04/18 Links Pt1: How Congress Can Nix Biden’s Iran Deal; Jordan ‘salutes’ Palestinian rioters on Temple Mt., summons Israeli envoy for rebuke ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Complicit in depravity

I have written many times — as here, here, and here — about the astonishing desperation of the Biden administration to make a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme.

If the Obama administration had some of us scratching our heads in horror over its 2015 deal which guaranteed an Iranian path to nuclear weapons with at best only a few years’ delay, the successor deal on the verge of being agreed by the Biden team was shaping up to be very much worse.

This would reportedly not only guarantee an Iranian nuclear bomb within a much shorter timescale, not only funnel tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief into the coffers of a US-designated terrorist state already responsible for killing scores of Americans and other westerners, but even worse was poised to lift the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organisation” from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s de facto army that’s responsible for countless global atrocities.

At the last hurdle, however, progress towards a deal recently ground to a halt. With even some Democrats in the US Congress as well as otherwise lily-livered western countries expressing consternation and disbelief that America might be about to give an effective green light to the IRGC, this suddenly seemed to become a sticking point for the Biden team, too. Suddenly, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “not overly optimistic” it would be concluded.

Here, however, is where an already deeply troubling and scarcely believable US policy becomes simply depraved. As Andrew Parasiliti and Elizabeth Hagedorn reported earlier this month on Al Monitor:
The Biden administration was ready to de-list the IRGC if Iran would agree not to target Americans implicated in the killing of IRGC-Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani by a US armed drone in January 2020.

- The US Justice Department is reportedly investigating an IRGC plot to kill former US national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

- “It is politically impossible for the Iranians to publicly close the file on taking revenge for Soleimani,” Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group told Al-Monitor. “That proposal has been rejected by the Iranians. Iran has come up with a counterproposal that the US is now considering [my emphasis]”.

Just consider the implications of this. The killing of Soleimani was a welcome and long overdue lethal counter-strike by the US against the man who had the blood of countless Americans and others on his hands and who was the Iranian regime’s most important strategist of mass murder.

How Congress Can Nix Biden’s Iran Deal

Even if Malley steps aside or is forced out, Biden is essentially required by the new law to submit a candidate for the top Iran position to the Senate, which will finally force a reckoning of the administration’s Iran policy. If Biden ever wants his nominee confirmed, it will also require his administration to provide real answers to the dozens of congressional oversight letters that have so far been brushed aside or ignored entirely. This confirmation process and the rigor it would entail would provide Biden with a fair opportunity to pivot away from the unpopular path of appeasement and concessions which he, Obama, Blinken, and Malley have blazed in favor of a sturdier strategy of sanctions and military containment that could obtain political buy-in from both parties.

American policy toward Iran would benefit greatly from a steady, long-term approach that might gain the backing of a significant number of members from both parties, and which might endure beyond 2023. Having served in both Congress and the State Department, I am certain that transparency and predictability will not be forthcoming from the executive branch. But for too long, Congress has relegated its responsibilities to the executive branch when it can’t make up its mind or develop a compromise. Real leadership is needed to reach across the aisle and fashion a policy that can stand the test of time.

Ideally, Democrats and Republicans should work together to develop a hard-nosed strategy to contain Iran’s radical ambitions of nuclear extortion, hostage-taking, and regional aggression. Then both parties could equally share the responsibility for dealing with the regime’s destructive agenda—sharing the blame when things get hard, and reaping the credit when prospects improve.

If that all seems a little fanciful, I can at least report that a new Iran policy is coming soon—and neither the Biden administration nor the Iranian regime will be happy with it.

Jordan ‘salutes’ Palestinian rioters on Temple Mt., summons Israeli envoy for rebuke

Jordan’s prime minister on Monday lashed out at Israel over the ongoing clashes at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshipers.

Addressing a session of the Jordanian parliament, Bisher al-Khasawneh hailed Palestinian rioters and used notably hostile language to condemn “Zionists” and what he called Israel’s “occupation government.”

“I salute every Palestinian and member of the Jordanian Waqf [the Muslim organization that oversees the holy site] who stands proud as a lighthouse and hurls floods of stones at all the Zionists who defile Al-Aqsa with the protection of the Israeli occupation government,” said Khasawneh.

Earlier on Sunday, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli envoy in the kingdom to reprimand him over the entrance of over Israeli security forces into the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday in order to allow Jewish visitors to visit the site.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi’s office said he would present deputy ambassador Sami Abu Janeb with a letter demanding that Israel stop all “violations” at the mosque immediately.

Safadi intends to convene a meeting in the coming days attended by representatives of Arab League members Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, and Algeria for an emergency discussion regarding the situation in Jerusalem and Israel’s “aggression.” Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh addresses parliament in Amman on April 18, 2022 (Channel 12 screenshot)

Following the summoning of Abu Janeb, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday held a situational assessment at his office with diplomatic officials on possible actions to take in response, which were said to include “severe measures,” according to the Ynet news site.

Israeli political sources quoted in the report said that Safadi’s conduct only further raises tensions in Jerusalem, claiming it was “life-threatening.”

Yisrael Medad: A Perfidious Jordanian

We read that Jordan's King stresses need for Israel to cease provocative measures in Al Aqsa Mosque, calling for the respecting of the historical, legal status quo in Jerusalem

And he "reiterated that protecting Jerusalem and its holy sites will remain a priority for Jordan, directing the government to dedicate all capacities to safeguard these sites, as well as the historical and legal status quo in the holy city and its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity."

So, what have we?

A. An accusation that it is Israel that engages in provocative behavior. ot the Jordanian-funded Waqf, not the Isalmic clerics, the Palestinian Authority inciting violent behavior, the youngsters and some others throwing rocks, shooting off fireworks.

B. A complete ignoring a Jerusalem's Jewish identity.

C. A refusal to fulfill the country's obligations to Article 9 of the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty, that
Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance [and] The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

A reminder @KingAbdullahII, when Jordan illegally occupied eastern #Jerusalem, incl. Old City, between 1948-67, you banned access for Jews to all our Holy Sites. First thing #Israel did in 1967 after liberating the City, is make it free and open to all. https://t.co/lr0Ih78dNr
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 17, 2022

Passover, Easter, Ramadan, Riots. . . . . . and a flock of Liberals who sound exactly like a bunch of Khomeinists.

So, there you have it. If you are a Liberal in Canada you have been sternly admonished to understand that what happened at Al-Aqsa on Friday wasn’t about a bunch of stone-throwing yobs incited by an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was already hoary and thoroughly discredited in the time of their grandpappies. It wasn’t about a bunch of vandals setting off fireworks in one of Islam’s holiest precincts preventing Muslims from worshipping in their accustomed ways on one of the holiest days of the year. It ws about those mean Israelis, doing what Israelis do, again and again, which is trample on the dignity of innocent Muslims during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

All this rather neatly illustrates the case I was making this week in my National Post column, which is that the thing about antisemitism that distinguishes the pathology from other forms of racism is that it is itself a conspiracy theory, from top to bottom, from beginning to end. It rests entirely on conspiracy theories, from Jews poisoning the wells of the Gentiles in the Middle Ages to Jews in the 21st century still plotting to commandeer or destroy the Haram esh-Sharif, that place on the hilltop in Jerusalem where the horselike being Buraq brought Mohammed, peace be upon him, from Mecca, and then took him to the heavens, where he met Moses and Abraham and Jesus and the other prophets, back in the 7th century.

“What starts with the Jews never ends with Jews,” the saying goes, the point being that sooner or later, the lash that flays the Jews will sooner or later be put to our own backs. It’s a true thing, but a point I prefer to avoid making. Antisemitism would be a desecration, a sacrilege, even if it began and ended with the Jews. A point I’d rather make is that at whatever committee decision assigned the work of confronting the sociopathology that nurtures fascism to the Jews, I must have missed the meeting. It’s a burden all civilized people must carry.

But what starts in Israel, similarly, doesn’t end in Israel. Last May, convulsions of violence erupted after Hamas told Israel to vacate its security forces from the Temple Mount Complex. The Israelis refused, Hamas began a barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel responded with airstrikes, and hundreds of people, mostly in Gaza, ended up dead.

In Canada, the Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith recorded 267 antisemitic incidents across the country including 61 violent acts - the worst violence ever reported for a single month since B’nai Brith first started tracking antisemitic incidents in 1982.

“One alarming finding that has not been sufficiently publicized is the degree of antisemitism present at anti-Israel rallies,” B’nai Brith reported. “In almost every city where such rallies took place, Jews were singled out and targeted for abuse by angry mobs of demonstrators.”

That’s something all those Liberals might want to keep in mind the next time some bloodcurdling antisemitic hoax threatens to set the Holy Land on fire again.

Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan Nahoum BBC interview In light of the events on the temple mount I gave an interview to the BBC just before the beginning of passover to combat any and all Misinformation

Where is your outrage for all those who incited violence by lying and saying Al-Aqsa was under attack?

Where is your outrage for the mob that desecrated the compound to gather rocks?

Where is your outrage for those who used the pretense of a holy day to start a riot? https://t.co/0SoUy9OG0C
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) April 18, 2022

"We don't like lazy journalism. We prefer… flagrantly dishonest journalism." pic.twitter.com/pnhm3CseDe
— Gilead Ini (@GileadIni) April 18, 2022

Ra’am chief warns party’s temporary pause from coalition could become a walkout

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas warned Monday that his party’s temporary freeze of participation in the government or the Knesset could become permanent if there is no change for the better in Israel’s policy regarding the Temple Mount, the scene of recent violent clashes between Muslim worshipers and Israeli police.

Abbas told the Kan public broadcasters that Ra’am, an Arab Israeli Islamist party, could pull its four seats from the government over the matter. However, he added that Ra’am would end its protest should the government change its approach.

“If the reality changes and the policies change, this freeze will also change,” he said.

Ra’am announced its freeze on Sunday amid mounting pressure on the party over the Temple Mount unrest.

The decision is largely declarative at this stage, because parliament is in recess, though opposition sources said they saw it as a further opportunity to weaken the coalition, encourage defections, and bring down the government.

According to sources quoted in Hebrew media Sunday, the measure — which will last for two weeks and is coordinated with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid — is aimed at easing the pressure on the party, as well as prevent a permanent break with the government.

The sources said that since the tensions surrounding the Temple Mount have risen as the Knesset is in the midst of spring recess, Ra’am officials are hoping that by the time parliament reconvenes on May 9, the situation will calm down.

"Report: Putin Puts Personal Pressure on Bennett to Hand Jerusalem Church to Russia"

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urging him to hand over Alexander’s Court in the Old City of Jerusalem, Ynet reported Monday. The unusual move indicates the importance that Russia attaches to the site. In early March, Jerusalem District Court Judge Mordechai Kaduri revoked the land registration of the Alexander Church Courtyard in the name of the Russian government, which raised concern in Jerusalem of a further deterioration in relations with Moscow, and a diplomatic crisis.

Russia has shown only a few years ago the lengths to which it is willing to go to acquire Alexander’s Court, which includes the Alexander Nevsky Church and several other buildings purchased in 1859 by Czar Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland.

In April 2019, Russian authorities arrested Israeli-American Naama Issachar, a transit passenger flying from India to Israel, for drug smuggling after some 10 grams of hashish were found in her bag during a stopover in Moscow. On October 11, 2019, a Russian court sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison on drug possession and smuggling charges. In December 2019, the Israeli Justice Ministry transferred Alexander Court to Russia’s proxy, the Imperial Pravoslav Palestine Society, and on January 29, 2020, President Putin signed Issachar’s pardon. Her attorney noted that no convicted foreigner had ever been pardoned by a Russian President before.

The dispute over who owned Alexander’s Court began after the Russian Revolution of 1917, with two organizations bearing nearly identical names claiming ownership of the complex. The first is the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, founded in 1882 by Vasily Khitrovo with the approval of Alexander III. It actually runs the complex. The competing organization is the Imperial Pravoslav Palestine Society, which is closely associated with the current czar in the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin.

In call with PA’s Abbas, Putin said to criticize Israeli policies at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call Monday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss tensions in Jerusalem and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

According to the report, Putin updated Abbas on “Russia’s special military operation to defend the Donbas region” in eastern Ukraine. The phone call reportedly took place at the Palestinian leader’s behest.

With the war in Ukraine driving up food prices globally, Putin also assured Abbas during the phone call that Moscow will provide the Palestinians with “Russian wheat, materials, and crops.”

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa said that Putin “stressed Russia’s firm position in support of the rights of the Palestinian people, and that Russia will continue to accord its political support to the Palestinian cause in all international forums, and what is happening in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Wafa also reported that the Russian leader rejected “the Israeli practices that prevent worshipers from freely accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” adding that Israel must “respect the existing historical status quo” at the holy site.

Russia has long been a champion of the Palestinian cause, with PA hoping Moscow will play a more central role in mediating between it and Israel.

Islamic State supporter indicted for murder of three Jerusalem residents

An Islamic State supporter was indicted Monday for the murders of three Jerusalem residents and the attempted murders of two others, over the past three years.

Police last week said they believed Wasim a-Sayed was responsible for the 2019 double homicide of an elderly couple in Jerusalem, as well as the killing of a Moldovan foreign worker last month.

According to the indictment submitted to the Jerusalem District Court, a-Sayed, 34, a Palestinian from the city of Hebron in the West Bank, joined the Salafia Jihadia jihadist group in 2011 and swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.

After his release from a Palestinian prison in January 2019, he decided to carry out attacks against Jews in Jerusalem, the indictment read.

The indictment accuses him of the murder of Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri in their Jerusalem apartment in January 2019, a crime police had struggled for years to crack.

The investigation also found that a-Sayed was responsible for the attempted murder of teenager Hadar Betzalel days before murdering the Kaduri couple, with the attack on Bezalel marking his first attempted killing.

Father of Teen Who Stabbed Man in Haifa Tells Police She ‘Wanted to Hurt Jews’

A 15-year-old Arab Israeli teenager who attacked a Haifa man on Friday, wounding him moderately, wanted to “hurt Jews,” her father told the police.

The victim, 47, said on Saturday that he had left his house to purchase something and was walking through a city park, enjoying the pleasant spring weather, when he sustained a sudden blow to the head.

“I didn’t understand what it was, then I saw it was a big rock. I turned around and saw a girl standing there, with a keffiyeh wrapped around her face, holding a knife,” the man said.

“She came up to me and I fell on my back. She shouted something in Arabic, and I recognized the word ‘Palestine.’ While I was still on the ground, I started to fight her off by kicking, which is why I have a wound on my leg. I started to cry for help. Two Arab guys arrived and talked to her, and tried to stop her,” he said.

“She kept shouting at me in Arabic, and approached me, holding the knife. Then the police arrived, and so did her father. He cried and shouted at her. Then an ambulance came and took me to the hospital. I was afraid she would kill me, and now I’m afraid to leave the house,” he added.

Rambam Medical Center in Haifa reported that the man arrived at the emergency room conscious and in stable condition, suffering from stab wounds.

Temple Mount: Hamas is leading 'incitement campaign' against Israel - Bennett

Clashes broke out on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif on Monday morning for the third day in a week, as Jewish visitors visited the site and worshippers gathered for the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall.

Photos from the Temple Mount showed rocks piled up on the path taken by Jewish visitors to the site in an attempt to block the visitors.

Rubber bullets were reportedly fired by Israeli forces as they pushed Arab visitors into the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa, breaking some of the windows of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

As one of the groups of Jewish visitors walked in the site, Arab women standing near the Dome of the Rock began shouting "Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud" (a chant referencing the battle between Mohammed and a Jewish community in Khaybar in 628 CE), according to video shared on social media. The Jewish visitors responded by shouting "The people of Israel live," "Amalek," "Nakba," and "Abu Khdeir" (an apparent reference to the kidnapping and murder of an Arab by Israeli Jews in 2014).

Israel Police chief Yaakov "Kobi" Shabtai conducted a situation assessment in Jerusalem on Monday after the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall, saying: "The many arrests made in the last days of the riots, prove that the Israel Police are not afraid to act resolutely and forcefully against anyone who tries to harm security and incite violence."

"These days we are investing operational forces of the Israel Police in the Jerusalem district, and we are still continuing to maintain a force in the other police districts as well," added Shabtai. "There are quite a few events and attempts to ignite the field and not just in Jerusalem."

Orwellian Gobbledygook: Associated Press and Others Obscure Palestinian Incitement That Encourages Mob Violence

Gaza’s terrorist rulers Hamas issued a call to Palestinians on Wednesday that they should come out in the “hundreds of thousands to protect our nation and our mosque,” adding that there are “Zionist threats to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday and conduct sacrifices.”

Hamas’ deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri also encouraged Palestinians to take to the streets in the West Bank town of Silwad, where Israel arrested four men accused of belonging to a terror cell and planning attacks in coming days, saying: “We call on all our nation to mobilize and support Silwad and all areas of conflict.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s leading faction Fatah joined this clarion call on Thursday, telling the Palestinian public to “confront IDF forces and settlers throughout the West Bank.”

Yet nary a word of these incitements to violence, which are all too frequent from Palestinian leaders, found their way into most mainstream media outlets’ reportage of the mob violence that erupted during Israeli terror raids in the West Bank over the past week.

The Associated Press even quoted PA president Mahmoud Abbas as blaming Israel for the growing unrest that has erupted in the West Bank – as Israel conducted raids following the spate of deadly terror attacks carried out by Palestinians:
The Israeli raids have faced violent protests by Palestinians, some of them armed or throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at forces, according to the military. They have sparked a warning by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who accused Israel of destabilizing the West Bank, saying the situation ‘has become dangerous and sensitive and is rapidly deteriorating.’”

The AP article continues:
While Israel has sought to lower the flames by moving ahead with a plan to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported leaders are expected to decide whether to restrict movement for Palestinians out of the West Bank during the weeklong Passover festival, as it has done in previous years.

That would prevent thousands of worshippers from reaching a key Jerusalem mosque, a frequent flashpoint for violence, during Ramadan.”

As HonestReporting has previously detailed at length, the reason why the Al-Aqsa mosque has become a powder keg is never explained.

Speaking of ‘monuments and sites’, this is how the Palestinians treat Holy Jewish sites, like Joseph’s Tomb! I must have missed the condemnation and outrage, @UNESCO? https://t.co/W1WUv7q2lS pic.twitter.com/BJccDkdOYI
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 18, 2022

The Suq al-Qattanin is a shopping area nowhere near the mosque. pic.twitter.com/MVMPtcmElY
— Avi Kaner ??????? ??? (@AviKaner) April 18, 2022

2 Palestinians shot in West Bank clashes with IDF; army says they attacked troops

Two Palestinians were shot and seriously wounded during clashes with Israeli troops in the northern West Bank on Monday morning, Palestinian health officials said.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told The Times of Israel that the two men attempted to hurl explosive devices at troops who were conducting arrests in the town of Yamoun.

“Dozens of Palestinians gathered in the area, hurled stones and threw explosives at the forces. The troops fired at suspects who tried to hurl explosives at them. Hits were identified,” the spokesperson said.

Footage posted to social media purported to show the two men sprawled on the ground, as Israeli soldiers were seen in the background.

According to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, the two men were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Jenin.

No Israeli troops were hurt in the operation, the military spokesperson said.

PMW: Imam on PA TV: Jews on Temple Mount defile the Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Palestinian Authority is continuing its policy of fanning the flames of religious hatred and Islam-inspired terror.

For years, the PA political and religious leadership have told their people to prevent Jewish presence on Judaism’s holiest site - the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the Temple Mount precisely because it was the holy site for the Jewish people. Now that the mosque is there, the PA’s Islamic teaching is that Jewish presence on Judaism’s holy site defiles the nearby mosque.

The following is the most recent PA-Islam based hate incitement by the PA:
Official PA TV prayer for Ramadan by unnamed Imam: “Allah, grant victory to the Jihad fighters in this land and the rest of the Muslim lands. Allah, strengthen them and grant them your support, O Mighty One… And take revenge on those who desire to harm Islam and the Muslims… Allah, have mercy on our Martyrs, heal our wounded, and release our prisoners, Allah liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the evil Jews.”

[Official PA TV, April 8, 2022]

The call of the Imam is blatantly antisemitic since, as Palestinian Media Watch recently noted, even when Jews do go on to the Temple Mount, they do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Nonetheless, in order to inflame hatred and deny Jews the right to visit Judaism’s holiest site, the Palestinian Authority has redefined the entire Temple Mount complex, dubbing it all “the Al-Aqsa Mosque”. Having done so, the PA then promotes the vile allegation that Jews visiting the Temple Mount “invade” and “defile” the site.

Significantly, these are not the crazed ravings of one isolated imam, but rather they are reflective of the views of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who declared that “the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours (i.e. Palestinian)” and that the Jews “have no right to defile [the holy sites] with their filthy feet”:

Fatah gloats it killed most Israelis; Terrorist who murdered 3 “terrified Tel Aviv”

Fatah leader: Tel Aviv murderer was “true thunder, a legend, and a man worth 1,000 men”

PA employs released terrorists to justify rewards

Libel: “Stolen” culture – Israel steals 4,000-year-old Palestinian heritage to present it as Jewish

PA TV host: “The enemy’s mini state” will “leave… victory is coming”

PA TV glorifies mother of 6 terrorists who murdered at least 10 as mother of the Palestinian people

“I’ll set the world on fire with gunpowder” – song on PA TV on release of terrorist prisoner

ISIS Calls on Supporters in Israel to Launch New Terror Attacks

The Islamic State (IS) group on Sunday urged its supporters in Israel to launch new terrorist attacks.

The jihadist organization’s spokesman called for a “global offensive” in retaliation for the death of its leader killed during a US special forces operation in Syria last February.

Since March 22, Israel has been hit by four attacks, the first two carried out by Israeli Arabs linked to the Islamic State, and in which the three terrorists were killed during the attacks.

“We announce, relying on God, a blessed campaign to take revenge” for the death of the leader of the IS, Abu Omar al-Muhajir said in an audio statement broadcast Sunday on Telegram attributed to the group.

He hailed “those who fought and were killed for Allah and religion,” denouncing the “secular terrorists” of Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who fight for land and homeland.

Al-Muhajir also called on all Muslims in the Arab world to oppose all leaders who have relations with Israel, arguing that Jerusalem can only “be liberated from the Jews by the return of the caliphate.”

“Modern Muslim politicians trying to liberate Jerusalem are nothing more than puppets in the hands of Israel and the West,” he said.

Hi @ICRC, just curious about your thoughts on members of @PalestineRCS or at least those embedded with the Palestinian medics in #Jerusalem, holding axes ??? Last I checked, this was a flagrant violation of int'l law. cc. @ICRC_ilot pic.twitter.com/V4Q6McKdqs
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 17, 2022

Gaza Islamic Scholar Abd Al-Hamid Dabbous: The Goal of Jihad Is to Make People Convert to Islam; People Who Convert by Force Later Regret Not Converting on Their Own Free Will; People Who Refuse to Convert Can Pay the Jizya Poll Tax Instead #Palestinians #jihadists #Islam pic.twitter.com/RcfiqTkikm
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 18, 2022

Raisi Says Iran Will Target Heart of Israel if It Acts Against Iranian Nation

Iran’s armed forces will target Israel’s heart if it makes “the slightest move” against the Islamic Republic, President Ebrahim Raisi told a military parade on Monday, amid stalled talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact.

Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, says it will not be bound by any Iran nuclear deal and could eventually take unilateral action against Iranian nuclear sites.

“The Zionist regime (Israel), you should know that … if you take the slightest move against our nation, our armed forces will target the heart of the Zionist regime” Raisi said in a televised speech at a military parade to mark the national Army Day.

Troops marched in front of the podium where Raisi stood with army officers. Helicopters flew overhead and parachutists dropped down over the parade area near the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state.

The United States and Iran have been engaged in indirect talks for more than a year to rescue the pact. Washington left it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

But the talks were suspended last month over the unresolved issue of whether the United States might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the US Foreign Terrorist Organization list, as demanded by Tehran.

Video: Russia's Ambassador to Tehran tells journalist how Russia and China helped Iran in nuclear negotiations. pic.twitter.com/YtrISFhjy0
— POLARIS (@polarisnatsec) April 17, 2022

Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi: Iranian Missile Attack on Erbil Was Retaliation for Israeli Strike in Kermanshah; We Support Iraq’s Sovereignty but If the U.S. and Israel Carry Out Attacks against Us from Iraqi Soil – What Are We Expected to Do? #Iran #Iraq #Kurdistan pic.twitter.com/If40PS8nlN
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 18, 2022