The Supreme Leader strongly condemned the "shameless” support of the arrogant powers for the continued Israeli atrocities against the defenseless people of the Gaza Strip, reiterating that armed resistance is the only way to confront the "savage" regime, Tasnim news reported.
"A number of Western countries including the US, and UK blatantly support the atrocities which no clear conscience can tolerate and the US president, in the face of the massacre of children, destruction, plight and torture of the people in Gaza, uses a ridiculous logic (to justify the Israeli crimes) saying that Israel has the right to defend itself! Are Palestinians not entitled to safeguard their security and lives? ”, asked Ayatollah Khamenei.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the comments in an address to a gathering of Iranian students in Tehran on Wednesday night.
The Leader also underscored that armed resistance is the only way to confront the "destructive regime” of Israel.
"Nobody should assume that if Palestinians did not fire rockets from Gaza into Israel, the Zionist regime would have fallen short (of massacring people in Gaza), because there are no arms or rockets in the West Bank and the only weapon people have is stone, all the same the Zionist regime still humiliates and slaughters people there,” the Supreme Leader further noted.
Ayatollah Khamenei further referred to Israel’s efforts to broker a ceasefire with Palestinian fighters, saying the regime "which commits crimes beyond human imagination has become desperate” after facing strong resistance from Palestinians.
"This proves that the Zionists only understand the language of force,” the Leader emphasized.
"Based on these realities, we believe that the West Bank should also be armed like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should act in this regard in order to relieve Palestinians’ distress.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini’s historic statement saying Israeli regime must be destroyed, reiterating that the destruction of Israel does not mean obliteration of Jewish people in the region.
Iran has already presented a practical solution to tackle the problem, the Leader noted.
"Based on the solution accepted by nations, all the people who live in and come from the region, will vote in a referendum, to choose their desired government and through such referendum, the usurping fake regime of Israel will be eliminated,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei described political support for the people of Gaza as a duty for all Muslim and non-Muslim nations and called for massive demonstrations to express solidarity with Palestinian people on the International Quds Day.
The International Quds Day is an annual event during which demonstrators express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Zionist regime of Israel.
The day is also seen as the legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, who officially declared the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan as International Quds Day back in 1979.
This year's rallies come against the backdrop of a massive Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.