Iran’s support for Hamas makes it culpable in last Saturday’s attack, Israel’s envoy to the UN says
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan speaks to reporters during a stakeout before the United Nations Security Council on October 8, 2023 in New York City © Getty Images / Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, has said in an interview with Iranian media that the current administration in Tehran is exhibiting behavior similar to that of Nazi Germany.
“The Ayatollah regime today is exactly like the Nazi regime during World War Two,” Erdan said on Saturday, in an interview with the London-based media organization Iran International. He added: “The world needs to understand that they should be presented with a credible military threat, as they pose an immediate threat to all of us.”
Some 1,300 people, most of whom were civilians, died in the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ operation early last Saturday when large numbers of Hamas militia entered Israel after firing a barrage of rockets into its territory. The incident is being called the biggest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust.
Reports also indicated that Hamas fighters captured about 150 people as hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have both indicated that they believe Iran to bear some responsibility for the attack.
Israel has responded to the Hamas attack with a bombardment of Gaza by airstrikes and artillery which has caused thousands of injuries and devastated large sections of the enclave’s infrastructure. About 2,300 Palestinians are reported to have died.
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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has denied that Tehran had any formal involvement in the Hamas operation, despite having expressed strong support for Hamas.
However, Erdan told Iran International that Hamas leaders have publicly expressed gratitude to Tehran for providing weapons and funding, which he said negates any requirement for Iran’s direct involvement in the attack to be proven.
“The situation in Gaza is under the responsibility of Hamas, which has been oppressing people for the last 18 years and using every dollar that is being transferred to Gaza for humanitarian assistance and using it for its terror machine,” Erdan said.
However, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said last week that Washington has not seen “hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing and planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, meanwhile, indicated on Thursday his belief that Iran bears responsibility for assisting Hamas’ growth to the point that it was able to successfully plan and execute the operation. He added, though, that there is “no firm proof that Iran operationally supported this cowardly attack.”
