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Monday, August 28, 2023

08/28 Links Pt1: The Deadly Militia "Spotters" of Jenin; IDF kills Palestinian kids without recourse, claims HRW; Libyan foreign minister fired after meeting with Israel, fleeing country

From Ian:

JCPA: The Deadly Militia "Spotters" of Jenin
In recent months, Palestinian militias in the West Bank have introduced improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and roadside bombs into their arsenal.

Palestinian spotters alert other units of the approach of an Israeli vehicle so ambushes can be set and roadside bombs triggered.

Palestinian Salim Awad showed CNN a 16-minute video of Israeli military vehicles in Jenin during the fighting in which Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed.

The footage tells us that the spotter was filming and transmitting the location of Israeli armored vehicles.

A plausible answer to the question of Abu Akleh's death is that she stood between Israeli soldiers who believed they were in danger and spotter Salim Awad, filming their location and transmitting his video.
Daniel Greenfield: Biden’s Terror Funding Just Killed an Israeli Preschool Teacher
Batsheva’s murder, like that of the 74 terror victims killed under Biden, was paid for directly and indirectly through foreign aid to terrorists and sanctions relief on Iran’s terror regime. These policies were not undertaken in ignorance, the OFAC documents provide clear evidence that the Biden administration had been warned that it was funding terrorism and that people would die.

That’s why the number of Israelis continues to climb every year that Biden has been in office.

After 7 Israelis, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a Sabbath terrorist attack outside a synagogue in January 2023, Secretary of State Blinken met with Mahmoud Abbas and promised another $50 million to UNRWA which acts as the employment agency for Hamas. Earlier that same month, the Biden administration warned Israel to turn over $39 million in tax revenues to terrorists rather than providing that money to help terror victims rebuild their lives.

In August, with 4 Israelis already murdered, the Biden administration demanded that Republicans stop blocking $75 million in “humanitarian aid” to the UN agency. Sen. Jim Risch and Rep. Michael McCaul are determined to block that aid until Secretary of State Blinken certifies that UNRWA “is not affiliated with U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations”. And yet the Biden administration can’t seem to even manage to clear that lowest of legal bars.

In Batsheva’s hometown of Efrat, which the Biden administration considers an “illegal settlement” despite being referenced numerous times in the bible, the children have lost a teacher and a friend.

The murdered preschool teacher had been on the way to “prepare the kindergarten for the start of the year.” A woman who worked with her described how “every time I entered the kindergarten, she welcomed me with a beaming smile that always accompanied her. The children were everything to her, she always hugged them and gave what she could to the children, the staff, the parents.”

Batsheva did not have to die. None of the 26 already killed this year did. The 3 dead in 2020 show what’s possible. The Biden administration is knowingly funding the murder of the innocent.


Bassam Tawil: How US Politicians Empower Anti-American Jihadists and Other Aggressors
When people such as Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 US presidential election, call for decreasing aid to Israel, they are actually sending a message of support to the mullahs in Tehran and their proxies, Hamas and PIJ, as well as the Iran-funded Hezbollah terrorist militia in Lebanon and to nations that would like to see Israel and America "out of the way."

For Israel's enemies, statements such as "cutting aid" are a sign that America is about to throw Israel under the bus, paving the way for them to proceed with their plan to destroy Israel.

The timing of Ramaswamy's call for cutting US aid to Israel could not have been worse. It came at a time when Jews are being murdered by Palestinians on an almost weekly basis. The terrorists are waging their campaign of murder because they want to drive all Jews out of Israel. The terrorists are undoubtedly happy to hear a Republican candidate talk about decreasing aid to Israel. They are hoping Israel will be made weaker. With less US backing, it will be easier to destroy.

The terrorists and others have, even more, long been seeking to end US "hegemony" in the Middle East. They consider the US an enemy of Arabs and Muslims and dictators everyplace. Ending US aid to Israel would not just be the first step toward undermining Israel, it would also be the first step to ending US influence in the Middle East -- the way then US President Barack Obama's abandoned Syria -- the best gift the US could ever give to Iran, Russia, China, Turkey, Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Algeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and on and on.

The terrorists who want to destroy Israel also want to destroy the United States -- for supporting exactly those freedoms both countries embrace, and which their detractors falsify as "biased."

"Instead of prioritizing social programs and economic development, the PA rewards and encourages this violence, spending more than $300 million a year incentivizing murder. This "pay to slay" policy, funded by the UN, EU, and many governments, rewards those who commit violence (including children) with cash payments. The greater the crime and the more victims injured or killed, the more money received. This campaign targeting children begins from birth and continues throughout childhood and the teenage years. It takes place through state media, schools (including those run by UNRWA), youth groups and centers, and sporting and cultural events in both the West Bank and Gaza." — NGO Monitor, March 1, 2023.


IDF kills Palestinian kids without recourse, claims Human Rights Watch
Israeli forces routinely kill Palestinian children “with virtually no recourse for accountability.” Its allies should pressure it to stop that “routine unlawful use of lethal force,” and the secretary-general of the United Nations should list the Israel Defense Forces in the annual U.N. report on violations against children.

These are some of the main claims of an investigation by Human Rights Watch, an anti-Israel non-governmental organization, published on its website on Aug. 28.

“Israeli forces are gunning down Palestinian children living under occupation with increasing frequency,” stated Bill Van Esveld, the group’s associate children’s rights director, on its website. “Unless Israel’s allies, particularly the United States, pressure Israel to change course, more Palestinian children will be killed.”

Human Rights Watch states that it conducted in-person interviews with seven witnesses, nine family members and “residents, lawyers, doctors, staff and fieldworkers at Palestinian and Israeli rights groups,” as well as reviewing closed-circuit television and videos posted on social media, Israeli security agency statements, medical records and news reports.

The only news outlet that the piece names is Haaretz. It links once each to articles in The New York Times, Al Jazeera and Reuters, and several times to Haaretz and Times of Israel.

“Following a failed campaign by anti-Israel NGOs to get the IDF included on a U.N. blacklist of child rights abusers, Human Rights Watch makes another attempt with their new report,” wrote NGO Monitor. “Echoing terror-linked NGOs like Defense for Children Palestine and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch falsely accuses Israel of ‘gunning down Palestinian children.'”

“The Human Rights Watch report cites several examples of Palestinian minors who were killed, ignoring publicly available evidence of their terror affiliations [and] failing to condemn their participation in violent acts during the time of their death,” NGO Monitor added.

Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, called the allegations that Israel systematically targets Palestinian children “outrageous” and “just the latest and most obscene display yet in their unvarnished anti-Israel bias.”

“Contrary to Human Rights Watch’s malicious lies and gross distortions of truth and law, Israeli security forces only target Palestinian terrorists,” Ostrovsky stated.

“If Human Rights Watch truly cared about the welfare of Palestinian children, it would call out Palestinian terror groups for using Palestinian children as human shields,” he added. “The Palestinian Authority continues to create a systematic infrastructure of incitement and glorification of violence.”


PMW: Mom testifies that dead teen terrorist wanted to “die as a Martyr”

PMW: He chose death… He loved it and death came to him, aunt of dead terrorist.

UK Seeking to Block ICJ Ruling on Israel
The UK submitted a 43-page "amicus brief" to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month as part of the ICJ's fact-finding stage before an expected advisory opinion from the court on the "legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel" in the territories.

The UK opposes the hearing of the case in the ICJ altogether. The UK, along with Israel and Western states such as the U.S. and Germany, voted against it on the grounds it would push the parties away from negotiations.

The UK opinion submitted to the ICJ rests on four main arguments:
An advisory opinion would effectively settle Israel's "bilateral dispute" without the state's consent.
The court is not equipped to examine a "broad range of complex factual issues concerning the entire history of the parties' dispute."
An advisory opinion would conflict with existing agreements between the parties and negotiation frameworks endorsed by the UN.
The request is not appropriate as it asks the court to "assume unlawful conduct on the part of Israel."
Why Saudi Arabia Needs Israel
Dr. Harold Rhode served as advisor to the U.S. Defense Department for Islamic and Middle Eastern Affairs from 1982 to 2011. He speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish and French, and notes that the West frequently overlooks the basics of Muslim culture.

Prior to the Oslo Accords 30 years ago, Rhode warned the Clinton government that this was a Palestinian scam. "The people that worked on the accords didn't want to hear me when I told them it was a bluff. Arafat signed on Oslo in English, but what he was saying in Arabic showed his 'salami tactics.'" He explained that the Oslo agreement was like the Hudaybiyyah Treaty that the Prophet Muhammad had signed: a ceasefire in order to regroup and then attack.

"I warned that a lot of people would die and that the accords were not worth the paper they were written on. The word 'no' does not exist in Arab diplomacy: they will promise you everything that you want, and that with the test of time it becomes clear that it all was a lie in order to survive. There is no such conception of 'compromise,' because compromise is viewed as a loss of honor."

With regard to Israel's future relations with Saudi Arabia, Rhode noted that the Saudis "need Israel, and therefore they are prepared to set the Palestinian issue aside. They don't care much for the Palestinians, and as Wahhabi Muslims they don't recognize Jerusalem as a holy place." Their leading theologian "has ruled that only Mecca and Medina are holy to Islam. He claimed that Jews who converted to Islam were responsible for making Jerusalem a city holy to Islam."

"While the Saudis officially speak of the importance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, there are also Saudis who say that the Palestinians are not connected to the Land of Israel and came there as foreign workers. In Saudi Arabia, nothing is published without government approval, and when you see articles against the Palestinians, you can understand that these reflect the spirit of the government."

"The Saudis need relations with a strong nation that will stand with them in time of war against the Shiites. They would prefer the U.S., but the Biden administration has insulted them. However, the Iranian hatred for Israel guarantees that Israel will be their faithful ally....In economic matters as well, Israel is seen as a strong state, and its technology can help the Saudis to make the desert bloom."
Smotrich insists no concessions to Palestinians in exchange for ties with Saudis
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that Israel will not make concessions to the Palestinians as part of any normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, as has been demanded by Riyadh and Washington as part of a potential agreement.

“We will not make any concessions to the Palestinians. It’s a fiction,” Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, told Army Radio.

Smotrich said that while Israel is interested in the US-brokered deal with Riyadh, “it has nothing to do with Judea and Samaria,” referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.

Smotrich is a staunch opponent of the establishment of a Palestinian state and sees his control of the Civil Administration, which he holds as part of his additional ministerial role in the Defense Ministry, as a means of extending Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank through replacing the military administration of the territory with direct control by the central government and its ministries.

Last week, it was reported that Smotrich was hastily pushing through a plan to expand West Bank settlements and legalize dozens of outposts, in the wake of a series of deadly terror attacks.

Smotrich also slammed the US as “hypocrites” after the Biden administration condemned National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for stating that Jews’ right to travel and live safely in the West Bank was more important than Arabs’ freedom of movement.

Smotrich backed his far-right colleague, telling Army Radio that “there is no country more moral than Israel and anyone in the world who attacks us is a hypocrite.”

“I’m not even talking about the Americans — what they did in Afghanistan or in Iraq. They can’t lecture us about morality or human rights. That is the greatest hypocrisy,” Smotrich said.
JPost Edtorial: Don't criticize Ben-Gvir for false racism. Call out his actual racism
While politicians and news outlets have been reprimanding the minister for a wrongly-attributed message, they have brushed over a statement that is appalling and deserving of condemnation.

An established, respected Arab Israeli journalist working for one of Israel’s largest news outlets was accused of sympathizing with terrorists by a top cabinet minister.

And yet, this has made almost no headlines, has garnered next to no condemnations, and has been obscured and hidden under headline after headline about Ben-Gvir’s right-to-life comments.

As Israel’s arguably most divisive politician, Ben-Gvir is no stranger to controversy, and he has garnered more than his fair share of rightful criticism since taking office in January.

He has been criticized for visiting the Temple Mount on multiple occasions, for receiving a budget to build his own national guard, for shooting down a law intended to combat domestic violence in favor of his own version of the law, for attempting to dismiss then-Tel Aviv Police District Commander Ami Eshed, and for many, many inflammatory comments.

The backlash Ben-Gvir has received for provocation, incitement, and racist comments about Arab Israelis and Palestinians has been fair and justified. Criticizing the policies and ideologies of a politician is par for the course, especially when the politician is as controversial as he is.

And the remarks made to Magadli are shameful and abhorrent and they are worthy of rebuke. So why are they being ignored in favor of stories that inaccurately depict what he said?

In order to hold Ben-Gvir accountable for his inflammatory comments and racist attacks, his words cannot be twisted. He is not a man who minces his words; he says what he means and he means what he says.

Let his comments speak for themselves and let us not bury the shameful comments he makes under misleading headlines and curated outrage.
Israeli Ex-PM shares video of prof. equating Netanyahu with Hitler
Israeli former prime minister Ehud Barak shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday of an Israeli professor stating that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is like Adolf Hitler and is mentally unfit to run a country.

The post in question was shared by former Israeli National Security Council deputy head Eran Etzion and featured Prof. Ichak Adizes, a Yugoslavia-born Israeli professor who was a tenured professor at UCLA, Stanford, Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Columbia University. He has also authored several books on leadership, such as The Ideal Executive, Leading the Leaders, and How to Manage in Times of Crisis.

In the video, Adizes compared Netanyahu to other infamous world leaders, such as Donald Trump, Serbian Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milošević, and Hitler – specifically in the final days of his reign.

This similarity, he argued, is due to how both leaders seemingly lost touch with reality and lost control, adding that like Hitler, Netanyahu will eventually commit suicide, taking the whole country down with him.

"Must watch!" Barak said in his post, writing that "a leading international leadership consultant has issued his shocking opinion!"
Libyan FM fired over Israel meeting that her office says PM authorized
Libya’s internationally recognized government sacked its Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush on Monday amid a firestorm over her meeting last week with Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.

Her firing comes as Libya’s Foreign Ministry reportedly said that Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh authorized the diplomatic exchange in Rome.

The Foreign Ministry said that the Cohen-Mangoush meeting came after al-Dbeibeh, head of the national unity government in Tripoli, sat with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome last month, where they agreed to arrange the meeting with the Israelis, according to the reports.

Two senior Libyan government officials confirmed this version of events to The Associated Press, saying that al-Dbeibeh knew about the Cohen meeting ahead of time. One of the officials said the prime minister green-lit the meeting with Cohen during the Rome visit last month and that it was coordinated with Mangoush.

Al-Dbeibeh announced the formation of a committee to probe his government’s top diplomat after the meeting became public, while his Tripoli-based Government of National Unity issued a statement calling the tête-à-tête in Rome “accidental, unofficial and not planned in advance.”

The Foreign Ministry in Tripoli said that al-Dbeibeh requested that Mangoush issue a statement that the meeting was “coincidental” so as not to implicate him.

Israeli diplomatic officials on Monday said that the two-hour meeting was coordinated with senior officials in Tripoli, conflicting with Libya’s version of how the encounter unfolded. An Israeli official told Reuters that the meeting was approved “at the highest levels in Libya.”

It was also put forward by the Libyan Foreign Ministry’s Office that there was an agreement for the Italian government to provide Tripoli with benefits in return for the meeting with the Israelis.

The statement indicated that the Libyan Prime Minister’s Office decided to suspend Mangoush on Sunday night after being exposed, stressing that she had documentation to prove that al-Dbeibeh authorized the meeting and that the foreign ministry would not allow her to be scapegoated.

Mangoush was forced to flee to Turkey amid a public outcry as hundreds of people took to the streets in the capital Tripoli and several other Libyan cities to protest the diplomatic exchange.
Libyan foreign minister suspended after meeting Israeli counterpart
The Libyan National Unity Government's Prime Minister suspended his foreign minister over a meeting held last week in Rome with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen

Cohen’s office hailed the talks as the “first step in the relationship between Israel and Libya.”


Israel’s FM criticized over handling of meeting with Libyan FM
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen came under firefor publicizing his meeting with Libyan counterpart, which sparked protests in Libya and led to her suspension

Sources say countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel will be even more wary of conducting talks if Israel 'doesn’t know how to keep it quiet'


Seth Frantzman: How will Israel's diplomatic snafu with Libya impact the Arab world?
Why is Libya downplaying talks of an Israeli normalization?
Therefore, it is worth considering that some Gulf states may prefer some kind of normalization with Israel and Libya eventually; and Turkey has also reconciled with Israel, meaning it may not view this as controversial. However, the Libyan rulers in Tripoli now want to downplay the reports to regional media.

Arab News highlights Italy’s role. Italy has recently done new outreach to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. Italy has done outreach to Tunisia, which neighbors Libya in recent months. In addition, last year Libya’s Dbeibah visited Tunisian leader Kais Saied. Italy’s leader Prime Minister Giogia Meloni spoke with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince in July.

Whereas Arab news has highlighted the fallout from the Israel-Libya meeting, the National and Al-Arabiya have not been as interested in it. TRT has reported the incident only in a minimal way, showcasing that Ankara is waiting to see which way the wind blows on this. Turkey’s state media TRT last headline linked to Israel and Libya noted four years ago that Haftar had “secret ties with Israel” that were fueling chaos, a memory of the era when Ankara decided to get involved in Libya and was backing Tripoli against Haftar and when Turkey had colder relations with Israel.

Al-Ain media in the Gulf also highlighted the controversy, noting that this had resulted in the Libyan diplomat being “overthrown.” This report also said the meeting was “informal” and portrayed it has happening in an unprepared manner when the Libyan top diplomat was meeting her Italian counterpart. Al-Ain claimed that “she explained that the meeting ‘did not include any discussions, agreements or consultations. Rather, the minister affirmed Libya's constants towards the Palestinian issue in a clear and unambiguous manner.’” This report also noted that the Dbeibah government is “outgoing.” It claimed that Youth Minister Fathallah Abdel Latif was assigned to run the work in the foreign ministry temporarily. “The decision included the formation of an investigation committee headed by the Minister of Justice and with the membership of the Minister of Local Government and the Director of the Legal Affairs and Complaints Department in the Council of Ministers. The committee shall transmit a report of the results of its work to the Prime Minister within a maximum period of three days” about the case.

Al-Mayadeen media, which is seen as pro-Iran, also claimed that Mangoush had to “flee” Libya and fly to Turkey. Oddly, Al-Mayadeen’s link to its own article was not working as of press time. Anadolu media in Turkey reported that protesters had set fire to Dbeibah’s residence in the Shatt al-Hanshir area of Tripoli. The House of Representatives apparently called an “emergency” session and that Mangoush had flown to Istanbul “on a Libyan government plane with assistance from the Internal Security Agency.” Websites in Libya such as AlWasat Libya tracked the apparent flight. There has now been a “fatwa” released in Italy as well, the Libya Observer noted.


Biden’s Top Candidate To Be Ambassador to Israel Leads Pro-China Think Tank
President Biden’s top candidate for ambassador to Israel hosted Chinese Communist Party officials as chairman of a think tank described as "consistently soft on China." That could be cause for concern as the United States seeks Israel’s help in combating Beijing’s growing influence in the Middle East—and to weaken the growing ties between Israel and China.

Jack Lew, the leading contender for the post, serves as chairman of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an advisory group that supports closer business and diplomatic ties between the United States and China. The committee is funded by corporations like Citigroup, Blackstone, and BlackRock, the private equity behemoth the Wall Street Journal has labeled a "powerful friend" of China.

Lew, who took the helm of the National Committee in January 2021, has hosted top CCP officials and met in Beijing with China’s foreign minister, who during their meeting blamed the United States for creating the "root causes" of tension in the United States-China relationship. Lew, who served as Treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, also took part in a commemorative event organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which conducts foreign influence operations for the CCP.

While China may not be at the top of Lew’s portfolio as ambassador to Israel, his views on United States-China relations would loom large in his dealings with Jerusalem. The American government has ramped up pressure on the Israelis to cut ties with China. The Biden administration has also pushed for a pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia in order to curb China’s growing influence in the Middle East.

One intelligence analyst who studies China’s influence activities said groups like the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Asia Society, another pro-China advocacy group, are "consistently soft on China."

"Individuals with strong links to China, including through organizations like the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations or Asia Society, should have no place in U.S. politics," said Anders Corr, an intelligence analyst and publisher of the Journal of Political Risk.
Netanyahu hails improved ties with Sweden
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday with a delegation of Swedish parliamentarians amid improving bilateral relations since the establishment of a center-right government in Stockholm last October.

“I am glad to see that there is a change in Swedish policy,” Netanyahu told the delegation of pro-Israel lawmakers at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. “This is an important beginning.”

The meeting, which focused on diplomatic issues and the struggle against antisemitism, also dealt with increased cooperation between the two countries on technology and artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

After decades of frosty relations with left-wing governments in Sweden, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Stockholm in May. It was the first such visit by Israel’s top diplomat in nearly a quarter century.

That same month, two members of the Swedish Democrats, a far-right party with a Nazi past who are strong supporters of Israel, made an unofficial visit to Jerusalem, seeking to build friendships with the Jewish state. Their party, which is boycotted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs but whose tough stance on immigration has appealed to Swedish voters, currently supports the center-right coalition from outside the government.


Why did censor let KAN publish Iran smuggling op. despite gag order? - analysis
Why did KAN get to report something on Sunday night that a whole group of military reporters had been told about a month ago was under strict gag order?

Did this happen because of some kind of “technical error,” as the censor would claim? Or was it to facilitate the latest government campaign to change the subject from a failure to end the West Bank terrorism waves to a focus on Iran’s involvement in those waves?

It is necessary to travel back in time by one month.

The Iranian-involved smuggling op. and IDF censorship
Late at night on July 30, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit suddenly called an emergency meeting of the special IDF military reporters group.

During the closed briefing it was explained that part of what would be told to the group was under strict gag order for national security reasons.

Essentially, we were told that Israeli security forces had thwarted a July 24 weapons smuggling attempt into Israel from Jordan, but that what was special – and could not be reported – was that it was believed that Iran was behind the smuggling.

Also under gag order was that the explosives themselves were more powerful and complex, part of what led to the belief about more direct Iranian involvement.

We were allowed to publish that some kind of “special” smuggling operation from Jordan had been thwarted.

The rest had to be kept under wraps so that the Iranians and their proxies who were involved and still at large might not fully know the extent of what Israel’s security forces knew or who had been caught, and would themselves remain exposed to being discovered.
Aleppo airport out of service after alleged Israel strike
Syria accused Israel of striking an airport in Aleppo, in the country's northwest, on Monday morning.

"Today early in the morning, at 04:30, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack on the airport in Aleppo, from the Mediterranean Sea. As a result of the attack, the airport was put out of service," the official Syrian news agency SANA said.

Last Monday, the Israel Air Force allegedly struck Iranian militia targets near the Syrian capital of Damascus, with reports that at least two operatives were killed and one soldier wounded.

The two killed operatives were working with the Iranian militias, but their nationalities were not released, during a shipment of Hezbollah weapons and air defense systems, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Alleged Israeli attacks regularly hit targets in Syria, usually overnight, although Jerusalem rarely acknowledges them.


Terrorists throw bombs at IDF soldiers in Samaria
IDF soldiers conducting an operation near Ya’bad in northwestern Samaria on Monday morning were attacked by terrorists who threw explosive devices at them from a passing vehicle.

The soldiers responded by opening fire on the terrorists. Additional gunfire was also heard in the area.

Soldiers arrested a number of wounded terrorists and confiscated their vehicle.

IDF units were conducting a search for additional terrorists.

16 wanted terrorists captured
Separately, The IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Border Police operated overnight to arrest 16 wanted terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria.

The security forces arrested 10 wanted persons in a series of raids in Hebron and the nearby village of Tarqumiyah, and in Beita and the Balata camp near Nablus (Shechem).


Israel to Have Partial Laser Defenses by Next Year
"One year from now, Israel will be the first country to have partial laser protection, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems chairman Yuval Steinitz told Army Radio on Sunday.

"In two years there may be complete protection - against missiles, shells, rockets, or anything else. This will protect us both in the south and in the north."

In February, senior Defense Ministry official Brig.-Gen. (res.) Danny Gold said Israel's air-defense lasers, when fully deployed, will be able to shoot down the drones Iran has been sending Russia to use against Ukraine.


MEMRI: Lebanese Daily: Hizbullah Is Main Element Deriving Profit From Lebanon's Economic Crisis
A July 15, 2023 article in the Lebanese daily Nida' Al-Watan, known for its opposition to Hizbullah, states that this organization is largely responsible for the severe economic crisis in Lebanon and is also benefiting from this crisis more than anyone else. Hizbullah, it says, participated in causing the economic situation in several ways: by instigating security incidents and violent clashes using its weapons, thus driving away foreign tourists and investments; by escalating its rhetoric against the Gulf states and smuggling drugs into them, thus ruining Lebanon's relations with these countries, which were a major source of investments and foreign capital; and also by using its control of several government ministries to spread corruption. Although Hizbullah did not create Lebanon's long-standing problem of widespread corruption, but only jumped on this bandwagon, says the article, it is the element that has profited the most from the economic chaos in the country.

The following are translated excerpts from the article:[1]
"The economic, financial and monetary crises in Lebanon have not stood in the way of [Lebanon's] powerful elements in general and of Hizbullah in particular. On the contrary, for these people, these consecutive crises in Lebanon were an opportunity, and they seized this opportunity and used it to benefit from the dire situation and increase their profits, their revenue and the privileges granted to their supporters… This crisis was particularly profitable for Hizbullah, which enjoyed the largest piece of the cake that was on the table.

"Hizbullah has profited from the crisis in several ways. After the assassination of the martyred prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri in 2005, Hizbullah decided, for the first time, to become part of the executive branch and be represented by several [government] ministers. All the [previous] Lebanese governments, from the pre-civil-war period until after the assassination of prime minister Al-Hariri, had covered up corruption and agreed on dividing [the profits between their members]… Immediately upon becoming part of the government, Hizbullah received control of several ministries and joined this game of Lebanese corruption and division [of profits]. The ministries it received included those of health and of energy, which were not clean of wastefulness and corruption [to begin with]…

"As for security, the May 7, 2008 events in Beirut, Black Tuesday [2] and other incidents all heralded the [detrimental] effect on Lebanon's economy, in terms of investments, incoming tourism, etc. What is certain is that the crisis grew worse in 2011, after the outbreak of the war in Syria and as Hizbullah severely escalated it rhetoric against the Gulf states, which became bitter and harsh. This stopped the influx of tourism revenues from the Gulf, as well as the foreign investments, most of which were made by these countries, which are also the main [market] for Lebanese exports.


Could US, Iran 'mini-deal' lead to nuclear deal revival?
My reasoning is that the stipulated conditions for prisoner release lack substantial coherence. Hence, it becomes apparent that we are merely scratching the surface, and the US might have conceded to provide the Iranians with a symbolic victory in return for securing the deal that the Biden administration fervently seeks – the revival of the nuclear agreement.

The release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds could function as an initial leverage within the broader understandings that have been established, aiming to persuade the Iranians to proceed with the comprehensive deal regarding the revival of the nuclear agreement.

Another element reinforcing this perspective is the significant visit of a Russian official to Tehran soon after the finalization of the prisoner exchange agreement.

Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, engaged in discussions with Iranian deputy foreign ministers in Tehran concerning the prospects of the JCPOA for resolving Iran’s nuclear program. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized their rejection of any Western attempts to impose specific plans and new approaches for addressing matters related to the JCPOA.

This plan poses a risk to the legitimate and mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Iran across various domains. This implies that Russia acted swiftly to comprehend Iran’s actions with the aim of averting any agreements that could undermine its strategic interests.

Reports from American and Israeli media indicate that Israel is convinced that the prisoner exchange agreement is merely a component of broader understandings between Iran and the US. They hold the belief that a viable formula concerning the nuclear issue is already established.

This scenario is highly plausible, given the current circumstances. The only element yet to be unveiled is the official announcement, as the final touches are being formally applied to introduce the anticipated comprehensive agreement.

What we are witnessing, including the events linked to the reinforcement of the US military presence around the Gulf and Iran’s reactions to American “provocations,” constitutes merely a portion of the planned strategy for negotiating the official agreement.
Iran summons Swiss envoy over US seizure of its oil now docked in Texas
Iran has summoned a Swiss diplomat over the apparent US seizure of Iranian crude oil from a ship that sat for months off Texas, an official said Monday, as the oil now appeared to be moored in Houston.

The remarks by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani mark the latest twist in the saga of the oil once aboard the tanker Suez Rajan, which had become mired in the wider tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic. That’s even as Tehran and Washington work toward a trade of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in South Korea for the release of five Iranian Americans held in Tehran.

Iran has been trying to evade sanctions and continue selling its oil abroad, while the US and its allies have been seizing cargoes since 2019 after the country’s nuclear deal, which allowed the trade, collapsed.

Speaking to journalists Monday, Kanaani said Tehran had summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Swiss Embassy in Iran to express a “strong objection” over the US seizing the oil. Switzerland has looked out for America’s interests in Iran since the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis.

Kanaani’s comments also acknowledged the oil was Iranian.

“The subject of the seizure of an Iranian oil consignment by the US… is a completely unproductive action,” Kanaani said. He said the US government was on the one hand expressing interest in direct talks to pave the way for a renewed nuclear deal, and on the other was imposing new sanctions and seizing oil.




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