Hezbollah and Hamas chiefs to address Iran-backed virtual ‘Quds Day’ rally

Leaders of Iran-backed terrorist groups across the Middle East will participate in a virtual rally on Friday to mark “Quds Day” — the annual event sponsored by the Tehran regime to promote the elimination of the State of Israel.

According to Press TV — the regime’s English-language propaganda channel — the rally will be broadcast online and on satellite channels on Friday evening.

Terrorist chiefs slated to speak at the rally include Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as Ismail Haniyeh of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, and Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Iran confirmed two weeks ago that rallies and demonstrations for “Quds Day” this year would be shifted online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Inside Iran, however, officials have said that they would encourage physical rallies to proceed wherever possible.

“Quds (Jerusalem) Day” was launched as an annual event in 1979 by Iran’s Islamist leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — which falls this year on May 22. Mass rallies urging Israel’s violent destruction are typically held in Tehran and other Iranian cities, with pro-Iranian groups in London, Berlin, Vienna and other international cities holding demonstrations that display the flag of Hezbollah along with virulently anti-Zionist and antisemitic slogans.

Separately, Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, issued a “Quds Day” tweet on Thursday with distinctly antisemitic overtones.

“‘Bibi-Firsters’—whether in Foggy Bottom or 1600 Penn—are complicit in all Israeli crimes against humanity,” Zarif wrote, invoking the conspiracy theory that the US government is controlled by “Zionists” whose first loyalty is to Israel.

Source: Algemeiner