News Digest — 2/8/22
US Senators Vow To Thwart Any Deal If President Skips Congressional Review
A group of 33 Republicans warned US President Joe Biden on Monday (7th) that they would work to thwart the implementation of any new Iran nuclear agreement if his government did not allow Congress to review it and vote on its terms.
Led by Senator Ted Cruz, a long-time opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Senators told Biden in a letter dated Monday (7th) that they would use “the full range of options and leverage available” to ensure that his government adhered to US laws governing any new accord with Iran.
Indirect talks in Vienna between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 agreement are due to resume on Tuesday (8th).
The Biden administration has been trying to revive the deal, which lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities, a deal from which former President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018.
Iran later breached many of the deal’s nuclear restrictions and kept pushing well-beyond them.
Cruz and other senior Republican senators told Biden that implementation of any new deal would be “severely, if not terminally hampered” if he did not meet statutory obligations aimed at ensuring congressional oversight over revisions or changes to the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.
They provided no details about their plans, but Republicans have used various tactics to slow down other legislation or put holds on Biden’s nominees, including many from ambassador posts.
Democrats control the 50-50 Senate only by virtue of a tie-breaking vote that can be cast by the Vice President Kamala Harris, but they could lose control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in midterm elections later this year.
The senators said any nuclear agreement with Iran was of “such gravity for US national security” that it would by definition be a treaty requiring the advice and consent of two-thirds of the senate, they argued.
Any deal that fell short of the senate-ratified treaty would “likely be torn up in the early days of the next presidential administration,” they added, anticipating a Republican victory in the 2024 presidential race.
In addition, they noted that a 2015 law passed before the completion of the initial nuclear deal requires that any new “agreement” related to Iran’s nuclear program is to be transmitted to Congress for a 60-day review period during which Congress could pass a joint resolution of disapproval that would essentially prevent the deal from going into effect.
It said those mandates would be triggered by Iran’s progress toward developing a nuclear weapon over the past year, which would require new oversight measures.
(ynetnews.com; reuters.com; afp.com)
IDF Launched A Surprise Gaza Drill To Test Southern Command’s Readiness
The Israel Defense Forces launched a surprise exercise simulating a sudden outbreak of fighting on the Gaza border on Monday (7th), the military said.
The exercise was meant to test the readiness of the IDF Southern Command and its ability to respond to a rapidly developing conflict and its inter-organizational and inter-branch cooperation,” the IDF said in a statement.
Residents of the Gaza border were told they should expect to see large numbers of ground troops and aircraft in the area and to expect sounds of explosions.
Monday’s drill was part of a series of exercises known as “Chief of Staff Evaluations,” which began under IDF Chief Aviv Kochavi as a way to assess the military’s preparedness on a number of fronts.
As part of these examinations, the Israeli Navy simulated a response to a sudden maritime threat on the Lebanese border in September 2019; a few months later the military was forced to respond to a sudden “cyber attack,” which shut down key computer systems; in 2020, the IDF Central Command simulated a kidnapping and outbreak of violence in the West Bank, and last November, the military tested how quickly it could call up reservists should fighting break out in Lebanon, among other places.
Though these surprise evaluations are kept secret from those taking part in them, the military said that Monday’s (7th) exercise was planned in advance as part of the 2022 training schedule.
The Southern Command’s performance during the surprise drill will be assessed by the IDF comptroller and the IDF Operations Directorate.
Palestinians Try To Break Israelis Ties With Africa But ‘Nothing Can Stop It’
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the African Union to withdraw Israel’s observer status, which it received last July.
“Israel should never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does impose on the Palestinian people,” Shtayyeh said at the opening of a two-day summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to international media reports. “Your excellencies, I’m sorry to report to you that the situation of the Palestinian people has only grown more precarious.”
Later he tweeted: “Today I called upon #AUS Summit2022 to withdraw Israel’s observer status. Granting Israel such status is an undeserved reward. Palestine is confident in Africa’s support to our people under Israel’s prolonged and belligerent occupation.”
Summit attendees were meant to vote on whether to maintain Israel’s status, but ultimately the vote was deferred until next year’s assembly and, in the meantime, a committee was formed to examine Israel’s standing.
Josh Reinstein, President of the Israel Allies Foundation, told JNS that he believes support for Israel in Africa will not be shaken.
“Through faith-based diplomacy, Bible-believing Christians across Africa have been rallying to the cause of Israel and they have brought their governments with them,” said Reinstein. “Support for Israel will continue to grow in Africa, and nothing can stop it.”
He added that he would like to thank Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), for “his moral clarity concerning Israel. His faith and support have been an inspiration to all of Africa.”
Tshisekedi, who also serves as chairman of the African Union (AU), was one of the key proponents of granting Israel observer status in the AU – a move that received strong pushback from some of the union’s 55 member states, including South Africa and Algeria.
Tshisekedi visited Israel at the end of last year and met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, announcing that his country would open a diplomatic and trade office in Jerusalem.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), also accepted Israel’s accreditation to the bloc.
The AUC is the AU’s secretariat and undertakes the day-to-day activities of the Union, its website explains.
(worldisraelnews.com; jns.org)
Groundbreaking Israeli Research Could Allow People Suffering From Paralysis To Walk Again
People suffering from chronic paralysis may soon be able to walk again thanks to spinal cord implants created in groundbreaking research at Tel Aviv University.
A peer-reviewed paper by a research team in Israel published on Monday (7th) in the journal Advanced Science described an experimental approach for repairing spinal cord injuries. Researchers at Tel Aviv University attempted to repair the spinal cords in injured mice using adult human cells that had been engineered to behave like embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any type of cell in the body.
The animals’ spinal cords had formed scar tissue, which had impeded any benefit of such cells in earlier studies. The researchers first allow the stem cells to flourish in a special test tube environment, only transplanting them into the mice after the cells had matured into a small network of nerve cells and after the scar tissue had been surgically removed.
They noted achieving an 80% success rate in restoring movement and sensation to the paralyzed mice. All the recently paralyzed mice tested were able to regain their ability to walk within three months, while 12 of the 15 mice with chronic paralysis showed marked improvement in their ability to walk six weeks after receiving the implant.
The researchers said they aim to launch human trials within a few years.
They said that “efforts to use stem cells to help the spine repair itself and restore the function of organs and limbs have yet to produce an approval for treatment in humans.”
They added that “this is the first instance in the world in which implanted engineered human tissues have generated recovery in an animal model for long-term chronic paralysis, which is the most relevant model for paralysis treatments in humans.”
“The plan was to create unique spinal cord implants using cells from each patient’s body. This would “enable regeneration of the damaged tissue with no risk of rejection of the implant,” said Tal Divir who led the team at the University’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology.
Israel Adds ‘Earthquakes’ To Army’s Early Warning System
Sirens sounded across several Israeli cities on Monday (7th) – but not to warn residents of incoming rocket fire as so often happens. This time it was a drill for alerting them to a possible earthquake.
Typically triggered by missile defenses, the sirens will now also sound if a nationwide network of 120 seismic monitoring stations detects a strong earthquake.
It could take some getting used to. Rather than just a wailing siren that means “run to a bomb shelter” this time the siren was accompanied by the word “earthquake” repeated on loudspeakers. It signaled that open areas are safest.
Early warning systems can be found in a small number of countries, like Japan, or along the West Coast of the United States. What stands out in Israel is the role of the military, whose Home-Front Command is well-practiced in alerting the public to emergencies with the sirens and targeted text messages.
The warning could be a few seconds or half a minute, depending on the distance from the quake’s epicenter, but even those moments could save lives, authorities say.
The Dead Sea Fault that runs between Israel and Jordan is known for seismic activity. Big earthquakes happen in the area about every hundred years, with the last one occurring in 1927, so timing is key, said Ittai Kurzon, a seismologist and the project manager at the Geological Survey of Israel.
The system has been operating offline for more than a year, but when two relatively small earthquakes hit northern Israel last month, things were expedited, he said.
The geological survey monitors seismic activity around the clock, and if a quake of at least 4.5 magnitude is detected, the military is instantaneously notified and warns the public.
There is a “blind zone” in the area,” Kurzon said.
Should a serious quake hit around the northern Dead Sea, for example, communities nearby will have no warning. In Jerusalem, which is just outside the “blind zone,” people will get an alert 4-5 seconds before the shockwave hits. Tel Aviv, about 37 miles farther west, will have 21 seconds to prepare.
