime.
Iran is the main supporter of the resistance movements in the region.
Raisi was among dozens of leaders who attended the joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh.
‘Unmatched genocidal war’
The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at the summit that Palestinians are facing an “unmatched genocidal war”, and called on the US to pressure Israel into halting its offensive on Gaza.
Abbas said Palestinians needed international protection in the face of Israeli attacks.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also addressed the summit, has been quoted as saying that an international peace conference should be convened to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
“What we need in Gaza is not pauses for a couple of hours, rather we need a permanent cease-fire,” Erdogan said in his address to the summit in Riyadh.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi called for an immediate sustainable cease-fire in Gaza “without restrictions or conditions”.
“The policies of collective punishment of the people of Gaza … are unacceptable and cannot be justified by self-defense or any other claims. They must be stopped immediately,” he said.