05/04 Links Pt1: Israel’s Death Toll Rises to 234; Nearly 10,000 Have Recovered; UN Special Rapporteur incites Hatred towards the Jewish People; Palestinian Pay-to-Slay Economics ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Israel’s COVID-19 Death Toll Rises to 234; Nearly 10,000 Have Recovered

The number of Israelis who have recovered from coronavirus infection stands at 9,858, the country’s Health Ministry reported Monday. The virus has so far claimed the lives of 234 citizens.

A total of 6,145 Israelis are currently defined as “active” cases, with 94 listed in serious condition. Of the serious cases, 72 are on ventilators. Another 62 patients are listed in moderate condition, with the rest considered light or minor cases. A total of 273 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized, with 5,872 being treated in hotel facilities or at home.

Hospitals and medical centers throughout Israel continue to shut their coronavirus wards as the number of patients dwindles.

Since coronavirus was first identified in Israel, a total of 16,237 Israelis have tested positive for it. This is double the number of positive tests confirmed in Israel on April 5, meaning that since the first week in April, it has taken 31 days for the number of Israelis who tested positive for coronavirus to double, in comparison to the number doubling every three days at the height of the crisis, when the government enacted the shutdown to contain the spread of the virus.
May 4, 2020 10:31 am
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Five HR Executives Share What It Takes to Get Hired During the Covid-19 Crisis

CTech - Even now, amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis and the uncertainty and restrictions that come with it, some companies...

The proximity to coronavirus carriers has taken a toll on the country’s healthcare workers: As of Monday, 582 health care professionals were in self-quarantine, including 112 doctors, 217 nurses and 253 other professionals.

Legal Insurrection: Investigation: The Islamist Origins of Anti-Israel Activists’ Coronavirus Narratives

In April 2020, we published an in-depth investigation: How Anti-Israel Activists Are Hijacking The Coronavirus Crisis And Turning It Against Israel. Our research demonstrated how proponents of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel have exploited the COVID-19 pandemic: namely, blaming the Jewish state and its supporters for as many aspects of the outbreak as possible.

Now, we’ve taken a closer look at how international Arab, Muslim, and especially Palestinian sources have rhetorically weaponized the virus against Israel. And it’s clear that the BDS campaign’s appropriation of COVID-19 is only part of a larger effort to fold the pandemic into pre-existing anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish ideology.

A. Introduction: Historical Accusations of Jews and Disease

The exploitation of COVID-19 as a propaganda tool against Israel is not a unique phenomenon. For hundreds of years, civilizations all over the world have invented false claims about Jews facilitating the spread of sickness; lies about Jews as disease vectors have long been used as a justification for their persecution.

Contemporary allegations about Zionist connections to the coronavirus outbreak are simply the newest iteration of a well-worn conspiracy theory.

David Singer: UN Special Rapporteur incites Hatred towards the Jewish People

Michael Lynk – UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 – has issued an explosive anti-Jewish statement that fails to acknowledge the Jewish People have any vested legal and human rights claims to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria.

Lynk’s statement is the latest in a steadily-growing outpouring of hatred towards the Jewish People that could lead to violence between Jews and Arabs as the 1 July date of destiny approaches for restoring Jewish sovereignty in about 30% of Judea and Samaria after 3000 years.

Couched entirely in the language of the enemies of the Jewish People, Lynk uses the terms:
- “annexation” instead of “restoring Jewish sovereignty”
- “West Bank” instead of “Judea and Samaria”

Lynk lays the groundwork for inflaming violent Arab responses with this highly-exaggerated claim:
- “Israel’s decision to unilaterally march ahead with the planned annexation on July 1 undermines human rights in the region, and would be a severe body blow to the rules-based international order”

Israeli sovereignty will be applied in about 1697 km2 (i.e. square kilometers) – approximating 30% of Judea and Samaria -where 65000 Arabs – 4% of Judea and Samaria’s Arab population – live.

Lynk then misleadingly states:
“It would also further undermine any remaining prospect for a just and negotiated settlement”

Rubbish.

Sovereignty in the remaining 70% – 3958 km2 – home for 96% of Judea and Samaria’s Arab population – will be allocated in direct Israeli-Arab negotiations.

Lynk continues:
“If Israel’s annexation plans proceed, what would be left of the West Bank would become a Palestinian Bantustan, an archipelago of disconnected islands of territory, completely surrounded and divided up by Israel and unconnected to the outside world”

Lynk makes this sensational claim without having seen the actual joint US-Israel Mapping Committee proposals.

Natan Sharansky to use Genesis Prize proceeds to fight coronavirus

Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, winner of the 2020 Genesis Prize, announced Monday that he will donate the $1 million award to organizations fighting the coronavirus pandemic and assisting people most affected by the outbreak.

In a statement released by prize organizers, Sharansky said he would support organizations in Israel and abroad, some delivering immediate relief to victims and others pursuing longer-term research against the disease. In forgoing the prize money, he follows a tradition set by previous winners.

“Many people of good will around the world have given generously to help organizations and individuals who have been devastated by COVID-19. I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to this humanitarian effort,” Sharansky said.

The Genesis Prize Foundation said donations would go to organizations providing emergency services to Jerusalem residents of all faiths, and assisting severely disabled children, domestic violence victims, African migrants in Tel Aviv and people in need of mental health services.

He will also support research at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, Columbia University and New York University, and help elderly Jewish communities overseas.

Israel Joins Alliance of Countries that Beat the Coronavirus

Israel is joining a new initiative led by Austria that brings together small countries that have basically defeated the coronavirus epidemic. These countries aim to open their borders in order to save the tourism industry and revive their economies.

The first meeting of the Alliance of Immunized Countries was held online last week and brought together Denmark, Greece, the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Israel. And the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz is promoting an idea that includes the opening of borders between safe states in the near future.
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It will begin with allowing tourism and tourism trade to come back from its suspended animation, Kurtz told Austrian media, following a meeting with several world leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our countries have responded quickly to the pandemic, and we are now in better shape.”

The states in question are in agreement that, in the context of opening their borders, they would take effective measures against the spread of the coronavirus, such as the obligation to wear masks, as well as the establishment of a quick and simple testing protocol.

MDA Mobile Unit Takes 3,166 Swab Samples in Geula, Jerusalem

A mobile coronavirus swab samples station was installed on Sunday in the Haredi neighborhood of Geula in Jerusalem. The station, built in a container, was developed by the IDF and MDA, and is designated to swab civilians who aren’t symptomatic who are able reach the facility on foot.

The station, dubbed Keren Or (ray of light) features 6 windows that enable team members to take hundreds of samples a day. So far, 3,166 people have been sampled.

Due to its unique design, the Keren Or station can be relocated on the back of a truck, and maintain the public order and social distancing procedures during operations. MDA team members are operating the station and the technical aspects are the responsibility of the soldiers and officers IDF’s Technology Brigade.

The new, innovative station was positioned at the Shneller compound, located in Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood, and it is being guarded and monitored by ushers in order to maintain social distancing. The MDA sampling teams sitting inside the container are protected by a high pressure air system that pushes out the air and maintains a fully sterile environment inside.

Brigadier General Tal Aharon, head of the IDF Technology & Logistics Brigade, said: “The mobile lab was developed by the technology division who worked day and night in order to quickly find an innovative solution and assist in the battle against the Coronavirus outbreak. The mobile station is able to conduct multiple swab samples in a relatively short amount time and by doing so assisted in reducing the rate of infection and maintaining the safety of the medical teams. The Technology and Logistics Brigade as well as all the IDF will continue to assist in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak.”

MDA Director General Eli Bin said: “The Keren Or station is an amazing development by the IDF Technology & Logistics Brigade, that placed the public health at the front and utilized their knowledge and expertise for the Israeli citizens. This development, like the DriveThru compounds, has a crucial role in the struggle against the Coronavirus outbreak, and make it possible to increase the number of swab samples taken throughout the country, while maintaining the safety of the Israeli public and the MDA teams. MDA will continue to be at the forefront of the struggle against the Coronavirus outbreak, with hope for better days soon.”

IAC virtual concert raises $325K for health care workers

Israeli-American Council's (IAC) star-studded virtual concert fundraiser raised $325K Sunday night. Proceeds will go directly towards providing personal protective equipment (PPE) and food to health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate communities in the US and around the world. Even in the face of PPE supply shortages; nurses, doctors, and hospital staff continue to risk their lives every day.

The IAC Care initiative event was hosted by Israeli actress Shani Atias, and opened with a live-portrait painting of photographer Ziv Koren by artist Tomer Peretz. The concert featured songs by Israeli stars Idan Raichel, David Broza, Rotem Cohen, Shlomi Shabat, and Keren Peles, and more. Due to social distancing rules, all artists performed from their homes.

"The IAC is grateful to these Israeli artists and more than 400 volunteers of the IAC Care nationwide community who have demonstrated a great showing of solidarity in this time of crisis," said Shoham Nicolet, CEO and co-founder of the Israeli-American Council.

"Beyond the direct support to our heroes – the medical teams – tonight also demonstrated the strong bond between the people of Israel and the United States and the role of our community as a living bridge between the two. I'm humbled and inspired by the generosity and spirit of all the volunteers and supporters who made this effort possible."

Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Postpone Gay Pride Parades 2020

Tel Aviv Pride Month takes place every June, with a surge of gay-friendly events taking place across Israel’s city that never sleeps.

In fact, according to organizers, the Tel Aviv Pride Parade is the largest in the entire Middle East. This owes largely to the fact that there are no gay pride parades outside Israel between Kuala Lumpur and Marrakech, but who’s counting (Alas, in most Middle east countries, a gay pride parade is when they tie gay people to chairs and dump them from a rooftop).

This year, however, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the four largest gay pride parades in Israel: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Beer Sheva, have jointly decided to postpone their events, hoping they will be able to do them later in the summer of 2020.

Gay Pride month, June 2020, will still be celebrated through virtual events, say the organizers.

The strange case of Michael Oren’s Twitter suspension

When former deputy minister and ambassador to the US Michael Oren tried to tweet out an Independence Day greeting and then a thank-you tweet to Germany for banning Hezbollah, he was surprised to find he could not because his account had been suspended.

In fact, Oren’s account had been restricted as early as April 21 and may not have been functional since before that. Twitter declined to disclose the date.

On Sunday and Monday, a number of prominent pro-Israel twitter accounts noticed Oren’s absence and began to protest.

“Hey @jack,” Israeli hi-tech evangelist Hillel Fuld tweeted to Twitter’s founder, “remember you promised me you’d handle abuse on this platform? yea, well, suspending the account of former Israeli ambassador to the US, former MK, and former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Michael Oren? Not the way to do it.”

The UK-based Israel Advocacy Movement tweeted: “After twitter realised there were thousands and thousands of antisemites on their platform, they finally took action…By suspending the account of former Israeli ambassador to the US @drmichaeloren! Instead of banning the antisemites, they banned the Jews!”

Oren told The Jerusalem Post he began receiving phone calls inquiring about what had happened to his Twitter account.

He said the only tweets he could think of that could have been reported as abusive were ones in which he called The New York Times antisemiti

Let's be honest: The ICC is not an impartial court

Internatonal Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda decided on April 30, 2020, to move forward with a case filed against Israel by the Palestinian Authority, falsely claiming that the PA is a state and therefore has standing to file a war crimes complaint. The ICC's anti-Israel bias is nothing new.

On December 26, 2018, Ambassador Alan Baker reported for the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs:
"The election of the Palestinian Attorney-General, Dr. Ahmad Barrak, to serve as a member of the 'Advisory Committee on Nominations' of judges of the International Criminal Court, if it were not so serious, could be seen as comical. It cannot but invoke the ancient Latin maxim ovem lupo commitere, or in its literal and colloquial version 'to set the wolf to guard the sheep.'

"This sums up the acute absurdity to which respected international institutions in the international community, and particularly the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, have descended. Sadly, they have permitted themselves to be abused and manipulated by an irresponsible Palestinian leadership, intent on hijacking international organizations for obvious and blatant political purposes[.] …"

On November 18, 2019 Amb. Alan Baker wrote in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs "There is a growing concern that the International Criminal Court (ICC), established with the adoption of the Rome Statute of 1998, is irreparably and institutionally flawed and politicized. The ICC has failed to live up to the hopes and visions of its founding fathers.

- The ICC was established after a long process of negotiations inspired by a post-World War II vision of the need to ensure that the perpetrators of the most egregious crimes known to humanity would not enjoy impunity and immunity. They would be brought to trial before an independent, apolitical, international juridical body.
- Regrettably, and despite the best intentions of its founders, the very independence and impartiality of the Court – so central and obvious for any such vital and important juridical body – was flawed from the outset by constitutionally linking the Court with the United Nations.
- Placing part of the ICC’s financing at the political mercy of the UN General Assembly undermines and prejudices any pretention of independence of the Court. Funding of the ICC, like any other action requiring approval in the UN General Assembly, is, of necessity, a process driven by the political and economic interests of its members and subject to political bargaining that is unconnected to the needs of the Court..."

Honest Reporting: Justice for All Except for Israel

Another step in the campaign to put Israel in the dock for war crimes.

Ignoring the protests of several countries and the opinions of countless legal experts, the ICC is considering investigating the Palestinian case against Israel.

If this decision is ratified, it will have serious legal and diplomatic ramifications for the Jewish state.

Ken's hatred clearly blocks his vision. The Prosecutor said exactly the opposite:
"It has never been the position of the Prosecution that ... a UN General Assembly resolution has the effect of endowing
Statehood."
But then again, truth & accuracy have never been your strong suit!
— Maurice Hirsch, Adv. 🇮🇱 עו''ד מוריס הירש (@MauriceHirsch4) May 4, 2020

US said to question China’s role in bid to construct Israeli desalination plant

US officials have questioned a China-tied company’s bid to construct a new desalination plant in Israel and have expressed concerns over the possibility of it winning the tender, Axios reported Saturday.

Hutchison Water International is one of two companies to have reached the final stage of the tender to build the Sorek B plant, set to be the largest desalination facility in the world, alongside IDE Technologies. Hutchison is owned by Hong Kong-based holding company CK Hutchison Holdings.

Axios said officials in the Trump administration, including US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, have raised their concerns with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry.

The plant, which is expected to produce some 200 million cubic meters of water annually, is planned for Nahal Sorek, near the Palmachim air base and a nuclear research facility in the area.

The winner of the tender is set to be announced on May 24.

In October, under pressure from Washington over growing Chinese investments in Israeli companies, the security cabinet announced the formation of a new advisory panel that will review foreign investments in the country.

US officials have questioned why the panel hasn’t examined Hutchison’s involvement in the desalination plant tender, Axios reported, to which Israeli officials have responded that it wasn’t under the committee’s mandate as the matter was set in motion prior to its formation.

“The Americans are speaking to us about this very politely but it is clear they would like us to review the Chinese participation in the [bid],” an Israeli official told the website.

PA Police Arrest Israeli Archaeologists Investigating Arab Robberies in Northern Samaria Site

Armed Palestinian Authority police on Monday arrested two Israeli archaeologists at an archaeological site in northern Samaria, in an area which is under Israeli control.

The group Shomrim Al Hanetzach (lit. guarding eternity), dedicated to preserving antiquities sites in Judea and Samaria, has been carrying out a mapping project of ancient sites which have fallen victim to rogue excavations, looting and damage to the finds. The venture was launched following the announcement of the Trump plan early this year, and has surveyed more than 100 antiquities sites which have been severely damaged – a phenomenon that has been further aggravated by the coronavirus which caused a cut in the Civil Administration’s inspections of crimes against Israel’s historical treasures.

Shomrim Al hanetzach coordinator Ethan Melet went out on Monday morning with two archaeologists to the Tel Parsin site in northern Samaria, in an area under which should be under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords, to inspect the damage to the site.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Egypt says it destroyed more than 3,000 Gaza tunnels

Egypt has destroyed more than 3,000 tunnels along its border with the Gaza Strip in the past five years, Egyptian Army spokesperson Tamer al-Refai has revealed.

In an interview with the private Egyptian news channel Extra News on Sunday night, Refai said: “In 2015, the [Egyptian] government took a decision to establish a buffer zone along the border [with the Gaza Strip]. These tunnels were used to threaten Egypt’s national security, including the infiltration of terrorists, smuggling of weapons, ammunition, goods, narcotic drugs and vehicles. We established the buffer zone in stages because residents had to be relocated. They have received compensation.”

The Egyptian military spokesperson said that some of the destroyed tunnels were three kilometers long and 30 meters deep.

Refai said that the Egyptian security forces were continuing their “heroic actions to defeat terrorists” in the Sinai Peninsula. He said that 126 terrorists were killed during the recent military operation there.

During the operation, Egyptian security forces seized different types of weapons and explosive belts, he added. “We destroyed 630 explosive devices,” he disclosed.

Refai said that the Egyptian Air Force targeted and destroyed 228 hideouts and shelters used by terrorists. In addition, 116 four-wheel drive vehicles were destroyed and 266 suspects were arrested.

PMW: Your fetus will be a “Martyr for Palestine” – PA’s message to Palestinians 3 times in one day

The song has already appeared on the station’s repertoire in May as well, so obviously this is a message the PA intends to continue to reinforce.

But this message is not being drummed into the heads of Palestinians by only one official PA TV station. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that this song has been broadcast on PA TV, PA TV Live, PA radio - The Voice of Palestine and on Fatah’s TV station Awdah.

Moreover, Palestinians are not getting this message – that their children are destined to die for “Palestine” – from just one song only. Numerous other songs, poems, and statements by the PA leadership reinforce the ideal of kids as potential Martyrs, promoting child soldiers.

Significantly, even the worldwide corona crisis and the daily aid to the PA from Israel, is not enough to slow down the PA hate and terror machine.

Palestinian Pay-to-Slay Economics

The Palestinian government is undergoing increasing pressure from aid donors to eliminate payments to imprisoned terrorists and the families of dead terrorists as it asks for more foreign aid to deal with the Covid-19 virus. Up to half of the foreign aid received by the West Bank goes to these payments.

It is no secret that many Palestinians become terrorists because they are attracted by the financial rewards. Families of dead terrorists get an immediate payment of $1,700 from Fatah plus monthly payments for the life of the immediate family, which can make a family relatively affluent.

There is a bonus ($86 a month) if the terrorist is a resident of Israel or eastern Jerusalem. There are also bonuses for how many Israelis the prisoner killed or injured. Some of these convicts get over $50,000 a year. (h/t MtTB)

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian asks court to block transfer of funds to PA

Mohammad Aref Massad, a former Palestinian security prisoner, has demanded that Israel stop transferring tax-revenue funds to the Palestinian Authority on the pretext that the money is being used to fund terrorism and corruption.

Massad, who currently lives in Haifa, made his demand in an urgent petition he filed last week with the High Court of Justice against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Knesset Finance Committee.

The petition demanded that the funds be directly transferred to Palestinian workers and needy families.

Massad was born in a small village near Jenin and by the age of 13 had joined the ruling Fatah faction. At one point, he even became a member of Fatah’s armed gang, “Black Panther,” whose gunmen carried out numerous attacks against Israelis and Palestinians during the First Intifada.
He was arrested by the IDF and spent more than seven years in prison.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Israeli Prisons Depriving Palestinians Of Candy To Sneak During Ramadan Fast (satire)

Human rights organizations issued yet another denunciation of Israel’s security and defense policies today following revelations that the Jewish State has not given Palestinians incarcerated in its facilities chocolate and other snack foods from which to take surreptitious bites as they pretend to uphold the Islamic monthlong daytime observance of fasting that began a week and a half ago.

Representatives of several Europe- and Israel-based rights groups such as Amnesty International and Btselem condemned Israel Monday morning upon the release of reports that even veteran prisoner and popular Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti – serving multiple life sentences for murder and related terrorism convictions – has not received from the prison administration even a single chocolate-covered wafer to shovel into his maw while hiding in his cell’s toilet stall during daylight.

“This represents another Israeli violation of Palestinian rights, this time in the religious sphere,” declared Amnesty spokeswoman Hipp O’Krissy. “It falls to the jailer to uphold prisoners’ rights to all religious observances, including traditional Ramadan cheating. It is not enough to simply provide generous Iftar meals at nightfall; the sneaking of snacks throughout the day has a rich and venerable history in Palestinian culture, and Israel bears responsibility to facilitate it.”

Why Abdullah Is King of Jordan

After 21 years on the throne, Jordan's King Abdullah is at the height of his popularity. Yet some whisperers in Amman still say his reign was illegitimate.

I met Abdullah's father, King Hussein, for the first time in 1989 in Amman while doing research for my doctoral dissertation on Jordanian domestic politics in the 1950s, and we met for the last time in 1996 in Potomac, Maryland.

I asked Hussein what he considered his greatest regret. He replied, "My greatest regret is the terrible injury I did to my son, Abdullah....I vow that before I die, I will repair this. I will correct what I did."

Abdullah, born in 1962, was Jordan's crown prince until he was three years old, when advisors convinced the king that it was too dangerous to have a toddler as heir when there were so many threats on the king's life. So he named as crown prince his youngest brother, Hassan, who was 18.

Hassan loyally served as crown prince to King Hussein for 30 years. But the king told me that he planned to change the order of royal succession and restore his eldest son to the role of future king, which he did just two weeks before his death.

There were those in Amman who claimed this was a mercurial decision influenced by the heavy medication he was taking for the pain of his advanced cancer. But from my own conversation with Hussein nearly three years before his death, I knew these claims were wrong.

‘Merkel worse than Hitler, envoy Israeli spy,' says antisemitic Iran paper

The Iranian paper Vatan-e Emrooz (Homeland Today) on Monday lashed out in an antisemitic diatribe against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the federal republic’s ambassador to Tehran for Berlin’s ban of the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah.

The main headline of the article reads “Zionist Spy” and shows a picture of Germany’s ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Michael Klor-Berchtold.

A separate headline on the front page declares: “Merkel worse than Hitler.”

Homeland Today is a full-color daily broadsheet that is operated by Mehrdad Bazrpash – an ally of Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .
Bazrpash was a former head of the violently repressive student Basij organization branch at Sharif University of Technology.

The paper’s publication started prior to the fraudulent 2009 Iranian presidential election.

According to Homeland Today’s article, Klor-Berchtold is a German federal intelligence service spy with “suspicious” ties to Tel Aviv and he should be severely dealt with.

Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt: We Say “No” to Becoming Like Syria, Iraq; We Reject Iranian Influence pic.twitter.com/YEyT9xEDkZ
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 4, 2020

Germany Allows Mullahs' Terror Banks Amid Coronavirus

"Germany was again Europe's largest trading partner with Iran by far, exporting $1.64 billion worth of goods in 2019. While German banks have been largely reluctant to finance Iran trade, there are at least five banks – all owned/operated by Iran and all operating inside Germany – that are more than happy to step in." – Daniel Roth, "Germany's Iran Banks," United Against Nuclear Iran April 7, 2020

One of the sanctioned banks freely doing business in Hamburg, Germany, is Bank Melli. It is the largest bank owned by the Iranian regime, and when it comes to revenues, it ranks first, followed by bank Mellat.

Another major Iranian bank also still conducting business in Hamburg Germany is Bank Sepah. Bank Sepah, also owned by the Iranian regime, has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department and has links to the regime's ballistic missile program. According to United Against Nuclear Iran, "Bank Sepah has provided 'direct and extensive financial services' to Iran's key ballistic missiles procurement and development agencies, including Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO) and its subsidiary, Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG)."

By trading with the Iranian regime and allowing Iran's sanctioned banks freely to operate in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is empowering the ruling mullahs and their regime. They are not only the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism; they are also racing to develop clandestine nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

Iranian TV Host Mohammad Delavari: President Rouhani Says Our Economy Is More Stable Than in Other Countries, Yet Our Prices Are Skyrocketing pic.twitter.com/jn1LyuyCWq
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 4, 2020

Top Iran official renews threat to ‘raze Israeli cities’ amid friction with US

A top Iranian official has repeated his threat to “raze Israeli cities to the ground” if the Jewish state takes any action against the Islamic Republic, hinting that Tehran could attack even in retaliation to US military action, in the tense aftermath of the killing earlier this year of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani.

“If the Zionist entity takes even the slightest initiative, you may rest assured that we will raze the Israeli cities to the ground,” Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera network in an April 28 TV interview translated and published Sunday by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Rezaei said that in the immediate aftermath of Soleimani’s killing in a January 3 airstrike in Iraq, “Tel Aviv was not the issue at hand — we had to deal with America.”

But if the US makes “another mistake,” Iran could “carry out the other parts of our retaliation,” he said, an apparent reference to targeting Israeli cities.

Rezaei, also a former leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, is considered a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

MEMRI: Senior Iranian Official threatens to Raze Israeli Cities to the Ground, Adds COVID-19 Is Man-Made

Mohsen Rezaee, the Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, said in an April 28, 2020 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that Iran would raze Israel’s cities to the ground if Israel takes “the slightest initiative” against Iran. He added that Iran’s attack on the Ayn Al-Asad Air Base after the U.S. killing of Qasem Soleimani had been a harsh retaliation that caused many casualties and destroyed American aircrafts. Rezaee then said that Iran’s capabilities and military prowess are “more important than the attack itself.” With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rezaee said that the virus is “smart” and man-made, and that the possibility that it was an anti-Iranian bio-weapon has not been refuted so far.

Today vs. exactly 5 years ago today.

Today, Trump admin Levant envoy said US strongly supports Israel taking military action vs. Iran.

Exactly 5 years ago today, Kerry went on Israeli TV and said US would blow up alliance if Israel took military action vs. Iran. pic.twitter.com/7pmobHA6QX
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) May 3, 2020

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