Iran calls for Muslim countries to sever ties with Israel

West Jerusalem should be isolated by Islamic states for targeting civilians in Gaza, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said

Islamic states around the world should cut economic relations with Israel to demonstrate their support for the Palestinian people, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared.

The Iranian leader made the remarks to the participants of the Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Saturday. In a speech, Khamenei accused Israel of committing crimes in its nearly year-long military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict to date, according to the latest figures of the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Israel is open about the crimes it commits in its military operation in Gaza, Khamenei claimed.

“Today, the Zionist regime commits crimes shamelessly and without hiding it,” in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, an X account translating and sharing Khamenei’s statements quoted the Iranian leader.

“They aren’t fighting soldiers. They’re targeting ordinary people.”

He called on the Muslim world to cut their ties to West Jerusalem.

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”Today, the first step to increasing the unity of the Islamic world against this criminal, terrorist gang that has usurped the land of Palestine is for Islamic countries to completely cut off economic ties with it. This is the least that can be done,” Khamenei said.

Tensions between Israel and the surrounding Islamic states have risen during the course of the Israeli military operation in Gaza. The Israeli campaign was a response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 2023, when the militant group attacked Israel, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostage.

Israel’s bombing and ground operation has devastated large parts of the enclave, and displaced 90% of the Palestinian population, according to the UN.

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Tehran, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Israel of attempting a “genocide” of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Long-running tensions between the two states came to a head in April after the bombing on an Iranian Embassy compound in Syria, which Iran blamed on West Jerusalem. Iran launched a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, which Israel defended against with significant help from the US, UK and other allies in the region.

Tensions spiked once again in July, after the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, which both the militant group and Tehran blamed on Israel. Iran has vowed retaliation, but hasn’t yet carried out an attack in response.