‘Racist, expansionist’: Iran condemns Israeli minister’s call for West Bank annexation
Iran has condemned in the strongest terms a call by an Israeli minister for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday it was another indication of the “racist nature, expansionist character, and aggressive approach” of the Israeli regime.
Baghaei made the condemnation in a written statement, referring to the November 11 remarks by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Smotrich said he had ordered preparations for the annexation of the West Bank in the hope that the regime will gain sovereignty over the region in 2025.
The Iranian spokesman said the regime has been continuously encroaching on Palestinian territories as part of the plan to annihilate Palestine, which has been implemented in the most brutal manner possible over the past year.
Baghaei highlighted the legal and moral responsibility of all governments concerned to prevent and punish genocide and to confront war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He expressed deep regret over efforts by the United States and Germany to block the path of holding the Israeli leaders accountable and bringing them to trial at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Bezalel Smotrich urged for the return of Israeli settlements to Gaza, undoing the 2005 withdrawal.
The Iranian official called for decisive action by the international community and the UN Security Council to stop the genocide in Palestine and the regime’s warmongering in Lebanon and West Asia.
Baghaei said an entity that has no belief in the principles and standards of international law and the UN Charter, and whose declared and practical policy is to demean and undermine the United Nations and its norms and institutions, is not worthy of membership in this organization.
The spokesman said such genocidal efforts will never weaken the will of the Palestinian people and their resolve to liberate their lands.
“The oppression and crimes of the occupiers will not undermine the will of the oppressed Palestinian people to struggle for their natural and legal right to self-determination and liberation from the yoke of military occupation and apartheid.”
