Iranian general praises Gaza terror groups, says Trump’s ‘threats don’t scare us’
“US President Donald Trump’s threats against Iran and Palestinian resistance groups don’t scare us,” a senior Iranian general told leaders of Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip on Monday via a video conference during a meeting organized simultaneously in Gaza City and Tehran, according to a report by the Turkish news agency Anadoul.
Brig.-Gen. Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, a senior officer in the Revolutionary Guards who heads the Basij forces – Iran’s “Mobilization Resistance Force,” said the “Wet Gunpowder/Resistance is not Terrorism conference” reflected the state of “cohesion and concordance among Arabs and Muslims in confronting their enemies.”
Gheybparvar added that Iran is proud of the Palestinian “resistance” groups. “The youths of Gaza have deprived the leaders of the occupation of sleep,” he said.
Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and commander of its Quds Force, was originally scheduled to address the conference in Arabic. However, it was unclear why he was replaced by Gheybparvar.
Some of the organizers of the conference claimed that Israel had used technological means to disrupt Gheybparvar’s speech.
Speakers at the conference said that Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip see themselves as being part of the “axis of resistance” against Israel and the US. They also praised Iran for its financial and military support for the Palestinians.
The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are not afraid of death and will continue to protest along the border with Israel in spite of the Jewish State’s threats, Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, said in a speech at the conference, which was held in a hotel in Gaza City.
“Our people will not leave the areas of the confrontations until they [Israel] restore their stolen rights,” he said. The protests will not stop until they achieve their goal of ending the blockade [on the Gaza Strip].”
Batsh said that he expected similar protests to take place in the West Bank, Jerusalem and other parts of Israel.
The protests, which the Palestinians have been holding in the context of the so-called March of Return, are also aimed at thwarting Trump’s yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East, he added.
“Trump’s deal won’t pass and it is domed to failure,” Batsh said. He also praised Iran for its “support for the Palestinian cause.” Iran, he said, “stands today with its leaders, army and fighters with Palestine and the Palestinian resistance.”
Jamil Mazhar, a senior representative of the Palestine Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of several PLO factions, also thanked Iran for its “unlimited” support for the Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip. He called for the establishment of a “unified Islamic-Arabic front” to support the Palestinian groups that are “facing Israeli-American aggression.”
Speaking at the conference, Hamas official Ismail Radwan urged all Palestinian “resistance groups” in the region to coordinate their moves to “foil American-Zionist schemes.” Israel, he said, needs to know that the Gaza Strip will not be alone in facing any new “aggression.”
Radwan condemned Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the city. “By doing so, the US has placed itself in an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic trench,” he charged. “Trump’s decisions will not change the historical, political and legal facts. Jerusalem is ours and there is no status for Zionists on the land of Palestine.” He too stressed that the protests along the border with Israel would continue until they achieve all their goals.