News Digest — 2/17/22
Israel Accused Of Striking Syria Hours After Assad Met Russian Defense Minister
Israel struck several targets near the Syrian capital of Damascus Wednesday night (16th), hours after Russia’s Defense Minister met with President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said that several targets in the town of Zakia were hit at around 11:35 p.m. with several surface-to-surface missiles launched from the Israeli Golan Heights causing material damage but no deaths or injuries.
There were no reports of any Syrian anti-aircraft missiles launched against the alleged Israeli strike.
It was the second time in two weeks that Israel is accused of carrying out attacks in the Damascus area.
Last week SANA reported that air defenses were activated against an Israeli attack near the capital. At least one missile penetrated Israeli airspace and set off incoming rocket alert sirens in the town of Umm el-Fahm and other towns in the northern West Bank.
The rocket exploded in the air, with shrapnel falling in the area of Jenin.
In response to the anti-aircraft missiles, the Israeli air force struck a number of surface-to-air missile batteries belonging to the Syrian military, including the one which fired towards the jets.
Israel has been striking targets in the war-torn country for close to a decade through its war-between-wars (MABAM) campaign against Iranian entrenchment and weapons smuggling to Hezbollah with hundreds of strikes in Syria.
Wednesday night’s (16th) strike comes a day after Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Syria where he met with President Assad and discussed “military-technical cooperation as part of the joint fight against international terrorism, as well as Russian humanitarian assistance to Syrians,” Assad’s office said.
Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in September 2015 on the side of Assad, and Moscow is seen as the main power to speak with, when Israel wants to carry out strikes in the country.
(jpost.com; isnn.com)
Nasrallah Brags About Missiles, Drones, Reminisces About First Lebanon War
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah bragged about the terrorist movement’s missile and drone capabilities and discounted Israeli attempts to stop weapons shipments, during a speech on Wednesday (16th) marking the anniversary of the assassination of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Abbas al-Moussawi.
Nasrallah claimed that the movement is able to convert thousands of its missiles into precision ones and has been working to do so alongside Iran for years, adding that Israel’s “war between wars” has been “fruitless.” He additionally claimed that Israel’s actions to confront Hezbollah’s weapons projects had actually led to “excellent results” for the movement.
The Hezbollah leader added that the movement is able to manufacture drones and will sell to whoever wants to buy.
Nasrallah encouraged Israel to keep trying to find the multiple locations where Hezbollah stores and produces weapons. He added that “we may be facing an Amsariya 2” a seeming reference to a deadly ambush that targeted the Israeli Shayetet 13 special operations unit near the town of Ansariya in 1997.
The Hezbollah leader stated that since Hezbollah had activated air defenses in Lebanon, Israeli military air traffic had decreased over the country.
Nasrallah additionally compared the current situation in Lebanon to the situation in 1982, saying that both now and then the “identity” of Lebanon was “under threat” and that it was Hezbollah who preserved the country’s identity in 1982 and would continue to do so.
“The resistance continues to work by confronting the threats, ambitions and projects of the enemy. It protects Lebanon. It supports the people of Palestine and has its eye on Jerusalem and the holy sites, despite all the conspiracies and difficulties both inside and outside,” said Nasrallah.
The Hezbollah leader ‘dismissed claims’ that the movement was attempting to prevent elections and added that the movement insisted on protecting and strengthening the Lebanese Army. “What is required in the coming weeks is for people to listen consciously and logically,” said Nasrallah.
Nasrallah pushed the claim that Israel was declining. Saying that “in 2006, the ‘Great Israel’ fell.” Nasrallah claimed that senior leaders in Israel had a similar opinion. Iran and its proxies often push claims that Israel is declining and will be destroyed. The Hezbollah leader ridiculed countries that normalized relations with Israel, saying that they were trying to “inject some life” into Israel.
“One of the signs of the decline and demise of the entity is the unwillingness of the Israelis to bear the risks of fighting – and the Israeli youth today do not go to the army – and there is a decline of the Israelis’ confidence in the army and an increase in emigration,” said Nasrallah.
He also ridiculed offers of aid to Lebanon by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, saying that Hezbollah has seen “soldiers on the border searching in the garbage so that they could eat.”
Hezbollah-affiliated reporters often take pictures of soldiers along the border with Lebanon in attempts to ridicule them, including making fun of soldiers who are resting.
In a speech earlier this month, Nasrallah wrote off Israeli threats against the movement’s precision missile program, saying that “if the Israeli entity was certain of victory over Hezbollah through war, it would not have hesitated for one moment.”
Earlier this month, Gantz issued an administrative seizure order against three Lebanese companies for allegedly providing raw materials to Hezbollah for its precision missile project.
Australia Designated Hamas As Terrorist Organization
Australia on Thursday (17th) became the latest Western nation to designate the radical Islamist Hamas group as a terrorist organization.
Canberra outlawed Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, several years ago. The updated designation now blacklists the organization as a whole.
With this move, Australia joins Israel, the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, the European Union, and Egypt, to include the fundamentalist Islamic group in their terror blacklist.
Australia’s ABS News cited Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews as saying that views of Hamas were “deeply disturbing. … There is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies. It is vital that our laws target not only terrorist acts and terrorists, but also the organizations that plan, finance, and carry out these acts.”
Late last year, Canberra also outlawed the entirety of Hezbollah, a Lebanon based, Shiite terrorist group which is Iran’s most powerful proxy in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the decision, saying “I welcome the news that Australia now lists Hamas as a terrorist organization in its entirety.” “This is another important step in the global fight against terrorism.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid lauded the Australian government’s decision.
“I commend Australia for its important decision to declare the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organization. This declaration will make joining or assisting Hamas a criminal offense in Australia,” he tweeted.
(israelhayom.com; ynetnews.com)
Irish Lawmakers Opposed To Hosting Arab-Israeli Who Denies Apartheid Myth
Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli-Arab social activist, was invited to speak next week at the Parliament of Ireland, where he planned to refute allegations that present Israel as an apartheid state.
However, his arrival has provoked opposition from the Sinn Fein Party.
Haddad, who served in the IDF and was wounded in combat, and the director of the “Together Vouch for Each Other” organization, is touring in Britain and Ireland following the publication of an Amnesty International report claiming that Israel pursues discriminatory policies against the Arabs in Israel.
According to the Sunday Times report on Wednesday (16th), his visit has provoked internal opposition among the left-wing Sinn Fein Party which represents 37 seats in the 160-member parliament and is known to be pro-Palestinian.
Chris Andrews, a Member of Parliament from the Sinn Fein Party known for his hostile positions on Israel, issued a letter objecting to Haddad’s arrival, claiming he was shocked that the Irish Parliament would give Haddad a platform to attack the Amnesty report.
“For years, Palestinian and anti-Israel speakers have been hosted in the Irish Parliament,” said Haddad, “and I expect to come and speak to the Irish people and MPs to let them hear a different point of view. It is important that they now hear an authentic voice from the Israeli-Arab society that will present the truth,” he stated.
“I am not moved by the opponents, and they will not be able to stop me or silence me on the way to representing the Israeli truth in Ireland as well,” he added.
Israeli-Arabs and organizations working toward coexistence rejected and condemned the report released by Amnesty that accused Israel of practicing apartheid, saying its findings were “false and defamatory.”
Lorena Khateeb, an Israeli member of the Druze community and a social activist, said that “as an Israeli-Arab citizen, I condemn Amnesty’s report. I grew up studying and working with Muslims, Christians, Druze and Jews, and we all put together the Israeli puzzle despite the challenges, we enjoy equal rights and even work to fix things. This is not apartheid.”
“Stop the lies and stop promoting your agenda on my back and the back of Israeli Arab society!” Haddad demanded.
“Amnesty International has already broken the record for hypocrisy, but to compare Israel to an apartheid regime is not only a distorted lie but an insult to all those South Africans who actually lived through apartheid.”
“It is contempt for and cynical exploitation of the concept,” Haddan added.
(jpost.com; tps.co.il)
Ukraine Passes Law ‘Criminalizing Anti-Semitism’
Ukraine’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday (16th) criminalizing anti-Semitism.
As defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, anti-Semitism when committed by an individual is punishable by a fine or a prison sentence of up to five years.
Public officials would also be fined or imprisoned for up to five years, and banned from holding certain offices for up to three years.
Organized groups committing acts of anti-Semitism, or acts with severe consequences, are punishable with prison sentences of up to eight years.
The new legislation amended an existing law passed in 2021, “On Preventing and Countering Anti-Semitism in Ukraine,” to add ‘criminal liability.’
The IHRA definition states that “anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews; when rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Jewish Confederation of Ukraine President Boris Lozhkin wrote in September, that when the first law passed, “it brought Ukraine closer to Europe and the civilized world.”
“Together with the Ministry of internal Affairs, JCU has been conducting joint monitoring of manifestations of anti-Semitism for a long time, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs promptly responds to all cases of physical or online anti-Semitism.”
“However, for an effective fight against these manifestations, the ‘legal component’ was missing…A real tool has appeared now for combating a phenomenon that has a much broader meaning than hatred toward Jews, added Lozhkin.”
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
