Former Cuban President Fidel Castro blamed the “warmonger” government of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for shooting down a Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board over eastern Ukraine. Castro, who occasionally writes about world and local events, also criticized Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, particularly the rising death toll of civilians.

Fidel Castro (Photo: Granma)

The revolutionary leader wrote in a 270-word article published in Cuban media on Friday that “the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of a nuclear state, ordered his army to invade the Gaza Strip, where in the preceding days hundreds of Palestinians had died, many of them children. The U.S. president supported the action, calling the heinous crime as an act of self-defense. Obama did not support David against Goliath, but Goliath against David.”

Castro added: “young Israeli men and women, well prepared for productive work, will be exposed to die without honor or glory. I do not know what military doctrine the Palestinians will use, but I know a fighter ready to die can defend even the ruins of a building as long as he has a rifle, as demonstrated by the heroic defenders of Stalingrad [against the Nazis in World War II]. I only wish to express my solidarity with this heroic people defending the last inch of what was their homeland for thousands of years.”