Khamenei calls for liberation from Israel ‘tumour’
tehran — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Tuesday for the “complete liberation” of Palestine from the “tumour” of Israel, renewing his regime’s refusal to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Khamenei was speaking at the sixth international conference in support of Palestinian intifada (uprising), one of a number of showcase events the Tehran authorities organise in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Multiple (Palestinian) intifadas and continuous resistance have succeeded in achieving very important incremental goals Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader
“This cancerous tumour, since its start, has grown incrementally and its treatment must be incremental too,” Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state television. “Multiple intifadas and continuous resistance have succeeded in achieving very important incremental goals.” He listed Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005 as two major achievements so far. President Hassan Rouhani, and the conservative brothers who head parliament and the judiciary — Ali Larijani and Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani — flanked the supreme leader as he spoke. Among the guests from the 80 countries taking part in the conference were the parliament speakers of Algeria, Mali, North Korea, Lebanon and Syria, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, Ramadan Shalah. —