IRGC Qods Force commander General Esmail Qaani said in an April 29, 2022 International Quds Day address at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran that Israel is made up of people who have nothing to do with the land of Palestine, who have violence as part of their very being, who have killed and deported the native Palestinian population, and who were given the name “the Jewish people” by those who brought them to Palestine. He said that these people are at the root of all strife in the world and, citing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s founder and previous leader Ruhollah Khomeini, he said that Israel is a “cancerous growth” that must be “erased.” General Qaani also said that the Jews living in Israel should return to their countries of origin, and that International Quds Day will continue until Israel is annihilated. In addition, he said that the “resistance axis” is stronger than ever before. General Qaani has served as the commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force since the former commander, General Qasem Soleimani, was killed in a U.S. airstrike on January 3, 2020. The speech aired on Khorasan Razavi TV (Iran). For more about General Qaani, see MEMRI TV Clips No. 9217, No. 8885, and No. 8583.
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