Hamas Leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar Defends Relations with Iran: We Maintain Ties with Countries that Believe in Our Ideology

In a recent TV interview, Hamas Leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said: "We have maintained that countries that believe in our ideology and can help us - countries like Iran that believe we are capable of liberating Palestine... These are the countries with which we must develop relations."

Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: We did not join the PLO when it acted against Jordan in 1970, and we did not join its wars in Beirut and against Hafez Al-Assad. We did not join the PLO when it supported one Arab country that occupied another Arab country. To this day, we have never intervened in the internal Arab conflicts, even in countries where we lived, like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, or elsewhere. We have kept our force directed at the Israeli enemy. We have maintained that countries that believe in our ideology and can help us - countries like Iran that believe we are capable of liberating Palestine... These are countries with which we must develop relations. We must take advantage of these relations in order to strike a balance with the opposing [Zionist] enterprise. Therefore, our vision has many layers. With regard to our position towards Europe, when we talk with the Europeans, the first thing we ask them is: What is the name of the land you call "Israel" for thousands of years until 1948? We ask them: What is the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Who is a terrorist? What is the international definition of terrorism? We say to them that if this definition applies to us, should it not be applied to the US, to Europe, and to the Israeli entity, first and foremost? We cannot sell out our principles to Europe in exchange for "European support" for our daily livelihood.

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