Adham Sharkawi, a journalist of Palestinian origin who writes a column for the Qatari Al-Watan daily, likewise shared a video of the Los Angeles fires and wished death on the American “infidels.”
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report published by MEMRI, Ayatollah Rasoul Falahati, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran’s northern province of Gilan, said that “the fire [in Los Angeles] is the fire of the hatred and the curse of the oppressed and strong women, children, and young people of Gaza who were unjustly killed, and it has struck the Americans. While America had all the conditions [necessary] to put out the fire, it did not succeed in doing so, which is amazing.”
He added, “God has again shown his might and vengeance to humanity, and this fire was His vengeance against the American leaders. Therefore, it is via this fire that God has shown His infinite and eternal might to humanity, when he avenged the cry of the oppressed. The terrible fire in America is the fire of God’s vengeance. A city the size of Gaza has burned, and all its residents were America’s capitalists.”
Iranian foreign affairs analyst Mohammad Ghaderi discussed the Los Angeles fires on Iran’s Ofogh TV, proclaiming that while he does not want to say that it is karma for Gaza, he stressed that it is impossible to ignore the money that the U.S. is paying for the bombs that are being dropped on Gaza. Show host Mohammad Reza Bagheri responded that the reason for the weakness and incompetence in fighting the fires is that instead of spending the money at home for its own needs, the U.S. has sent bombs and money to the “child-killing Israelis.”
On its front page, the regime mouthpiece Kayhan daily wrote, “The cry of the children and mothers of Gaza has finally struck America. Within four days, the biggest fire in the history of the state of California has burned the city of Los Angeles. $150 billion dollars of damage has been caused to the city as of this writing, and this is while America has helped the Zionist regime with $30 billion to destroy Gaza!”
They continued, “As the famous saying from Persian literature goes, ‘he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind.” A recent example of this saying is today’s California fires. For the past 15 months, America created apocalyptic scenes in Gaza with its military and economic support for the Zionist regime. In Gaza, Israel has bombed, and is bombing, homes, schools, mosques, clinics, and hospitals. But the cry of the oppressed children of Gaza and of the Palestinian mothers has finally struck America, such that a similar situation prevails in California and in the city of Los Angeles. James Woods, the American actor who called for the ‘ultimate killing of the residents of Gaza’ [sic], wept like a child in a CNN interview after his home burned.”
Vitrina magazine, a publication of the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency, also linked the Los Angeles fires to the destruction in Gaza: “Destruction of at least 10,000 homes, losses of at least $150 billion are only part of the damage caused by the unprecedented fires in California and Los Angeles. The homes of those who destroyed the homes of the residents of Gaza and Lebanon were themselves destroyed. The vengeance of the God of Gaza against those who destroyed the Palestinian homes.”
MEMRI also reported that Qatari journalist Najat Ali wrote: “Destruction reigns supreme in Gaza, to the point that it has turned into a ghost town like a scene from a Hollywood science fiction movie. But the irony is that what Gaza is experiencing at the hands of Israeli war criminals is now [also] being experienced by Los Angeles, America, at the hands of nature, in a similarity that evokes both wonder and astonishment!”
According to Ali, “”After the U.S., in support of Israel, repeatedly threatened and warned the Middle East with hell, [this] divine response arrived and struck Los Angeles in Southern California, so that it would experience the hell that U.S. President-elect [Donald Trump] has repeatedly threatened to bring down on the region. It’s like a divine warning to Washington; due to the unlimited military aid it extends to Israel and its policy of supporting the killing of Palestinians in Israel’s massacres and war of extermination against the people of Gaza.”
Ali added, “Praise be to Allah the Almighty! The scene of the evacuation of the Los Angeles hospital due to the fires is the same as the scenes of the evacuation of Gaza hospitals under the bombardments – in what seems to be divine punishment for the American positions that have contributed to the ongoing tragedies in Gaza. Moreover, the homes and mansions of many celebrities have burned down, including the home of actor James Woods, who called for the destruction and burning of the Palestinian people. The scenes of destruction caused by the fires are remarkably similar to those left behind by the war of extermination in Gaza!!”
The Qatari journalist noted, “The [Los Angeles] fires are a natural disaster that has caused more damage than [some] wars, for they have burned extensive areas in the largest city in [the western U.S.] and destroyed over 10,000 homes and structures, [and] the economic damage from the fires is estimated at $135-150 bn. After the burning of the hearts of women and children in Gaza and the killing of the joy in their souls, this disaster has come along to burn the heart of the U.S… The fire is devouring the most famous of cities, Hollywood, destroying theaters, cinemas and the homes of celebrities, striking terror in everyone’s hearts.”
According to him, “The images and scenes are identical, showing that there is no difference between the Jabalia [refugee camp in northern Gaza] and Los Angeles. The world saw heavenly [forces] turning the gardens of California into ash, just as the occupation has turned the gardens of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun into ruins! The images of displacement are also identical: just as the people of northern Gaza had to leave, so too did the people of Los Angeles, with power outages and schools closed down… Perhaps these fires will serve as a warning to the U.S., that it must reconsider its relations with the Israeli occupation and its unwavering support for its policies and crimes, which bring [the U.S.] nothing but further damage.”
Qatari journalist Abd Al-Aziz Muhammad concurred: “The American aid squandered by the occupation [i.e., by Israel] in its Gaza war amounted to about $60 bn. The damage caused by the recent U.S. fires has reached about $150 bn. Trump said a few days ago that he will bring hell upon the region, yet hell has arrived in the heart of the U.S., with hundreds of thousands of Americans displaced and thousands of homes and mansions lost. I trusted in the vengeance and in the victory of the One and Only Almighty God.”
Adham Sharkawi, a journalist of Palestinian origin who writes a column for the Qatari Al-Watan daily, likewise shared a video of the fires and wished death on the American “infidels,” writing: “Some of our people are sad for what is happening in America, and you get the feeling that they are about to pick up pails of water and rush off to help put out the fires. [This] is America, which [provided] the weapons for pulverizing Gaza around the clock. America whose hands are stained with the blood of Muslims. O Allah, I repeat Noah’s prayer to you [in Quran 71:26]: ‘Lord, do not let a single infidel remain alive!'”
Similarly, Palestinian Media Watch reported that Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority, published an anti-Trump cartoon in the wake of the Los Angeles fires: “The cartoon shows President-elect Donald Trump warning that “I will open the gates of hell on the Middle East” as the California fires burn behind him. A verse from the Quran appears below the cartoon insinuating that the fires are Divine punishment for Trump’s threats. The verse states that people believe they are in control of their beautiful world, but Allah will “mow it down as if it never flourished,” serving as a sign that humanity should learn its lesson.”
Cartoon by Itamar Marcus.
