“Today, no Arab feels safe in his country, ironically, the sole exceptions are Palestinians in the West Bank because they know Israel will defend them if ISIS attacks.”

This is how a prominent Arab writer, Walid Abimerchid, started his latest newspaper column last week, going on to describe a “growing fatigue with the whole Palestine issue.” Even in Gaza, most people secretly believe that Israel is their ultimate protection against ISIS fighters trying to strike roots in the Sinai Even WEIRDER by far…. “Today, it is Iran and not Israel the Arabs ought to worry about,” says Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Afghan Hizb Islami (Islamic Party) who was sheltered, financed and armed by Tehran for decades. ps - Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the former Prime Minister of Afghanistan and founder and active leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party, and a designated “global terrorist” by the United States. Not surprisingly, Iran’s leaders try to keep the Palestine issue on the front burner by casting themselves as the “liberators of Jerusalem.” That was the theme of the “Jerusalem Day” events last week presided over by President Hassan Rouhani and inaugurated with a message from “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei. Both men promised to “liberate Palestine” and wipe Israel off the map. But their show attracted less attention than at any time in the past 30 years. The Khomeinist regime’s TV station in Tehran complained that global media had ignored “Jerusalem Day” but could hardly restrain its jubilation when reporting a small pro-Iran gathering in Jerusalem itself, where some posters of Khamenei were distributed among visitors to the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Khomeinists missed the irony of Israel being the only government in the Middle East, outside Iran itself, to allow such a demonstration. HT- the GREAT, AMIR TAHERI