Lebanese Journalist Nadim Koteich: Australia Designated Hamas A Terror Group Because Hamas Embraces Iran's "Revolution Of Hatred"

Lebanese journalist Nadim Koteich said in a February 17, 2022 interview on Sky News Arabia (UAE) that one of the reasons Australia designated Hamas as a terrorist organization is because Hamas can be considered a hate group, and Australia bans hate groups. To elaborate on his point, Koteich gave an example that on the same day Australia banned Hamas, Hamas's leader had sent a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei thanking him for Iran's support, praising the Islamic Revolution, and condemning "Zionist-American terrorism." Koteich explained that the Islamic Revolution is a revolution of hate, and that Iran denies the Holocaust, wants to destroy Israel, and openly hates Jews and the West. He said: "[Hamas] embraces the Revolution of hatred, and then wonders why Australia designated it a terrorist organization." He also said that Iran's support for Hamas is only meant to keep war away from Iran. For more about Nadim Koteich see MEMRI TV clips nos. 8937, 8382, 8001, 7769, 7668, 7221, 7140 and 5675.

Nadim Koteich: "Australia's designation of Hamas [as a terrorist organization] is based on several considerations. One of them is that Australia bands hate groups. One may ask why is Hamas considered a hate group. By what criteria?

"On the very day that Australia designated Hamas a terror organization, the head of Hamas sent a message to Khamenei. What did he say to him? He congratulated him on [the anniversary] of the Revolution. He said: 'The victory of the blessed Islamic Revolution in our sister, the Islamic Republic of Iran, was a formidable achievement in the Islamic resistance enterprise, and an impenetrable fortress in the face of Zionist-American terrorism.'

"If they had stopped at thanking Iran for its support, I would understand it. It's decorum. But this is the embracing of the Iranian Revolution enterprise, whose rhetoric is nothing but hate speech — hatred towards Islamic sects that are not Twelver Shia. This is something that Rafsanjani himself admitted, and it is well-documented, and he was one of the most prominent faces of the regime.

"Their hatred of Jews reaches the point of Holocaust denial. The only country in today's world that wishes to erase another country is Iran that wants to erase Israel. No one else does. And they tell you that there was no Holocaust. They hate the West.

"So [Hamas] embraces the Revolution of hatred, and then wonders why Australia designated it a terrorist organization.

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"At the end of the day, all of Iran's support for Hamas is meant to keep the war far away from Iran. Palestinians die, their houses are destroyed — these are small details. The chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh has said exactly this."