A website that is close to the Iranian regime is explaining why the Islamist powers that run the nation are having problems.
It's the Jews.
Of course.
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But not just the Jews … it's their sorcery.
The report comes from the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors media in the Middle East.
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The site reports Mehdi Taeb, who is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and leads the Ammar Base think tank, said this month that the Jews are the most powerful sorcerers in the world today and that they have used their powers to attack Iran.
Taeb said the Jews have turned the United States into their tool and have gotten it to impose sanctions on Iran.
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"He added that while Iran has so far withstood their assaults, they have not yet used the full scope of their powers," MEMRI reported.
The Iranian regime website, according to Rasanews.ir, said: "Speaking on April 20, 2013, to students at a religious seminary in Ahwaz, Mehdi Taeb noted, 'The Jews are currently subjecting us to an unprecedented trial. As you read in the Quran, Solomon ruled the world … and God ordered a group of sorcerers to come out against him. The Jews have the greatest powers of sorcery, and they make use of this tool.'"
The source continued quoting Taeb: "All the measures that have been brought against us originate with the Zionists. The U.S. is a tool in their hands. So far, they have not used the full [scope] of their sorcery against us. Sorcery was the final means to which they resorted during the Ahmadinejad era, but they were defeated. This ability of the Jews was eliminated by Iran…"
Read the "Mideast Beast," a sequel to Joel Richardson's New York Times bestselling 2009 "The Islamic Antichrist," to gain a perspective about what Islam teaches will happen during the end times.
The Rasanews article, published March 7, said: "The Jews have always tended to resort to divination … that has its roots in astronomy, astrology and sorcery … when they consorted with various peoples in the course of history. They cherished this [knowledge] like a treasure, generation after generation. In most cases, they base their predictions on the holy book, especially on the book of Daniel, and they create an ideological climate in which the appreciation of sorcery and the yearning for it increase."
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The statement said: "Sorcery is known to be a practice of which the divine books (the Old Testament, New Testament, Quran) and the monotheistic religions disapprove. But Jewish mysticism regards it as a means to uncover the secrets of the holy book."
The claim falls not far afield from the periodic allegations that appear among Muslims that the Jewish people hold "barbaric rituals."
Earlier this year, a Lebanese daily newspaper published an article to coincide with Passover that accused Jews of using human blood in their religious rituals, a notorious anti-Semitic smear.
The author, Lebanese writer Sana Kojok, claimed that during Passover, the Jews eat matzah made with the blood of non-Jews.
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Kojok also called on the Palestinians to turn Israeli's religious holiday from one of joy into one of weeping and wailing.
Kojok wrote: "During the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins today, strange and bizarre rituals are held, according to instructions by the Talmud: Houses are cleared of all leaven, that is, all bread and bread products containing yeast, which are called 'hametz' in Hebrew.
"Additionally, on the holiday eve, the Zionist Jews eat unleavened bread which during its preparation is mixed with blood – but that blood must be from a non-Jew! This unleavened bread is called 'matzah'," Kojok claimed.
The "blood libel" myth dates as far back as 1840, when a tale was spread around Syria that a priest, Father Toma, went to the Jewish Quarter of Damascus, where he was slaughtered by a group of rabbis and other Jews. As the historically false account goes, not a drop of blood was spilled because it was collected to make Passover matzah.
"Imagine someone eating matzah made with blood!? How do these barbarians think?? Such barbaric behavior – even in eating and drinking?!" Kojok wrote.
In 2003, Arab media aired a program that depicted a boy being sacrificed and his blood used to make Passover matzah. Prominent Saudi clerics reiterated the myth in a 2012 interview, claiming also the Holocaust was "exaggerated."
In 2000, the Palestinian Liberation Army mufti, Sheik Col. Nader Al-Tamini, stated in a debate on Al-Jazeera that there can be no peace with the Jews, because they suck and use the blood of Arabs on holidays such as Passover and Purim.
WND also has reported the multiple times that Muslim clerics predict that in the end times every Jew on the face of the Earth will be annihilated.
One of the more recent claims was made in a broadcast on Al-NAS Television in Egypt, in which cleric Mahmoud al-Masri pontificated on his belief about the future of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
"The final annihilation [of the Jews] will come at the time of the Mahdi, or shortly before the Mahdi appears. Then the Muslims will regain the Al-Aqsa mosque, if they do not manage to spread Islam throughout the land," he said.
"A small group of Jews will remain, but not the Jews living in Palestine. A group of Jews from Isfahan will survive, and they will follow the Antichrist, but eventually, they will also be killed, along with the Antichrist," he continued. "Ultimately, not a single Jew will be left on the face of the Earth. Victory is coming, Allah willing."
The Mahdi is believed by some sects in Islam to be the 12th imam, an end times figure who will arise to lead Muslims on a worldwide rampage in which all "enemies" of the belief are eliminated. Some Christians believe the Mahdi is the biblical Antichrist, the personification of evil.
Former terrorist-turned-Christian Walid Shoebat noted the report: "As the West attempts to split hairs when determining if Islamists with this view are part of al-Qaida or not, the words of Islamists like this fall on deaf ears. His idea of victory is for the Earth to be uninhabited by a single Jew."
WND previously reported a Pew Research poll said two-thirds of a billion Muslims expect the Mahdi – the last Islamic imam they believe will come and rule the world – to arrive in their lifetimes.
The results affirmed the warnings of author Joel Richardson, whose book "Mideast Beast" is a sequel to his New York Times bestseller "The Islamic Antichrist."
In a column for WND, Richardson noted that he has been criticized for believing many Muslims have faith in the coming Mahdi.
The survey by Pew Research at that time noted that in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, "half or more Muslims believe they will live to see the return of the Mahdi. The expectation is most widespread in Afghanistan (83 percent), Iraq (72 percent), Tunisia (67 percent) and Malaysia (62 percent).