CBNNews.com - TEHERAN - Sounding much like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Islamic Republic's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Hamas will succeed in defeating the Zionist occupiers (Israel).

In an address marking Id al-Fitr, the three-day festival at the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan, Khamenei told his followers that the Zionists are moving ever closer to defeat, paving the way for this generation of Palestinians to see "that great day" when they will push the Jews into the sea and Israel will cease to exist.

Khamenei called Hamas terror chief, Ismail Haniyeh, a mojahed (a soldier of Islamic jihad - "holy" war).

Both Ahmadinejad and Khamenei often refer to Israel as a cancerous tumor in the Middle East that must be excised.

Salai Meridor, Israel's U.S. ambassador, issued a statement in response to Khamenei's speech.

"Not since World War II has the world faced such a dangerous and significant threat. The fanatical Iranian regime, a sponsor of global terror, is threatening the elimination of another state and is striving to achieve a nuclear weapon. This should be a moment of truth for the world to take immediate actions to prevent this regime from pursuing the development of a military nuclear capability," the statement read.

Source: The Jerusalem Post