04/17 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: Pandemics, Palestinian incitement and peace; 7 deaths take virus toll to 150, including 8th resident of J’lem nursing home ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Caroline B. Glick: Pandemics, Palestinian incitement and peace

Since the onset of the pandemic, all democratically elected governments have made their share of mistakes in contending with it. But the struggles of the governments of Italy, Israel, Taiwan, the US, and all the rest share a common key feature: Their top priority is to protect the lives and wellbeing of their citizens.

In contrast, we see that like the Palestinian regimes, authoritarian regimes in China, Iran, and beyond have busied themselves with principally trying to exploit the pandemic for their own benefit.

China, the source of the coronavirus, is hiding much of what it knows about the origins of the pandemic and vastly underreporting their virus infection and death rates. The Chinese hide this vital information to present themselves as more competent in handling the virus than the "bungling democracies" struggling to contain it. And to build their conspiracy theory that the US is the source of the pandemic. At the same time, China has ratcheted up its threats against Taiwan and has allegedly tested another nuclear weapon.

Iran is also publishing false data about its coronavirus infection and death rates. Whereas the official numbers claim that 4,700 Iranians have died from the coronavirus, Iranian opposition forces allege that thirty thousand Iranians have died.

Like the Palestinians and the Chinese, the Iranians accuse Israel and the US of inventing and spreading the virus. After they rejected a US offer for humanitarian assistance to fight the coronavirus, the Iranians began using the pandemic as a fundraising tool.

They demand assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union and exploit the political cleavages in the US to pressure the Trump administration to cancel the US economic sanctions on Iran. All the while, Iran is threatening US forces in Iraq and continuing its uranium enrichment activities.

Through their behavior, the Palestinians show that peace is a dead issue. Israel has permanent, vital interests in Judea and Samaria. It needs to secure those interests by applying its sovereign laws wherever it deems necessary, and bar the PA from operating in its territory.

More broadly, through their conduct, the Palestinians, like their authoritarian brethren in China, Iran and beyond, drive home the difference between democracies and dictatorships.

There are good guys and bad guys in this world. In the future, when we get confused about who is on which side, all we will need to do to figure out where justice lies is look back at how the each behaved during the coronavirus pandemic.

7 deaths take virus toll to 150, including 8th resident of J’lem nursing home

The death toll in Israel from the coronavirus rose to 150 Friday afternoon, an increase of seven from the previous evening.

One of the victims, a 96-year-old woman, was the eighth fatality from the Maon Horim assisted living facility in Jerusalem, the Walla news site reported.

Roughly one-third of the COVID-19 fatalities in Israel were residents of elderly living centers.

In addition, a 76-year-old woman succumbed to the coronavirus at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, the hospital said, adding that she had preexisting illnesses.

An 84-year-old woman died at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the hospital announced, adding that she also suffered from preexisting medical conditions.

A 66-year-old man from Haifa died at the city’s Carmel Medical Center, the hospital’s first fatality from COVID-19.

A man, 70, died at the Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak and a 90-year-old woman died in the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.

There were no further details given on the identities of the victims.

Test error: 14 nursing home residents in COVID-19 hospital wards never had virus

The positive coronavirus test results for 14 nursing home residents who have been in isolated hospital wards were mistaken, Hebrew-language media reported Friday, with second test results coming back negative.

The elderly residents of an old-age home in Ashdod had been tested at the Weizmann Institute, and the test results of 29 further residents of the “Beit Hadar” assisted living facility in the coastal city are now also being re-examined, Channel 13 news reported.

The Health Ministry told the broadcaster in a statement that an investigation has been opened and that the elderly residents have been isolated in the hospital to reduce the possibility of them becoming infected while a decision is made about their future care.

“There was a suspicion of a problem in one of the stages of the laboratory diagnostic process. The issue is currently undergoing a thorough investigation. Repeat tests on additional patients and caregivers will be made as needed,” the ministry said. “The patients who have been transferred to the hospitals are now in isolation, and the appropriate place for their continued care is being examined so that they do not become infected.”

Nine of the patients confirmed to not have COVID-19 were hospitalized at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod and the rest at Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon and Kaplan hospital in Rehovot.

They were in special quarantined wards for coronavirus patients alongside confirmed carriers.

Israeli-Russian Philanthropist Donates 3 Million Surgical Masks to Israel

3 million surgical masks for Magen David Adom (MDA) and other essential institutions arrived in Israel on Thursday from China, donated by Israeli-Russian tech investor and philanthropist Yuri Milner and his wife Julia.

Now based in Silicon Valley, Milner made a fortune as an early investor in many giants of the tech industry.

Israel's Consul-General in San Francisco Shlomi Kofman said, "It is moving to see Israelis across the ocean supporting their country during this difficult period."

Carly Nelson: A Pandemic of Anti-Zionist Signification: Exploiting Gaza for Ideological Gain

‘Close and unprecedented’ was how the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) described Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in its first ‘COVID-19 Emergency Situation Report’ on 24 March. This has not stopped antisemites and anti-Zionists the world over trying to exploit the pandemic to demonise the Jewish people and Israel. Cary Nelson examines the phenomenon, focusing on a recent letter published in the medical journal The Lancet before being withdrawn.
Blaming The Jews Again

As Gaza was acquiring its first two cases of the coronavirus in March 2020, the world’s longest hatred inevitably found local expression. A Palestinian newspaper in Gaza published a cartoon Star of David adapted to mimic the virus, at once combining malice and contempt.

The star is blue; it bristles with a score of the protein extensions or spikes characteristic of COVID-19 graphic representations. Judaism, not simply Zionism, the text declares, is ‘the most dangerous virus for humanity.’ The same month the virulently anti-Zionist publication Mondoweiss, edited in the US, printed a cartoon by the well-known and prolific political artist Carlos Latuff showing multiple coronaviruses weaponised by Israel to attack Palestinians.

An elderly and obviously distressed Palestinian woman wearing a headscarf and draped in the Palestinian flag faces a curved line of huge corona viruses resembling mines at sea. The curved security barrier is behind her with an Israeli soldier holding a machine gun leaning over it. Above him a helicopter circles. Other soldiers recede along the wall into the distance until reaching a guard tower topped by an Israeli flag. Frail enough to be balancing on a cane, she is nonetheless encircled by hostile forces. Her expression is anxious and puzzled. The caption announces ‘Israel and coronavirus unite against occupied native Palestinians.’[i]

The facts at issue were irrelevant to both artists. If Palestinians were suffering, Israel must be to blame. If the Trump administration insisted on designating the pandemic’s source as the ‘Chinese Virus’ or the ‘Wuhan Virus,’ for the worldwide anti-Zionist movement it would effectively be the Jewish virus. A pandemic of signification immediately acquired an anti-Semitic constituency. The Trump’s administration’s nomenclature meanwhile gave license to anti-Asian aggression.

For its part, the Independent Voices Canada website in March announced an ongoing series of dispatches: ‘The brutal siege of Gaza, and the ongoing occupation of the West Bank, are tinderboxes for the Coronavirus.’ By March 27, the IVC website was highlighting a dispatch from Khalil Abu Yahia, a 24 year-old English teacher in Gaza City: ‘The sad thing that we are thinking here in Gaza is that Israel is going to get away with this: they will not be held accountable for our health. Because if you ask yourself why we’re suffering, and why we’re not getting proper treatment for the virus, it’s because we weren’t born to Jewish mothers.’[ii]

'Above my pay grade': New Jersey governor claims Bill of Rights did not factor into his coronavirus executive orders

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phillip Murphy said the Bill of Rights was not on his mind when he issued his executive orders mandating his state's response to the coronavirus.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson pressed Murphy on the constitutionality of his recent executive orders that deem liquor stores essential and business and churches nonessential, which Murphy said he did not consider.

"As I noted before, 15 congregants at a synagogue in New Jersey were arrested and charged for being in a synagogue together. Now, the Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans' right, enshrines their right, to practice their religion as they see fit and to congregate together, to assemble peacefully. By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?" Carlson asked.

"That’s above my pay grade, Tucker," Murphy responded, saying he "wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this."

"Well, I can tell," Tucker interjected.

"Here's the thing, we know we need to stay away from each other, number one. Number two, we do have broad authority within the state. And number three, we would never do that without coordinating, discussing, and hashing it out with the leaders, the variety of the leaders of the faith of New Jersey," Murphy later said.

Authorities in other states have faced blowback for strict executive orders that limit outdoor social activities and gatherings. The Raleigh Police Department faced massive online opposition after categorizing protesting as a "nonessential activity."

It Is Up to Palestinian Leaders to Prove That Their Nationalism Can Promote Peace and Stability

In an essay published last fall, Michael Doran called to task U.S. presidents and policymakers from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama for pursuing the creation of a Palestinian state despite the fact that such a goal is both unrealistic and inimical to American interests. Responding to Doran, Tarek Osman partially concedes some of his points, but contends that geopolitical circumstances are likely to change, and that one could imagine a new situation that would militate in favor of Israeli territorial concessions. Doran rebuts this argument. (Free registration may be required.)

The question . . . is not whether power dynamics might change in the future but whether they are likely to do so. In this case, they are not. For the two-state solution to become viable, Hamas must collapse, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank must craft a shared vision of the future, and then they must march in lockstep toward a compromise with Israel. The number of stars that must align for this vision to become reality is too great to count.

In support of his belief that the two-state solution is within reach, Osman invokes the memory of Yitzḥak Rabin. A seasoned military man and political leader, Rabin was no starry-eyed peacemaker, and yet he was still ready to make painful compromises. Osman’s depiction of Rabin echoes that presented by the former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who often laments that were it not for Rabin’s assassination, the Israelis and the Palestinians would have signed a peace agreement.

This is a saccharine myth that ignores the chasm between Rabin’s and Clinton’s positions. The vision Rabin pursued was not compatible with the parameters Clinton presented to negotiators in 2000, which proposed a Palestinian state in 94 to 96 percent of the West Bank and Palestinian sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and eastern Jerusalem. In a speech made before the Knesset a month before his assassination, Rabin described the Palestinian entity that he expected to emerge from the Oslo Accords. It would be, he explained, “less than a state.” It would accept Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. Rabin’s vision was, on the other hand, far more compatible with the so-called “deal of the century”—the peace plan that the Trump administration recently announced.

More than ever before, Washington’s interests lie in building Israeli power to shore up the battered U.S. regional security structure, not in tearing it down in the pursuit of a peace fantasy. In this context, it is the responsibility of Palestinian leaders . . . to prove that their nationalism can promote international peace and stability.

Comedians Understand the Middle East Better Than Experts

Nearly 20 years ago, comedian Larry Miller (not Dennis Miller, as some believe) explained the Mideast conflict better than any expert. He said: “Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals.”

Miller reminded people of the history that two-state advocates ignore, such as the fact that Gaza was occupied by Egypt, and the West Bank was controlled by Jordan. Now the Palestinians say they want their own country. “No, they don’t,” observed Miller. “They could’ve had their own country any time in the last 30 years, especially … at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and chambers of commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That’s no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew haters in the region want: Israel.”

Just in time for Passover, Jackie Mason also had some words of wisdom. In an interview with Brigit Grant for the Jewish News, Mason noted that “Jews are often the biggest supporters and unwitting allies of antisemitism. If you go to any university today you’ll find a ‘Professor Silverstein’ preaching about intersectionality, being ‘woke,’ and the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Mason observed that “all you ever hear is if only Israel didn’t do this or that the Palestinians would act differently” and suggested that those professors and BDS advocates should contemplate “what would happen IF the Palestinians… Didn’t fire rockets into towns in Israel; Acknowledged the Jews’ right to exist in their ancestral homeland; Remembered with the Arab states and the rest of the world that they rejected the partition plan in 1947 and invaded with five armies; Remember the hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews who were ejected from Arab countries and sent into exile;” and many other facts.

Then there’s Bill Maher, who said of the BDS movement after Israel banned Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from visiting the country: “It’s a bulls— purity test by people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class.”

Maher quoted one of the BDS movement’s leaders, Omar Barghouti, who said, “No Palestinian, rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian, would ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.” Maher added: “So that’s where that comes from, this movement, someone who doesn’t even want a Jewish state at all. Somehow this side never gets presented in the American media.”

Joe Truzman: Israel warns Hezbollah over its recent activity in Syria

Several incidents that have recently occurred between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have brought the decades-long conflict between the two back into focus.

The recent uptick in activity began March 26 when a drone was detected crossing into Israeli air space from Lebanon and was subsequently shot down by the IDF.

According to an IDF statement, “A drone belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization was shot down after it crossed into Israeli airspace from Lebanon.”

After the incident, Hezbollah did not publicly respond to the downing of one of their alleged drones.

The second incident involved the release of footage with a tacit threat by the IDF from its Twitter account on April 10. According to the statement, the head of the Syrian Armed Forces 1st Corps, Luau Ali Ahmad Assad, was observed visiting Hezbollah positions in southern Syria with head of Hezbollah’s southern command, Hajj Hashem.

“Look closely. See the man with white hair? That’s the head of the Syrian Armed Forces 1st Corps, Luau Ali Ahmad Assad. He’s visiting Hezbollah positions in Syria. Our message: We see you. Consider this a warning. We won’t allow Hezbollah to entrench itself militarily in Syria,” the IDF Twitter statement read.

The third and most serious event took place April 15. The incident occurred in the Syrian town of Jdaidit Yabws, near the Lebanese border.

According to an al Jarida report “An Israeli drone targeted a convoy of Lebanese Hezbollah inside the Syrian territories near the border.”

The report went into further detail saying “A source in Tehran stated that a [Hezbollah] party leader named Imad Karimi was the target, and that the first missile did not hit the car, which allowed its passengers to flee before the second missile succeeded in hitting it.”

Man Who Escaped Strike on Car in Syria Named as Slain Hizbullah Leader's Son

A passenger in a car targeted in a Wednesday airstrike in Syria attributed to Israel was Mustafa Mughniyeh, the son of slain senior Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a 2008 car bombing, Al-Arabiya reported Thursday. Mustafa survived the attack.

Mustafa Mughniyeh has been identified as a senior Hizbullah commander playing an active role in the terror group's efforts to establish a permanent military presence along the Syrian Golan Heights.

An agreement with Russia was supposed to push Iranian and Tehran-backed militias, including Hizbullah, dozens of kilometers away from the border.

MEMRI: Egyptian-Canadian Writer Said Shoaib: Erdogan Believes In Islamic Imperialism Like The Muslim Brotherhood Does; We Must Abandon The Idea Of An Islamic Caliphate, Or Else The MB Will Remain In Control

Egyptian-Canadian writer Said Shoaib said in a March 23, 2020 interview on Mehwar TV (Egypt) that the time has come to stop giving ideological support for Islamists in the West, which he said are led by the Muslim Brotherhood. He said that organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood are responsible for spreading lies about Muslims in Canada being persecuted, that there is no systematic anti-Muslim discrimination in Canada, and that some people in the West are naturally afraid of Islam because of Islamic terrorism. He also said that the purpose of his book Erdoğan's Islam is to tell Muslims that the Islamists are only pretending that they want to build a free and just country. Furthermore, Shoaib said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shares the Muslim Brotherhood's beliefs that imperialism is a part of Islam. Shoaib added: "If we do not abandon the idea of Islam as a country and a Caliphate, then the Islamists will remain in control of the Middle East."

"There Is No Systematic Discrimination Against Muslims In The Law Or Constitution"

Said Shoaib: "It is time to stop giving ideological support for the Islamists [in the West]... I am talking about Islamists, and they are led by the Muslim Brotherhood – the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized [Islamist] group, but they are all one and the same. It is time to stop supporting them ideologically.

"They say, for example, that Muslims in Canada are persecuted. That is a lie. Islamic centers tell lies and the religious institutions come and say: 'Look, Islamophobia!' But these are all lies. I am not talking about the West in general. I am talking about what I have experienced in Canada. There is no systematic discrimination against Muslims in the law or constitution. If you want to build a mosque, the same laws apply for building a synagogue, a Buddhist place of worship, or a church – most Canadians are Christians."
[...]
"People Are Afraid Of Muslims And Of Islam Because Of The Terror Attacks That Some Muslims Have Carried Out"

Interviewer: "In the West – Europe and America – nobody talks about hostility towards Muslims?"

Said Shoaib: "No"

Interviewer: "So there is none?"

Said Shoaib: "People are afraid of Muslims and of Islam because of the terror attacks that some Muslims have carried out. This fear is natural. I am not making excuses and some mistakes might be made. I am not talking about the governments, since they have a different logic, with which one can agree or disagree. I am talking about the society.

"As a Muslim in Canada, I have not experienced any discrimination, and if this does take place, I would be lucky, because then I would receive a lot of compensation."

PA and Hamas "Coronawash" Their Own Corruption

Earlier this month, the Palestinian Authority's official spokesperson claimed Israel is "striving for the epidemic's spread in Palestine." As usual, Palestinian leaders intend to blame it all on the Jews. Israel's enemies never miss an opportunity to criticize the Jewish state, even if it means using a global public health emergency to "coronawash" the failures of Palestinian leadership.

The Palestinians have received more development and humanitarian assistance over the last 30 years than any other group in history. Yet they completely lack the organization and infrastructure needed to combat this pandemic. The PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza have both squandered billions of dollars of aid that was meant to build a public health system, spending the money instead on corruption, incitement, and terrorism.

Shortages of medical supplies are not the result of any action or inaction taken by Israel. Medical supplies pass through Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt every day, while the West Bank has virtually no restrictions on medical imports from Israel or Jordan.

The real story is that in the West Bank, the PA steals foreign aid money for its own enrichment. In Gaza, Hamas uses it to build rockets and terror tunnels. Both groups steal the people's money, rather than make investments in healthcare, and the Palestinian people pay the price.

PA continues terror and Martyrdom promotion – through official TV and radio:
“Palestine is etched on the heart of the fetus, a proud Martyr in his mother’s womb” - song teaching that Palestinian children are destined to die as Martyrs

More here: https://t.co/C1PHSzRk9S pic.twitter.com/boK9Vj0IRr
— Pal Media Watch (@palwatch) April 17, 2020

Abbas: "We won't sign any peace agreement without the release of all our heroic prisoners, who are freedom fighters." pic.twitter.com/6dCpSSFHYf
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) April 17, 2020

Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Is Turkey Embracing Hamas?

Last month, Haniyeh said that while Hamas has a "strategic relation" with Iran, it also maintains ties with Turkey and several other countries. "We need Arabs and Muslims to stand with us against the Deal of the Century," Haniyeh explained, referring to US President Donald Trump's recently unveiled plan for Middle East peace. "All Palestinian factions are entitled to preserve their strategy. Hamas believes that Palestine is from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea. Hamas will not recognize Israel."

Erdogan's reported willingness to host the Hamas leadership most likely comes from his longstanding support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Erdogan's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood go back to the 1970s, when he was one of the trusted political pupils of Necmettin Erbakan, the father of Islamism in Turkey.

Lorenzo Vidino, director of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, pointed out that since the July 2013 overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt, Erdogan has sought to provide a safe haven for "persecuted" members of the movement.

The Ahval news website noted, in addition, that the dozens of Muslim Brotherhood figures living in exile today in Turkey are some of the movement's most powerful and influential figures. "These Brotherhood leaders and their relatives live a comfortable life, under the protection of the Erdogan administration, the website revealed.

As Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan's reported readiness to welcome its leaders into Turkey comes as no surprise. It seems that Erdogan is trying to help the Muslim Brotherhood extend its influence across more regions while serving as the spiritual leader of the movement.

If the reports about Erdogan's readiness to invite Hamas leaders to live in Turkey are true, that would also turn Erdogan into the spiritual father of a terrorist group that seeks to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.

It now remains to be seen whether the international community, including some Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, demand that Turkey distances itself from Hamas.

A Hamas move to Turkey would mean the terrorist group would continue masterminding and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel -- but this time, under the protective eyes of the Erdogan administration.

Gaza Grocery store opens in the Hyper Mall

There was no social distancing in Gaza at this weeks grand opening of a new grocery store in the Hyper mall, the largest mall in Gaza, located in the Nusseirat refugee camp. Yes, really.

The management initially assured the Gaza public that all precautions were being taken to assure their safety and well being.

Photos were shown on social media of the staff appropriately masked and gloved.

Grand opening day looked very different. Inside the mall, there were local celebrities (actor and comedian Mahmoud Zuaiter) giveaways, and huge shoulder to shoulder crowds.

Yet there was no social distancing. In view of the coronavirus which has affected over 2,000,000 people worldwide and has left over a hundred thousand dead, this kind of mass gathering is foolhardy and irresponsible.

Its as if the Hamas terror group completely disregarded the health and welfare of the people of Gaza....

MEMRI: Visions Of The Post-Coronavirus World – Part V: Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan': God Sent The Coronavirus To Expose The Hollow, Atrophied Nature Of Western Civilization Versus The Human And Life-Affirming Civilization Of Islam; America, Israel Manufactured, Spread The Coronavirus In The World

In the recent days, the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan has devoted several editorials to explaining to the Iranian public why the coronavirus pandemic has befallen the world and the lessons that the world should derive from it. In an April 6, 2020 editorial the daily postulated that the coronavirus is a product of the godless Western civilization, which takes pride in science for its own sake and which also created the atom bomb and chemical weapons. Like senior regime officials,[1] this editorial accused the U.S. and Israel of manufacturing and spreading the coronavirus throughout the world "in order to rid it of the elderly and the poor." The pandemic, it added, exposes the wrongs that Western civilization has caused humanity, wrongs were perpetuated in order to preserve the superiority of Western civilization and culture while consigning Islamic civilization to obscurity. According to Kayhan, the coronavirus also exposes the inferiority of Western civilization and its leadership versus the superiority of Iran, which offers mankind the Islamic civilization and a new world order. The editorial praised the mobilization and solidarity of Iran's society and political and military leadership in fighting the disease, while contrasting it with the West, which is said is collapsing as its leaders resort to spreading lies and to stealing from each other in their desperate effort to control the pandemic. The editorial reiterated the Iranian regime's messaging of denying the Jewish Holocaust, which "has no basis," while calling America "the Great Satan" and Israel is a "malignant growth."

Unlike the April 6, 2020 editorial, which accused the U.S. and Israel of creating and spreading the virus, an April 13, 2020 editorial by Kayhan's editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari stated that the virus was sent by God to humiliate the leaders of corrupt and enervated Western civilization and prove to mankind that it has no succor save for God. Like the April 6 editorial, this article, titled "The Coronavirus, the Virus with a Crown," claimed that the coronavirus exposes the hollowness and collapse of Western civilization, versus the superiority of Islamic civilization, which Iran promotes via the values of self-sacrifice and spiritual morality displayed by its leaders and citizens.

The following are excerpts from the two editorials.

Kayhan, April 6: "This Pandemic Bears The Stench Of Faithless Science And Of A Godless, Arrogant World – Yet It Is The Postmodern West That Has Collapsed!"

Kayhan's April 6, 2020 editorial stated: "...We who believe in the pure Islam possess diverse, unending riches, and without this infinite treasure, we too would be oppressed and corrupted by problems. What protects us from the storm of events is the study [of Islam], which calms our hearts and eases our minds, and which gives us the hope to try harder...

"The world's entire population has been afflicted by this pandemic, and its strength has been exhausted… This pandemic bears the stench of faithless science and of a godless, arrogant world – yet it is the postmodern West that has collapsed! The very same godless science that invented the atom bomb, chemical [weapons], mustard [gas], the SARS [virus], and Stuxnet [the computer virus that targeted Iran], etc. is now inflicting the coronavirus upon humanity. This is the same secular science that does not believe in God. Science which covers up ignorance without aiming to improve the quality of life is a merchant of death and [serves] Satan. The West-struck ones [i.e., people blinded by the West] lied when they promoted science for science’s sake and art for art's sake, and sold science and art to Pharaoh, Korah, and Zion before [they sold it to] us. The West-struck ones and their supporters, who described the ordinary [achievements] of the West as 'civilization' and the 'cradle of science,' considered the wizards and warlocks of the White House as roses and magic in Trump's decrepit body – like the wizards of Pharaoh's court.

Why Is Iran Not Changing Course?

Iran is still reeling from the U.S. killing of Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, as well as the erosion of public confidence following Tehran's initial attempt to conceal its responsibility for the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Iran's leaders must now navigate the worsening pandemic, a weakening economy, lack of public confidence and the loss of a linchpin in the Islamic Republic's foreign operations. Yet until there is a real alternative to the reigning power, the bitter masses will prefer relative stability to anarchy

In the meantime, it doesn't seem as though Iran is changing its plans in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq or Yemen. It will continue igniting tension in these countries, even if the flame has slightly dimmed since Soleimani's killing. The attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq made clear that the Iranians are continuing to push their agenda, though less vigorously and perhaps less ably.

On China's Official Arabic-Language TV: COVID-19 Does Not Appear to Have Originated in China

Chinese vlogger "Ms. V" said in an episode of "China View" that was published by CGTN Arabic TV (China) on March 17, 2020 that the presence of multiple coronavirus strains in the United States, the coincidence between the initial coronavirus outbreak and the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan in which the U.S. participated, the possibility that the U.S. may have had many coronavirus deaths that have been documented as influenza deaths, and the CDC's shut down of former U.S. biological weapons research lab Fort Detrick suggest that COVID-19 originated in the United States, and not in China.

Egyptian Islamic Preacher Mohammed Al-Hefnawi Al-Ansari: Thank You Coronavirus for Shutting Down Cinemas, Coffee Shops, and Whorehouses; May Allah Use This Virus to Annihilate the Infidels and Shiites pic.twitter.com/K58U5kXtjh
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 17, 2020

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