The head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has sparked widespread controversy after he described the commander of the IRGC Al-Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the United States in Iraq last Friday, as a “martyr of Jerusalem.”
“The martyr Commander Soleimani spent his life in order to support the resistance while he was at the head of Al-Quds Force,” Haniyeh said in a speech before mourners in Tehran.
In the speech translated into Persian, Haniyeh repeatedly said that Soleimani was the “martyr of Jerusalem”. Activists, intellectuals and Brotherhood officials rejected the remarks, criticizing Hamas’ positions.
Many anti-Iran figures, inside and outside Hamas and in the Arab world, rejected Haniyeh’s participation in the funeral and disapproved his statements.
Ibrahim Hamami, a writer and researcher of the leading defenders of Hamas, wrote in response to Haniyeh: “No, he is not the martyr of Jerusalem.”
He said the Hamas official’s words were “more than dangerous.”
Controversial reactions spread on social networking sites. This came despite the fact that Haniyeh had ordered Hamas officials to avoid delving into the issue of Soleimani, “given the situation is very sensitive.”
Haniyeh said in Tehran: “The project of the resistance in the land of Palestine and in the region will not weaken and not back down… the assassinations will increase our strength, steadfastness and determination to proceed in order to liberate Jerusalem and liberate the will of this nation.”
