Israel doomed to historic failure: Rafsanjani

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made the remarks in a meeting with Palestinian Ambassador to Tehran Salah Zawawi on Sunday.

“Historic oppression by the Zionists has forced the Palestinian resistance [movement] and people to think about strengthening [their] defensive capabilities and deterrent weapons and there is currently no safe place [for the Israeli regime] in the occupied territories,” Rafsanjani added.

He noted that the global powers’ support of the Israeli regime’s crimes in the Gaza Strip is a “stain of shame” in the record of Western governments, particularly the United States.

“The self-proclaimed advocates of human rights regard crimes against defenseless people, particularly the innocent women and children in Gaza, as a kind of defense against an armed-to-the-teeth army,” Rafsanjani said.

Zawawi, for his part, appreciated Iran’s strategic policies towards the issue of Palestine and said the Palestinians take pride in their convergence with the Islamic Republic.

Israel started pounding the Gaza Strip in early July. Almost 2,140 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including women, children and elderly people, were killed in the Israeli onslaught. Around 11,000 others were injured.

Tel Aviv says 72 Israelis were killed in the conflict, but the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, says the number is much higher.