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Abbas’ Advisor Prays for America to Be Punished, While Abbas Begs US for More Money
The United States continues to be the most important international force advocating for Gaza to be handed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after Hamas is defeated. Despite this, the PA continues to demonize the US as if it were its worst enemy — yet at the same time, begs the US for money.
In a recent tirade against the US, the most important religious figure in the PA, Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs, defined America as the most evil force in the world, endangering all of humanity:
“[America] Satan of the period, the devil of the period, Antichrist of the generation, the plague of the generation.”
[Official PA TV Live, Feb. 9, 2024]
The PA religious leader further accused the United States of going to war against Islam by trying to impose Western liberal values, including acceptance of homosexuals, on the Palestinian Authority:
America, which is fighting today — not only against the Palestinian people — it is fighting against Islam … I swear by Allah, this war is a war on religion, a war on Islam. They want us to adopt their morality and describe ourselves in their terms, the inferior and lowly terms and characteristics [such as] homosexuals, nudity, fraud, and [financial] interest.
[Official PA TV Live, Feb. 9, 2024]
While it is known that the PA emphatically rejects many liberal Western values and rejects accepting homosexuals in society, this topic has not been an issue lately. This demonization of the US by the PA’s top religious figure has nothing to do with any current American policy, but uses Islamic teachings to prove that America in its essence is evil.
In a subsequent sermon, Abbas’ advisor cursed the US, and said that Allah should punish the US with pain either by Allah’s hands, or by the Palestinians:
The Pharaoh of this period, America … just as He [Allah] punished the wicked in the past, so He will punish the wicked of this period. He will punish the Pharaoh of this age [America], the criminals of this age, sooner or later … by our hands or by His punishment. By our hands, or by pain from Him. [emphasis added]
[Facebook of Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Feb. 23, 2024]
Abbas’ advisor is telling Palestinians that if they attack Americans, they will be inflicting Allah’s punishment on America that the US deserves.
Incredibly, at the same time, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas feels no shame in turning to the US to beg for aid money:
The President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, today [Thursday] received the Director of USAID, Samantha Power … His Excellency noted the role that the American agency can play when it comes to providing aid to the Palestinian people, especially in the difficult circumstances resulting from continued Israeli aggression, in particular in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that it is important to increase the amount of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including the north of the Gaza Strip, and it is important to renew the American aid programs in the West Bank and Gaza in the fields of infrastructure, health, education, energy, and revitalization of the Palestinian economy.
[Wafa, official PA news agency, Feb 29, 2024]
While it may seem surprising that the PA is “biting the hand that feeds it,” by insulting and cursing America as the “plague of the generation,” this is nothing new.
The PA has demonized the US under all administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and they continue to do so because the PA has learned that the US will continue to support the PA’s political aspirations and supply the PA with financial aid, regardless of its behavior. The PA rewards terrorists, names schools after terrorist mass murderers of children, pays monthly stipends to families of suicide bombers, glorifies murderers of civilians as heroes and role models, and presents the extermination of Jews as an Islamic goal. And despite this, the US has never defined the PA as the terror entity that it is, and the US has never stopped funding the PA.
The PA has been demonizing and calling for Allah to punish America for years, and now joins Iran in defining the US as Satan, yet the PA has nothing to fear. The PA has learned that it can strike out at America as often as it wants, and America will always be there supporting it.
Itamar Marcus, Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Abbas’ Advisor Prays for America to Be Punished, While Abbas Begs US for More Money first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: How the State of Israel prepared for the announcement of its independence
The ceremony at which the State of Israel was proclaimed started at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 14, 1948—the British Mandate was ending at midnight between Friday and Saturday, a final shot to the Jewish community, necessitating that the new state be declared before sundown. The ceremony took 32 minutes. It was only on the […]
The post Treasure Trove: How the State of Israel prepared for the announcement of its independence appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Eurovision Song Contest Faces Anti-Israel Protests Ahead of Final
2023 Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen performs on stage during the rehearsal of the Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo, Sweden, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Thousands of people protested in Malmo on Saturday against Israel‘s participation in Eurovision Song Contest, with the Israeli military campaign in Gaza casting a shadow over the final of the glitzy contest.
Eurovision organizers, who always bill the annual event as non-political, have resisted calls to exclude Israel, but requested that the lyrics of its entry be changed to remove what organizers called references to the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.
A large crowd of protesters gathered on the central square of the Swedish host city before marching towards the contest venue, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide” – a twist on the contest’s official slogan “United by music”.
“It’s important to show, like, we are going to stand on the right side for everyone. This could be any other country and we would still be standing here because this is about children, men and women who have been occupied for so many years,” said one protester on Saturday, Maryam, who gave only her first name.
Police estimated that between 6,000 and 8,000 people joined the demonstration.
The final, the culmination of the festival of catchy songs, gaudy costumes and tongue-in-cheek kitsch, kicks off at 1900 GMT.
In Malmo, French singer Slimane halted his rehearsal act on Saturday to say it had been a childhood dream of his to sing for peace.
“We need to be united by music,” Slimane said, referring to the official Eurovision slogan, followed by cheering from the crowd in the auditorium.
More than 10,000 anti-Israel campaigners, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, staged a non-violent protest ahead of the semi-final on Thursday.
A smaller group of pro-Israel supporters, including members of Malmo’s Jewish community, also staged a peaceful demonstration on Thursday, defending Israeli solo artist Eden Golan, 20, and her right to take part in the contest.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have complained of double standards as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that organizes the contest banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
Some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country will not stop the war until Hamas is eliminated.
DUTCH FANS DISAPPOINTED
In another Eurovision controversy this year, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was expelled on Saturday from the competition final after a complaint by a member of the production crew, the EBU said.
“While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him (Joost) to continue in the Contest,” the EBU said in a statement.
A representative for Klein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, Klein was filmed despite clearly made agreements, just after getting off stage after his performance at Thursday’s semi final.
“This wasn’t respected,” AVROTROS said in a post on social media platform X, adding “This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera.”
Klein did not touch the camerawoman, according to AVROTROS, who said it found the artist’s penalty “very heavy and disproportionate.”
A Dutch fan, Frank Zwarthoed, said, “We are very, very, very disappointed… And it’s not good for the for the joy, we have in all the Dutch fans here that are present.”
Dutch viewers will still be allowed to vote for other contestants and the Dutch jury result will still be included in the final, the EBU has said.
Bookmakers have Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purišić, 28, with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim,” as front-runner to win the contest, followed by Israel‘s Golan, with her song “Hurricane.”
Some booing was heard from the crowd before, during and after Golan’s performance in the semi-finals on Thursday, but there was also applause and Israeli flags being waved, according to a Reuters journalist in the auditorium.
The post Eurovision Song Contest Faces Anti-Israel Protests Ahead of Final first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Islamic Hardliners Cement Grip Over Iran’s Parliament After Election Runoff
An Iranian woman casts her vote during parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/ File Photo
i24 News – Iran’s hardliner Islamist on Saturday won the bulk of the remaining seats in an election run-off to claim full control of the Islamic Republic’s parliament.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has hailed the people’s participation in the parliamentary runoff election in the country, saying that he hopes the vote will help form a strong parliament. pic.twitter.com/BvuyemTAV4
— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) May 10, 2024
The result, tallied with that of the previous vote in March, gives hardliners 233 of the 290 seats in Iran’s parliament.
Hardliners seek more repressive restrictions in line with Islamic sharia, including demanding that women don veils in public. They are also defined by enmity toward the West, particularly the United States, and virulent antisemitism.
Those politicians calling for change in the country’s government, known broadly as reformists, have been for the most part barred from running in the election.
Vote counting began after the ballots closed late Friday, with the election authority publishing the names of the winners the day after.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated the election saw “good participation,” without elaborating. “All elected people have had a relatively good and acceptable” number of votes, he said.
The parliament in Iran plays a secondary role in governing the country though it can intensify pressure on the administration when deciding on the annual budget and other important bills. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say in all important state matters.
The post Islamic Hardliners Cement Grip Over Iran’s Parliament After Election Runoff first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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