Israel is the “biggest violator of human rights, the only holder of nuclear weapons in the region, and the most serious chronic threat to international peace and security,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif alleged in a Tweet on Quds Day, the annual Iran-sponsored international event meant to signal Muslim solidarity with Palestinians.
يوم القدس هو يوم إحياء الحق الفلسطيني والإحتلال والمستوطنات الى زوال.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 22, 2020
إسرائيل هي أكبر منتهك لحقوق الإنسان والحائز الوحيد للأسلحة النووية في المنطقة و أخطر تهديد مزمن للسلم والأمن الدوليين.
مؤامرة صفقةالقرن العنصرية اثبتت أن واشنطن شريك للمعتدي ولا أمل فيها.
الإستفتاء هو الحل
“Jerusalem Day is the day to revive Palestinian rights and for the occupation and settlers to disappear,” Zarif added, remarking that “the conspiracy of the racist deal of the century has shown that Washington is a hopeless partner of the aggressor.”
Zarif’s tweet came the same day that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei made a fiery speech promising to “support and assist any nation or any group anywhere” that struggles against Israel, and claimed that the “struggle to liberate Palestine” was “an obligation and an Islamic goal.”
In a series of tweets summarizing his remarks, Khamenei called Israel a “deadly, cancerous growth and a detriment” to the Middle East that would surely “be uprooted and destroyed.”
4. The Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth and a detriment to this region. It will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed. Then, the shame will fall on those who put their facilities at the service of normalization of relations with this regime.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) May 22, 2020
Zarif’s tweet’s have been less aggressive, with the diplomat going into damage control mode on Thursday over a Quds Day poster by the Iranian government which made a reference to a “final solution” for Palestine, which some American and Israeli Jews took as a reference to Nazi Germany’s “final solution” of killing millions of European Jews in the Holocaust in the 1940s.
There is so much going on in this new Quds Day Poster from #Iran's supreme leader's office, I don't even know where to begin. One observation is #Soleimani's photo is larger than every other photo--including #Khomeini. pic.twitter.com/Tg8aE2q7Lt
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) May 19, 2020
Commenting on the poster, Zarif insisted that “final solution” would be found “at the ballot box, through a REFERENDUM,” and slammed anyone claiming otherwise.
Disgusting that those whose civilization found a "Final Solution" in gas chambers attack those who seek a real solution at the ballot box, through a REFERENDUM.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 21, 2020
Why are US and West so afraid of democracy?
Palestinians should not have to pay for your crimes, or for your guilt. pic.twitter.com/0jjB9jaljw
Israeli officials shot back at Tehran later in the day Friday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning Iran not to threaten Israel with destruction lest they “put themselves in a similar danger.”
Newly minted Defence Minister Benny Gantz similarly dismissed Khamenei’s remarks, calling them “arrogant” and “a sign of weakness.”
“As someone who is very familiar with the Iranian issue, and as someone who prepared the IDF’s operational capabilities, I would not suggest to anyone that they try and test us,” Gantz said.
The back-and-forth claims are the latest shots in a long-running back-and-forth war of words between the two powers over which of them poses a bigger threat to the region. Iranian officials say it’s Israel and its US allies, pointing to Tel Aviv’s stock of nuclear weapons and regular military operations against its neighbours. Israel, whose official policy is neither to confirm or deny its possession of nuclear weapons, accuses Iran of spreading terrorism throughout the region, of threatening Tel Aviv’s national security, and of pursuing nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.
