Tehran, Iran – Iranian officials have called on the United Nations and other Muslim countries to intervene to prevent “apartheid” Israel from attacking Palestine while a senior military commander has vowed that Iran will side with the Palestinians.
The High Council for Human Rights of Iran – an entity of the Supreme Council of National Security currently headed by the head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi and made up of several ministers – has written a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. to take action on the “acts of genocide” and “racial cleansing” committed by Israel.
Sunday’s letter, seen by Al Jazeera, says silence, ambiguous statements and those published in support of Israel’s “right to defend itself” – as published by the United States – on the situation which takes place in Gaza they have perpetuated the conflict for decades.
The council has called on the UN to recognize that Israel is committing “crimes against humanity and war crimes”, form a commission of inquiry, draw the attention of all its member states and use its human rights mechanisms. .
He said “protecting the right of return of all displaced Palestinians around the world and then protecting the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people through a referendum” would be the best solution.
The latest Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip reaches its seventh day in a row and has killed at least 192 people, including 58 children.
Israel has maintained its defense against rockets fired by Hamas fighters – which Hamas has said were launched in response to Israeli repression against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the capture of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Institutionalized campaign”
Speaking on Sunday at a virtual emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (ICO), Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for the action of the 57-member entity.
He said member states should draw up an “institutionalized” legal and political campaign against the “apartheid Zionist regime” at the regional and international level.
He also called for an impetus for the UN to urgently convene an emergency session of the General Assembly to address the issue.
The UN The Security Council is convened Sunday. Washington had previously blocked a meeting scheduled for Friday.
“We face flagrant and systemic violations of human rights, humanitarian law and international law,” Zarif told his colleagues at the virtual meeting, while calling for a referendum that included all Palestinians, including the displaced and living as refugees. .
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud also condemned the “flagrant violations” of Palestinian rights at the meeting and called on the international community to act urgently.
“Chain defeats”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani raised the issue with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Sunday telling him that Iran and Turkey must meet as two major players in the region to urge the UN and the OIC to fight the “crimes of the Zionist Regime.”
According to reports, Erdogan told him that the international community should offer a “strong and dissuasive response” and that the Muslim world should act as such on the Palestinian question.
Rouhani had made a similar point during a phone call earlier this week with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who also welcomed Qatar’s efforts to stop the bloodshed.
Iran’s security chief Ali Shamkhani tweeted on Sunday that US “chain defeats” in Afghanistan and Israel against the “axis of resistance” are indicative of the failure of their policies.
“We are ready to engage with the countries of the region in a mechanism to create collective security as an infrastructure for the development and well-being of their nations,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran held separate phone calls on Saturday with Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas political office, and Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the secretary general of the armed group of the Islamic Jihad.
General Ismail Qaani highlighted Tehran’s support for Palestinians facing Israeli “crimes” and admired the “successful response of the resistance forces against the rapes of the Zionist enemy.”
