Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (l.) welcomed Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal at the presidency in Tehran Feb. 1. Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalil (r.) looked on. (Baqer Nasir/Mehr News Agency/AP)
Hamas leader credits Iran in Gaza victory
Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal was warmly received today in Iran, which has expanded its regional influence in recent years.
By International Editor | Staff writer 02.01.09
Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal traveled to Iran on Sunday, continuing a regional diplomatic tour by voicing again Hamas “victory” over Israel, and briefing Iranian officials on the results of 22 days of war. He also gave Iran a very public pat on the back.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has a big share in our victory in the Gaza Strip,” said Mr. Meshal, who met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian television showed Mr. Meshal receiving a warm embrace from Ayatollah Khamenei, whose nation supported Hamas throughout the conflict and accuses Israeli leaders of war crimes. Iranian officials have turned the Gaza war - and its lopsided death toll, with 1,330 Palestinians killed compared to 13 Israelis - into a rallying cry of resistance against Israel and its American backers.
Hamas opposed to permanent cease-fire until ‘occupation’ ends
In the company of friends, Meshal said that Hamas would not agree to a cease-fire while Israel continued its 19-month economic blockade of Gaza. “The resistance is against a permanent cease-fire,” the Hamas leader said. “While the occupation continues, a permanent cease-fire has no meaning.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called upon countries to assist reconstruction, and praised Hamas and the people of Gaza, who had “put out the fire of the Zionist regime.”
Though Israel says it met its key goals with air strikes and a ground offensive – of stopping Hamas rocketing of southern Israel and damaging the Hamas leadership – the Tehran summit Sunday was more about claiming triumph than acceding defeat.
War for influence: The US and Israel vs. Iran and its allies
The US and Israel accuse Shiite Muslim Iran of backing Hamas with money, as well as some weaponry, though much more cash for the Palestinian group has traditionally come from Sunni Arab supporters. Iran has worked hard to expand its regional impact – click here to read the Monitor’s in-depth series about the rising influence of Shiites across the Middle East.
The war in Lebanon in 2006 between Israel and Hizbullah immediately took on a broader US-Iran significance. And so, too, Israeli officials cast this invasion of Gaza as striking a blow at Iranian influence in the region. Iran has used searing rhetoric to assert the exact opposite: that the Israeli attacks have resulted in an erosion of American influence.
Anti-Israel protests swept the Islamic world and Europe during the war, as television images showed its horrors day after day. In Tehran, demonstrators marched on Western embassies and that of Egypt. Iran’s state-run English-language satellite station PressTV is still running a special program titled “Gaza under ‘Siegefire.’”
And the Hamas leadership was not alone in being portrayed as heroes on Sunday in Tehran. Also lauded across front pages was Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who angrily walked off the stage in Davos after telling Israeli President Shimon Peres: “When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill.”
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2. Robert Rice | 02.01.09
It’s sad to see a “victory” judged by how many children are killed on either side. Someday human beings will look back on this period of history and see it as barbaric.
Give peace a CHANCE
3. jon | 02.01.09
You call that a victory? Santa Anna, President of Mexico back in the Mexican American war back in 1848 against the Americans as they marched on Mexico City. Hamas is like a bad kid who started a fight and went crying to mommy when it went against them.
4. donald | 02.01.09
It seems to me that the militant Arab world are intent on crushing all resistance to a peaceful solusion to the Middle East problem. The dispute started when Abraham dismissed Hagar and her son from his family for obvious reasons and the Arabs have been trying to distredite the Jews ever since
5. jock | 02.01.09
Get real!!!! This quote from Carl Sagan regarding our universe applies equally well to the delusion that is expressed in these comments expressed by Hamas and the leaders of Iran. “It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion however satisfying and reassuring.?
6. Matthew | 02.01.09
Arabs have given up on the myth of Jewish weakness, but still cherish a notion that if they keep the “heat on”, Jews will “go home” to Europe and the USA.
That’s why it’s so important for Arabs to deny the Holocaust. It’s not that someone-else killing Jews gives Jews the right to take a 3rd party’s land! It’s that the Jews of Israel will never go back where so many were murdered, will never again depend on the promises of Gentiles for their survival, and, having bled for the land they now call home, are no more willing to leave it than the Palestinians who have likewise bled for it. Denying the Holocaust allows Arabs to view the Jews as “Crusaders” (of all ironies), and thereby blind themselves to the futility of their short-term ambitions vis. Israel.
Long-term, the solution emerges daily in Israel’s hospitals, where enfranchised Palestinians have more babies than the Jews do. In 2-generations, Israel will no longer be a Jewish land. But, who among the Arabs can bear to wait that long?
7. Stu | 02.01.09
Israel should have not withdrawn and shouldn’t have agreed to a ceasefire. What it should have done is pushed on and on until every last Hamas member or supporter was dead. And none of this softly softly rubbish like ringing people to tell them their building would be bombed today, just do it. Make it known to all in Gaza that Hamas has done it’s dash and will be wiped out, and all people who choose to aid, help, or associate with Hamas members will be treated as Hamas members, regardless of gender or age
8. Abdul | 02.01.09
It is disturbing to note that Hammas is critising Israel as committing war crime. It is Hammas that committed war crime by sending missiles indiscriminately at the Israel population. In terms of victory, even a child would tell that Israel had won the war and Hammas were cowards, hiding when Israel attached them, you call that victory???you must be joking.
9. Dimitrijevic | 02.01.09
It’s a big political and PR victory for Hamas. It gains increased recognition in the region and other parts of the world. Many of the tunnels are back open which highlights the fact that Gaza is under blockade. Hamas is still tossing the occasional sparkler into Israel. It managed to hold out against the Israeli military which is equipped with the latest Israeli and American war equipment and matériel. Contrary to the western media claims, Hamas had no sophisticated armament such as current, specialised anti-armour and anti-air weapons. Aside from a very few short/medium range BM-21 type rockets the Hamas arsenal consisted of rifles and firecrackers. Lastly, Hamas survived and retains authority in Gaza.
10. Rapid execution | 02.01.09
The Israeli forces executed swiftly and with precision.It was a brilliant operation. Israel has made it crystal clear to Hamas members still alive that terrorism will not flourish yesterday, today or tomorrow.
11. R.D. | 02.01.09
When will these Arab peoples of Palestine, now coop-ed in this blood bath as Palestinians, awaken to learn that of the so called leaders of the Middle-East really do not care or value them as people made of flesh and blood? If they really mattered, not as pawns, but as real humans, they would be air lifted away from this sewer of a non-country and brought into one or several of the umpteen Arab nations. I’ve seen this soil they cling to as home, there is not one gram of it worth a single child’s life.
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1. Southern Farmer | 02.01.09
Lets see. the Isralies lost about 13 troops and Hamas lost 1300, about 3/4ths of them troops, (can’t really tell how many were civilians because the troops are hiding behind them) and they declare a victory. AMAZING