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Tuesday, January 04, 2022

01/04 Links Pt1: Eli Lake: What Biden Can Learn From Trump’s Iran Policy; Jordanian Former Minister: The Narrative About The 'Zionist Enemy' Is Defunct

From Ian:

Eli Lake: What Biden Can Learn From Trump’s Iran Policy
Faced with these escalations, the Biden administration has tried to walk a tightrope on Iran. On the one hand, it has continued to hold out hope for diplomacy even though Iran’s diplomats in Vienna will no longer meet with the U.S. envoy. The U.S. has also relaxed enforcement of some sanctions, leading to an increase in Iranian oil exports, but has not unilaterally lifted them. And early in his administration, Biden ordered a missile strike on Iranian-backed militia bases in response to an attack.

Most troubling, however, is that the U.S. has let it be known that it does not approve of Israeli intelligence operations against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Some administration officials doubt the efficacy of Israel’s sabotage and assassinations inside Iran, according to the New York Times, fearing that they provide an incentive for Iran to build back its nuclear program better.

This is the wrong message. Not only does it risk alienating America’s most important ally against Iran, as former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer noted at a web conference this month. It also risks more provocations from Iran: If the regime’s leaders believe they face only economic consequences for their predations, then they will continue to test America’s resolve.

That’s why Biden, like the Iranian regime, should also mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. He should make clear that the U.S. is willing to use force against a regime that remains undeterred by sanctions alone.


PMW: Abbas and PA: “The colonialist world powers used the Jews” to create and “implement colonialist plots in the region”
Mahmoud Abbas: “the colonialist world powers used the Jews in order to execute the great colonialist plan – dismantling the Ottoman Empire and afterwards dismantling the Arab nation”

Mahmoud Abbas: Israel’s creation was not “efforts of the Jews themselves, but rather colonialist-theological plans and visions”

PA TV: Jewish immigration to Palestine was “a colonialist Zionist plan” … [the Jews] will return to where they came from”

PA daily: The US and GB created “the Zionist organization in their laboratories” and established “an entity that they termed ‘Israel’”

PA: US and GB created Israel to “implement colonialist plots in the region”

Fatah on its anniversary: “We were and still are the obstacle to completing the colonialist project of Palestine”

Fatah defines murder of Israelis: “A quality and unprecedented national struggle”
Palestinians: We Are Proud of Terrorists
Last year, Abbas paid the family of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Jews 30,000 Jordanian dinars ($42,000).

By rewarding the family of al-Halabi and other terrorists who carried out attacks or murdered Jews, Abbas is also stating that he, too, is proud of those who engage in terrorism.

Some Palestinian parents, however, are proud to see their children carry out terrorist attacks or murder Jews. For these parents, it is more "honorable" if their son or daughter murders a Jew than becomes a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

Abbas and his senior officials have repeatedly made it clear that they will continue to pay monthly stipends to families of Palestinian terrorists.

This is the same Abbas who recently has been telling the Biden administration that he wants to revive the stalled peace process with Israel.

This is also the same Abbas whose government continues to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to families of terrorists and the same Abbas whose media continues to glorify terrorists by describing them as "heroes" and "martyrs" of the Palestinians.

The next time a US official arrives in Ramallah to meet with Abbas or any of his senior aides, he or she should ask them about the wild incitement against Israel and Jews, especially in the Palestinian media. They need to ask the Palestinian leaders why the PA educates its youth to admire terrorist murderers and deny Jewish history. It does not matter what the Palestinian leaders say in response; they need to be told that the indoctrination and violence will not improve the living conditions or boost the economy of the Palestinians.

The top priority of the US officials should be to stop the latest wave of terrorism against Jews in the West Bank and Jerusalem. This can be achieved only if the Americans put pressure on the Palestinian leadership to stop the incitement and glorification of terrorists.

Mahmoud Abbas and his PA officials Palestinian say (in public, at least) that they want a better future for their people. Their actions and rhetoric, however, suggest otherwise. They pay salaries to families of terrorists and glorify murderers, thus encouraging more Palestinians to become terrorists. A Palestinian leader who wants to see children grow up to become doctors and engineers does not glorify terrorists and encourage young men and women to go on television and talk about their desire to murder Jews.


Gatestone's Man of the Year - 2021
His Highness Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

The Abraham Accords would not have been possible without Mohammed bin Zayed's pioneering efforts and willingness to embrace the trailblazing proposals.

His major confidant is his brother, H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser. He stands out both for the breadth of his role and his ability to remain under the radar, as a pragmatic, probing and analytical man. He is described as "The Man of Difficult Missions."

The leadership of Mohamed bin Zayed has been demonstrated in a broad range of areas. He is helping to transform the UAE into a beacon of hope and change in the Middle East. We wish him, his brilliant close advisors, and the UAE future success in their many visionary and pace-setting initiatives.
MEMRI: Jordanian Former Minister: The Narrative About The 'Zionist Enemy' Is Defunct; Israel Has Become Part Of The Middle East, And Must Now Recognize A Palestinian State
In an article in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Jordanian journalist and former culture and information minister Saleh Al-Qallab wrote that the Arab states' perception of Israel recently underwent a historic shift. Weary of the decades-long conflict with this country, most of the Arab states no longer regard Israel as the "Zionist enemy" but as an integral part of the region. Al-Qallab urged Israel to take advantage of this turnaround and act towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, thereby providing its own people with stability and security. He also advocated forming a regional peace camp that will defend the changes that have take place against the extremists who seek to sabotage them, chief of them Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Iran and the militias loyal to it.

The following are translated excerpts from Al-Qallab's article:[1]

"Israel has apparently started to realize that the one who benefits from the weakening of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is Hamas and the other miniscule, wretched terrorist movements that have nothing but a name and are supported by Iran, Syria and some say also by the Iraqi militias. Having become part of the Middle East, with a significant diplomatic and political presence in several Arab countries, Israel must stop harming [the PA] and weakening the Palestinian leadership headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen), who was and remains more willing to conduct historic negotiations with Israel that any other Palestinian leader, past or future, including president Yasser 'Arafat (Abu 'Amar).

"Israeli leaders, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu and his group of extremists, who wave the slogan of '[Israel] from the river to the sea and far beyond [the river],' opposed every solution to the Palestinian problem, including [the solutions] proposed by international elements, and held on to Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. This continued until it became clear that the main ones who profit [from it] are Hamas and the other extremists organizations, whose role has been to put up barriers and create unrest, as well as some rejectionist Arab countries, some of which used and continue to use the Palestinian political refusal as an excuse to oppose the forces favoring peace, both Palestinian and Israeli. The Israeli extremists already [managed to] eliminate the symbols of the peace process, namely [the late Palestinian] president Yasser 'Arafat and [the late Israeli prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin. [Rabin] was assassinated first, and Arafat followed…

"[When] the Israeli pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen) came to a head, Hamas thought it could 'take the camel with all its load,' as the saying goes. The MB-affiliated [Hamas], which still seeks to eliminate Fatah and the PLO, began preparing to supplant Fatah, the Palestinian National [Authority] and everything else. But the international [community] and America intervened, trying to convince the Israelis that their conduct bordered on political and historic foolishness, and that if they stuck to their policy and positions, aimed at 'thawing' [the relations] with the Palestinian resistance movement [Hamas], this would place them face to face with the most extremist among all the Palestinian elements and rejectionist organizations.

"This convinced Binyamin Netanyahu and the extremist right-wing Israelis that they must take advantage of this historic moment, turn their backs on Hamas, and treat it and other organizations like it as terrorist organizations. [They understood] that they must take advantage of the Palestinian situation, which was now ready for a historic change [of its position] on this conflict that has destabilized the Middle East throughout these long years.
US, UK, Israel should help form an Arab NATO - opinion
Washington and Whitehall would be wise to re-evaluate the global role they play, as well as how the instability of this region is directly connected to earlier US and British policies. Despite the continuous efforts of the US and Great Britain to appease political Islam movements, neither nation will remain safe from violence that does not honor the principles or values of true Islam. Make no mistake, these movements despise the values of democracy and freedom that many Arabs – I am first among them – believe in, learn from and must defend on a daily basis.

Arabs have soundly rejected these organizations, and we have rejected the US gamble that these movements and their affiliated armed militias can ever serve as an alternative ally against existing authoritarian regimes. This was incontrovertibly proven by the second revolution Tunisians launched with their president, Kais Saied, against the Muslim Brotherhood government of Rached Ghannouchi, who tried to deceive the world that his party was a civil and non-ideological entity. The opposite is true. The Brotherhood used Islam to declare a caliphate after it strengthened its foundations and seized the state. We thank God that the Brotherhood failed to take control of Tunisia, as it had failed before in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, and other states in the region.

People of the region are expecting support for real democracy from the US that will lead them to safety after decades of wars, conflicts and destruction. The US, Great Britain, and Europe hold the keys to the region’s peace and democratic nation building that will undoubtedly help ensure their own strength and security – without having to fight wars or rely on militias that only speak the language of violence and exclusion.

Perhaps the greatest support the US, Great Britain, and Europe can offer the region is reviving the idea of the creation of a Mideast collective defense alliance, first proposed in 2017. It would include the six Gulf states (the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar), Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states that wish to protect the interests of their countries, their citizens and their religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) from the dangers of radical organizations that want to return to the time of the caliphate. Only the combined forces of an Arab NATO with support from the US, Europe, and Israel can end the role of armed militias and allow the Arab world to focus on building a secure homeland for its citizens in complete peace with its neighbors. Some may argue that there are countries that do not have formal peace agreements with Israel, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; nevertheless, I urge them to cooperate militarily with Israel on security issues to protect their country from the dangers and true threat of armed organizations. Israel is not the real enemy, but those who spread fear, corruption, and destruction.

In conclusion, since the US and Great Britain helped militias flourish in the MENA region, it only seems fair that they help establish an Arab NATO with Western and Israeli support that is capable of defeating them.
MEMRI: From The Khartoum Resolution To The Abraham Accords: Sudan's Pragmatic Peace With Israel
Policy Recommendation
In this study, I ran a purposive analysis of texts obtained from MEMRI's rich digital archive to examine how pragmatic peace with Israel is demonstrated in the statements made by Sudanese state leaders and government officials, political figures and analysts, and journalists, writers and activists.

I found that pragmatic peace is demonstrated as useful, workable, and practical. The Sudanese in the sample are "talking about debt relief, about removing Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism, about the return of investments into Sudan, about technological aid, about opening the gates of the international banks for cooperation with Sudan in order to revive the Sudanese economy and to help [them] take care of [their] problems."[30]

Sudan has come a long way, from the ashes of the Khartoum Resolution to the promises of the Abraham Accords. The Sudanese in the sample think this evolutionary journey "will create new military and economic alliances that will confront the regional challenges of the sectarian Iranian expansion, as well as the spread of Islamic extremism," and they explain that "Sudan can play a key [strategic] role in this new alliance... [with]... Israel, against the security challenge of terrorism and extremism, as well as the sectarian Iranian expansion."[31]

While the possibilities for international peace and regional reconciliation are still tantalizing, a cloud now hangs on the horizon since the October 25, 2021, military coup that gave General Al-Burhan greater power over Sudan's transition to democracy scheduled for 2023. Support or opposition to the military and its November 2021 pact with a seemingly weakened Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok led to fierce opposition by important elements of Sudan's civil society and popular movements. This opposition to military hegemony and skepticism about the generals' agenda have complicated the vision of Sudan's possible future relations with Israel. Some will indeed still see a Sudanese opening towards Israel as commonsense, but others will see it as a cynical ploy by the Sudanese military to curry favor with the international community at the expense of domestic public opinion. In a sense, peace with Israel has been subsumed into the larger, unresolved and murky issue of Sudan's own progress towards democracy and the question of the role of the military – of Sudan's own peace with itself.

However, evidence obtained in this analysis supports the argument that Sudan, in many ways, has learned from the lessons of the past, as far as international relations go. Today, many Sudanese understand that by "boycotting Israel" they "have reaped nothing but ruin, destruction, and the slowing down and even collapse of [their] country."[32] Therefore, it is now the historic responsibility of Israel, the international community (specifically, the United States of America), and regional powers to not squander this opening with Sudan, but at the same time, be extremely careful of local sensitivities and a volatile internal situation.
Prof. Anne Bayefsky: Why are American taxpayers helping to pay for ‘Pillay’s Pogrom?’
At the end of December 2021, the United Nations General Assembly decided to bankroll a full-fledged Star Chamber directed at Israel and its supporters. Chaired by former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the short title is “Pillay’s Pogrom.” The U.S. will now pick up 22% of the tab — because that’s how the Biden administration does business.

Every one of the three members of the so-called “independent commission of inquiry” has a demonstrable record of anti-Israel animus and bias. From that starting point, Pillay’s Pogrom has four goalposts.

First, label Israel — and its supporters from around the world — guilty of apartheid or aiding and abetting this crime against humanity. Notwithstanding that Arabs are part of the country’s governing coalition, sit on the Israeli Supreme Court, serve as Israeli Ambassadors, and have more rights and freedoms than Arabs in any Arab state. Plus, pile on guilty verdicts on a bunch of other phony charges.

Second, as criminal actors, Israelis and supporters need to be hunted down, prosecuted and imprisoned. The International Criminal Court awaits.

Third, the country’s economy needs to be demolished through boycotts, divestments, and sanctions, akin to apartheid South Africa.

Fourth, a full-fledged arms embargo needs to be mounted to ensure Israeli self-defense is not an option.

The first formal report of this inquisition is due out in June 2022. Two reports have been commissioned per year — forever.

Faced with this recipe for emasculating the Jewish state – quintessential modern antisemitism – the U.S. voted against funding it. So how are U.S. taxpayers on the hook?


Does Switzerland ignore Israeli law in Judea and Samaria?
Switzerland's Foreign Ministry may have adopted an outright policy that challenges Israeli laws concerning construction in Judea and Samaria, according to right-wing NGO Regavim.

Regavim had reached out to the agency and the Swiss Embassy in Israel for comment after it appeared that the European country had been supporting the construction of a school in the Palestinian village of Kisan even though the project allegedly lacked the necessary approval from authorities.

Regavim then got a letter from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs' Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in which it defended Swiss support for a construction project that might be lacking the necessary paperwork, citing Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. Nevertheless, the agency insisted it was acting in line with Swiss policy.

"In line with its position on the conflict, as set forth by the 2021-2024 Middle East strategy, Switzerland believes that the planning regime, as implemented by Israel in Area C, does not comply with international law. Switzerland also believes that the land regime is being applied with discrimination, which harms the chances of a two-state solution," the letter read according to Regavim.
Austrian Jewish Students Press for Legal Action Against Far-Right Leader Over Comments Comparing Holocaust With Pandemic Measures
Austria’s Jewish student union has launched legal action against the leader of the country’s main far-right party over comments he made comparing the plight of Jews under Nazi rule to proposals for government-mandated vaccines to ward off the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the Jewish Students Union of Austria (JöH) announced that it was suing Herbert Kickl — the leader of the right-wing nationalist Freedom Party (FPÖ) and a former interior minister — for his remarks at the end of December on “ZiB 2,” a popular current affairs show broadcast on the national ORF television network.

Asked whether he condemned the appropriation of Holocaust imagery and language by many vaccine refusers and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, Kickl replied that Nazi rule in Germany and Austria “did not begin with a world war or extermination camps, but rather with people being systematically excluded. It began by not letting children go to school because they were of Jewish descent, for example.” Requiring school-age children to undergo compulsory testing for the coronavirus would revive that “scapegoat policy,” Kickl said.

In a statement on Monday, the JöH urged the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office to press for Kickl’s parliamentary immunity to be lifted, in order to prosecute him for trivializing the Holocaust. “The comparison with the Nazi regime and the constant and open trivialization of the Shoah are conscious tactics that pave the way for the normalization of antisemitism and the relativization of history,” it said.

The student organization argued that Kickl had violated Austria’s 1947 Prohibition Act banning the Nazi Party and its satellite organizations. The law includes a clause sanctioning anyone “who denies, grossly belittles, approves of the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a printed work, on the radio or in another medium.”
IAF says military helicopter went down without warning, sank after crashing
The military helicopter that crashed off northern Israel’s coast on Monday night, killing two pilots, disappeared suddenly and without warning, an Israeli Air Force officer said.

The helicopter crashed off Haifa’s coast during a training flight. The aircraft’s two pilots died in the accident, and a naval officer who was also onboard survived as he was able to escape the helicopter after it went down, IAF Brig. Gen. Amir Lazar told reporters in a phone briefing in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning.

“This is a difficult and painful accident,” he said.

The pilots were recovered from the cockpit after the helicopter sank beneath the waves in a complex recovery operation carried out in darkness. First responders attempted life-saving resuscitation efforts but were unable to revive the pilots, who suffered from severe hypothermia.

The two were later named as Lt.-Col. Erez Sachyani and Major Chen Fogel. Their families were notified, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The military said it did not yet know what caused the crash, but labeled it an accident.

“We can’t yet guess what happened. The helicopters are older, but they are durable,” said Lazar, the head of the IAF’s Air Division.
Israeli helicopter crashes off coast of Haifa, two reported dead
Lt. Col. Erez Shahanei and Maj. Chen Fogel dead, another crew member hospitalized in stable condition

A helicopter crashed off the coast of Haifa, Israel, on Monday night, with two pronounced dead later at night.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit on Tuesday morning released the identities of the Israeli Air Force pilots killed in the crash — Lt. Col. Erez Shahanei and Maj. Chen Fogel.




Behind the Scenes: the Israeli Arab society with Yoseph Haddad. Episode 1: Arabs in the IDF
Yoseph Haddad joins the beret march in the Arab unit in the IDF, and gives us a rare glimpse into the lives of young people in Arab society who have chosen to volunteer for the army and fight for the State of Israel.


’Ecological Terrorist Attack’: Raw Sewage from PA Flowing into Alexander River in Israel
The Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee convened on Monday and discussed the pollution in Nahal Alexander, which is contaminated by untreated sewage running from the Palestinian Authority, “ecological terrorist attack” as one official termed it.

Nahal Alexander is a river in Israel that flows from the western side of Samaria to the Mediterranean Sea, north of Netanya. The length of the river is about 45 km.

Dr. Galit Shaul, head of the Emek Hefer Regional Council through which Nahal Alexander flows, told the Committee that “my residents are not the ones polluting Nahal Alexander, but rather raw sewage and treated wastewater coming from the Palestinian Authority. Despite prizes given in the past for cooperation by the PA with our Drainage Authority, and despite the fact that a wastewater treatment plant was built with international funding, we see animal carcasses, blood, and feathers flowing in Emek Hefer and reaching the sea.”

In 2003, Nahal Alexander was part of a cleanup project that won first prize in the Riverprize environmental rehabilitation competition in Australia after being one of the most polluted rivers in Israel.

“Beaches that have two million visitors every year are closed over and over. It’s a health risk to the residents, people visiting the stream and bathers,” she warned,

Shaul pointed out that “the issue is resolvable. In 2014 the council filed a petition to the High Court of Justice against the state, and withdrew it because the state made a promise. Now there’s a plan for a wastewater treatment plant, but there’s no budget. The Water Authority is advancing the plan, after a long period that we were working on a different plan, too expensive, that was supposed to cost NIS 400 million.”

“I want a solution to this insane hazard. For many years no one has been able to find the money,” said Shaul.


Hamas strongman Khaled Mashaal tests positive for COVID
Khaled Mashaal, the diaspora director of Hamas, has tested positive for the coronavirus after coming into contact with a confirmed carrier, according to Palestinian reports published Monday, which have been confirmed by the terrorist group.

Mashaal is currently in self-isolation with mild coronavirus symptoms, Al-Quds quoted Palestinian sources as saying. He recently traveled to Beirut to meet with the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah.

However, Mashaal did not meet with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah while in Lebanon. Nasrallah turned down a request for a meeting by Mashaal or any other member of the Hamas delegation due to friction between the Assad regime and the terrorist group. Iranian officials reportedly sent a message to Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh to cancel his visit to Lebanon altogether.


Two Years After Soleimani Drone Strike, Media Still Obscuring Iranian Terror Leader’s Legacy
‘Hajj Qassem’s’ Wicked Legacy
Between January 1 and 4, news outlets including The Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and others, published 55 pieces that mentioned the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Out of those, 24 completely omitted the fact that the Iranian commanded the Quds Force. Others described the organization as “the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” thus failing to encapsulate its true nature.

Moreover, some journalists solely referred to Soleimani as an “Iranian general” or a “powerful military commander.”

Only one report, published on January 4 by Britain’s Daily Mail, accurately conveyed Soleimani’s actions:
Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the shadowy operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, with links to jihadists in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Yemen.”

Indeed, the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have designated the Quds Force as a terrorist group and sanctioned its commanders.

Under Soleimani’s leadership, Iranian proxies played a central role in virtually every conflict in the Middle East. For example, the Quds Force ordered Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which Tehran sponsors to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually, to perpetrate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. In Syria, the Quds Force has built a significant military presence in support of the murderous Assad regime that also poses a direct threat to the Jewish state. According to Israeli estimates, Iran deployed 3,000 Quds Force fighters to Syria, while simultaneously supporting Hezbollah and other Shiite militias there.

In Iraq, the Quds Force coordinated attacks, including rocket launches and bombings targeting US troops, through proxies like Kataeb Hezbollah. The Houthis in Yemen also receive military support from the Islamic Republic, which maintains Quds Force members on the ground.

The Quds Force has furthermore been implicated in terrorist attacks worldwide. Many believe that Soleimani was the mastermind behind the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The attack, executed by Hezbollah operatives, killed 85 people and injured hundreds. According to reports, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the bombing.


Nasrallah rails against US, Saudi Arabia and Israel on Soleimani anniversary
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah railed against the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel during a speech on Monday evening, marking the second anniversary of the US assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

On January 3, 2020, Soleimani and al-Muhandis were killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.

“The assassination incident established a new stage of awareness, insight and conflict,” Nasrallah said, adding that the people who ordered and carried out the assassination “will receive their reward in this world before the hereafter.”

Nasrallah blamed the US for creating ISIS and claimed America looted and tyrannized Iraq, adding that Iran “was the first to stand by the Iraqi people in the face of ISIS.”

“The martyr Qassem Soleimani resisted the American occupation and contributed to the establishment of the Iraqi resistance factions and provided them with money, weapons, strength, vigor, hope, confidence and enthusiasm until the great victory and the expulsion of the American forces from Iraq,” he said. “Is there a sane equation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which supported and protected Iraq?”

“Tolerating or obscuring the presence of US forces in Iraq is a new killing of the martyrs Soleimani and al-Muhandis,” Nasrallah said, expressing outrage at the intention of the US military to leave advisers in the country after it withdrew combat forces.


Lapid feuds on Twitter with Iran FM who said Israel ‘has no place in world’s future’
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid clashed on Twitter with his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday, after Tehran’s top diplomat threatened that “Zionism has no place in the future of the world.”

The exchange came amid talks between world powers and Iran on restoring the 2015 accord curbing Tehran’s nuclear program.

The trigger was an interview aired Friday to mark 10 years since Lapid entered politics. When asked by Channel 12 news if Israel has the ability to strike uranium enrichment facilities or weapons sites in Iran, he said: “Israel has capabilities, some of which the world, and even some experts in the field, cannot even imagine. And Israel will protect itself against the Iranian threat.”

Lapid also indicated Israel could attack Iran if necessary without informing US President Joe Biden’s administration, which is looking to rejoin the nuclear deal. Israel vocally opposed the accord, which is formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted that “the disturbing remarks of the foreign minister of the fake Israeli regime against the great nation of Iran” were a pipe dream.







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