News Digest — 7/15/19
PM: We Will Deliver A Crushing Blow To Hezbollah
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the threats of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday (14th).
“Over the weekend we heard Nasrallah’s remarks on his attack plans. It should be clear that if Hezbollah dares to do some nonsense and attacks Israel, we will strike him and Lebanon with a crushing military blow,” Netanyahu said.
“In contrast to Nasrallah, I do not intend to detail our plans. It is enough to recall that Nasrallah – for years – dug terrorist tunnels, which we destroyed within days.”
On Friday (12th), Nasrallah boasted that “all of Israel” was within range of Hezbollah’s missiles and threatened to strike sensitive targets within the Jewish state.
“We have a larger number of missiles and we have precise missiles that we did not have in 2006. We also have a large and powerful branch of UAVs,” claimed Nasrallah in an interview with the group’s Al-Manar television.
During the interview, Nasrallah pulled out a map and explained the range of Hezbollah’s missiles.
“Once we said that we could strike targets south of Haifa. Today we can say that if Israel has sites south of Eilat, we can also hit them. All of Israel is under the range of our missiles,” he said.
“The resistance is stronger than ever despite the sanctions and has improved its capabilities greatly over the past 13 years, and this has been acknowledged by the Israelis,” continued Nasrallah.
While he ruled out a war with Israel in the near future due to what he called “the force of deterrence,” the Hezbollah leader threatened, “Any war will be bigger than the 2006 war for Israel and it will put it on the brink of extinction.”
(almanar.com.lb; israelnn.com)
Abbas Advisor Praises Nazi Collaborator As ‘Role Model’ – Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Itamar Marcus
Known Nazi collaborator and former Mufti of Palestine, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, was openly honored by Palestinian Authority (PA) Leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations, Mahmoud Al-Habbash.
During World War II Al-Husseini moved to Berlin, where he was an associate of Hitler and gave active support to the Nazi war effort. Al-Husseini was on Yugoslavia’s list of wanted war criminals, and was responsible for a Muslim SS division that murdered thousands of Serbs and Croats.
When the Nazis offered to free some Jewish children, Al-Husseini fought against their release and as a result, 5,000 children were sent to the gas chambers.
This month, on the anniversary of his death, Abbas’ advisor posted Al-Husseini’s photo and praised him as a “role model,” writing, “On July 4, 1974, the great Palestinian national leader, [former] Mufti of Palestine and Head of the Arab Higher Committee, Haj Amin Al-Husseini – who for many years led the Palestinian struggle against the British and Israeli occupation – passed away; our leaders are our role models.”
Al-Habbash’s praise is not an isolated example. Indeed, the PA named at least one school after the Nazi collaborator (Amin Al-Husseini Elementary School in El-Bireh), the current PA Mufti honored his predecessor by laying a wreath on his grave, and the PA National Security Forces highlighted Al-Husseini on Facebook.
(palwatch.org)
Netanyahu: IDF The Only Army Ready To Fight Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday (14th) that the only army ready to combat Iran is the Israeli army.
Speaking to members of the National Security College at the Prime Minister’s Residence, Netanyahu slammed the 2015 nuclear deal, and said that only he was against it at the time.
“The only thing that the terrible nuclear agreement gave is a strong and sweeping rapprochement with major Arab countries,” Netanyahu said. “Iran says simply: ‘We will destroy you and destroy you first by nuclear weapons.”
“I had to fight alone to block the nuclear agreement,” Netanyahu lamented. “I had to fight against all the powers and against the president of the United States – I went to the American Congress.”
“I thought that this agreement would not only pave the way for a nuclear arsenal, but would also give them hundreds of billions of dollars that they would not invest in Iran, but would invest in their empire. Today, you can judge whether we were right or not. So first of all you have to stop it.”
“At the moment, the only army in the world willing to fight Iran is the Israeli army.”
Netanyahu’s comments come as Iran says it is open for talks with the United States as long as it lifts its punishing sanctions on the country.
Washington accused Iran of extortion after it inched past the deal’s limit on enrichment levels last week, while still offering to hold talks with Tehran.
Two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday (14th) that the U.S. has granted a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend a UN meeting in New York this week, saying Secretary of State Mike Popmeo had approved the decision.
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
‘A Fatwa For Genocide’ – Wiesenthal Center Slams Hamas Charter
The Simon Wiesenthal Center slammed Hamas in a press release on Sunday (14th), pointing out that the terrorist group’s charter contains “a Fatwa for genocide” and the statement by senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad, who called on Palestinians living around the world to “go out and slaughter and kill Jews.”
Hammad called for such acts of global murder in a Friday (12th) speech during the weekly “March of Return” protests.
Warning that the blockade on the Gaza Strip must be lifted, he said Palestinians “must attack every Jew who exists on the globe, slaughter and kill them.”
The blockade had been implemented by Israel when the Hamas terror group assumed control of the Gaza Strip after winning elections there. It was instituted to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons with which to attack the Jewish state.
The Hamas Charter contains a quote from an Islamic tradition, which explains that on the Day of Judgment, Muslims will chase Jews and kill them. Furthermore, even if Jews will attempt to hide behind stones and trees, these objects will call out to the Muslims: “Oh Muslim, Oh Servant of God, there is a Jew behind me – come kill him.”
This can be found in Article 7 of the Hamas Charter.
Simon Wiesenthal Center Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels warned that “both Hamas and Hizbullah must be banned worldwide for ‘warrant for genocide.’” Otherwise, Islamists across Europe and the Americas will respond to the call for their Jihadist “killings.”
(wiesenthal.com)
Israel Philharmonic Bids Farewell To Maestro Zubin Mehta
Music lovers came out Saturday night (13th) to bid an emotional farewell to Maestro Zubin Mehta on the completion of his impressive 50-year tenure as musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv was filled with an enormous crowd of young and old, who rose almost simultaneously as the now frail, but still charismatic maestro took the stage, opening with the orchestra’s moving rendition of Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
Tel Aviv Mayor, Ron Huldai noted that the Indian-born Mehta had written part of the history of the State of Israel, calling the conductor the “crown jewel of Israel’s cultural life.”
The 83-year-old Mehta, who has had principal posts at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera – New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala, the Chicago Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Salzburg Festival, has shaped and influenced the development of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as its director for life.
“When I started my work in Israel, all the members of the orchestra were twice my age, and now everyone is three times younger,” Mehta said jokingly, recalling his debut in 1961.
Mehta successfully became the IPO’s musical advisory in 1969, musical conductor in 1977 and director for life in 1981.
His skills were still on display at Saturday night’s (13th) performance.
Befitting Mehta’s expertise in the operatic world, for his farewell, he invited a stellar cast of internationally acclaimed singers, who are currently on tour with the maestro, performing “Verdi’s Requiem” at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, and the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv.
The celebration finished with an impressive display of fireworks over the skies of Tel Aviv.
(timesofisrael.com)
