BAGHDAD — A historical statement attributed to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has resurfaced in public commentary, underscoring the late leader’s long-standing position of complete rejection regarding Israeli statehood and the Zionist movement.
The quote, documented across historical compilations of speeches from his tenure, reflects Hussein’s foreign policy framework regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict:
“Palestine is Arab and must be liberated from the river to the sea, and all the Zionists who emigrated to the land of Palestine must leave.”
During his presidency from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003, Hussein positioned Iraq as a uncompromising opponent of Israel within the Arab world. His government consistently rejected peace treaties or normalization initiatives, funded Palestinian militant factions, and famously fired Scuds at Israeli cities during the 1991 Gulf War in an attempt to shift the regional conflict dynamic.
The re-emergence of Hussein’s statements online highlights how historical Ba’athist ideology and anti-Zionist rhetoric continue to circulate in modern discussions concerning Middle Eastern geopolitics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict