“I made it clear, and I was happy that he also made it clear in an explicit manner, that Israel will retain its freedom of action in any situation,” Bennett said of his conversation with Biden on the Iranian nuclear issue.

“We will retain our freedom of action regardless of what transpires,” he continued, “with or without an agreement. These are things I have also told [Biden] in the past.”

“I say this because it is a very important point that is at the core of our path regarding Iran,” Bennett remarked.

The prime minister added that he invited Biden to visit Israel during the call, and that the president said he would be happy to come this year. “He is a true friend of Israel,” said Bennett.

The prime minister declined to elaborate further on his talks with Biden, saying, “our stance is known.”

On Sunday, Bennett told the weekly cabinet meeting that a new nuclear deal with Iran based on current parameters would “damage the ability to deal with the nuclear program” and potentially destabilize the region.

Touching on the possibility of Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear program, he said, “We are currently closing gaps and building up Israel’s military strength for years and even decades to come. Israel will maintain freedom of action in any case, with or without an agreement.”

A government source told N12 that Israel has undergone a strategic shift in its policies on Iran, saying, “Until now the focus on Iran was only in regard to the nuclear program. In 2015 the [nuclear] agreement was signed and in 2018 the US withdrew from the agreement. We inherited a very deep pit, because we had no internal ‘Plan B.’”

“We have allocated hundreds of millions of shekels to close the gap,” the source said, “both in intelligence and operationally. We are closing the gap quickly.”

“Seventy percent of Israel’s problems originate in Iran,” he noted, particularly in Tehran’s support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. “They want us to be harassed, and we indeed have been harassed. We played into their hands.”

The source reflected that because of Israel’s focus on Iran’s proxies, “We did nothing regarding the root of things, when they are sitting at ease 1,000 kilometers [away] with no problem.”

This paradigm has now changed, with the goal being to weaken Iran itself in many fields, such as politics, economics, and intelligence, he said.

“The goal from our point of view is to harass them at home, so they will be dealing with themselves,” the source continued. This campaign, he added, “will be ongoing, it won’t happen in a year and not in two years.”

Source: https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/02/07/bennett-biden-agreed-that-israel-will-retain-freedom-of-action-against-iran/

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Israel has threatened Hamas with targeted killings in response to the recent wave of terror in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Monday, according to i24 News.

Recent terror attacks included, for example, the shooting deaths of Eli Kay in Jerusalem’s Old City in November and of Yehuda Dimentman in Samaria last week. In both instances, other victims were wounded.

The warnings were sent to the Gaza-based terror group by Egyptian security officials who are now visiting the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, the report said. There was no comment from Hamas in response.

The Egyptian delegation had traveled to Gaza for negotiations with Hamas on preserving the ceasefire with Israel and on ways to rebuild the Strip.

Hamas reportedly pleaded for a “legitimate struggle until the occupier is expelled from all Palestinian lands and the settlers are evicted,” the report added.

On Saturday, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also based in Gaza, agreed to increase cooperation and ramp up terrorist attacks, particularly in Judea and Samaria.

Source: https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-threatens-hamas-with-targeted-killings

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(December 5, 2021 / JNS) As a Jew and an Israeli, current events are nothing short of bizarre. Iran, a terrorist state behind a global axis of evil, is once again getting the last laugh. It is hard to watch as the United States and Europe politely attempt to reach a deal with Tehran at the cost of an existential threat to Israel.

Murmurings in Europe, along with American ambiguity toward Israel on this issue, are a warning sign to Jerusalem. The lifting of sanctions will see billions of dollars pour into the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ coffers for the country’s transformation into a nuclear state. No less dangerous, it will boost their confidence ahead of military action against Israel on multiple fronts.

The next war on our northern front won’t be the Third Lebanon War, but the First Iran War. The Iranians are planning to strike Israel on six fronts: From Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria, internally with the assistance of some Arab Israelis, and through the use of long-range missiles from Iran and Yemen. This will be a conventional war, but it will be far from straightforward.

To date, Iran has succeeded in establishing a regional axis of evil through the creation of a ring of armed divisions around the State of Israel. In practice, Tehran is working toward the kind of warfare it is comfortable with, meaning far from its borders. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian missiles are dispersed on Israel’s borders, and they are launched from time to time, in accordance with Tehran’s interests.
The Iranian working model is to build a “security network” in the form of Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.

The time, therefore, has come to change the equation. For every missile launched from Lebanon, the return address should be Tehran. Iran’s days of immunity are over. They need to pay a price at home, in Tehran and every other place they hold dear.

That is why the talks in Vienna do not tell Iran’s story. The question is not whether or not Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons. This is a terrorist state aspiring to world domination through the decimation of Western culture. Unfortunately, the West is always the last to know.

As a public official and Israeli citizen, I am personally unable to look on from the sidelines. This is why I headed to the United States to try and wake Washington from its stupor. I will embark on a public diplomacy campaign within the framework of which I will meet with senior members of Congress, opinion leaders and journalists. Every one of us must do everything we can to influence the situation. The window of opportunity may soon be closed completely.

Likud Knesset member Nir Barkat is a former mayor of Jerusalem.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Source: https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-first-iran-war-is-just-around-the-corner/

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Israel’s goal is to persuade the United States to neither return to the original nuclear deal nor conclude a partial interim agreement, but instead to intensify sanctions on Iran and also present an explicit, credible military threat.

Diplomatic sources estimated that Iran’s hard line during the talks in Vienna has prepared the ground to influence Washington’s approach at the talks.

On Monday, Mossad director David Barnea will begin a round of meetings in Washington, including with CIA Director William Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. On Thursday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz will arrive in Washington to meet senior American officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Gantz’s visit was arranged several weeks ago, long before obstacles in the nuclear talks arose. Last week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Blinken and expressed his concern over a possible return to the deal.

The Israeli officials will urge Washington to withdraw from the upcoming nuclear pact and to draw an alternative plan to address the Iranian nuclear program.

Israel also expects that the U.S. will immediately step up both economic and military pressure on Iran so that Tehran will arrive at the next rounds of talks from a significantly weaker position.

–Israel’s reaction to Iran talks: too much bravado, too little sense

–‘Self-delusion’: Former PM Barak slams Bennett and Netanyahu over Iran

–What AIPAC is telling Congress on Biden’s Iran negotiations

Another demand Israel will make is to guarantee that any future deal with Iran will be conditioned upon the withdrawal of its forces from Syria and other countries in the region, to ensure Israel’s aerial superiority.

Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, presented last week a document with sweeping demands for the removal of American sanctions as a condition for any progress in the talks. It also requested a clear commitment from the U.S. and the other signatory countries not to reimpose sanctions in the future.

Israeli officials expect the U.S. administration to refuse to make such commitments and hope Iran’s uncompromising stance will help them persuade their American counterparts.

Israel views Sullivan as a powerful player who can influence U.S. decision makers and holds relatively hard line positions on the nuclear deal.

As opposed to him, Israel considers the head of the American negotiating team in Vienna, U.S. special representative to Iran Rob Malley, as an enthusiastic supporter of America’s return to the nuclear agreement. Due to Malley’s support for the deal, Bennett decided not to meet with him when he visited Israel prior to the resumption of the talks.

Israel’s assessment is that despite the hardened stance Iran has presented at the talks, it wouldn’t be quick to blow up the negotiations because its stifling economy desperately needs at least some sanctions removed.

Following the first week of talks, Israel is having trouble predicting whether the sides will ultimately reach an agreement. Contrary to the U.S. administration’s initial expectation, the talks didn’t end last weekend, and the parties are pursuing the negotiations this week.

Israel worries that if the talks will not terminate this week, they may drag on for months unless a deadline is set. It also fears that during that time, and with no international pressure, Iran will further advance its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Mossad’s Barnea is expected to try to convince American officials that Iran has no intention of putting an end to the development of its nuclear program. On Thursday, Barnea made an unusual public statement describing Israeli intelligence’s outlook.

“It’s clear that uranium enriched to 60 percent isn’t needed for civilian purposes, and there’s no need for three facilities with thousands of centrifuges spinning unless they intend to develop nuclear weapons,” he said in a speech at the President’s Residence.

Addressing a ministerial cabinet meeting, Bennett said Sunday that the window between rounds of nuclear talks should be exploited to push the U.S. to “use a different toolbox” with Iran, adding that “Iran must start paying the price for violations.”

President Isaac Herzog also addressed the talks today at the presentation of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides’ credentials, saying that “Israel will welcome a comprehensive diplomatic solution that can resolve the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all.” However, he further clarified that all options remain on the table, adding that if the international community does not take decisive action, Israel will.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-iran-talks-israel-presses-u-s-for-more-sanctions-military-threat-1.10442155

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Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.   (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

The Palestinian Authority leadership on Friday strongly condemned and rejected Bahrain’s decision to establish relations with Israel, calling it a “betrayal of Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian issue.”

The PA Foreign Ministry announced it has decided to immediately recall its ambassador to Bahrain for consultations in protest of the normalization agreement.

Last month, the Palestinian leadership issued a similar response to the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also decided to recall its ambassador to Abu Dhabi.

The PA leadership said the Bahraini decision would “support the legalization of the cruel crimes of the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian people at a time when the occupation [sic] state is continuing to control the Palestinian lands and annex them by military force; is working toward Judaizing Jerusalem and controlling the Islamic and Christian holy sites; and is committing crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian leadership said in a statement that it views the Bahraini decision “with utmost seriousness because it destroys the Arab Peace Initiative, resolutions of Arab and Islamic summits and international legitimacy.”

It said the Palestinians reject the decision and call on Bahrain to immediately retract it because it causes huge damage to the national rights of the Palestinian people and to joint Arab action.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms its call for the Arab countries to adhere to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and urges the international community to adhere to international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy,” the statement read.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms that it has not and will not authorize anyone to speak on its behalf. It also affirms that peace and stability in the region won’t be achieved unless the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is ended and Palestinians achieve an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital – and that the issue of the refugees is solved on the basis of United Nations Resolution 194. Those who believe that concessions that come at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people will serve peace, security and stability in the region are deluding themselves.”

Several Palestinian officials expressed outrage over the “disgraceful and treacherous” Israel-Bahrain agreement and accused Bahrain of betraying the Palestinian people.

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat accused the UAE and Bahrain of “contributing to [US President Donald] Trump’s presidential campaign at the expense of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

Ahmed Majdalani, member of the PLO Executive Committee, denounced the Israel-Bahrain agreement as a “stab to the national rights of the Palestinian people and their national cause. He said that the US administration’s “delusion that it can make peace between the occupying state and the Arab countries without the Palestinians and without an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories is political stupidity.”

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other extremist groups also condemned the Israel-Bahrain accord and said it was “the fruit of the failure of the Arab League.”

Last week, Arab League foreign ministers refused to endorse a Palestinian draft resolution that condemned the UAE for its agreement to establish relations with Israel.

“What the Kingdom of Bahrain did is disgraceful and constitutes a political setback and a major downfall for the rulers of Bahrain,” Hamas said in a statement. “This series of steps, initiated by the Emiratis, and then the rulers of Bahrain, constitutes political crimes, contributes to the implementation of the Deal of the Century and undermines the foundations of Arab solidarity. Hamas rejects this announcement and considers it a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, a betrayal of Palestine and Jerusalem and a step against the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.”

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/palestinians-strongly-condemn-israel-bahrain-deal-withdraw-ambassador-641976

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Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar on Friday warned Israel “not to test us again,” saying the next rocket barrage from the territory would target Tel Aviv and other central cities with a potency that would “surprise” Israel.

He also warned that the next time Israeli soldiers entered the Strip, they would only return through a prisoner exchange for “thousands of prisoners.”

Speaking at a ceremony honoring the seven gunmen killed during a firefight on Sunday with Israeli undercover special forces, Sinwar pulled out a handgun with a silencer which he said belonged to one of the special forces troops.

One Israel soldier, identified only as Lt. Col. Mem, was killed and another injured in the fight.

Sinwar mocked Israel for assuming its decision to allow fuel and Qatari funds into Gaza before the latest flareup — as part of Egyptian-mediated efforts to achieve a long-term truce — would prevent his group from launching a large-scale attack against the Jewish state.

“What did the Israeli leadership think when it allowed in fuel and Qatari funds? … That we would sell out our blood for diesel and dollars? They’ve been disappointed, and their goals have failed,” he said.

He said he had spoken to the leader of Hamas’s military wing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Deif. “Deif asked me to say that Tel Aviv and Gush Dan [the greater Tel Aviv area] are next. The first barrage to hit Tel Aviv will surprise Israel.”

Hamas military wing commander Muhammad Deif (courtesy)

Sunday’s raid gone awry led on Monday and Tuesday to an unprecedented barrage of rockets and mortar shells fired by Hamas and other terrorist groups from the Strip that brought the region to the brink of another war.

“Our hands are on the trigger and our eyes are open,” Sinwar said. “Whoever tests Gaza will find only death and poison. Our missiles are more precise, have a greater range and carry more explosives than in the past.”

Following the special forces operation, over 460 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel over the course of around 24 hours. The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted over 100 of them. Most of the rest landed in open fields, but dozens landed inside Israeli cities and towns, killing one person, injuring dozens and causing significant property damage.

In response, the Israeli military said it targeted approximately 160 sites in the Gaza Strip connected to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups, including four facilities that the army designated as “key strategic assets.”

Palestinians walk amidst rubble of a building that was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2018. (SAID KHATIB / AFP)
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The fighting ended on Tuesday after a Hamas-announced ceasefire took effect, though this was not officially confirmed by Israel.

The decision to halt attacks on Gaza was criticized by many in Israel and was cited by Avigdor Liberman in his decision Wednesday to resign as defense minister, a move expected to bring early elections for the Knesset.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cheered Liberman’s resignation Wednesday, saying it marked an “admission of defeat” by Israel. Haniyeh also boasted that Hamas “achieved a military victory against this odious occupier in less than a week.

“A military victory occurred with the heroic performance of the Palestinian resistance factions who responded to the occupier’s crime and aggression with a response commensurate with its aggression,” he said.

Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, August 21, 2018.
(Anas BABA/AFP)

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-largest terrorist organization in the Strip, similarly claimed the defense minister’s sudden departure as a victory.

“Behold the political slaughter dealt to leaders of the occupation who aren’t capable of dealing with Gaza,” the organization’s spokesperson said in a statement.

In his resignation, the defense minister decried the decision to accept a ceasefire from Hamas on Tuesday, rather than launch a larger counter strike, saying it was a “capitulation to terror.”

He brushed off the arguments made by some defense analysts that the government refrained from conducting a campaign against Hamas in Gaza because it preferred to focus the military’s intentions on threats in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. “It’s all excuses,” he said.

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Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-gaza-chief-to-israel-dont-test-us-again-next-barrage-will-hit-tel-aviv/

[Disclaimer]

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The promised Palestinian action Tuesday follows seven weeks of protests backed by Hamas, the terrorist group that seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas and the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad have launched dozens of rockets, mortar shells and kites carrying firebombs over the Gaza security fence in recent weeks. Israeli troops have killed over 100 Palestinians and injured thousands who tried to breach the fence.

Two Hamas terrorists attempted to breach the border fence with an axe Monday and Israeli forces shot one dead. One Hamas mortar shell landed in the yard of an Israeli kindergarten last week, shortly before the preschoolers were set to arrive. The attacks on Israel from Gaza are part of Hamas’ relentless campaign to destroy the Jewish state.

But while Hamas poses the most immediate threat to Israeli security, promoting stability and peace also depends on dealing with organizations such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which professes good intentions yet creates the conditions in which Hamas can thrive.

The Trump administration has been sharply critical of UNRWA, the U.N.’s special refugee agency devoted to Palestinians, and chose to withhold $300 million of the annual U.S. contribution to the agency.

UNRWA must stop hiring terrorists, stop letting its facilities be used by terrorists, stop glorifying martyrdom, stop erasing Israel from maps, and stop encouraging Palestinians to hold onto a right of return that actually undermines a potential two-state solution.

After the extensive violence in Gaza in the past few weeks, some influential Europeans are also speaking out, including Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis of Switzerland, UNRWA’s eighth-largest donor.

“By supporting UNRWA, we are keeping the conflict alive,” Cassis said. “It provides ammunition to continue the conflict,” he explained, by fueling “unrealistic” hopes that all Palestinian refugees will someday live in what is now Israel.

The foreign minister has a point. In April and May, tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in Gaza for the Great Return March, an intermittently violent attempt to overrun the border with Israel. While Hamas deserves most of the blame, we should not ignore the role played by UNRWA.

The marchers were not interested in a two-state solution or in preventing the U.S.’s embassy move to Jerusalem. What they want is to reclaim physically every square inch of Israel – not just lands Israel took in 1967 – that UNRWA has taught them is theirs.

On the final day of the march, organizers falsely claimed that  Israeli soldiers were fleeing, even as they were reinforcing their positions, while Hamas officials lied about the border fence being breached.

Hamas led Palestinians to charge into a military zone, risking death and injury. UNRWA never literally encouraged Gazans to storm the border – as Hamas and march organizers did – yet its indoctrination motivated them to march to their deaths.

The Palestinian dream of a mass return to Israel is just that: a dream. Israel will never consent to an influx of millions of aggrieved Palestinians.

Nonetheless, UNRWA’s mandate directs it to worsen this tension by preserving the Palestinians’ refugee status, rather than resettling them in neighboring countries – the preferred approach of the U.N.’s primary refugee agency, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Furthermore, UNRWA treats Palestinians as refugees even if they are living in Palestinian-controlled lands. It also incentivizes them to live in UNRWA camps rather than becoming self-sufficient. Thus, refugee camps pepper the landscape in Gaza and the West Bank, the territories that would constitute a Palestinian state under any likely peace agreement.

Maintaining these refugee camps undermines the prospect of a two-state solution by offering Palestinians false hope that they will return to Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, and encourages Palestinians to hold out for their maximalist demands. It also justifies Israeli fears that the Palestinians would not be content with a return to the 1967 borders that existed before the Six- Day War.

Further impairing prospects for peace, UNRWA extends refugee status to those who claim to be descendants of the original Palestinian refugees from 1948. From an initial refugee population of around 700,000, according to UNRWA, the current number of Palestinians receiving UNRWA aid has ballooned to 5.4 million.

In fact, Foreign Minister Cassis noted: “The word refugee in this case no longer corresponds to the meaning we attach to it.” Palestinian refugees in Jordan, which he visited, are “third-generation families” with Jordanian passports, living in cities called refugee camps.

Bringing all these Palestinians to Israel would make Jews a minority in the world’s only Jewish state. It would dramatically increase the prospect of future conflict reminiscent of the wars of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Education, a major component of UNRWA’s aid program for Gaza, has become a means of encouraging Palestinian obduracy. UNRWA textbooks, schools, and teachers entrench maximalist Palestinian demands, including the right of return to land that has been part of Israel since the Jewish state gained independence from Britain in 1948.

IMPACT-Se, an organization that monitors and evaluates school textbooks across the Middle East, produced a damning report on the Palestinian Authority textbooks used by UNRWA in Gaza. Last year’s report found that the Palestinian Authority curriculum promotes a Palestinian right of return, martyrdom, violence, demonization of Israel and religious bigotry.

Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish indoctrination of Palestinian children begins very early in both UNRWA and non-UNRWA schools. As Fox News reported this week: “A shocking video recently surfaced that allegedly shows a play at a preschool in the Gaza Strip where children dressed up as commandoes and performed a mock hostage-taking and execution of an Israeli soldier.”

The Fox News story links to the chilling video, which is clearly designed to produce a new generation of Palestinian terrorists.

UNRWA has a lot of work to do in order to justify the restoration of U.S. funding, which amounted to approximately a quarter of the agency’s budget.

UNRWA must stop hiring terrorists, stop letting its facilities be used by terrorists, stop glorifying martyrdom, stop erasing Israel from maps, and stop encouraging Palestinians to hold onto a right of return that actually undermines a potential two-state solution.

Until then, UNRWA will be aiding and abetting the Palestinians’ march towards national disaster.

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