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10/06 Links Pt1: Ex-Shin Bet official: Arab states view Abbas as irrelevant; The Saudis indict the Palestinians instead of saving them; Ramallah Lynching 20 Years Later

October 6, 2020 Ian General News

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2020/10/1006-links-pt1-ex-shin-bet-official.html

From Ian:

Top ex-Shin Bet official: Arab states view Abbas as irrelevant

In contrast, Harris said that if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the upcoming election, “all of the rules of the game could change, especially because the Israeli leadership has not hid its close ties to Trump.”

He said that a Biden win would likely lead to the Palestinian issue being re-elevated to a key component of US policy in the region. At the same time, he said there could be an extended transition period early on in a Biden presidency when dealing with the corona crisis and other domestic issues would drain away any serious attention to the Palestinians.

Harris is hopeful that if Abbas is succeeded by friendlier officials like Salam Fayyad and Mohammed Dahlan, that Palestinian thinking on reaching a deal with Israel “could be refreshed.”

However, these individuals would not be on Abbas’ list for a successor and Harris said that it was unclear if the five or so top contenders would be more flexible in reaching a deal.

Another key issue to keep an eye on is security coordination with the PA.

Though Abbas has surprisingly reduced security coordination with Israel more than expected to show his anger with current Israeli-US positions on the Palestinians, Harris said that the PA has been meticulous to stop or warn Israel about any terror operations.

He said this is a core PA interest so that Israel does not accuse it of being connected to terror which could lead to another “cleaning house” operation like during the Second Intifada.

Instead, reduced cooperation has led to problematic incidents such as where the PA police were chasing a Palestinian car thief near the Israeli settlement of Hashmonaim.

Israeli forces arrested the PA police, though they were doing nothing wrong, because the PA did not coordinate the chase and any incursion into Israeli areas.

Did the Emirates turn its back on the Palestinians?

I have no doubt that the Abraham Accords recently signed on the White House lawn, between the State of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain, is nothing short of a significant breakthrough in the region. As UAE Ambassador to Washington Yosef Oteiba well described, it is a matter of “breaking the barrier of legitimacy” and “buying more time for both sides – the Israeli and the Palestinian – by removing the option of annexation from the table” (at least for the time being). Thereafter, he said, it is up to the parties in the conflict to make a wise use of their time and resolve their disputes bilaterally.

One should not be misled. The Emiratis did not turn their back on the Palestinians. Not officially and not at all. They were simply not willing to belong to the people of the region who had linked their destiny to their past. Instead, they courageously preferred to lead by example while galloping forward toward the next 50 years.

In their view, the current Palestinian old-guard leadership in the West Bank belongs to those who look back and are stuck in the past. Even if things are not stated explicitly, given that they are not precisely politically correct, they are quite clear.

It is also perhaps important to note that while the leadership of the UAE has taken the brave and groundbreaking step toward full normalization with Israel, its tweeters chirp day and night in praise of the State of Israel and Judaism. Mutually beneficial micro-agreements and projects are being forwarded in a wide variety of fields.

The Emirati population has been educated for years in accepting the “other” and living in a very multicultural, international and generally very tolerant environment. Hence, as soon as normalization became kosher, or halal, it was relatively easy for the population to embrace this new reality.

Other current or potentially future regional partners in normalization with Israel may find it a tad more difficult. Even in the tiny Kingdom of Bahrain, in which most inhabitants are Shi’ites who have been educated in a much less heterogeneous manner, the new reality will take time to set.

Czech Republic affirms commitment to move embassy to Jerusalem

The Czech Republic is ready to take further steps towards moving its embassy to Israel to Jerusalem, a spokesman for Czech President Miloš Zeman said on Monday.

The government committed to “further strengthening of our representation in Jerusalem,” in a readout from a meeting of top Czech government officials, including Zeman and the country’s prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, interior minister and parliament speaker.

Zeman’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček explained that moving the Czech embassy to Jerusalem is one of the president’s long-term goals. Prague opened a “Czech House” in Jerusalem in November 2018, meant to be a first step towards opening an embassy in the capital. The house includes a cultural center, branches of the Czech Republic’s trade and tourism offices, and a space for the Czech Ambassador to hold meetings in the capital.

Zeman has long expressed hope to move the Czech Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said the country will not break from the EU position, opposing such embassy moves and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The Saudis indict the Palestinians instead of saving them – analysis

PLO leader Yasser Arafat also chose the wrong allies, the prince said, undermining the leadership of Jordan and Lebanon over the decades, and supporting Saddam Hussein during the 1990 Gulf War.

And today, the Palestinians have sought out Turkey and Iran, which the prince also criticized.

Even more surprising was Prince Bandar arguing that the Palestinian leadership has been as bad for its people as Israel. He slammed Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s inability to work together.

Prince Bandar painted the Palestinians as ingrates. He recounted Saudi Arabian efforts to help Palestinians going as far back as 1945, advocating for their cause to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“Whenever [the Palestinians] asked for advice and help, [Saudi Arabia] would provide without expecting anything in return, but they would take the help that we provide and ignore the advice,” the Saudi prince said, with “help” referring to material support.

The Al Arabiya write-up of the interview featured a line quoting Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan as saying the stance on the Palestinian cause is “firm” and “will not change.” But that’s one line in a litany of complaints.

The interview shows a sharp shift in moderate Arab states’ leadership against Ramallah, and could very well be the opening salvo in a campaign by the Saudis against the PA.

What’s certain, following Prince Bandar’s interview, is the Palestinians can no longer view the Saudis as their salvation after Israel’s peace with the UAE and Bahrain has shifted the paradigms of the Middle East.

Saudi ex-intel chief slams Palestinian’s criticism of UAE-Israel deal

In an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television aired on Monday, the prince labeled the Palestinian authorities’ criticism a “transgression” and “reprehensible discourse.”

“The Palestinian cause is a just cause but its advocates are failures, and the Israeli cause is unjust but its advocates have proven to be successful. That sums up the events of the last 70 or 75 years,” he said in the first of a three-part airing of the interview. “There is something that successive Palestinian leadership historically share in common: they always bet on the losing side, and that comes at a price.”

The United Arab Emirates agreed a historic deal to normalize relations with Israel in August, and the Gulf state of Bahrain, a close Saudi ally, followed suit in September.

Palestinians fear the moves will weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position – known as the Arab Peace Initiative – that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab states.

President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian leadership regarded the UAE’s move as “a betrayal.” Veteran Palestinian negotiator Hanan Ashrawi told Reuters the deal was “a complete sell-out.”

Gabi Ashkenazi to meet UAE counterpart in Berlin

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi is expected to meet his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in Berlin on Tuesday, at the invitation of Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

Ashkenazi will depart on Tuesday morning on a German military plane.

The ministers will meet at the Holocaust Museum and will hold a ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial.

Then, they will hold one-on-one and trilateral meetings to focus on visa issues, aviation arrangements and establishing embassies in each other’s countries, as well as cooperation in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The ministers are also expected to discuss “strategic security matters,” Ashkenazi’s spokesman said.

Maas said “it is a great honor that the Israeli and Emirati Foreign Ministers have chosen Berlin as the location for their first meeting. The most important currency in diplomacy is trust, and I am personally grateful to both of my colleagues for placing this trust in Germany.”

The German Foreign Minister called the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates “courageous” and “the first good news in the Middle East for a long time.”

‘Never again,’ UAE’s top diplomat declares at Holocaust memorial with Ashkenazi

The foreign ministers of Israel and the United Arab Emirates visited the Holocaust Memorial in central Berlin during their “historic” first meeting in the German capital on Tuesday.

Israel’s Gabi Ashkenazi and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan bumped elbows instead of shaking hands in line with measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus, as they met face-to-face for the first time after their countries signed a US-brokered deal in mid-September to normalize relations.

It was the UAE foreign minister’s idea to visit the site alongside the senior representative of the Jewish state, the Walla news site reported.

In a handwritten message in the visitor’s book at the memorial, the Emirati top diplomat commemorated the “European Jewish victims of the Holocaust.”

“A whole group of humanity fell victim to those calling for extremism and hatred,” he wrote, adding that the visit to the memorial “underscored the importance of human values such as coexistence, tolerance and accepting the other… as well as respect for all creeds and faiths. These are the values upon which my country was founded.”

“I salute the souls of those who fell victim to the Holocaust,” Al Nahyan wrote, before quoting from a Jewish prayer translated into Arabic: “May their souls be bound up in the binds of life.”

“Never again,” he wrote, in both English and in Arabic.

Jerusalem’s OurCrowd, Dubai’s Phoenix join forces to boost Israel-UAE tech ties

OurCrowd, a Jerusalem-based crowdfunding venture capital firm, said on Tuesday it has signed an accord with Dubai-based Phoenix Capital LLC, a business development company, to collaborate to increase business and tech ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

This is the first announced alliance between a UAE corporation and a major Israeli venture investment firm, OurCrowd said in a statement.

Founded by Jonathan Medved, OurCrowd has $1.5 billion of committed funding from investors and has a portfolio of 220 startups in which its funds have invested. Phoenix, headed by Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah, the chairman of Al Naboodah Investments LLC and part of the Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group, will serve individuals and family offices located in the Gulf that seek to invest in the Israeli tech ecosystem.

As part of the collaboration, OurCrowd will identify and support UAE-based startups that are seeking to grow and develop in Israel, and boost business collaborations between its portfolio startups and UAE startups, the statement said.

OurCrowd also said it has appointed Sabah al-Binali, an Emirati investor and executive, as a venture partner to head its newly formed Gulf region activities.

Phoenix will enable investors to access OurCrowd’s tech investment options in a variety of fields, including agritech, edtech, healthtech, artificial intelligence and robotics. The Dubai-based firm will introduce OurCrowd to Gulf-based startups that are looking to raise funds via OurCrowd’s platform, and will help Israeli-based startups find potential partners in the Gulf region, the statement said.

Finablr in sale talks with Israel’s Prism Advance Solutions

Payments firm Finablr is in sale talks with Israeli company Prism Advance Solutions, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

Finablr, which has been in talks to find fresh funding for months, said the offer from the company has a number of key benefits, according to a statement to the London Stock Exchange, where the company’s share used to trade. It will lead to a restructuring and settlement of all of the company’s outstanding debts, a restructuring of its board and its subsidiary companies and it will provide necessary working capital. It will also look to complete a deal within a month.

“After months of hard work under very trying liquidity conditions compounded by the impact of the coronavirus on our operations, I am excited to now go forward with Prism,” Bhairav Trivedi, chief executive of Finablr, said.

Finablr did not provide any details about the size of the bid.

“We are delighted with the Finablr deal, representing as it is the first major UAE-Israeli commercial transaction,” Guy Rothschild, co-founder and director of Prism Advance Solutions, said. “We are very thankful to the UAE leadership and authorities who have been incredibly supportive of us. We look forward to working closely with them in the revival of the company.”

Finablr owns a number of foreign exchange and digital payments companies including UAE Exchange, Xpress Money, Unimoni, Remit2India and Bayan Pay. It also previously owned the Travelex foreign exchange business, but that was taken over by its lenders in a separate restructuring exercise in July. (h/t Zvi)

An open letter: Israeli-Americans for Trump

Here are four compelling reasons why American-Israelis should vote for Donald Trump’s re-election – and why it matters.

First, it should be obvious that gratitude is a fundamental Jewish virtue and, for that reason alone, the simple gesture of voting to re-elect the most pro-Israel president in history should suffice. But concomitant with gratitude should be the realization that President Trump has incorporated Israel’s best interests into American domestic and foreign policy to an unprecedented degree.

Thus – a partial list follows – he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the American embassy there; he recognized the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory and the legality of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria; he pulled America out of the Iran nuclear deal and orchestrated peace treaties between Israel and two Gulf States, with others apparently in the works; he closed the PLO mission in Washington and halted aid to the Palestine Authority, recognizing that American taxpayer dollars were being diverted to fund the PA’s “pay for slay” travesty; he unequivocally defended Israeli in the United Nations and other international forums, and worked to undo the lasting damage of the anti-Israel resolution spearheaded by the American government in the waning days of the Obama-Biden administration that declared, among other things, that the Western Wall is Arab territory; he has repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism, and became the only president to sign an Executive Order combating anti-Semitism on college campuses (where it is rampant in America) he threatened to freeze federal funds to colleges that don’t protect Jews from discrimination on campus.

The list goes on.

Thanks to Trump, this is not 1963 all over again

Trump knows how and when to play good cop/bad cop. The scolds are too ignorant to understand this.

Putin has no plans to bury us. He’s happy enough being master over his corner of the world.

He likes his power and his fame. For him it’s Hollywood and the life of a Studio Mogul. He does not need the United States to consolidate his stardom.

Putin is no monster, the likes of those who came before him. Can he be ruthless? Certainly. It’s the way of empires and emperors. Read Machiavelli.

Trump chose harmony, even if it meant buttering-up the undeserving…and it’s been working.

Are we at war with the Arab world, or even the Muslim world? Relations have seldom been better, thanks to the wisdom of President Trump.

The scolds…how they howled when Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and then again after he cut the “Palestinian Cause” down to size.

The Arab Street will erupt, they predicted. The opposite happened, as more and more Sunni nations are falling in behind the UAE to make peace with Israel.

President Trump deserves to rest easy during his convalescence. He has earned our gratitude, but the scolds will continue to walk among us.

That too is the way of the world.

MFAT officials justify NZ-funded hate to minister

Documents obtained under the Official Information Act by the Israel Institute of New Zealand show that, for the first time ever, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) briefed the minister about hate and incitement to violence taught in NZ-funded UNRWA schools.

However, officials maintain it is still acceptable for New Zealand taxpayers to continue funding the hateful curriculum.

The briefing document states Members of the public have alerted officials to allegations of online hate speech and support for terror groups by UNRWA staff. New Zealand has investigated all allegations with UNRWA, other donors, [redacted] and with Five Eyes members to ascertain the validity of these claims. We are satisfied that these issues are not systemic within UNRWA. … In response to media allegations that UNRWA-supplied textbooks promote anti-Semitism and terrorism, officials have confirmed that the Palestinian Authority, not UNRWA, is responsible for the final curriculum and production of textbooks. MFAT briefing to the minister, March 2020

This is the first time that MFAT officials have briefed the minister about such issues. Documents previously obtained by the Israel Institute of New Zealand showed that officials also failed to record issues when they were raised in meetings. This might partly explain why Kate Bradlow, the NZ lead on donorship [sic] to UNRWA has decided that “New Zealand is confident in the operational quality, integrity and value of UNRWA”.

However, the attempt to justify continued taxpayer funding of hate is deeply concerning. It is correct that the textbooks used in UNRWA schools are supplied by the Palestinian Authority, but it should not matter where the texts came from – they are being used in UNRWA schools (and UNRWA continually employs staff who incite violence on social media and/or are affiliated with terror groups). It is astounding that NZ government officials feel so comfortable effectively saying “we don’t mind funding an organisation that teaches hate and incites violence because they get the material from somewhere external.”

5,647 new COVID cases reported, serious cases steady at 875

A total of 52,059 coronavirus tests processed on Monday resulted in 5,647 confirmed cases, a 10.8% positive rate, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning. This number includes tests to determine whether existing patients had recovered.

The number of hospitalized patients listed in serious condition remained steady as of 7 a.m. at 875, 220 of whom were on ventilators.

Since the start of the COVID epidemic in Israel, 1,757 people have died of the virus, up from 1,749 on Monday evening. A total of 273,826 Israelis have contracted the virus, and 208,763 have recovered.

As of Tuesday, there were 63,305 active of symptomatic cases.

The epidemic continues to take a heavy toll on medical workers, with 2,513 in quarantine, including 234 doctors and 602 nurses. As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, there were a record 2,040 confirmed cased among medical workers.

According to the National Coronavirus Knowledge and Information Center, the number of new confirmed cases per day based on population size remains one of the highest in the world.

“In the past few days we have begun to see a certain drop in the percentage of positive coronavirus tests. However, the current number, around 11%, is still very high and indicative of much more widespread infection than has been identified.

Rocket fired from Gaza at southern Israel; IDF retaliates with strike

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel late Monday, the army said, without reporting any casualties or damage.

Sirens sounded in areas of southern Israel neighboring Gaza to warn of the incoming fire, for which there was no claim of responsibility.

The army said the projectile likely fell in an open area.

Hours later, the army said an Israel Defense Forces aircraft struck a Hamas military installation in the southern Gaza Strip in retaliation for the rocket fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The last cross-border rocket attack, after which Israel retaliated with air raids, came on September 15 and coincided with the signing in Washington of normalization deals between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

A truce mediated by Qatar has since held.

During the previous barrage last month, 15 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel, one of which struck the city of Ashdod, injuring two people. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, the Israel Defense Forces said.

IDF says soldiers fire on Palestinians wielding Molotov cocktails, wounding one

Israel Defense Forces soldiers thwarted an attempt by Palestinian assailants to attack troops near Einav checkpoint in the West Bank on Monday night, the IDF said.

“During a routine IDF operation near a military post, soldiers identified three terrorists who threw Molotov cocktails at them,” the IDF said in a statement.

The confrontation took place east of the Palestinian city of Tulkarem.

“The fighters responded by firing and one of the terrorists was hit. None of our forces was injured. IDF soldiers are searching the area for the remaining two terrorists,” the IDF said.

The official Palestinian Authority news agency, WAFA, reported that one Palestinian on the scene was injured and in unknown condition, although initial Palestinian media reports had claimed that one of those shot had died on the spot.

Ramallah Lynch 20 Years Later and Leftist Media Still Ignores the Evil we are Up Against

Strategic Affairs Ministry: PLO increasing pressure on EU to change policy

The PLO is increasing pressure on the EU in an attempt to change the policy by which donors must verify that third parties who benefit from donations to Palestinian NGOs are not on EU sanctions list, according to the Strategic Affairs Ministry. The ministry believes that this is an attempt to gain political clout during the current financial distress and the attempt to reconcile with Hamas.

Various Palestinian organizations have been refusing to sign contracts due to this policy and object to the inclusion of Palestinian political parties such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad on sanctions lists, the ministry said.

Secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat consulted with members of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, NGOs and other organizations on the topic in Ramallah at the end of September. At the meeting, the organizations discussed how to pressure the EU to remove certain organizations from the list and how to fight delegitimization of such organizations, among other topics.

The meeting was also intended to increase cooperation between Palestinian organizations and emphasize the importance of parliamentary work in multiple countries, the Strategic Affairs Ministry said.

The ministry said that it is too soon to tell if there will be significant changes in the PLO’s current conduct or if the meeting was primarily intended to send internal messages.

Fatah leaders visit Syria, hold unity talks with rejectionist groups

A senior delegation of officials from the Palestinian ruling Fatah faction met in Damascus on Tuesday with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and briefed him on the latest developments concerning the Palestinian issue, particularly efforts to achieve Palestinian unity and thwart Israeli and US “conspiracies” against the Palestinians.

The delegation, headed by Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, arrived in Damascus on Monday and is scheduled to also hold discussions with representatives of five Palestinian groups that are strongly opposed to any peace process with Israel. In addition to Rajoub, the delegation consists of Samir al-Rifai, Rouhi Fattouh and Anwar Abdel Hadi.

Two weeks ago, the Fatah officials held talks with Hamas leaders in Istanbul, Turkey, as part of efforts to reach agreement on achieving national unity and holding new elections for the Palestinian Authority presidency, the PA parliament (Palestine Legislative Council) and the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s legislative body.

During the meeting with the Syrian deputy foreign minister, Rajoub praised the Syrian government’s “ability to achieve security and stability” and expressed hope that it would succeed in “eradicating terrorism in all parts of Syria.”

Relations between Fatah, the largest PLO faction, and Syria improved after the Syrian authorities expelled Hamas leaders and closed down their offices in Damascus several years ago.

PMW: PMW welcomes Facebook’s limiting Fatah’s page

After extensive PMW correspondence with Facebook about Fatah’s promotion of terror ‎and glorification of violence on its official Facebook page, and following PMW ‎campaigns against Fatah’s page and Facebook itself that informed and warned ‎Facebook that they were supplying a platform for Fatah’s terror promotion, hate ‎speech, and Antisemitism, Facebook finally took steps against Fatah. ‎

In June Fatah’s Facebook page was temporarily closed following three warnings by ‎Facebook. This week Facebook took another significant step by canceling Fatah’s ‎option to boost posts – i.e., posts that are promoted as ads.‎

The image above posted by Fatah shows a computer screen with Facebook open on it ‎and a red “no” symbol over the page. Gold coins appear next to the screen.‎

Posted text: “As part of an ongoing campaign against Palestinian content‎ Facebook is stopping all the boosted posts of the official Fatah Facebook page”‎ [Official Fatah Facebook page, Sept. 26, 2020]‎

Following PMW’s repeated exposure of Fatah terror promotion on its Facebook page ‎and the disciplinary steps taken by Facebook, PMW can report there has been a drop ‎in Fatah terror promotion and terror glorification in recent months on the Facebook ‎page.‎

PMW welcomes Facebook’s steps against Fatah. PMW will continue monitoring ‎Fatah’s posts to expose any terror promotion or Antisemitism and will notify Facebook of these and other violations as they occur. Should Fatah resume using Facebook as a platform to promote terror we will again demand that Facebook treat Fatah with the same standards it applies to other terror promotion and completely close the page.

“Effect lasts for years” when imprisoned terrorists see their family members on PA TV PA TV fulfill murderer of Israeli teen’s wish to see his mother’s funeral “The son is always right, and the daughter is wrong” – message to kids from Palestinian parents

Top US Jewish Group Urges Olympics Ban for Iran Over Execution of Champion Wrestler

A top American Jewish group is spearheading a petition urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Iran from the upcoming 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo due to its recent execution of a national wrestling champion.

Navid Afkari was executed on September 12 for the alleged killing of a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States — during an anti-regime protest in 2018.

He was also charged with various other offenses, most of them political in nature, including “insulting” Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Afkari said he had been forced to confess under torture, and his case caused an international uproar, with condemnations from around the world, including from the IOC itself.

The petition written by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which is available to sign online, states that Iran ought to be banned from the Olympics “due to its repeated and ongoing violations of the Olympic Charter, of the Olympic ethos, and of basic human rights.”

It said that “Afkari’s execution has shed light on Iran’s ongoing and wide-ranging abuses against its own people, including its athletes. Those abuses must not go unanswered. All people of conscience must take a stand and we call on the IOC to take the lead.”

Pro-Armenia Rally-Goers In Philadelphia Chant ‘Turkey Is Isis’ Outside City Hall

A pro-Armenia rally protesting the United States’ aid to Azerbaijan and Turkey in light of their recent attack on Armenia was held outside Philadelphia’s City Hall on Sunday, Oct. 4.

The rally was inspired by the violent conflict that broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia last weekend. The fighting was the result of rehashed border disputes that last peaked between the two former Soviet countries in the 1990’s, Reuters reports.

A crowd gathered to protest “the attack on Armenia” and “the aid the United States provided to Azerbaijan,” the organizer of the rally, who wished to remain anonymous, told DCNF.

“The attack was started by Azerbaijan on the the 27th [of September 2020], and they destroyed [Armenian] villages,” the rally’s organizer told DCNF. “Congress can condemn all the aid they’re sending to Turkey,” the rally’s organizer told DCNF. (RELATED: Armenian Jet Allegedly Shot Down By Turkey As Conflict Escalates In The Caucasus)

Call-and-response style chants were shouted by more than 200 rally-goers clad in Armenian flags. “Turkey wants war. Armenia wants peace” and “Stop Azeri aggression” were among some of the slogans shouted.

The rally’s organizer claimed to speak on behalf of the Philadelphia Armenian community in declaring the Turkish aggression “a simple aim…to complete the Armenian genocide.”

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