#must visit Iran

[letsvisitpersia]

Are you thinking of traveling to Iran? These are the most important cities and attractions that you must see on your trip to Iran.

[decolonize-the-left]

If you don't vote for Biden the gays will be rounded up in Project2025! No more abortion! No more anything!

Vote Biden!!

You mean this Biden?

U.S. will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, Biden tells Israel's Lapid

US to launch West Asia Quad with India, Israel and UAE during Biden's visit

.....The same joe Biden that's ALREADY completing goals outlined in Project 2025?

And these are only links and evidence for one page.

Vote 3rd party or don't vote at all, I'm not your dad, do what feels right to you.

But don't vote blue and tell everyone it's a vote against Project2025 or Trump or fascism or that you're saving democracy with your vote. Because you're not. It's literally just gaslighting or at the very least an ignorant and uninformed stance.

You might as well be burning your ballot or voting for Trump.

Quit guilting everyone for not wanting to vote blue when him supporting apartheid & genocide is a good enough reason not to, let alone all of this, too.

And if you're gonna vote for him anyway, get used to being called a white supremacist who supports fascists. Because that's what you would be.

[bijoumikhawal]

I mentioned this in the tags of a post the other day, but since NK is high profile and getting a lot of videos shared, and I saw someone today decry a short speech one of their rabbis gave as "extremist", I guess I'll make a post too

Neturei Karta is a Litvish Ultra-Orthodox/Haredi antizionist group. In my experience, they are the most high profile antizionist group that ties that stance to their religious practice within Judaism, but they are not the only group (the Satmar are also generally antizionist, and they're a larger group, but they don't like NK).

As I mentioned yesterday, there was an incident with Iran- one of two, actually, but this one gets brought up more- where NK sent speakers to a conference specifically for the purposes of defending the existence of the Holocaust, as several Holocaust deniers were in attendance. The speaker specifically chosen had his grandparents die in the Holocaust. However, he also was blunt in stating his opinion that Zionists used the Holocaust to oppress others, Zionists had been collaborators and thwarted efforts to save Jewish lives. This prompted the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi to call for their excommunication, essentially, and for the Satmar and broader Haredi movement to tell people to stay away from them. These remarks are complicated; many incidents one could classify as collaboration were Zionists trying to move Jews out of Europe, to save lives. However, when the speaker said the third statement, I'm fairly certain he was genuinely expressing his own intergenerational trauma. Early Zionists did indeed, have a fair amount of animosity towards Orthodox Jews. At one point Theodore Herzl (a founder of the modern Zionist movement) did express the opinion that Jews should convert en masse to Christianity, and the feeling was that the Orthodox who refused should be left to their fate. This accusation is a response to a very real tension among Jews that existed at the time. And the collaborationism was not always about saving lives; the Lehi gang, which committed the Deir Yassin massacre, sought out an alliance with the Nazis on several occasions, and expressed a desire for a totalitarian nationalist state.

Another incident was one where NK met with heads of state in early 2006, particularly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after criticizing other Jews for referring to remarks he made as antisemitic, and did an interview with Iranian press where they stated the Holocaust was used as a political tool by Zionists, that Zionism is "not Jewish, but political", and that not all Jews are Zionists. They also clearly stated that when they say they are not Zionists, they do not mean withdrawal to 67 borders, but a full dissolution of state, where Jews still can live with Palestinians. Later on in 2006, Ahmadinejad made comments about the reality of the Holocaust that prompted Haroun Yashayaei, one of the most prominent members of the Iranian Jewish community, to publicly speak put against him (and no, he didn't get arrested over that. He actually is also a movie producer and got an award in 2008).

It should be noted that in West Asia and North Africa, Iran is one of only a few countries that still has a significant Jewish population. The others are Turkey (14,500), Azerbaijan (7,200), Morocco (2,100), and Tunisia (1,000). For those unaware, this is significant because during the 1920s and 30s, many colonial governments stripped WANA Jews of citizenship, and in the 40s-60s, many post colonial WANA countries forcibly expelled local Jews. As a result, the centuries long presence of Jews in countries such as Egypt or Syria is down a hundred or fewer individuals in many cases. Ideologically, I do not support Iran's government because it's a theocratic state that treats Kurds like shit, but all of NK's interactions with Iran must be contextualized in light of this. This is not me using WANA Jews as a rhetorical device either: my paternal country, Egypt, which I wish I could so much as visit, is such a country. The 2016 Iranian census puts the country's Jewish population at 9,826. That's a number that I would weep to see reported in Egypt, and the second highest of any West Asia or North African country.

Personally while I hold no serious ideological disagreement with NK over antizionism, I do not wholly support them for other reasons (gender/sexuality politics reasons primarily). I bring up these incidents with Iran because in the past I've seen people claim they are Holocaust deniers, or that they think Jewish people brought the Holocaust on themselves. I have never seen a NK member say ANYTHING of that sort, and the idea that Jews bring antisemitism in any form on themselves is in fact an actual belief Herzl held. The closest I've heard is when NK distributed leaflets after a Chabad was attacked in Mumbai where they criticized Chabad for being in bed with Zionists. I'll be linking some articles in the replies of this post about this, including the text of the actual speech given at the Tehran conference so it can be read in full.

[mariacallous]

During the first months of the Russian invasion, in one of the frontline villages in the southern Kherson region, I met several firefighters – ordinary Ukrainian men in their 40s or 50s. Their prewar tasks involved putting out fires in the local wood or occasionally buildings.

Since the Russian invasion, they save houses burning from missiles and retrieve their dead neighbours. One of the men began to cry during our conversation. He left embarrassed, but shortly returned. I comforted the firefighters, explaining that even governors and mayors sometimes sob during interviews.

In the following months, I travelled from one frontline town to another. I met doctors, policemen, railway and communal workers, journalists, electricians, civil servants, government officials whose relatives are fighting and dying in the army. They escaped or are still living under Russian occupation, their houses and apartments destroyed. They acknowledged that they were emotional, often angry, horrified, but driven by a sense of duty. In the end this would help them move forward, and even be proud of what they did.

Russia invaded Donbas and Crimea in Ukraine in 2014; the country already knew what the war was. But since 5am on 24 February last year, all citizens have learned how to survive when a foreign army uses its might to destroy the peace. They have discovered how to act during an air-raid warning; how to live and work through blackouts; that they should not walk at night because of curfews. They have learned to forget about planes, as airports are closed, and how to be separated from family. People have adapted to many things, and also learned how to deal with emotions: that tears are nothing to be ashamed of. The initial shock and sadness have transformed into a bigger confidence and determination.

As for today – besides hope in victory, national pride, solidarity and compassion, which you see on the surface – one of the prevailing feelings among Ukrainians is guilt that we are not doing enough. In non-frontline towns and in Kyiv, life has returned to a kind of normal. We are preoccupied with thoughts of those who live under constant shelling or occupation. Those who are not in the army think of those who must fight daily; soldiers who survive think of the fallen. Those who left the country feel guilty about those who stayed.

I recently visited a standup comedy performance in a suburb of Kyiv. Self-depreciation is back following months when society was unable to joke about the war. One of the most popular gags is from a comedian comparing his efforts to those of soldiers and veterans. After Ukraine’s victory, he jokes, he would tell his children he spent the war sitting in an Odesa basement, tweeting that Nato should help by “closing the sky”.

Thousands of crimes have been committed by Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil. The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office says it has registered at least 71 000 violations of the customs of war. Since then it has become harder to talk to Russian colleagues. By colleagues I mean not propagandists, but just journalists who oppose the Russian invasion and Putin’s regime.

I still communicate with them, but many exchanges end with excuses about why Russian society can do nothing. They think that those who are against the war have nothing to do with the actions of their state. I do believe guilt is not collective, but shared responsibility exists.

Before Russia’s invasion I reported on totalitarian countries: Iran, Syria, China, Belarus. I understand how dangerous it is to protest in a state that is ready to kill its own citizens. The Ukrainians fought against this in revolutions in 2004 and 2014. In the end we built a government that defends its citizens.

It feels paradoxical that Ukrainians, who defend their homeland and are under attack, feel guilty for not doing more. Meanwhile, Russians who are opposed to war are uncomfortable speaking about personal responsibility, stressing that nothing depends on them. This can be explained not by a lack of empathy or bitterness, but by disempowerment and the detachment of Russian citizens. This is something the Kremlin wants from Russian society. Russians who oppose the war must transform their lack of empowerment into action, and find their strength.

Ukrainians have defended their country for 365 days without a break. They have saved many lives from Russian troops. Our task now is to transform a sense of guilt into a sense of duty. We need to preserve our strength.

[tamamita]

What's the difference between a Shia & Sunni? And why do they hate each others? (I'm an atheist so I don't know shit about religions)

Keep in mind that this is no way trying to shame or denounce my Sunni siblings, but I do believe it's important to highlight a historical fact and how it's detrimental to the current geopolitical situation, since we're embittered by historical events, while at the face of imperalism and colonialism.

Shi'as are a political group of people who iunitially held that Ali (a), the cousin of Muhammed (pbuh&hf) was the successor of the Prophet. This is evident in numerous hadiths, such as Hadith Ghadeer Khumm, the Hadith of Mubahila and the Hadith at Thaqalayn. Nevertheless, the issue steems from the incident at Saqifa, which was a council met by some companions by the Prophet, who held an abrupt meeting, discussing who'd lead the Muslim nation following the Prophet's death. The meeting was held without consulting Ali (a) and they chose Abu Bakr to become the caliph. As a result, Ali (a) did nor approve of the selection and did not pledge his allegience to Abu Bakr. the incident at Saqifa serves as a catalyst to the incidents that would befall the Muslim community, such as Fatimah's (a) miscarriage and the subsequent wars against Ali (a) by some of the Prophet's companions, Ali (a) and his sons Hassan (a) and Hussain's (a) martyrdom.

This caused the rift in the nascent Islamic community, the Shi'as were any Muslim who held that Ali (a) was the successor by divine right, and swore their allegience to Ali (a), while the rest of the Muslims were nonpartisans. Sunni Islam is the standardization of Islamic scholastic and jurisdictional opinions which were formed in the Abbasid caliph. So it's errounous to assume that there was a split between Sunnis and Shi'as, when Sunni Islam was formed a few centuries later.

The reason for the hate is because of fundamentalist attitudes toward Shi'as. Some Sunnis and Salafis believe that Shi'a Muslims are heretics, because of their veneration of saints and the importance of Shrine visitations, the other reason is because Shi'a Muslims practice the doctrine of dissociation, which is the belief that any of the enemies of the Prophet's household should be cursed, thus some of the personalites of the Sunnis are cursed by Shi'as. Ancient scholars, suchs as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Qayyim placed some fatwas declaring Shi'a Muslims to be heretics. These scholars' opinions are still popular today and used as pretext for prejudice against Shi'as.

In a geopolitical context, Iran is often considered to be rivaling power to Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism, and have often threatened the Saudi hegemony. Because of the Axis of resistance and their growing influence in the SWANA region, the Gulf States have attempted at all cost to undermine the growing sympathy for Shi'as. Bahrain is upholding an apartheid against it's Shi'i majority, The Saudi refuses to ackowledge the Shi'i Houthis in Yemen, but supported the Hadi government, thus imposing a devastating blockade. The Iraqi war saw the Shi'as gain power, while the Sunnis were often a disenfranchised group following the Blackwater massacre, which contributed the rise of various militias and terrorist groups, such as ISIS. While in the Syrian Civil War, Shi'as mostly made up the bulk of resistance fighters that sided with Assad against the Free Syrian army and Salafi Islamist groups, such as, Tahrir al-Sham, Jaysh al-Sunnah, Islamic front, Ahrar al-Sham and etc. These have contributed to the increase of tension between Sunnis and Shi'as. However, the fight against Israel have united Muslims, but the biggest obstacle the Muslim community must get through are the Salafist and Wahhabi clerics, espousing tayyafiyah (sectarianism)

[humansofnewyork]

(40/54) “Every morning we awoke to the sound of shots. The executions would begin with a volley of machine gun fire. Then there’d be a round of single shots, to make sure the prisoners were dead. I’d lay in bed and count them. When the newspaper arrived later that morning, I’d search for his name among the killed. I was so angry with him. He’d been so careless. On the day he decided to leave the safehouse, he had even made a joke. He’d said: ‘If they arrest me, we’ll all go to court and have a good laugh.’ He knew that he’d done nothing wrong. His entire career, he had been the model of integrity. He thought that his innocence would be enough. He thought: ‘What is true, will be true for everyone.’ But in this system there was no 𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪. There was no 𝘥𝘢𝘢𝘥. It was one set of rules for believers, and another set of rules for nonbelievers. I watched some of the show trials on television, to see if I could find him. There were no lawyers, no witnesses, nothing. Just a few people with beards. They’d hand down vague sentences like ‘Crimes against God,’ which carried a sentence of death. We tried everything. We looked everywhere, we called everyone, but nobody knew where they’d taken him. Finally we were able to arrange a meeting with one of Iran’s highest ranking religious figures, Ayatollah Shariatmadari. We visited him at his house and pleaded with him to intercede. We told him: an innocent man has been arrested, one of the most honest men in all of Iran. There must be some justice. There must be some consideration of the truth. The Ayatollah was a good man. A man with 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪. He was a man of faith, rather than a religious man. He listened with concern; we could see the compassion in his eyes. But there was nothing he could do. He’d already fallen out of favor with Khomeini; and a few months later he’d be arrested himself. After that there was no hope.”

 هر بامداد با صدای شلیک تیرباران‌ها بیدار می‌شدیم. اعدام‌ها در ابتدا با شلیک مسلسل‌ها آغاز می‌شد. سپس یک دور شلیک‌های تک‌تیر تا یقین یابند که همه را کشته‌اند. من دراز کشیده بر تخت شلیک‌ها را می‌شمردم. زمانی که روزنامه‌ی صبحگاهی به دستم می‌رسید، دنبال نامش می‌گشتم. دلم گرفته بود. بی‌احتیاطی کرده، از پناهگاهش رفته بود، شوخی هم کرده، گفته بود: “اگر مرا دستگیر کنند، در دادگاه کمی می‌خندیم.” می‌دانست که کار خلافی نکرده است. تمام زندگی‌اش را نمونه‌ی راستی و صداقت بود. فسادناپذیر بود. در این گمان که بی‌گناهی‌اش کافی‌ست، می‌پنداشت که فرصتی برای بیان راستی‌ها خواهد داشت. باور داشت: «حقیقت آنست که برای همگان پذیرفتنی باشد.» ولی در این نظام، نه راستی بود و نه داد. برای کافران و مؤمنان دو نوع عدالت وجود داشت. در جستجوی او دادگاه‌های نمایشی را تماشا می‌کردم. نه وکیلی، نه شاهدی. احکام ریشوها "محاربه با خدا" و "فساد در زمین" بود. تازه اگر دادگاهی هم تشکیل می‌شد. ما همه‌ی راهها را آزمودیم. همه جا را برای پیدا کردن او جستجو کردیم. هیچکس چیزی نمی‌دانست. محسن پزشکپور دیداری با یکی از پرنفوذترین روحانیون ایران ترتیب داد. برای ملاقات آقای شریعتمداری به قم رفتیم. از او خواستیم که برای حفظ جان دکتر عاملی کاری کند. مرد خوبی بود. مرد نیکخویی. بیش از آنکه مذهبی باشد، مرد ایمان می‌نمود. با نگرانی سخنان ما را شنید. همدردی داشت. گفت سفارش می‌کند. کاری از دستش برنیامد. خمینی کینه‌توز او را برنمی‌تابید. دیری نپایید که او را هم بازداشت و با او بدرفتاری کردند. دیگر هیچ روزنه‌ی امیدی نمانده بود

[zvaigzdelasas]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to attend a summit on Gaza, making him the first Iranian president to visit the Gulf kingdom in years, after a thaw between the longtime rivals earlier this year saw them restore diplomatic ties.

Raisi was seen greeting Saudi officials after landing at the airport. He donned the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.

President Ebrahim Raeisi of Iran says the Israeli regime must be brought to justice in international courts over its genocide of the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. Raeisi made the remarks while addressing the joint emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Gaza in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.[...]

“Now that the international assemblies under the influence of the United States are suffering from indecisiveness, and lack of character and identity, we must take the field.” The president said the Arab and Muslim countries shoulder the responsibility towards the issue of Palestine and the oppressed people of Gaza. Raeisi proposed Iran’s 10 urgent solutions and suggestions for the benefit of the Palestinian nation. The president urged Muslim leaders attending the summit to take a “decisive and swift” decision in favor of Palestinians. Raeisi said the United States and Israel must be obliged to accept an immediate halt to the war machine. The Iranian president gave primacy to the complete lifting of the human blockade of Gaza and immediate and unconditional reopening of the Rafah border crossing in cooperation with Egypt to send humanitarian aid to people in Gaza as Iran’s second proposal.

The president said the pressure exerted by the US and its Western allies is by no means an excuse to close borders. As Iran’s third offer, Raeisi urged Israel’s immediate military withdrawal from Gaza, saying the Gazan territory belongs to Palestinians and not those who act under the command of the US and Israel. He warned all countries, including Muslim nations, to be cautious about any American-Zionist plot under the pretext of ensuring security in Palestine. Raeisi said Iran’s fourth proposal urges all Muslim countries to terminate any political and economic relations with Israel. He said economic sanction, particularly in the energy sector, against the regime must figure high on the agenda. As Iran’s fifth offer, the president called on all Muslim countries to label the Israeli regime’s army a terrorist organization. He stressed the importance of establishing an international court to prosecute the criminal leaders of Israel and the US, particularly those who have played a role in the genocide in Gaza. The president called for the establishment of a special fund for the immediate reconstruction of Gaza with the acceptance of the Muslim countries attending the summit

Referring to an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, which killed at least 500 Palestinians, the president said October 18 should be named as the day of genocide and crime against humanity.

If Israel keeps its crimes going in the “unequal war,” Raeisi said, Muslim countries must arm the Palestinian people and help them fight the occupying warmonger. The president undercored the importance of the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea” as a permanent and democratic solution.[...]

The president said the US is the main perpetrator and accomplice in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Israel is the “illegitimate child of America,” Raiesi said. “It is America that has preferred support it over the sacred lives of thousands of oppressed Palestinian children. By immediately forming its security cabinet in the occupied territories, America encouraged the Zionist regime to carry out criminal operations against the helpless people of Gaza and called it legitimate defense,” the president said. The claim of legitimate defense is “one of the bitter ironies of history, which goes against any established legal rules and international standards,” the president said. He said the US sent its warship to the region to effectively enter the war on behalf of Israel. “The all-out support of the Zionist regime in the UN Security Council and preventing the adoption of a resolution to stop the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza was another service of America to the aggressors, allowing them to conduct war crimes more than ever,” Raeisi stated.

11 Nov 23

[heavensdoorways]

Gate of All Nations The Gate of Xerxes -UNESCO World Heritage (r. 486 – 465 BC) Persepolis - IRAN

The bronze trumpets that once signaled the arrival of important foreign delegations to Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the mighty Achaemenid Empire, may now be silent, but it is still possible to capture the sense of awe while visiting the colossal Gate of Xerxes.

Built during the reign of Achaemenid king Xerxes I , who called this his Gate of All Nations, the pillared entrance is guarded by bearded and hoofed mythical figures in the style of Assyrian gate-guards.

On arrival at Persepolis one is confronted by an imposing wall, completely smooth and plain, about 15 meters tall: this is the artificial terrace on which the palaces were built. This vast terrace of Persepolis, some 450 meters long and 300 meters wide, was originally fortified on three sides by a tall wall. The only access was from the monumental staircase, which leads to the Gate of All Nations.

The gateway bears a cuneiform inscription in Old Persian, Neo-Babylonian, and Elamite languages declaring, among other things, that Xerxes is responsible for the construction of this and many beautiful wonders in Persia. Centuries of graffitists have also left their mark, including explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

A pair of colossal bulls guarded the western entrance; two man-bulls stood at the eastern doorway. Engraved above each of the four colossi is a trilingual inscription attesting to Xerxes having built and completed the gate. The doorway on the south, opening toward the Apadana, is the widest of the three.

According to sources, pivoting devices found on the inner corners of all the doors indicate that they must have had two-leaved doors, which were probably made of wood and covered with sheets of ornamented metal.

Persepolis, also known as Takht-e Jamshid, whose magnificent ruins rest at the foot of Kuh-e Rahmat ("Mountain of Mercy"), was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It is situated 60 kilometers northeast of the city of Shiraz in Fars Province.

Persepolis was the seat of the government of the Achaemenid Empire, though it was designed primarily to be a showplace and spectacular center for the receptions and festivals of the kings and their empire.

The royal city ranks among the archaeological sites which have no equivalent, considering its unique architecture, urban planning, construction technology, and art.

The city was burnt by Alexander in 330 BC apparently as revenge to the Persians

The immense terrace of Persepolis was begun about 518 BC by Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire’s king. On this terrace, successive kings erected a series of architecturally stunning palatial buildings, among them the massive Apadana palace and the Throne Hall (“Hundred-Column Hall”).

This 13-ha ensemble of majestic approaches, monumental stairways, throne rooms (Apadana), reception rooms, and dependencies is classified among the world’s greatest archaeological sites.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Hello and welcome to the Hamas experience!

This room shows you what it'll be like once Israel loses. Hope you guys are excited!

Anyway, since Sharia Law is enforced inside, we'll have to verify a few things:

First of all: are any of you not Muslim? Ok, so you'll have to convert before entering.

Second of all, I see some women here. Ladies, when you wear your burka, make sure only your eyes are visible. Everything else must be covered. Also, please remember that women are not allowed to drive, and you must have a male guardian when traveling. Oh, and if you do decide to travel, please be very careful of where you're going, since entrance for women is restricted in many public places.

Also, don't let anyone see you read, they really hate women learning. Or singing. Or talking. What else? Oh, if you get pregnant, you can't have an abortion and if you get divorced you cannot get custody of the kids.

I feel like I'm forgetting something.

Oh yes, and this is for everyone: no alcohol, no music, no public display of affection, no sex outside marriage, no gays of course.

And I think that's pretty much it.

If you're still not sure, then here are some pictures of Afghanistan before and after Sharia Law, and the same with Iran, you get the idea.

Okay, I think you're good to go, have lots of fun. Oh, and don't forget to visit the town square. Today, we're stoning an atheist, beheading a guy who tweeted something bad about the government, throwing some gays off the roof, chopping the legs of a girl who showed some skin, cutting the tongue of a poet, and removing the genitals of a couple who kissed in public.

Bye, hope you have a Jihaday!

The westerners who get upset that the names of birds aren't "inclusive" enough and lost their minds when Elon took over Twitter, chant "free Palestine" to cheer on the expansion of a murderous Islamic terrorist organization which will subjugate everyone in the area under a strict fundamentalist religious regime that they would never, ever, ever visit. Ever.

There is no appalling Captain Marvel films in Sharia. There's no TikTok dancing memes in Sharia. There's no bold glamor filter in Sharia. There's no "fUcK TeH PaTrIaRcHy" iPhone Plus cases in Sharia. There's no half-naked drunk-ass bints punching each other up in the middle of the street in Sharia.

These people are stupid. They're very, very, very stupid.

[girlactionfigure]

🟠 Thu morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 1 / 2 )

💩US WILL NOT SUPPLY.. Biden: If Israel launches a large-scale operation in Rafah, we will not supply it with bombs and artillery shells.

.. A senior Israeli official after Biden's announcement: We have enough means to enter Rafah and occupy it without American assistance. Rafah will be occupied in any case. The main problem is the message it sends to Hezbollah and Iran, that Israel will apparently come without weapons to the conflict in the north.

.. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to President Biden in which they expressed great concern over the decision to suspend arms shipments to Israel.  (( Sadly this is becoming a Republican vs. Democrat issue in the U.S. ))

♦️IDF forces in the Gaza Zeytun area; about 25 terrorist targets were destroyed from the air, our forces are working on the ground to (re)purify the area.

♦️Footage from Gaza channels shows a missile being launched from an Israeli combat helicopter at a target in the Tel Al-Sultan area in West Rafah.

♦️”Sources claim”: Israel dropped a unique bomb in an attack on a Kafrkela in southern Lebanon that has not yet been used previously - to penetrate deep and hit underground bunkers.  Israel used a GBU 10 bomb or a Spice 2000 bomb.

⭕ Islamic Jihad terrorist published videos in which they show launching rockets at IDF forces and armored vehicles in East Rafah.  They took responsibility for 5 terrorist operations against IDF forces in the East Rafah area in the last 30 hours, including the firing of grenades, RPG missiles and machine gun fire.

⭕ HAMAS ATTACKS U.S. AID PIER.. Hamas fired twice in the last day at the temporary dock by the Americans.  

⭕ HAMAS ATTACKS AID PORT KEREM SHALOM.. again (3rd time).  (( Almost like they don’t want aid arriving. I suggest we agree. ))

⭕ DRONE ATTACK SOUTHERN GOLAN VIA SYRIA.. Yonatan, Keshet, areas not previously attacked, suicide drone from SYRIA.

⚠️NEXT STEP - DEMONIZE.. The US State Department is finalizing a report that will discuss whether Israel violates international law (in Gaza - and/or maybe Judea-Samaria).

“YOU DON’T WANT TO SELL US SMART BOMBS”.. MK Tali Gottlieb in a Knesset speech: “the US doesn’t want to sell us smart bombs, we’ll use dumb bombs - and blow up 10 buildings to hit the one we want.”

The US State Department: These are obscene statements, and Israeli government officials should refrain from saying them. (( Umm, no, they are reality.  Israel is not going to roll over and die, we’ll use what we must. ))

🟠 Thu morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 2 / 2 )

▪️A HERO SOLDIER HAS FALLEN.. Haim Sabach, 20, from Holon, in defense of the north.  May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge his blood!

▪️FINANCE MINISTER - RESTART CONSTRUCTION IN JUDEA-SAMARIA.. The Minister of Finance Smotrich sent a letter to the Prime Minister: "The reality in which a de facto construction freeze is carried out in Judea-Samaria is intolerable, unacceptable and is a reward for terrorism. I can no longer put up with it"  The Minister threatened that if he did not receive an answer in writing from Netanyahu to continue with the construction freeze, construction will resume in Judea-Samaria.

▪️AID PROTESTS.. The supply trucks to Gaza are stuck in Mitzpe Ramon after access was offered via the Eilat - Jordan crossing. Residents of Eilat blocked them all night, and residents of Mitzpe Ramon are blocking them during the day.

▪️HOLY TOMB VISIT INTERRUPTED BY ARSON.. Last night the IDF enabled safe passage into Kifal Harath, Samaria to the holy tomb of Yehoshua bin Nun (biblical leader Joshua).  During the visit, local Arabs attempted an arson attack by dumping a burning tire onto the tomb - while the Jews were inside!  Forces were able to extinguish the fire, allowing the pilgrims to continue their visit.

▪️HOUTHIS.. claim to have attacked 3 ships, including one in the Indian ocean.

🔸DEAL ACTIVITY..  It was the head of the CIA, Burns, who authorized Hamas to make the changes in the wording of the deal.

▪️ECONOMY - TAXES..  In the Treasury they are formulating approaches to deal with the war costs: raising the income tax, raising the VAT (sales-value tax) this year, canceling credit points for parents, imposing a sugar tax, closing government offices, cutting coalition funds.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

OPEDS

Is it time to go?

By Howard Sackstein

Today, the South African Jewish community numbers but one third of what it did at its peak. Though our numbers have shrunk, the vibrancy of our community has remained intact.

In the 1970s and 1980s they used to joke, “When the Jews go; it’s time to leave, when the Portuguese go; it’s too late.”

The clock ticked, and stopped on 7 October 2023.

The behaviour of the South African government was nothing short of betrayal. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to condemn the 7 October massacre; his failure to reach out to the families of the two South Africans massacred in the Hamas genocide; his failure to act on the two South Africans kidnapped by Hamas; and his smirk blame of Israel for deserving the attack two weeks after the massacre, while wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, will forever be a symbol of his Judas moment.

In American politics, they talk of a “tortoise on a lamppost”. Sometimes, the tortoise mistakenly believes that it got onto the lamppost by itself.

Ramaphosa’s spineless leadership has allowed his jihadist foreign minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, and her mujahidin director general, Zane Dangor, to direct foreign policy without intervention. Pandor mislead Parliament by claiming that there were no beheadings of babies and that Israel had attacked the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. With no South African diplomats in Israel and Al Jazeera as her only source of information, Pandor meanders in the dark. Her ignorance, however, is self-inflicted. Her department was invited to view the 47-minute video of Hamas-captured atrocities, and declined to attend.

Hamas informs us that Pandor telephoned it to congratulate it on the success of its “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on Israel. Pandor claimed that she was merely offering humanitarian assistance, but refused to release the “call-out” transcript of the conversation. As a convert to Islam, Pandor uses her own zealotry to pursue a pro-Hamas agenda to the detriment of South Africa.

In December, Hamas visited South Africa, was feted in our Parliament, and celebrated in the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) offices in Johannesburg. When Ramaphosa finally met the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, he sprinted to issue a statement and later, while meeting the Muslim community, stated that they had issued a statement as “we’re concerned there are distortions”. Given that the president’s statement was issued first, this both makes no logical sense and effectively paints the official representative body of Jews in South Africa as liars.

It’s a clash of civilizations. Jews have traditionally ascribed to the values of Western liberal democracy. In the ANC’s hard-left, revolutionary world view, Western interests must be opposed everywhere – in Ukraine, in Morocco, and in Israel. South Africa believes that it must be the vanguard liberation movement celebrating the imagined successes of Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia. Pandor is currently attending the 7th Africa-Cuba Solidarity Conference in White River.

But actions have consequences. The West is becoming increasingly disenchanted by South Africa’s antics. Last year, South Africa’s invitation to the G7 Summit didn’t materialise, and the currency has lost 50% of its value under Ramaphosa. The renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act looks increasingly precarious together with the approximately 250 000 jobs it created. South Africa is increasingly isolated from those countries which could help it the most.

Ramaphosa had a choice to turn South Africa into a Singapore or a Sudan. He chose Sudan.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sam Jones at The Guardian:

The hardline Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has died in a helicopter crash in foggy weather in the mountains near the border with Azerbaijan.

The charred wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, as well as the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six other passengers and crew, was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Fears had been growing for Raisi, a 63-year-old ultraconservative, after contact was lost with the helicopter on Sunday as it navigated fog-covered mountains in north-west Iran. The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme – said the country’s first vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, would take over as interim president. The deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, was appointed as acting foreign minister. “I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said. Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Khamenei. Under Iran’s constitution, a new presidential election must be held within 50 days.

[...] Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two nations have built on the Aras River. The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shia theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.

Iranian hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi, along with foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other passengers and crew, died in a helicopter crash near Varzaquan.

[dariamalek]

Mahsa Amini: How A 43 Year Long Battle Has Finally Made It Into The Light

I am done with being silent. 

I am done with tolerating the silence of others. 

My name is Daria Malek, and I am an Iranian-Canadian writer who’s art was silenced due to the control of the Iranian regime. Ironically, The Green Ney was a story of how women were silenced during the Iranian revolution, especially their art. 

Yesterday, on Saturday October 1st, over fifty thousand people had closed off Yonge Street, the longest street in the world, protesting for Mahsa Amini, and the other 83 people murdered for speaking up for their human rights. 

I am so privileged to live in a country where I, not only as a woman, but also a visibly minority, have protection beyond my rights. And as I watch my fellow Iranians in their homeland fight for theirs, it makes me wonder what am I do to with this privilege? What am I to do with the freedom of speech that I have? 

I was silenced by the Iranian regime, but that is no longer. 

Four years ago, I began writing a novel called The Green Ney, the story of an infertile American journalist in a dying marriage, who travels to Iran in January 1979 and gets stuck in the middle of the bloodshed of the Iranian Revolution with a lonely, mute orphan to care for. 

Through her journey, she met multiple women who symbolized each right that was stripped from them during the revolution. Each of these 12 women were women that I had met on my trip to Iran in 2016, spanning over the three cities that I have visited. These are real women. These are real people. 

This was my time to speak for these women who were silenced in their own dirt but, I had to face a dilemma: if I were to publish this novel, I would be banned from going back home to my country, and even put my family, including my grandparents, in harms way. 

This was three years ago. Enough is enough. It is time to speak up. 

Mahsa Amini was 22 years old when she was detained by “morality police” in Iran for not wearing her headscarf on her head correctly. Not because she had killed someone, assaulted someone, or stolen something from someone but, because she had not covered her hair to the standard of the “morality police.” How ironic that they are called “morality police” when they have no problem murdering a child because they are so weak to be worried about the hair of a women turning men on. Where are your morals?

Why are you painting our men to be so weak? So weak, that the wrists and ankles of a woman may awaken their uncontrollable sexual urges? 

Our men are better than this. Our women are more respectable than this. 

The greatest part of watching these protests was seeing the men and women come together in unison to fight for the women of Iran together. 

For Mahsa Amini, you will always be remembered as an awakening for the people and a motion for change. We will honour your name and what you did to change the world. 

Shervin Hajipour, your angelic voice and talent will be forever in our ears, singing for what you believe in, in hopes that people will listen and feel your pain and we did. 

Hadis Najafi, your courage will never be forgotten. To be so brave, beyond your years, only for them to strip you of the rest of your life. But, I hope you know that they may have taken your life but they could never take away the strength and bravery that you possessed. When I watch the video of your blonde hair going up in a ponytail, ready to fight for the land you walk on, it gives me chills - an inspiration to truly step up. 

For all the other people who were protesting or injured and murdered for speaking up: you make me proud to call myself an Iranian. We as people have a history of being headstrong and courageous. We must protect our beautiful culture, our art, our poetry, our food, our dance and everything that makes us Iranian, from the Islamic regime. They stole it from us once and it is our duty to take it back. 

What started off as a feministic fight, turned into a humanitarian revolution. 

If you have any Iranian friends, please reach out to them. Ask them how they are doing. Give them a hug and stand by them. They’re worried about their families back home; they can’t talk to them or hold them. Give back the support that we gave the rest of the world when they needed us. 

And please, help us be the voice of the people who don’t have one. 

[mariacallous]

Nearly half a year has passed since the White House asked Congress for another round of American aid for Ukraine. Since that time, at least three different legislative efforts to provide weapons, ammunition, and support for the Ukrainian army have failed.

Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, was supposed to make sure that the money was made available. But in the course of trying, he lost his job.

The Senate negotiated a border compromise (including measures border guards said were urgently needed) that was supposed to pass alongside aid to Ukraine. But Senate Republicans who had supported that effort suddenly changed their minds and blocked the legislation.

Finally, the Senate passed another bill, including aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, and the civilians of Gaza, and sent it to the House. But in order to avoid having to vote on that legislation, the current House speaker, Mike Johnson, sent the House on vacation for two weeks. That bill still hangs in limbo. A majority is prepared to pass it, and would do so if a vote were held. Johnson is maneuvering to prevent that from happening.

Maybe the extraordinary nature of the current moment is hard to see from inside the United States, where so many other stories are competing for attention. But from the outside—from Warsaw, where I live part-time; from Munich, where I attended a major annual security conference earlier this month; from London, Berlin, and other allied capitals—nobody doubts that these circumstances are unprecedented. Donald Trump, who is not the president, is using a minority of Republicans to block aid to Ukraine, to undermine the actual president’s foreign policy, and to weaken American power and credibility.

For outsiders, this reality is mind-boggling, difficult to comprehend and impossible to understand. In the week that the border compromise failed, I happened to meet a senior European Union official visiting Washington. He asked me if congressional Republicans realized that a Russian victory in Ukraine would discredit the United States, weaken American alliances in Europe and Asia, embolden China, encourage Iran, and increase the likelihood of invasions of South Korea or Taiwan. Don’t they realize? Yes, I told him, they realize. Johnson himself said, in February 2022, that a failure to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine “empowers other dictators, other terrorists and tyrants around the world … If they perceive that America is weak or unable to act decisively, then it invites aggression in many different ways.” But now the speaker is so frightened by Trump that he no longer cares. Or perhaps he is so afraid of losing his seat that he can’t afford to care. My European colleague shook his head, not because he didn’t believe me, but because it was so hard for him to hear.

Since then, I’ve had a version of that conversation with many other Europeans, in Munich and elsewhere, and indeed many Americans. Intellectually, they understand that the Republican minority is blocking this money on behalf of Trump. They watched first McCarthy, then Johnson, fly to Mar-a-Lago to take instructions. They know that Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent figure at the Munich Security Conference for decades, backed out abruptly this year after talking with Trump. They see that Donald Trump Jr. routinely attacks legislators who vote for aid to Ukraine, suggesting that they be primaried. The ex-president’s son has also said the U.S. should “cut off the money” to Ukrainians, because “it’s the only way to get them to the table.” In other words, it’s the only way to make Ukraine lose.

Many also understand that Trump is less interested in “fixing the border,” the project he forced the Senate to abandon, than he is in damaging Ukraine. He surely knows, as everybody does, that the Ukrainians are low on ammunition. He must also know that, right now, no one except the U.S. can help. Although European countries now collectively donate more money to Ukraine than we do (and the numbers are rising), they don’t yet have the industrial capacity to sustain the Ukrainian army. By the end of this year, European production will probably be sufficient to supply the Ukrainians, to help them outlast the Russians and win the war. But for the next nine months, U.S. military support is needed.

Yet Trump wants Congress to block it. Why? This is the part that nobody understands. Unlike his son, Trump himself rarely talks about Ukraine, because his position isn’t popular. Most Americans don’t want Russia to win.

Often, Trump’s motives are described as “isolationist,” but this is not quite right. The isolationists of the past were figures such as Senator Robert Taft, the son of an American president and the grandson of an American secretary of war. Taft, a loyal member of the Republican Party, opposed U.S. involvement in World War II because, as he once said, an “overambitious foreign policy” could “destroy our armies and prove a real threat to the liberty of the people of the United States.” But Trump is not concerned about our armies. He disdains our soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.” I can’t imagine that he is terribly worried about the “liberty of the people of the United States” either, given that he has already tried once to overthrow the American electoral system, and might well do it again.

Trump and the people around him are clearly not isolationists in the old-fashioned sense. An isolationist wants to disengage from the world. Trump wants to remain engaged with the world, but on different terms. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants a “deal” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and maybe this is what he means: If Ukraine is partitioned, or if Ukraine loses the war, then Trump could twist that situation to his own advantage. Perhaps, some speculate, Trump wants to let Russia back into international oil markets and get something in return for that. But that explanation might be too complex: Maybe he just wants to damage President Joe Biden, or he thinks Putin will help him win the 2024 election. The Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee was very beneficial to Trump in 2016; perhaps it could happen again.

Trump is already behaving like the autocrats he admires, pursuing transactional politics that will profoundly weaken the United States. But he doesn’t care. Liz Cheney, one of the few Republicans who understands the significance of this moment, describes the stakes like this: “We are at a turning point in the history not just of this nation, but of the world.” Once the U.S. is no longer the security guarantor for Europe, and once the U.S. is no longer trusted in Asia, then some nations will begin to hedge, to make their own deals with Russia and China. Others will seek their own nuclear shields. Companies in Europe and elsewhere that now spend billions on U.S. energy investments or U.S. weapons will make different kinds of contracts. The United States will lose the dominant role it has played in the democratic world since 1945.

All of this could happen even if Trump doesn’t win the election. Right now, even if he never regains the White House, he is already dictating U.S. foreign policy, shaping perceptions of America in the world. Even if the funding for Ukraine ultimately passes, the damage he has done to all of America’s relationships is real. Anton Hofreiter, a member of the German Parliament, told me in Munich that he fears Europe could someday be competing against three autocracies: “Russia, China, and the United States.” When he said that, it was my turn to shake my head, not because I didn’t believe him, but because it was so hard to hear.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Israelites eating the passover lamb :: Marc Chagall :: 1931

* * * *

“Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing. The only worthwhile miracle in the New Testament—the transmutation of water into wine during the wedding at Cana—is a tribute to the persistence of Hellenism in an otherwise austere Judaea. The same applies to the seder at Passover, which is obviously modeled on the Platonic symposium: questions are asked (especially of the young) while wine is circulated. No better form of sodality has ever been devised: at Oxford one was positively expected to take wine during tutorials. The tongue must be untied. It's not a coincidence that Omar Khayyam, rebuking and ridiculing the stone-faced Iranian mullahs of his time, pointed to the value of the grape as a mockery of their joyless and sterile regime. Visiting today's Iran, I was delighted to find that citizens made a point of defying the clerical ban on booze, keeping it in their homes for visitors even if they didn't particularly take to it themselves, and bootlegging it with great brio and ingenuity. These small revolutions affirm the human.” ― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

[humansofnewyork]

(43/54) “Thirty years earlier we’d sworn an oath, to give our lives for Iran. I considered it. There was one parliamentarian who fled to the mountains and died fighting. Even with one eye, I was still a good shot. I could have made a stand. But if I gave my life, it would have to be in exchange for something. Thousands of people were dying at the time, and nothing was changing. The clerics only grew more powerful. The same slogans were being chanted in the streets. Our freedoms continued to be taken away. And then there was Mitra and the children. I couldn’t leave them behind. But with each week came more bad news: another colleague killed, another one arrested. My friends started encouraging me to leave the country, but I wouldn’t consider it. I had promised myself when I came home from Germany that I’d never leave Iran again. But even if I had wanted to, it wasn’t possible. I didn’t have a passport. I was on a list of people who were not allowed to leave the country. One afternoon we received a visit from a former colleague. He sat Mitra and I down in the living room, and he told us that he’d discovered a way to leave Iran through the Turkish border. There was a powerful family there that was known to oppose the regime. He said that the checkpoints weren’t stopping cars with families. So if Mitra rode to the border with me, I’d be able to walk the rest of the way on foot. He turned to Mitra, and said: ‘This is his final chance. If he is killed, never say that his friends abandoned him. We’ve done everything we can to convince him, so now it’s up to you.’ When he was finished, Mitra turned to me and said: ‘You must go.’ And Mitra’s word is law. We set out early in the morning. It was an eight-hour drive to the Turkish border. The entire ride was spent in silence. She kept her emotions hidden. I was a tsunami of tears. We kissed goodbye in Salmas. There was a statue of Ferdowsi in the main square.” 

سی سال پیش سوگندی یاد کرده بودیم که جانمان را برای ایران ببازیم. به آن اندیشیدم. نماینده‌ی مجلسی بود که به کوهستان رفته و در جنگ و گریز جان باخته بود. با داشتن یک چشم، هنوز تیرانداز خوبی بودم. می‌توانستم در درگیری ایستادگی کنم. ولی باید چیزی در برابر جان باختن بدست آورد. می‌دیدم هزاران تن به خاک افتاده‌اند. تنها بر قدرت روحانیون روز به روز افزوده می‌شد. همان شعارهای یکسان در خیابان‌ها سرداده می‌شدند. آزادی‌هایمان را یکی پس از دیگری می‌گرفتند. با میترا و فرزندانم چه می‌کردم. او را نمی‌توانستم بی پشت و پناه بگذارم. برخی دوستان مرا به ترک کشور می‌خواندند. جان بی‌بها بود. دوستانم یکی پس از دیگری دستگیر می‌شدند. یکبار هم به گزینه‌ی رفتن نیندیشیده بودم. نه، حتا یکبار. گذرنامه هم نداشتم. نامم هم در لیست ممنوع‌الخروج‌ها قرار گرفته بود. یک روز پس از نیمروز، دوست بس ارجمند سال‌هایم به خانه‌مان آمد. به گفت‌وگو نشستیم. گفت که مسیری برای ترک ایران از راه مرز ترکیه یافته است. خانواده‌ای پرنفوذ در آن ناحیه زندگی می‌کرد که مخالف رژیم بود. پلیس ‌راه خودروهایی را که با خانواده‌ سفر می‌کردند نگه نمی‌داشت. اگر میترا با من تا شهر مرزی می‌آمد، می‌توانستم بازمانده‌ی راه را پیاده بپیمایم. او به میترا گفت که این واپسین بخت است. گفت: "ما تمام تلاش‌مان را برای راهی کردنش انجام داده‌ایم. اکنون دیگر به شما بستگی دارد. اگر ماند و کشته شد، هرگز نگویید که دوستانش او را تنها گذاشتند." میترا در خاموشی گوش فرا داد. هنگامی که سخن دوستم به پایان رسید، میترا رو به من کرد و گفت که باید بروی و سخنش قانون بود. سپیده‌دم راه افتادیم. سراسر راه را در خاموشی گذراندیم. او احساساتش را پنهان می‌کرد. من توفان اشک بودم. در شهر سلماس با بوسه‌ای یکدیگر را بدرود گفتیم. در میدان اصلی شهر تندیسی از فردوسی برپا بود