Iran's Parliament speaker says the recent acts of aggression committed by the Zionist regime of Israel against Palestinians across the occupied territories reveal the regime’s fascist and apartheid nature.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf made the remark while addressing a virtual meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC)’s Palestine Committee on Monday, which was attended by a number of parliament speakers from various Muslim countries.
“The measures taken by the Zionist regime’s forces against the Palestinian nation, including its crimes … especially in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, in addition to [Israel’s] effort to suppress Palestinians in the occupied al-Quds and change its demography reveal the fascist and apartheid nature of the regime’s policies,” he said.
Qalibaf noted that while the Zionist regime is grappling with its problems, “it is trying to cover up its own internal weaknesses and differences by continuing crimes against Palestinians, [including] massacre, genocide, storming the holy sites and setting them on fire.”
He once again reiterated Iran's principled policy of supporting the Palestinian cause, adding that parliaments of Muslim states must play a role in setting the direction of Muslim governments' policies with regard to Palestine.
"The Zionist regime's criminal leaders are trying to dissuade the young Palestinian generation from reclaiming its occupied lands and returning to its fatherland, and intend to uproot the culture of resistance among the young Palestinian generation," the top Iranian parliamentarian added.
Qalibaf noted that the Iranian Parliament regards resistance as the sole way to counter the Zionists' expansionism, but at the same time, officially proposes a national referendum, which is a political and democratic plan and conforms to the principles of international law.
Last week, heavily armed Israeli forces raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound twice, wounding dozens and arresting hundreds of Palestinians, who were praying at Islam’s third holiest site.
Images of the attacks showed detained Palestinian worshipers lying face down with their legs and arms bound behind their backs, and others with their hands tied being led into a vehicle.
The violence took place during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, after a year of spiraling bloodshed in the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The usurping entity also launched airstrikes on Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip after Palestinian resistance groups fired rockets toward the occupied territories.