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Iran promotes the destruction of Israel at its annual Quds Day march, but had to cancel the event because coronavirus has ravaged the Islamic Republic.
By Yakir Benzion
Hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Iran is cancelling the annual Quds Day events at which Iranian leaders lead throngs of followers in chanting “death to Israel.”
Countrywide demonstrations for Quds (Jerusalem) Day will be “commemorated with other methods,” the Tasnim news agency reported Sunday.
“Given the coronavirus situation in Tehran, it is unlikely that it will be possible to hold a march in Tehran,” spokesman of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Ramezan Sharif said.
Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei is scheduled to deliver a speech and the organizers of the event “will also take advantage of the media and receive messages from anti-Israeli resistance officials.”
Jerusalem, called Al-Quds in Arabic, is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine and Quds Day was started by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who infected Iranians with the slogans “death to America, death to Israel.”
The fundamentalist Khomeini came to power in the Islamic revolution in 1979 and his call for the destruction of Israel has been a central policy of Iran ever since. In speeches to Iranians Khomeini said “We must all rise, destroy Israel…” and “It is incumbent on every Muslim to arm himself against Israel.”
Traditionally held on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Iran has tried to spread the event around the world with rallies in other countries at which Israeli and American flags are burned and followers call for the destruction of Israel.
Iran’s mercenary commando force is named the Quds Force, referring to the nation’s stated goal of “liberating” Jerusalem from Zionists.
Sharif said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh or another “major figure of resistance” might take part in the Quds Day commemorations in Tehran as a guest.
Alongside Tehran, Beirut, and Damascus, Quds Day rallies have been held in several European and North American cities, among them London, Berlin, and Toronto, under the auspices of pro-Iranian Muslim organizations.
As well as providing a platform for openly anti-Semitic speakers, the rallies have become notorious for proudly displaying the flag of Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy terror organization in Lebanon.
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