KOZHIKODE: Distancing himself from Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor’s remark on Israel-Palestine conflict, senior leader Ramesh Chennithala has come out in support of Hamas, terming its actions as “self-defence of the Palestinian people who are driven to the wall.”
Speaking at the Open Forum on Palestine and Media, organised by the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF), in Kozhikode on Thursday, Chennithala said Hamas might have reacted to continuing onslaught on the people of Palestine.
Tharoor, addressing the Palestine Solidarity rally organised by IUML two weeks ago, had said that Hamas’s aggression in Israel on October 7 was a terrorist attack. The Thiruvananthapuram MP’s remark had triggered a controversy, and the SKSSF had demanded an apology from Tharoor.
“I declare that Congress is definitely with Palestine. The Congress has no intention of drawing political mileage from the issue as the party’s stand on the issue is well known,” Chennithala said. From the days of Mahatma Gandhi to those of Manmohan Singh, the party has been supporting the cause of Palestine people, he said.
‘Palestinians are facing continuous attack’
“I myself piloted a resolution supporting Palestine in Congress Working Committee. Sonia Gandhi wrote an article on the issue which reiterated the Congress’s stand on Palestine,” he said. Chennithala recalled that India voted against the formation of Israel in 1948. But the Narendra Modi government is making a deviation from the country’s declared stand on the issue.
Chennithala condemned India’s decision to stay away from the voting in the United Nations on the resolution that asked Israel to declare a ceasefire. Questioning the narrative that it was Hamas that started the war, Chennithala said the people of Palestine were facing continuous attack. “More than 5,000 people from Palestine, including 180 children, were in Israel jails even before the current crisis started,” he added.