On June 7, Hamas held its usual Friday demonstrations at the border with Israel. But this particular protest stood out, in that it was given the name “World Jerusalem Day” by its terrorist sponsors. Hillel Frisch notes the significance of this seemingly boilerplate title:
In the Arab world, it is public knowledge that World Jerusalem Day was one of the first commemoration days Ayatollah Khomeini created and placed on the official calendar of the newly created Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. . . . Inevitably, [it is celebrated with] the chants, “Down with the great Satan, the United States, and the small Satan, the Zionist entity” and the burning of American and Israeli flags and effigies of American and Israeli leaders. Images of these events are then disseminated by the official Iranian media sites in Farsi, English, Arabic, and Turkish.
While Iranian leaders and their proxies are vocal on that day, Sunni Arab leaders never so much as mention it, let alone give speeches in its honor. . . . The Palestinian Authority is also clearly in the Sunni Arab state consensus in ignoring World Jerusalem Day. So linked is World Jerusalem Day with Iran and its proxies that even Hamas, a Sunni organization with traditionally strong ties with Iran, has refrained from commemorating it up to now.
This raises the question why Hamas has changed course. [Perhaps it is out of concern that] President Trump will successfully woo the Arab states to get behind his peace plan. Hamas must realize that placing World Jerusalem Day on the “resistance” calendar deepens the Palestinian divide that has existed since its takeover of Gaza twilight years ago.
Read more on BESA Center: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/ahead-of-the-bahrain-conference-hamas-casts-its-lot-with-iran/