Muslims worldwide must unite, rise above sects: Iranian prez

TIL Desk/World/Hyderabad/ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for unity among the global Muslim community and asserted if they had been united, the United States would not have dared to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Rouhani, who is on a three-day visit to India, said people who think Islam is a religion of “violence and terrorism” are wrong in their assessment.

He was addressing a Muslim congregation at the historic Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, after offering Friday prayers. “If Muslims of the world were united, these countries would not have dared to torture Muslims of Palestine every day,” he said, without naming any country.”Had Muslims been united, the USA would not have dared to announce Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” the Iranian leader said.

In early December, US President Donald Trump announced he would break with decades of American policy and move his embassy to Jerusalem. The move stirred global condemnation and protests across the Palestinian territories and the Arab world. The status of Jerusalem is one of the most controversial issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his speech, Rouhani also referred to some of the shooting incidents in educational institutions in the USA, resulting in deaths of people.