West uses ‘terror designations’ as tool to criminalize grassroot support for Palestine: Iran

Tehran says Western countries resort to “terrorist designations” as a tool to criminalize support for the Palestinian people, stressing that such acts primarily target civil societies in the West.

“‘Terrorist designations’ by Western countries have become a tool to criminalize grassroots support for the Palestinian cause,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said via Twitter on Monday evening.

Khatibzadeh also said such “phony designations” do not merely target groups that resist Israeli Apartheid, noting that they primarily target civil societies in the West.

The remarks came after Instagram social networking service deleted a post by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that condemned the British government’s recent decision to ban the Gaza-based Hamas resistance group.

The top Iranian diplomat said that holding a referendum with the participation of the original inhabitants of Palestine (Muslims, Jews, and Christians) is the sole political solution to the Palestinian issue, adding, “The rights of the Palestinian people cannot be violated by distorting realities.”

Last Friday, British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the decision to designate Hamas in its entirety as a “terrorist organization” during a speech for the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington DC.

As part of the new law, wearing clothes that suggest support for Hamas, organizing meetings for the group, or publishing an image of its flag or logo, would all be in breach. 

The move will bring the UK in line with the United States, Canada, Israel, and the European Union, which have designated Hamas as a “terrorist organization” in its entirety.