News Digest — 2/11/22
Report: Turkey, Israel Foil Iranian Assassination Of Israeli Businessman
Turkish and Israeli intelligence forces came together to foil an assassination attempt of Israeli businessman Yair Geller, according to Turkish media.
The alleged assassination attempt, which in this case included a team of nine, was in response to the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020, which Iran has attributed to Israel, according to Turkish and Israeli media reports. It is unclear what Geller’s connection is.
“I am an Israeli businessman in Turkey with an engineering research and development company. I was informed that the Iranians were tracking and are attempting to assassinate me,” Geller told KAN in the first response to Israeli media on the story.
His company, CNC lleri Teknoloji, a metal machinery supplier for the automotive, aerospace and medical industries, is based in Istanbul.
The Iranian cell tracked Geller and took photos of him in his house. Turkish intelligence was aware of the tracking movements done by the Iranian cell and reportedly shared the information with the Mossad once the activity neared operational status.
The cell was reportedly run by Yassin Tahermkandi, 53, an Iran-based intelligence officer, and Saleh Mushtag Bhighus, 44, his Turkish counterpart. Bhighus was among the eight arrested.
Around this time last year reports circulated of Israeli involvement in Fakhrizadeh’s death in the form of a “remote-controlled gun” that was smuggled into the country by the Mossad.
Reportedly, the team responsible for smuggling it numbered more than 20 Israeli and Iranian nationals.
Ties between Israel and Turkey have been warming up lately, with a renewed interest in relations expressed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and an expected visit to Ankara by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
On Monday (7th), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced in a press briefing that he is treading cautiously regarding relations with Turkey.
Last week, Erdogan extended his wishes beyond diplomatic ties, suggesting the two countries work together to carry Israeli natural gas to Europe.
Two days earlier, Erdogan met President Nechirvan Barzani, of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, in a push towards a natural gas supply deal with Iraq.
“We have now taken the Iraq issues on our agenda. We are now thinking about it. There may be a supply on the natural gas side from Iraq to Turkey,” Erdogan said, adding Barzani had promised to facilitate talks.
(jpost.com; kan.org.il)
There’s Apartheid In The Holy Land, But Not In Israel – Prof. Eugene Kontorovich
There are reasons to be concerned about the emergence of apartheid in the Holy Land but not the ones Amnesty cites. The defining characteristic of apartheid – what distinguishes it from generic racial discrimination – is the rigid separation of groups in public spaces and positions of power. Thus, a sign of apartheid could be a government policy that bans real-estate sales or transactions to the disfavored group.
Apartheid is suggested by policies that carve out massive zones where the disfavored group cannot live or work, create ethnically homogenous zones, and restrict the disfavored group to ghettos. One might consider it apartheid if a government enforced a policy of extrajudicial execution of members of a disfavored group.
All these policies are practiced in the West Bank and Gaza by the Palestinian Authority government against Jews.. The “Israel apartheid” meme is not just a lie, it is an inversion of the truth. In all areas controlled by Israel, Jews and Arabs mix openly. Yet all the areas under PA jurisdiction are Jew-free. Palestinian law makes selling land to Jews a crime punishable by death, often without trial. The South African government used death squads against Blacks. The Palestinian government pays terrorists for killing Jews.
In all the territories controlled by the Palestinian government, Jews are prevented from worshiping at their holy sites, despite explicit provisions in the Oslo Accords requiring the Palestinian Authority to protect such worship.
The writer is a professor at George Mason University Law School and a scholar at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem.
‘Illegitimate:’ Hamas, Islamic Jihad Slam New PA Appointments
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other terror groups blasted Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmoud Abbas’ recent choices for a number of influential PLO positions, saying they would refuse to recognize the selections made by the embattled leader.
“There is no recognition of, and no legitimacy to, the appointments announced by the Palestine Central Council (PCC) during its illegitimate meeting on Sunday (6th) and Monday (7th),” said Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in a rare joint statement, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Abbas’ picks “do not represent our people and constitutes a breach of the national consensus and a suppression of the will of the Palestinian people,” the statement added.
The statement illustrates escalating tensions and an increasingly public power struggle between the terror groups, whose influence over Jerusalem and PA-controlled areas in Judea and Samaria is steadily growing, and octogenarian Abbas, who is wildly unpopular and faces widespread calls to resign.
During a session in Ramallah last week, Hussein al-Sheikh, Rouhi Fattouh, Mohammed Mustafa and Ramzi Khoury, all close associates of Abbas, were selected to key positions in the PLO Executive Committee and the Palestinian National Council (PNC).
Abbas’ critics said the decisions were a strategic move meant to solidify his position in the PA, as he can be protected by his loyalists from a potential ouster.
For many frustrated with Abbas’ failures during his nearly two decades in power, the installation of his associates in important roles also indicates that the PA will continue his policies even after he leaves office.
Hamas, PIJ, and the PFLP called for national elections, which were indefinitely suspended by Abbas after being slated to take place in May 2021.
Although Abbas blamed the delay on Israel’s refusal to allow the PA to set up voting booths in eastern Jerusalem, many of his critics said the decision was made out of fear that he would lose the elections.
There will be “no return to the Oslo track,” the statement from the terror groups said, emphasizing the importance of a “national unified command of the popular resistance” for organized attacks against Israel.
Report: Israeli Naval Officer To Be Permanently Stationed In Bahrain
An Israeli Navy officer will be permanently stationed in Bahrain, Channel 13 reported on Thursday evening (10th).
The senior naval officer, who is expected to arrive in the Gulf state over the next few weeks, will be entrusted with maintaining communications with the US Navy’s 5th fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
The move was agreed upon during Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s trip to Bahrain last week, during which he visited the 5th fleet in a trilateral meeting with his Bahraini counterpart and US 5th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper.
In his Bahrain visit, Gantz welcomed the “long standing partnership” between the US Navy and Israel, adding that “deepening cooperation will help defend against the common enemy of Israel, the United States and Bahrain” who have common interests and shared values.
The Abraham Accords and Israel’s move to CENTCOM show the work with the 5th fleet has increased and is reflected in what the defense minister called a “significant” visit.
Also during his visit, Gantz signed a historic public Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, officially establishing security ties between the two Middle Eastern countries.
The agreement will set a solid security cooperation framework that formalizes defense relations between the two countries, allowing for increased cooperation in various fields such as intelligence sharing, military-to-military training, cooperation between defense industries and more.
The MoU now looks to be put into action, as for the first time ever, an IDF officer is set to be stationed in an Arab state.
DeSantis: Florida Is ‘Leading The Way’ In Fight Against BDS
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday (10th) visited a replica of a cattle car used during the Holocaust by Nazi Germany.
The visit was part of an event held in light of recent anti-Semitic incidents in Florida, nonprofit Teach Florida said. The event, a HateEndsNow tour, was hosted by Teach Florida, together with the Orthodox Union Southern NCSY, and ShadowLight.
Teach Florida added that attendees included Senate President Wilton Simpson, House Speaker Chris Sprowls, NCSY’s Todd Cohn and Teach Coalition’s Mimi Jankovits, who spoke at a press conference on hate crimes and anti-Semitism in front of Tallahassee City Hall.
“On a smaller scale what they’ve done with the cattle car is to give people an idea, a first-hand idea, of what this really meant,” DeSantis said at the event. “I think this is a way to better educate more people.”
DeSantis added that his state has been “really leading the way to fighting the BDS movement.”
“What the BDS movement is doing is serious – what they’re really doing is reflecting an anti-Semitic viewpoint,” added the Florida governor.
(isnn.com)
