Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo)
(Editor's note: Article corrected to reflect the fact that Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami is not a former president of Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor in that post was Mohammad Khatami, who is not related to the hardline Tehran prayer leader.)
(CNSNews.com) -- Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said during Friday prayers in Tehran that the Israeli state will disappear from the face of the world once Islamic unity is achieved in the Middle East.
"Tehran's interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami says once unity is achieved in the Muslim world, the Zionist regime will disappear from the face of the world," PressTV reported.The state run international news service PressTV also reported that Khatami praised what Iranians call the Islamic Awakening, otherwise known as the Arab Spring, and viewed it as a testament to Muslim strength in the region.
He added that the Zionists only understand the language of force, according to Fars News Agency, and that negotiations are an ineffective means to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Khatami believes acts of intifada, or Palestinian resistance, have been the only signs of progress in establishing a Palestinian state.
Today is considered to be International Quds Day, an anti-Israeli rally that protests Israel’s presence in Palestinian lands, and supports the Palestinian people.
It is observed on the last Friday of Ramadan and was established by the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to support the ‘oppressed’ Palestinians and the destruction of Israel.
According to Iranian reports, many people marched in cities all across Iran, chanting phrases such as ‘Death to U.S.,’ and ‘Death to Israel.’