Iranians call to arm West Bank Palestinians

While much of the world is working on getting Israel and Hamas to a ceasefire, in Iran, leaders are calling to widen the conflict.

Iranian ground forces head Ahmad Reza Pourdastan says West Bank Palestinians should be armed, so they too can stand up to Israel, much as Gaza has.

“Given the realities that exist with regard to the Zionist regime, we are witnessing that the rockets fired by the Palestinians have made this regime feel much fear, which shows that this fake regime withdraws [from its positions] and sits to the negotiating table by using force,” Pourdastan is quoted as saying in the semi-official Fars news site, in a less-than-stellar translation of his remarks.

“It is the responsibility of all Muslims states and those who are worried about the religion, to arm the people in the West Bank so that the Muslim Palestinian nation can resist against the Zionist regime given the operational capacities that it will achieve [after that],” he continues.

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei made a similar call for the “Zionist regime” to be felled by an armed Palestinian uprising.

“My belief is this — our belief is that the West Bank should be armed like Gaza. Those who love the fate of the Palestinians, if they can do something, this is it. The people there should be armed. The only thing that can uproot the distress of the Palestinians … [is] to have the stronger hand. It is to show strength,” he said, according to an Al-Monitor translation.