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It was the first attack of its kind along the border with Jordan since Oct. 7, when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out an assault on southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza that has escalated throughout the region.

The attack took place in a commercial cargo area under Israeli control where Jordanian trucks offload cargo entering the West Bank, officials said. The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, lies about midway between Amman and Jerusalem just north of the Dead Sea.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/two-wounded-shooting-attack-near-jordan-border-israeli-authorities-say-2024-09-08/

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The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.

The alleged plot and arrests, reported here for the first time, come at a time of sky-high tensions in the Middle East, with an American-backed Israel at war in Gaza with Hamas, part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” network of proxy groups built up over decades to oppose Israel.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas said it had “no ties to any acts targeting Jordan” and that it only sought to target Israel.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jordan-foils-arms-plot-kingdom-caught-iran-israel-shadow-war-2024-05-15/

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Mohammed al-Abssi is one of thousands of Jordanians who have been surrounding the Israeli embassy in Amman for the last four days.

He is clear about their intentions. “Our protests will continue until the war on Gaza comes to an end,” he told Middle East Eye. “The protests are expanding to other cities and governorates. We will call for demonstrations in multiple locations.”

Yesterday marked the fourth consecutive day that thousands of protesters have come out on to the streets of the Jordanian capital to surround the Israeli embassy, demanding its closure. Young demonstrators tried to breach the security cordon established around the complex by Jordanian security forces, resulting in the arrest of approximately 200 protesters.

While the embassy is currently without a diplomatic mission, after Israel’s ambassador left Amman in October and Jordan recalled its ambassador in November in protest at the ongoing war in Gaza, al-Abssi said that protesters “have heard that the embassy has partially resumed operations”.

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Source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordan-israel-embassy-protest-thousands-arrests

The post Jordan: Thousands of protesters surround Israeli embassy for fourth consecutive day first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said his country would resort to “all the means in its power” to prevent Israel from implementing any transfer policy to expel Palestinians en masse from the West Bank.

The Israel-Gaza conflict has stirred long-standing fears in Jordan, home to a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Right-wing, ultra-nationalist hardliners now in the Israeli government have long espoused a Jordan-is-Palestine solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jordan-says-it-beefs-up-army-presence-along-borders-with-israel-2023-11-21/

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The post Jordan says it beefs up army presence along borders with Israel first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“We had a regional dialogue about regional projects. I think that all of this, … the war (has) proved, will not proceed,” Safadi said in an interview, referring to Israel’s conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jordan-says-it-wont-sign-energy-water-deal-with-israel-2023-11-16/

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The water is fresh, high-quality, expensive. Desalinated from the Mediterranean Sea and transported across the country where it awaits the order to replenish the lake should it start to shrink again.

This new network will also let Israel double the amount of water it sells to neighbouring Jordan under a broader water-for-energy deal forged through a working, though often fractious, relationship.

The Sea of Galilee, whose waters Christians believe Jesus walked upon, is Israel’s main reservoir and a big tourist draw. Hotels and campsites line the perimeter encircled by lush hills. It feeds the Jordan River that flows south to the Dead Sea.

The post Israel refills the Sea of Galilee, supplying Jordan on the way first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday amid tensions between the two countries over the Temple Mount, in a surprise visit that was publicized only after its conclusion.

“The two leaders discussed regional issues, especially strategic, security and economic cooperation between Israel and Jordan, which contributes to regional stability,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

“They also praised the long-standing friendship and partnership between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom,” the PMO continued.

It’s the first visit Netanyahu has made abroad since he returned to office last month.

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Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-729456

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(May 9, 2022 / JNS) Israel must adopt a more proactive approach if it is to deplete Hamas of its ability to incite Palestinians to terrorism, a senior security scholar has said, including a stepped-up cyber campaign to take down incitement material that is online and fueling violence against Israelis.

In recent weeks, the Israeli defense establishment has detected an unmistakable spike in Hamas’s online efforts to ignite terrorism and unrest, particularly on social-media networks. This is part of the strategy by Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, to destabilize the West Bank and Jerusalem and inflict Israeli casualties while weakening his domestic rival, the Palestinian Authority—all without risking Hamas’s home turf of Gaza.

Ely Karmon, a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, told JNS that the time had come for an all-out offensive cyber campaign to disrupt and remove incitement to hatred and violence on Arabic social-media networks.

“The state has been doing almost nothing offensively on this front and has been waiting for the platforms, like Facebook, to act. The state should not wait; it should take this material down itself,” said Karmon.

In the information campaign sphere, he said, Israel has made a lackluster effort to deflate false Hamas claims that the Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger. “No one is showing footage from inside the mosque on how rioters prepare to attack security forces and what they’re entering the mosque with. No one is showing what the Waqf (the Jordanian Islamic trust in charge of the Temple Mount site) is telling worshippers. It is time for this material to come out,” Karmon said.

He proposed that the Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Ministry take on this project in a focused manner.

On the military front, Karmon said that if Israel did opt for targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders, then it would also have no choice to but launch a significant military offensive designed to target and eliminate Hamas’s leadership.

“The timing is critical because if this government falls before making this decision, a transitional government will take over and then a new government will have to be formed, and the window of opportunity for ordering preparations for such a maneuver will be gone,” he noted.

A return to targeted killings of Hamas leaders clearly means war, said Karmon, adding that “Sinwar is just the symbol because he is the one now talking; he is the commander. Others will come after him. It has to be a succession of targeted killings to reinstall deterrence, and those from the leadership who survive would need to go into the deepest tunnels. They wouldn’t have time to appear in demonstrations or on television.”

Targeted killings played a key role in ending the Second Intifada (2000-05), pointed out Karmon, noting the assassinations of the late Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in March and April 2004. Several other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic senior members were killed by Israel during this time as well.

“Clearly, this will lead to conflict with Hamas. This is not something that has to happen today. But Israel will have to put an end to Hamas’s military wing in the near future,” he argued. “As long as this does not happen, we will remain trapped in this cycle of operations and rocket fire every three to four years, and there will be no chance for a diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority to develop. Israel is allowing the P.A. to grow weaker.”

Ordering such a maneuver, said Karmon, would result in a fundamental strategic change—meaning that the idea of ordering a targeted assassination of only Sinwar would only be the start of such a transformation if the government ever chose such an option.

‘Calling for more and more violence’

In the meantime, Israel has limited its actions against Hamas to the civilian-economic sphere, sealing the Erez Border Crossing between Israel and Gaza, and preventing 12,000 Palestinian workers from access to work in Israel, thereby applying pressure to the Islamist regime in Gaza as a response to its incitement.

In the West Bank and in Israel, security forces are working around the clock to try and disrupt the wave of terrorism.

The joint command room opened in Nahshonim, a kibbutz in central Israel near Elad, inhabited by the Israel Police, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet intelligence agency led to the capture of As’ad Yousef As’ad al-Rifa’i, 19, and Subhi Emad Subhi Abu Shqeir, 20, from the Palestinian village of Rumana near Jenin, after a 60-hour manhunt that followed their deadly ax rampage through the city, claiming three lives.

At the height of the search, 800 members of the security forces from various units took part under police command. Units included the Maglan and Egoz special military forces, as well as the Miroul Unit, which specializes in tracking down people based on conducting field analysis.

Drones and radars were deployed throughout regions where security chiefs estimated the terrorists were hiding, feeding the command room with intelligence.

“All of this was done with the understanding that the terrorists were between Elad and Rosh HaAyin,” a military official said on Sunday. Police also obtained forensic evidence, helping the search efforts.

“This is an area with many caves and canals—all could be used as hideouts. We pinpointed the area between Route 400 and then up to the security barrier as the polygon we understood they were hiding in,” said the source.

“The initial capture was conducted by a combined team featuring Maglan, Miroul and the Shin Bet. They saw that a bush looked different, and when they got closer, in line with intelligence, they saw that the bush was moving in a breathing pattern. They then called out for the terrorists to surrender,” said the source.

The terrorists crossed into Israel on Independence Day, May 5, through the security barrier before entering the vehicle of one of their victims, Oren Ben Yiftah, riding with him to Elad and killing him. The IDF Central Command Chief, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, and the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, have distributed lessons learned to 11 brigade commanders who are actively protecting the area.

Security forces are continuously monitoring incitement directed at Palestinians and Israeli Arabs in mixed cities, the source added, warning that the material online is “calling for more and more violence.”

“The fact that they [the terrorists] entered is a failure of the IDF. We are in charge and were not able to protect in a hermetic way the 430-kilometer [barrier] area. We are debriefing continuously to learn how to do this better,” said the source.

Looking ahead, the military is set to upgrade the security barrier through a range of means, he added, stating that some of the work is already underway.

“We are all of the time balancing between civilian policy to allow civilian life to flourish and for stability, together with security and counter-terrorism operations. In the last month, 19 people have been killed, and the government decided to upgrade the security steps,” he said.

Security forces have also launched a new campaign to prevent Palestinians without work permits from entering Israel, and where possible, to provide more permits to those who pass security screening.

Source: https://www.jns.org/israel-must-wage-all-out-cyber-campaign-targeting-hamas-insists-counter-terrorism-pro/

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Israeli police and Palestinians clashed at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday in yet another round of violence at the holy site in recent weeks.

The mosque is the third holiest site of Muslims built on a hilltop that’s holiest for Jews who refer it as Temple Mount. Jewish visits to the site were paused for the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

On Thursday, Israeli police entered the site to clear away Palestinian protesters after Jewish visits resumed.

As the visits resumed, dozens of Palestinians gathered, chanting “God is greatest”. Scuffles broke out when the police went to arrest one of them. Police fired rubber-coated bullets on the sprawling esplanade as some Palestinians sheltered inside the mosque itself. The police could later be seen just inside an entrance to the mosque.

The police said they responded to dozens of people who were shouting incitement and throwing stones and that one police officer was lightly injured.

But unlike in previous confrontations, Palestinian witnesses said there was no sign of rock-throwing initially. Some of those who sheltered inside the mosque began throwing stones when police started to enter the building. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Under informal arrangements known as the status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there. In recent years, they have visited in ever-increasing numbers with police escorts and many have discreetly prayed, angering the Palestinians as well as neighbouring Jordan, which is the custodian of the site. The Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to eventually take over the site or partition it.

Israel says it is committed to maintaining the status quo and accuses the Islamic militant group Hamas of inciting the recent violence.

Thursday is also Israel’s Independence Day. Fring groups have in recent days called on Jewish worshippers to celebrate by waving Israeli flags at the holy site. The calls were widely circulated by Palestinians on social media along with calls to confront any such display.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who serves as the main liaison between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, tweeted about the controversy, saying that raising the flag would show “outrageous disregard” for Palestinian feelings and mark the “continuation of extremist racist campaigns”.

Hamas warned on Wednesday that Israel was “playing with fire and dragging the region into an escalation for which the occupation bears full responsibility”.

On April 15, more than 150 people were injured in clashes between Israeli security forces personnel and Palestinians at the site. These clashes have taken place amid heightened tensions in Israel as the country has seen a number of Palestinian attacks in Israel in last two months in which 15 Israelis have been killed. At least 27 Palestinians have also been killed in this period, including those who carried out these attacks in Israel.

Clashes in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque last year helped ignite an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza. At least 243 people were killed in Gaza and 12 in Israel in the war, as per reports from last year. Israel said it killed at least 225 militants in its attacks.

(With AP inputs)

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/international/clashes-erupt-between-israeli-police-and-palestinians-at-jerusalem-al-aqsa-mosque-news-195013

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