While Israel has denied its involvement in the crash that took place amid bad weather in a mountainous region, the death of two senior Iranian officials less than two months after Iran’s large-scale assault against Israel poses serious questions regarding the possible fallout for the Jewish state.
Raisi became president of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2021, in elections widely seen as rigged, after a long and violent career in the regime’s judicial branch.
He was well-known as a hardliner and enthusiastic supporter of crackdowns against regime critics, earning the moniker “butcher/executioner of Tehran” for his involvement in the torture and murder of at least 1,500 – and possibly as many as 30,000 – regime opponents following the Iran-Iraq War in 1988.
Raisi never regretted his part in the massacre, calling it “divine punishment” and a “proud achievement” for the revolutionary regime. More Here
A pro-Israel conference called Israel Summit, which was set to be held at the Sonesta Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, was forced to change venues after a pro-Palestine group Palestine Hurra Collective Nashville began calling the hotel and demanding the event be cancelled.
The pro-Palestine group posted a call for action to its Instagram account, asking supporters to contact the hotel and demand the cancellation of the summit. It even posted a script for supporters to use when speaking to the hotel, accusing Israel of genocide.
“Call relentlessly until this event is shut down,” the group wrote in their Instagram post. More Here
Netanyahu meets with senior Biden aid to discuss IDF Rafah op, hostage deal and Saudi normalization