TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei here on Wednesday summed up the Gaza developments, saying the Zionist regime was “knocked out” in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
“If I am going to offer you a breakdown on the recent developments, it goes as this: the Zionist regime was knocked out in Al-Aqsa Storm,” he told a group of Iranian athletes, sports personalities, and medal winners who participated in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
“Hamas, not as a government and country with ample facilities, but as a combatant group, managed to deal a knockout blow to the usurping Zionists with all those facilities,” the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Zionists are unable to emancipate themselves from the pressure and disgrace of their defeat and this anger them much.
“They flex their muscles in a show of retaliation by bombing hospitals and schools in Gaza. This is as if an athlete loses on the field, and then in revenge for that loss, he attacks the fans of the opposing team, insults them and beats them up.”
The Leader stressed that the heavy defeat that the Zionist regime suffered will not be amended by such crimes, citing Israel’s incessant bombing of Gaza over the past 47 days.
“There is nothing more ignominious than what the Zionist regime has perpetrated. The Zionist regime’s heavy defeat will not be compensated by these bombings. Such bombardment campaigns will only shorten the life of the occupying regime and this tyranny and cruelty will not go unanswered,” he said.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution censured the politicization of sports and the double standards that are applied by certain international organizations.
“They say sports is not political, but when they need to politicize sports, they politicize it in the worst way. At the slightest excuse, a country is banned from participating in all international sports events. Why? Because you fought somewhere, but they themselves ignore the 5,000 martyred children in Gaza,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
They ban a country on the pretext of war while ignoring another country’s war, war crimes, and even genocide, the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei hailed Iranian athletes who expressed their support for Palestine and the Palestinian cause, and withdrew from competing with the occupying regime’s representatives in international tournaments, saying the veracity of their act is now manifested more than ever before in the wake of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“Today, the whole world has realized why the Iranian athlete will not agree to face the Zionist opponent on the field,”
he said, adding because the Zionist athlete “is a criminal and he is doing sports and going to the field for a criminal state and is helping a terrorist and criminal regime”.
Ayatollah Khamenei went on to extend his gratitude to Iran’s national football team, who showed their support for the Palestinian cause by wearing keffiyehs when they came onto the field during the 2023 Jordan football tournament.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to the athletes who donated their medals to the children of Gaza and the martyrs who were killed in a hospital by the atrocious acts of the Zionists. I would also like to thank the athletes who refused to compete with the athletes of the Zionist regime.
“I would like to sincerely thank the respected lady, who bore the flag of Iran’s sports caravan in the Asian Games while wearing a full hijab. I would also like to thank the sportswoman who refused to shake hands with a non-mahram man during the awarding of her medal, as well as the lady who went to the podium with her child and highlighted the respect that families and mothers should be given around the world via the demonstration of this symbolic move.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also thanked teenagers and youths in the meeting for their remarkable display of Iran’s traditional Pahlevani sport, saying it has the potential to become an international discipline and that efforts should be made for its realization.