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Monday, July 10, 2023

07/10 Links Pt1: Col. Kemp on Jenin: 'Remarkable achievement unprecedented in modern warfare'; Iran's Plan To Drive Jews Out of 'Palestine'; Times' reporter tries to turn Palestinian terrorist into a civilian

From Ian:

Col. Richard Kemp on Jenin op: 'Remarkable achievement unprecedented in modern warfare'
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British military forces in Afghanistan, spoke to Israel National News - Arutz Sheva on Sunday about Operation Home and Garden and the condemnation Israel has received internationally over the operation in Jenin despite the military action resulting in no civilian fatalities.

According to Col. Kemp, the complete avoidance of civilian fatalities over two days in Jenin constitutes a "remarkable achievement by the IDF," which is "probably unprecedented in modern warfare."

"To conduct an operation of such intensity in an urban area without killing any uninvolved civilians at all is a remarkable achievement by the IDF and probably unprecedented in modern warfare. Casualty ratios in most such operations have often been 3 to 5 civilians killed for every fighter, and that is by Western armies that do their best to avoid civilian casualties and adhere to the laws of war," he explained, adding: "I doubt any other army in the world would be able to achieve what the IDF did in Jenin."

Col. Kemp noted that avoiding civilian casualties in a terrorist stronghold such as Jenin "is even more remarkable given that the terrorists in Jenin hid behind the civilian population, used human shields and deliberately tried to lure the IDF into killing civilians in order to attract world condemnation."

Not everyone agrees with Col. Kemp's assessment of the IDF's performance last week. One such critic of the operation is UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who told reporters at the UN that Israel used “excessive force” in Jenin and that "the use of air strikes is inconsistent with the conduct of law enforcement operations."

To this, Col. Kemp responded: "Guterres is wrong to accuse the IDF of using disproportionate force as the facts very clearly show. Proportionality in warfare only refers to the killing and wounding of innocent civilians in relation to the military objective. No innocent civilians were killed. We don’t know how many uninvolved civilians were wounded by IDF fire, but the death rate strongly indicates that IDF action was the opposite of disproportionate."

"Guterres is also wrong to say that the use of air strikes is inconsistent with this type of operation. This was not what Guterres might see as a traditional law enforcement operation. Jenin was a war zone full of terrorists heavily equipped with arms and explosives, many supplied by Iran to kill Israelis. The IDF chose to use drone strikes because they calculated that this would be the most effective way of dealing with the threat while minimizing civilian casualties, and again, in this case, the facts proved them right and Guterres wrong," he said.
Gil Troy: The Real Story of Israel's Operation in Jenin Isn't What You've Read
Although Israel's army left Jenin on July 5 after two days spent attacking terrorist infrastructure, the cycle of nonsense attacking Israel's action began. In fact, Israel's surgical strike was totally justified, long in the making, and potentially game-changing.

In Jenin, Israel was cutting out tumors, not "mowing the lawn." The "tumors" included hundreds of weapons confiscated, multiple bomb-making factories destroyed, and two terrorist command-and-control centers eradicated.

Despite more than 1,000 soldiers entering that once impenetrable area, only 12 Palestinian militants died in combat. Hundreds fled because hunting them wasn't the main mission.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 devastated Jenin's economy, just as the Palestinian Authority started losing control. Backed by millions of Iranian dollars, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and smaller terrorist groups infiltrated Jenin. After trusting the PA's security for years, by the time the IDF realized that terrorists had reconquered Jenin, a dramatic raid was necessary.

Palestinian apologists ignore the way Palestinian militants terrorize their fellow Palestinians. Cowering behind civilians and civilized norms, Palestinian thugs recruit teenagers to keep prosecuting their uncompromising war against Israel's existence by killing civilians -with 28 Israeli victims in 2023 alone.
Bassam Tawil: Iran's Plan To Drive Jews Out of 'Palestine'
Iran's mullahs are seeking to create a situation where Jews no longer feel safe in their own country and are forced to leave Israel. To achieve this goal, the mullahs have instructed their Palestinian terror proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), to step up their campaign of terrorism against Israel and Jews.

"Islamic Jihad & other Palestinian resistance movements have found the main key to fighting the Zionist regime. The continually growing authority of resistance groups in the #WestBank is the key to bringing the Zionist enemy to its knees, & this course must be continued." — Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Twitter, June 14, 2023.

The leaders of Iran, Hamas and PIJ share the same goal: eliminating Israel and killing as much Jews as possible. They do not differentiate between a Jew living in Israel and a Jew living in the West Bank. In their view, all Jews are settlers, regardless of where they live. For them, there is no difference between Tel Aviv and a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. They see Israel as one big settlement that must be removed from the face of the earth.

"The Jews in other countries live in peace and prosperity. The only place where they're being killed is in Palestine. Therefore, when we continue our fight, they will change their mind and realize that they made a historical mistake by coming to this place. They will realize that there is no chance of life for them and that they therefore should leave this country." — PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah, al-vefagh.net, June 8, 2023.

This statement by the PIJ leader is important because it shows that the Palestinian terror attacks against Israel are not being carried out because of checkpoints, settlements or harsh economic conditions. Instead, the purpose of these attacks is to force the Jews out of their country and replace Israel with an Islamic state controlled by Iran and its proxies, especially Hamas and PIJ.

Those who believe that the Palestinian campaign of terrorism is a legitimate resistance against the "occupation" in the West Bank are totally clueless.

Thanks to Iran, Nakhalah said, the Palestinian terror groups are now capable of manufacturing their own weapons.

When Hamas and PIJ talk about "resistance," they are referring to various forms of terrorism, including firing rockets at Israel, as well as shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks.


Smotrich, Ben Gvir respond to Biden: Jews have the right to build in the West Bank
Far-right cabinet ministers slapped back at US President Joe Biden on Monday, a day after he said Israel’s coalition government had some “of the most extreme members” he had ever seen.

Biden added that the ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet who back settling “anywhere they want” in the West Bank are “part of the problem” in the ongoing conflict.

In response, Religious Zionism party head and adamant settlement advocate Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said it is Biden’s “right to express criticism,” and it is “our right and our duty to continue to act to fulfill the mission of the citizens of Israel, to defend ourselves and build our homeland.”

The United States “wants two states for two peoples and we think it’s suicide,” continued Smotrich, who also holds a ministerial post in the Defense Ministry that grants him extensive authority over settlement construction.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who joins Smotrich as one of the White House’s personae non gratae, said that “the USA is our wonderful friend and we love it, but I say to President Biden: The Land of Israel is for the people of Israel, according to the Torah of Israel.”

“We will not compromise on the Land of Israel. We will not compromise on any step. We will not compromise on any hill, on any outpost. This is ours,” the Otzma Yehudit party chief said, referring to the greater, biblical territory that encompasses the West Bank.


UN refuses to retract condemnation of Israel over Jenin campaign
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to retract his condemnation of Israel's latest anti-terrorism campaign in the West Bank city of Jenin.

UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the secretary-general conveyed his views on Thursday "and he stands by those views."

Guterres said the operation left over 100 civilians injured, uprooted thousands of residents, damaged schools and hospitals, and disrupted water and electricity networks.

The two-day operation cracked down on Palestinian terrorists, during which one IDF soldier was also killed.

"I strongly condemn all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror," Guterres told reporters.

Asked whether this condemnation applied to Israel, he replied: "It applies to all use of excessive force, and obviously in this situation, there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces."

Erdan called the UN chief's remarks "shameful, far-fetched, and completely detached from reality." He said the Israeli military action in Jenin "focused solely on combating the murderous Palestinian terror targeting innocent Israeli civilians."

Haq, the UN spokesperson, said Guterres "clearly condemns all of the violence that has been affecting the civilians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, regardless of who is the perpetrator."

Erdan sent a letter to the 15 council members and Guterres before the council meeting saying that over the past year, 52 Israelis were killed by Palestinians, and many attacks were carried out from Jenin or from the area.


Anatomy of a power vacuum: How sewage and import rules stoke West Bank conflict
Yesterday, the Israeli cabinet voted to take as-yet-unspecified steps to “stabilize the civil situation” within the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and to do what it can to keep the PA from collapsing—while continuing to call attention to the PA’s policies of encouraging terrorism with both propaganda and generous financial rewards. Haviv Rettig Gur explains some of the reasons for the unstable situation in Judea and Samaria:
The West Bank isn’t simply collapsing into a miasma of nationalist rage, as many observers fear. It is imploding in the vacuum created by a far more insidious and persistent force: bureaucratic neglect. . . . Economic prosperity doesn’t prevent terror or violence, nor does poverty drive them. But the problem . . . goes deeper than impoverishment or bad governance. In places like Jenin and Nablus, [from which most terrorism in the past year has originated], where the PA has retreated and local terrorist militias now rule, there’s almost no government at all, no safety, no planning.

By way of example, Gur notes the problems Palestinian have getting reliable electricity, and observes that a planned new power plant near Jenin would alleviate the situation—and benefit Israel and involved foreign countries as well as the Palestinians themselves. But so far the plan has been held up:
A tiny part of the infrastructure, some 300 meters of pipeline, must pass through an Israeli-administered strip of land in [the mostly-Jewish part of the West Bank known as] Area C. Civil Administration approval for the site is being held up, frustrating Palestinian officials, foreign backers, and—this is vital to understand—senior Israeli government officials. There’s no reason for the delay, no fight over the relevant strip, no archaeological dig or holy site, no nearby settlement or military base. The delay costs Israel money and slows gas sales. It is pure bureaucratic incompetence. . . .

The PA is dying. A great deal of its death is by its own hand, by its bottomless corruption and incompetence, by its refusal since Yasir Arafat’s day to turn into something more than a petty kleptocracy, and, of course, by its close cooperation with Israel in its desperate efforts to maintain stability and prevent its own ouster by more radical Palestinian forces.

Israel’s enemies tend to think of the country as a unitary whole where every mistake or crime is a function of malice or deep planning. It is a habit of prejudice to reduce the object of one’s judgment to such uniformity. The reality, of course, is never as simple or thrillingly nefarious as the bigot imagines. There are many different Israels, many different political and cultural subgroups with different visions for the country’s future. . . . Israeli governments are unstable multiparty coalitions pulling in many different directions all at once.
Terrorist killed after opening fire on IDF soldiers in West Bank
IDF soldiers on Monday shot and killed a Palestinian who attacked them with gunfire and possessed a grenade, near the Neveh Tzuf settlement in the West Bank, the IDF spokesperson's office has confirmed.

No IDF soldiers were injured, according to local Israeli municipal reports and the IDF.

Magen David Adom declared the Palestinian man dead earlier Monday.

IDF troops clash with Palestinian gunman in the West Bank
Initially, the man was parked by the roadside and was acting in a way that raised the IDF patrol's suspicions.

When they approached him to ask him to identify himself, he opened fire and started to get ready to throw the grande at them, but he was shot before he was able to let it loose.

After the exchange of fire, a Carlo submachine gun was found in the Palestinian's car.

Despite a massive IDF operation against Jenin last week, there have been a number of terror incidents against Israel last week and this week.
Terrorist Neutralized in Attempted Jerusalem Stabbing Attack
An attempted stabbing attack was thwarted at a light rail station on Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem on Sunday evening.

The attempted terrorist was shot at the scene and taken into custody by Israeli Police.

The man who neutralized the terrorist told police on the scene that a woman entered the train looking suspicious, and eventually pulled out a knife to attempt to stab him.

“I saw a suspicious women who got in and out the train. I asked her what is all about if everything is ok. She put her hand in her bag and I asked her to get out her hand,” he told the police.

“Then she took a knife, I took two steps back and I shot in the air twice and asked her to throw the knife. Once she didn’t listen to the recommendations, and she tried to attack me, I shot her.”


Jenin terrorists claim two rockets fired at Israeli village
The Hamas-linked Al-Ayyash Battalion said on Monday it launched two rockets from the Jenin area towards the Jewish community of Shaked in northern Samaria.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces subsequently located two rocket launchers and two makeshift projectiles near the village.

Sappers were deployed and the launchers were taken for investigation.

“The rockets did not pose a threat to the residents” of Shaked, said the military.

The Al-Ayyash Battalion previously said it fired several rockets at Israeli villages in the area over the past few months.

On Sunday, an “old improvised rocket” with “no explosives” was found in Moshav Ram-On, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

A security guard in the community, which is situated just within the 1949 Armistice Line and falls under the jurisdiction of the Gilboa Regional Council, located the remnants of the rocket in the moshav’s cemetery.

IDF sappers performed an initial investigation that determined that the rocket did not pose a danger.

Last month, the military said that a “lone wolf” was responsible for two rockets fired from Jenin.
Palestinian terrorists claim to fire rockets from Jenin
The IDF has found the launchpad and remains of the rockets fired by Palestinian terror groups near Jenin


Times' reporter tries to turn Palestinian terrorist into a civilian
In contrast, the Telegram announcement by Palestinian Islamic Jihad – proscribed in the UK as a terrorist group – calls Abdulrahman “one of the PIJ movement’s Jihad warriors” (as translated by CAMERA Arabic).

The Times article ends by noting that “Campaigners say Abdulrahman was one of 35 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in 2023″, ignoring that the overwhelming majority of Palestinian fatalities under 18 were affiliated with terror groups or otherwise involved in violent clashes at the time of their death.

Philps’ decision, in her coverage of Abdulrahman’s death, to dismiss the evidence the media normally accepts attesting to terror-affiliations of Palestinian fatalities during conflicts is the journalistic equivalent of Calvinball – changing the rules on the fly so that the imputation of Israeli malevolence can be maintained.

The journalist’s attempt to sow doubt in the proof presented appearing to show that all of the Palestinian fatalities during the Jenin operation were combatants is further evidence that, in her eyes, and in the eyes of much of the media, Israel will always be guilty when engaged in conflicts with Palestinian terrorists, even when proven innocent.


CAMERA Op-Ed The Misleading Omissions Driving Washington Post Coverage of Israel’s Jenin Raid
However, this crucial context is glossed over in most of the Post’s coverage of the Jenin operation—including by veteran columnists who should know better. Worse still, the Post attempts to blame the Jewish state, with some reports insinuating that the increase in violence is the result of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, taking power in December 2022. This too is false—and it’s a sign of how politicized, and narrative driven, the Washington Post’s coverage of Israel has become.

In fact, as organizations like the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a nonpartisan think tank, have documented, the increase in violence dates back nearly two years. FDD has long had helpful graphs charting the increase—all open source and readily available.

For its part, CAMERA has highlighted the deteriorating security situation for nearly two years, authoring op-eds like “Palestinian political chaos prevents the potential for peace” (July 5, 2021), “The Palestinian Authority is on the precipice” (Nov. 18, 2021), and “Will Iran Soon Control the West Bank” (Sept. 18, 2022), among others. Yet in report after report, the Washington Post either barely mentions, or omits entirely, the role of both the PA and Iran.

Worse still, the newspaper frequently refers to U.S.-designated terrorist groups as “armed resistance.” As CAMERA told Post staff, this is but a euphemism for terrorism; what these groups are “resisting” is the existence of the Jewish state and its people. Unfortunately, the Post seems to enjoy using this euphemism as much as the terrorist groups whose rhetoric it echoes.

Elsewhere, the Washington Post continues its well-worn habit of treating the “Palestinian Health Ministry” as a credible source—overlooking the fact that it is run by Hamas. And the Post continues to provide casualty statistics that omit that most Palestinians killed in what the newspaper colloquially refers to as “clashes” or “cycles of violence” have been linked to terrorist groups. For good measure, the Post, which claims to lament the rise of disinformation, even repeated these errors on its Instagram page.

But at the Washington Post who needs facts when narratives, amnesia, and ahistoricism reign supreme?
What did BBC reports from a Jenin hospital ignore?
Visitors to the BBC News website’s live page covering the two-day counter-terrorism operation in Jenin on July 3rd and 4th learned that hours after that operation had begun, Jeremy Bowen flew to Israel, perhaps in expectation of a somewhat longer round of conflict.

Bowen’s uninformative July 4th filmed report from outside the Khalil Suleiman government hospital in Jenin was also posted on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page under the headline ‘The scene at the hospital near Jenin’s refugee camp’.

Another report filmed at the same hospital appeared on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page under the headline ‘Stones thrown and tear gas fired near Jenin hospital’. That report, which shows a large group of Palestinian males – some throwing stones – gathered outside the hospital, was also promoted on the live page, together with an unverified claim from a political NGO.

Several of the written reports published on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page also include references to hospitals:

‘Jenin: Israeli military launches major operation in West Bank city’ Yolande Knell and David Gritten

“At the Palestinian hospital by the main entrance to the camp the mood was grim. […]

Jovana Arsenijevic of the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières told the BBC she was at a hospital that had seen more than 90 patients wounded by gunfire or shrapnel from explosive devices.”

‘Israel’s Jenin operation reignites Palestinian anger’ Jeremy Bowen

“Fury and frustration rage through young Palestinian men who have gathered in angry knots at road junctions in the town and outside a hospital on the edge of the Jenin refugee camp.”

‘Gaza-Israel exchange of fire as Israeli forces complete Jenin withdrawal’ David Gritten

“Outside a hospital in the nearby city centre, Palestinians protesters threw stones at an Israeli military vehicle, prompting it to fire tear gas in response.”

None of those BBC reports provides any clue as to why those noticeably mostly young male “protesters” were located specifically outside that hospital.
Indy corrects two inaccurate claims on Jenin op
An article in the Independent on the recent counter-terrorism operation in Jenin (“Thousands flee Israel’s biggest West Bank military operation in decades”, July 5), written by their Middle East correspondent Bel Trew, included the following: Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Broders) accused the army of firing tear gas into a hospital, filling the emergency room with smoke and forcing emergency patients to be treated in a main hall.

However as the NY Times reported on same day, regarding the accusation by Doctors Without Borders, “The Israelis denied any attacks near hospitals.” Similarly, Reuters included the IDF’s denial to the charge by Doctors Without Borders in their article on the operation, noting that “The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of its forces firing in the vicinity of a hospital but that it did carry out an air-strike at gunmen that had taken up positions in a cemetery and posed a threat to the withdrawing troops”.

We complained to Indy editors asking that they amend the article to acknowledge the IDF’s response, and they agreed – adding the following language from Reuters:
The Israeli military countered this, saying said it had no knowledge of its forces firing in the vicinity of a hospital.
Palestinians reject Israel’s demands to save PA
The Palestinian Authority on Monday rejected Israel’s demands for helping prevent the collapse of the PA.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh vowed to continue the legal-diplomatic effort against Israel in the international arena and rejected the demand to stop payments made by the PA to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned while carrying out attacks against Israelis.

The security cabinet on Sunday decided that Israel will take steps to prevent the collapse of the PA, while advancing the demand that the Palestinians cease their activities against Israel in the international legal-diplomatic arena, end incitement, and stop payments to families of terrorists and illegal construction in Area C.

Shtayyeh, who was speaking during the weekly meeting of the PA cabinet in Ramallah, said: “Yesterday, the Israeli government came out with decisions concerning the Palestinian Authority on the pretext that they want to offer gestures to the Palestinians. On behalf of the Palestinian government, we say that what is required of Israel is to halt its aggression on our people, killings, settlements, and the piracy of our money.”

Shtayyeh and other Palestinian officials have denounced Israel’s policy of seizing funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinians as an act of “piracy” and “theft.”
Palestinian Authority reportedly threatens Al-Jazeera over ‘unbalanced’ coverage
The Palestinian Authority has reportedly threatened to take measures against the Qatari TV network Al Jazeera over its “unbalanced” coverage of Palestinian affairs, especially the Israeli military operation in Jenin Refugee Camp.

The threat was included in a letter sent to Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha by Nabil Abu Rudaineh, the Palestinian Minister of Information who also serves as spokesperson for PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The letter, dated June 6, 2023, appeared in several Arab media outlets, but was neither confirmed nor denied by the PA. Some Palestinians said the date was a mistake and should have been July 6, 2023.

The alleged threat came after Al Jazeera interviewed several Palestinians who strongly criticized the PA and its security forces.

A number of groups representing Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip expressed concern over the alleged threat and accused the PA of “incitement” against Al Jazeera.

Last Friday, a masked gunman claiming to speak on behalf of Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah faction, accused Al Jazeera of promoting “sedition” among the Palestinians and threatened to close its offices in the West Bank.

In the past, PA officials had accused Al Jazeera of serving as a platform for Hamas.
Young terrorists are “heroes” with “courage” - PA TV deliberately glorifies terrorists
Lebanese film critic Georges Kaadi: “I take advantage of this moment to congratulate the young heroes who are carrying out heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks). This requires a heart of steel. It requires courage and self sacrifice. They know that they are going to die as Martyrs in the end. How can they be described, if not as heroes? What do I care how the Zionists call them? If there is terror on this land, then the Zionists are the terrorists with their F-16 jets and tanks, the cowards!”
[Official PA TV, An Intellectual and a Cause, June 26, 2023]

This interview was edited by official PA TV before broadcast. Official PA TV chose to promote this glorification of terrorists who attacked Israelis.




Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah seeks to subtly 'seize control' of Beirut International Airport - report
Hezbollah is aiming to subtly take control of Beirut international airport according to a new report authored by Tal Beeri.

“Hezbollah's major objective at the moment is to take control of the international airport in Beirut,” said the report.

This would constitute another step in the terror organization's attempt to control border crossings and spread its influence in Lebanon. The report was compiled by the Alma Research and Education Center, titled ‘How is Hezbollah Attempting to Seize Control of Beirut's International Airport’.

Hezbollah has increased its power and influence in Lebanon over the last decades. In addition, there are currently tensions on the northern border with Hezbollah.

The Iranian-backed Syrian regime has recently been reintegrated into the Arab League. The issue of the airport, therefore, comes in the context of many slow changes in the region.

“The numerous airstrikes on Syrian territory against military equipment and weaponry delivered to Hezbollah via the Iranian corridor are driving Iran and Hezbollah to tighten their grip on the relevant alternatives. Beirut's international airport has long provided an alternative to the land corridor via Syria for smuggling military equipment and weapons for Hezbollah.” said the report.

The terrorist group wants more control of the airport and other crossings because of its involvement in various activities such as smuggling of fuel and drugs; as well as weapons and military equipment, the report notes.
Beirut demands Israel withdraw from northern Ghajar
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met with UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz in Beirut on Monday to discuss a Hezbollah outpost on the border that Israel wants removed.

“We discussed the security situations in the South and they relayed to us the Israeli side’s demand that the tent be removed. Our response was that we want them to retreat from northern Ghajar, which is considered Lebanese territory,” Lebanese media quoted Bou Habib as saying after the meeting.

The U.N.-delineated Blue Line international border runs through the Alawite village of Ghajar, separating Israel’s Golan Heights from southern Lebanon. Its residents hold Israeli citizenship and many in the northern portion also have Lebanese passports.

Tensions have been high along the border since Hezbollah pitched two tents on the Israeli side of the demarcation line. It was reported on July 2 that the group removed one of the tents.

The outpost was set up in early April, north of the border fence but on the Israeli side of the Blue Line in the Mount Dov region. The position, located across from an Israeli military base, was reportedly manned by three to eight armed terrorists.

The Israeli military carried out strikes against a missile launch site in Lebanon on July 6.

IDF soldiers arrived near Ghajar after reports of an explosion in the area. They learned that an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon had exploded next to the border in Israeli territory.
Iran moves toward possible atom bomb test in defiance of Western sanctions: intel report
A fresh batch of damning European intelligence reports reveal that the Islamic Republic of Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which first published translations of the intelligence documents on its website, the security agencies of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany revealed sensitive data during the first six months of 2023 on the Iranian regime's illicit nuclear weapons proliferation activities. The reports mainly cover Iran's alleged illegal conduct in 2022.

The most shocking revelation in the trove of intelligence data was from the Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AVID) that determined Iran's astonishingly fast development of weapons-grade uranium "brings the option of a possible [Iranian] first nuclear test closer."

The Swedish Security Service wrote in its annual report in 2023 that "Iran engages in industrial espionage, which is mainly aimed at the Swedish high-tech industry and Swedish products that can be used in a nuclear weapons program. ... The Swedish Security Service can confirm that Iran are conducting security-threatening activities in Sweden and against Swedish interests," said Adam Samara, a spokesperson for the Swedish Security Service.

Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) also had warnings in its June 2023 intelligence report. "The authorities for the protection of the constitution were able to find, in 2022, a consistently high number of indications of proliferation relevant procurement attempts by Iran for its nuclear programs," the report states.

Israeli Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), a senior researcher at the Israeli Defense Security Forum and an expert on Iran, warned, "Iran is evidently committed to its nuclear weapons plan. ... The European intelligence reports describe covert Iranian efforts to shorten the breakout time to a nuclear arsenal by illegally acquiring equipment and knowledge from various European countries."
Israel, US holding another joint air drill apparently focused on Iran
The Israeli and American air forces on Sunday launched a joint drill, the latest in a series of exercises apparently aimed at readying the Israel Defense Forces for a potential strike in Iran.

In a statement Monday, the IDF said the drill, dubbed Juniper Oak, would include the Israeli Air Force carrying out airstrikes against "strategic targets in the depth," an apparent reference to Iran's nuclear facilities. Additionally, the air drills would simulate "achieving aerial superiority in the region and cyber ??defense against a variety of threats," the IDF said.

"The exercise continues and strengthens the operational cooperation between the militaries and takes place as part of the series of IDF exercises with the U.S. Central Command," the Israeli military said.

There was no immediate readout from the US CENTCOM on the drill.
Exclusive – Former AG Mukasey Slams Biden’s ‘Paperless’ Iran Nuclear Deal to ‘Limit’ Israeli Action
Efforts by the Biden administration to procure a non-written agreement with Tehran are “enormously damaging,” according to former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who claims Washington’s moves aim to “monitor” and “limit” Israel to deter an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Mukasey criticized the so-called “paperless agreement” reportedly being negotiated between the Biden administration and Iran which largely prevents congressional input, in violation of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

“It’s enormously damaging because it puts the executive arm of the government, which is the only arm that can do anything, in a position where it has to adopt a passive attitude toward Iran and is making promises and commitments that won’t be kept by the Iranians and that will be kept by us,” he stated.

He also noted that the current status of the understanding with Tehran allows for “60 percent or higher” uranium enrichment than the original.

The former attorney general during President George W. Bush’s administration accused the current administration of attempting to “tie the hands” of the Israeli administration due to fears of a potential attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, citing Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Doran’s “superb” article alleging that the underlying purpose of current negotiations is aimed at limiting Israel’s military and political options in the region.

“The attempt to get the Israelis to participate in CENTCOM to have joint military exercises sounds wonderful, but I think it’s a way of monitoring them and limiting them; along with the diplomatic means that are being used,” Mukasey stated, suggesting they are essentially a way of warning Israelis that if they attack Iran’s nuclear facilities “they cannot expect the US’ participation — which violates one of [former Israeli PM] Ben-Gurion’s principal rules: that you can not go to war without the support of another country.”
Call Me Back - with Dan Senor: The (Iran) deal that shall not be named - with Rich Goldberg
Is the US on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran? Or has a deal already been hatched that nobody is talking about? To help us understand what is going on, Rich Goldberg returns to the podcast.

Rich is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. From 2019-2020, he served as a Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the White House National Security Council. He previously served as a national security staffer in the US Senate and US House. He was a founding staff director of the House U.S.-China Working Group and was among the first Americans ever to visit China’s human space launch center. A leader in efforts to expand U.S. missile defense cooperation with Israel, Rich played a key role in U.S. funding for the Iron Dome. Rich is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve with military experience on the Joint Staff and in Afghanistan.




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Soccer Dad: "He undertakes the important task of making sure that his readers learn from history."
AbbaGav: "A truly exceptional blog..."
Judeopundit: "[A] venerable blog-pioneer and beloved patriarchal figure...his blog is indispensable."
Oleh Musings: "The most comprehensive Zionist blog I have seen."
Carl in Jerusalem: "...probably the most under-recognized blog in the JBlogsphere as far as I am concerned."
Aussie Dave: "King of the auto-translation."
The Israel Situation:The Elder manages to write so many great, investigative posts that I am often looking to him for important news on the PalArab (his term for Palestinian Arab) side of things."
Tikun Olam: "Either you are carelessly ignorant or a willful liar and distorter of the truth. Either way, it makes you one mean SOB."
Mondoweiss commenter: "For virulent pro-Zionism (and plain straightforward lies of course) there is nothing much to beat it."
Didi Remez: "Leading wingnut"
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