DUBAI - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called Israel a "rabid dog" for its attacks on Gaza, and urged Muslims to arm Palestinians to enable them to counter what he termed genocide. In a speech marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Khamenei criticized the United States and European countries for what he said were their efforts to limit the military capacity of Palestinian fighters in the enclave. Of Israel, he said: "This rabid dog, this rapacious wolf, has attacked innocent people and humanity must show a reaction. This is genocide, a catastrophe of historical scale."
Khamenei added: "They have been pounding innocent people day and night and these men women and children are defending themselves with minimum means, and now Americans and Europeans want to take even that away ... so that those merciless beasts could pound without qualm." Khamenei denounced what he said was a ruling by President Barack Obama to disarm Palestinians - an apparent reference to U.S. opposition to efforts by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, to obtain weapons such as missiles and rockets. Washington views Hamas as a terrorist organization. Tehran is at loggerheads with Western powers on a range of foreign policy issues including its nuclear program and its support for Hamas.
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