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US President Donald Trump speaks, flanked by his son-in-law Jared Kushner (L), during a daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 2, 2020, in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

By Yuram Abdullah Weiler

Quds Day is an internationally commemorated day instituted by Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini (RA), the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to garner worldwide support for the oppressed Palestinian people. Needless to say, this day of international protest against the Zionist apartheid regime’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is neither supported nor even acknowledged by US President Donald Trump’s Zionist-aligned, neo-fascist cabal in Washington.

Protesting Zionism on Quds Day

Celebrated in Palestine, Iran, Iraq and elsewhere around the world by all who fight against oppression, Quds Day was instituted by Imam Khomeini on August 7, 1979 following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran earlier that year. Imam Khomeini’s intent upon founding Quds Day, which falls every year on the last Friday in Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, was that it should be an annual day of unity among Muslims and a show of solidarity against the Great Satan (America) and its corrupt Zionist ally.

"Regarding Israel," Imam Khomeini stated, "Certainly we shall not help an illegitimate, usurper government which is transgressing the rights of the Muslims and is an enemy of Islam." Imam Khomeini further affirmed, "We are always supporting our Palestinian and Arab brothers." Lamenting the disunity of Muslims in the world today, the Imam noted, "They clearly see that a flimsy state like Israel is standing in the Muslims’ face. If they were united, and each one of them poured just a bucket of water on Israel it would be drifted away by the flood."

Trump’s secular revivalism

An unlikely candidate to be an evangelical leader, Trump has nevertheless managed to tap into what might be termed "secular revivalism" and thereby gain political support from the vast network of Christian Zionists in America. Even his 2016 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again" is a revivalist phrase used by Ronald Reagan in his campaign for the presidency in 1980. "We can observe a gradual secularization of revivalist nationalism, one that could even accommodate a non-evangelical figure like Donald Trump," stated Dan Hummel, a history scholar at Harvard’s Ash Center.

To bolster his evangelical standing, Trump has gone so far as to sign an executive order to place Jews in the same protected status as Blacks and other minorities under Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act, incidentally, was implemented to protect people against discrimination by race, color, or national origin; it specifically does not cover religious discrimination. To overcome this shortcoming in the law and make it applicable for the purpose of squelching dissent against Zionism, Trump conflates religion and race in his executive order by stating that "individuals who face discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin do not lose protection under Title VI for also being a member of a group that shares common religious practices." Thus by conflating the Jewish religion with race and ethnicity, Trump has effectively equated anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism in order to stifle criticism of the Israeli entity.

POTUS’ Jewish son-in-law

Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner made the intent of the executive order crystal clear in a New York Times op-ed published in December 2019. Announcing that he "could not be more proud of President Trump’s new policy," the alleged senior advisor went on to explain that by using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, his father-in-law "has stated publicly and on the record: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism." Kushner, by the way, has ties to a family real estate business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which has received $30 million in investments from Menora Mivtachim, one of Israel’s largest financial institutions.

Kushner has been his father-in-law’s Middle East envoy and chief architect of the "Deal of the Century," the dead-on-arrival peace plan for Palestine. Heavily tilted in favor of the Zionist regime, Kushner’s peace plan was immediately dismissed by Palestinian leaders as an unworkable attempt to construct an economic edifice devoid of a political foundation. Concerning the plan, senior PLO member Hanan Ashrawi remarked, "It is totally divorced from reality. The elephant in the room is the occupation itself." And Kushner’s family has been a solid supporter of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, having donated nearly $300,000 to Friends of Israeli Defense Forces, which runs educational and cultural programs for Israeli soldiers.

A ‘secular’ Zionist collaborator

Beyond being a "secular revivalist," Trump has proven to be a secular Zionist collaborator of the highest caliber. Among his most insidious accomplishments has been the transfer of the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Al Quds. In addition, he has recognized the Israeli entity’s illegal 1981 annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights, a move in support of corrupt Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu, who rewarded his American benefactor by naming an illegal settlement in the occupied Syrian territory "Trump Heights."

To further inflict suffering and misery on the oppressed Palestinians, Trump decided to cut all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides vital services to Palestinian refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and elsewhere. Announcing the move coincident with the Jewish New Year, the rogue US president proudly exclaimed, "I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians."

Finally, the Trump regime has concluded that it does not view the illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands as "illegal." US secretary of state Michael Pompeo opined that "the United States has concluded that the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law." Netanyahu applauded the policy revision as righting "a historical wrong," while rival Benny Gantz spoke gushingly of the US "firm stance with Israel and its commitment to the security and future of the entire Middle East."

Trump’s arch-Zionist benefactor

Trump is backed by casino magnate and arch-Zionist Sheldon Adelson, and has steadfastly carried out his patron’s agenda. Far from being financially independent, Trump met with Adelson in September of 2016 to cut a deal for boosting his then flailing presidential campaign and came away with $25 million in contributions. Adelson describing his political views said, "I’m a one-issue person. That issue is Israel." Clearly, the Zionist casino mogul has gotten his money’s worth with his man Trump, particularly with the shredding of the JCPOA. In fact, Adelson has so much clout within the Trump administration, that cabinet level officials dare not displease him; one who did was summarily replaced.

The amount of influence that Adelson has with Trump brings into question just who is crafting US policy in the Middle East. The day before Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in May of 2018, Adelson had met with him and a few other high level officials in Washington. A few days later, he was present at the opening ceremony of the US embassy in Jerusalem Al Quds along with Kushner and several members of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which is heavily funded by the casino magnate. Needless to say, Trump’s courting and acceptance of Adelson’s support contradicts claims of a self-financed presidential run. "I don’t need anybody’s money," Trump had said in June of 2015. Adelson is expected to donate some $100 million to Trump’s 2020 reelection bid, which would oblige him to continue his benefactor’s pro-Zionist policies.

Christian antisemitism behind Zionism

Of course the whole Zionist project in Palestine has been bolstered by the latent antisemitism inherent in Christian Zionist theology, whose adherents have striven vigorously to rid Europe of Jews by establishing a "homeland" for them in the Holy Land as a prelude to the End Times. In the eschatology of Christian Zionism, Jesus (as) will reappear before the final judgment, at which time the Jews will be faced with a choice of either conversion to Christianity or eternal damnation. Such extremist views are promulgated by Christian Zionists such as Chuck Hagee of the anti-Palestinian group Christians United For Israel (CUFI), and Robert Jeffress of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, both of whom led prayers at the opening ceremony of the new illegal US embassy in Jerusalem Al Quds.

Interestingly enough, Lord Arthur Balfour of 1917 Balfour Declaration infamy was himself an anti-Semite, and was pronounced as such by no less august convention than the Seventh Zionist Congress during its meeting in Basel, Switzerland in 1905. Condemning Balfour, the Zionists claimed his views amounted to "open anti-Semitism against the whole Jewish people." Moreover, Balfour was a white supremacist, once declaring, "Men are not born equal, the white and black races are not born with equal capacities: they are born with different capacities which education cannot and will not change."

Next year in Jerusalem Al Quds

Ultimately, the Muslims will prevail over the arrogant powers. "All must know that the objective of the great powers in creating Israel will not be fulfilled by occupying Palestine," Imam Khomeini predicted. "If all the Muslims in the world ... come out of their houses on Quds Day into the streets and shout, ‘Death to USA! Death to Israel!" the Imam explained, "This very shouting will bring death upon them." May next year’s Quds Day bear witness to the liberation of Jerusalem Al Quds from the Zionist usurpers and its rightful return to the Muslims.

Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer educated in mathematics turned writer and political critic who has written dozens of articles on Islam, social justice, economics, and politics focusing mainly on the Middle East and US policies. His work has appeared on Tehran Times, Mehr News, Press TV, Iran Daily, IRIB, Fars News, Palestine Chronicle, Salem-News, Khabar Online, Imam Reza Network, Habilian Association, Shiite News, Countercurrents, Uruknet, Turkish Weekly, American Herald Tribune and Hezbollah. In addition, he has frequently appeared as a guest commentator on Press TV, Al Etejah, and Alalam. A dissenting voice from the "Belly of the Beast", he currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA.

Weiler wrote this article for Press TV website.