Zarif told Haniyeh that Iran was backing Hamas at the UN.
By: United with Israel Staff
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday told Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that the Islamic Republic will support the “Palestinian resistance movement” at the United Nations General Assembly.
The US submitted a resolution condemning Hamas and is lobbying European countries to vote for the resolution at the UNGA. The vote is expected in the coming days.
According to a report by Iran’s Fars News, Zarif reiterated Iran’s support for the “Palestinian people’s rights,” and blasted “certain regional states,” meaning Sunni Arab states, for their “policies which have emboldened the US to adopt such measures.”
He vowed to block the resolution in coordination with other Islamic states and “progressive countries.”
Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, last week dispatched a letter to the UNGA president, Maria Fernanda Spinosa, in response to the American-sponsored resolution, claiming that the US is “providing all the necessary material and moral support for the Israeli occupation to continue its aggression against our people and deprive them of their basic rights of freedom, independence and self-determination.”
He stressed the need for “hard work to thwart the American efforts to condemn the resistance” at the UN.
Responding to the letter, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said that “Hamas speaks about international law while it fires rockets into civilian populations, holds the bodies of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens, and uses its own people as human shields.”
“A terrorist organization going to the UN for assistance is like a serial killer asking the police for assistance,” he stated mockingly.
Pakistani envoy Maleeha Lodhi warned the UNGA that the anti-Hamas resolution was an “attempt to deflect the attention of the international community” and does “nothing to pave the way for peace.”
“We and other member states categorically reject this move and by extension this resolution,” she added.
Iran continues to provide financial support to terrorist groups throughout the world, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
Hamas has openly and repeatedly admitted that Iran is its primary benefactor.