News Digest — 5/2/23
3 Rockets Fired From Gaza After Islamic Jihad Official Dies In Hunger Strike
Three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel on Tuesday morning (2nd), just hours after Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Khader Adnan died after a three-month-long hunger strike in Israeli custody. Israeli authorities said Khader refused medical intervention, but the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of neglect.
The rockets landed in open areas near the Gaza border. The Iron Dome was not activated. Additionally, a mortar fired from the Gaza Strip fell near the border fence on Tuesday morning (2nd).
On Monday evening (1st), the IDF had announced that a scheduled exercise would be held in the area near the Gaza border from Tuesday morning (2nd) until the afternoon. The exercise was canceled after the rocket fire.
The rocket volley on Tuesday morning (2nd) is the first since rockets were fired from Syria toward the Golan Heights in early April. The last rocket fire from the Gaza Strip was on April 7.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials had warned that Israel would “pay a heavy price” should Adnan die in custody. On Tuesday morning (2nd) the terrorist movement stated that “the criminal enemy will once again realize that its crimes will not go unanswered.”
Adnan was arrested last February on charges of terrorist activity and incitement to terror. It was his 13th arrest and 10th detention. He immediately went on a hunger strike and refused any kind of medical intervention since then.
Alleged Israeli Airstrike Near Aleppo, Ahead Of Raisi’s Visit
A Syrian soldier was killed and seven others were injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes targeting the Aleppo International Airport and other sites nearby on Monday night (1st) according to Syrian state news SANA. The strike comes just a day before a planned visit to Syria by the President of Iran.
The Aleppo International Airport was temporarily closed due to damage caused by the airstrikes. Footage of the area showed fire breaking out at the scene.
SANA reported that the strikes were carried out by Israeli aircraft flying southeast of Aleppo.
According to the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV, the airstrikes also targeted weapons factories in the As-Safirah area in July 2021 and in September and May 2020, including missile factories.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, the attack Monday (1st) targeted and destroyed Hezbollah arms depots. It also stated that several trucks carrying munitions were targeted.
The airstrikes come just a day before Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is set to visit Damascus for a two-day visit.
The strike also comes just days after alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Homs area, injuring three, according to Syrian reports.
The ALMA Research Center noted that the strikes near Homs targeted areas used for smuggling by Iran from Syria to Lebanon. The research center assessed that an air defense base located in the area was also damaged in the strikes.
Kevin McCarthy Tells Knesset: ‘We Thank You For The Miracle Of Israel’
US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy addressed the Knesset Monday (1st), during the opening ceremony of the Knesset’s summer session.
McCarthy is the second House Speaker in history to address the Knesset, and the first since Newt Gingrich in 1998.
The Speaker began his remarks by stating that it is “an honor to join you in the city of Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, Israel’s rebirth is nothing less than a modern miracle, and I thank you for it,” he said.
“If we remain united, then the forces of freedom and democracy will always prevail,” McCarthy declared. “This is the foundation of our special relationship. We are the only two countries in history that were conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are equal.”
“America is grateful for our friendship with Israel. We are a better nation because of it, and we must never shy away from defending it.”
He said that “thanks to the Abraham Accords, coexistence and cooperation are beginning to replace conflict and intolerance.”
The Speaker of the House stated that the US “cannot ignore the threats to peace” from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Most of the turmoil in this region, of violence and instability, can be traced back to that source, which continues to fund terrorism, arms its proxy militias, and pursues nuclear weapons,” he said.
“To deter Iran’s dangerous behavior, our nations must continue to stand together,” McCarthy added. “As long as I am Speaker, America will continue to support the full funding for security assistance in Israel.”
“Together, we will defeat Iran’s precision-guided missiles, their drones, their terror tunnels and cyber attacks. As we stand shoulder to shoulder against Iran’s regional aggression, we must always remain resolute in our commitment that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon,” he declared.
The Speaker of the House warned the Jewish State against allowing unfettered Chinese investment, saying: “The Chinese act like thieves. I strongly encourage Israel to strengthen its oversight of foreign investment, especially Chinese investment.”
At the end of his remarks, McCarthy announced the establishment of the House-Knesset Parliamentary Friendship Group.”
According to McCarthy, this group will “continue the strength of our bonds and build mutual understanding as elected representatives, and work better together democracy to democracy.”
(isnn.com)
Netanyahu To CNN: The Only Way To Stop A Nuclear Iran Is With A Credible Military Threat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Sunday (4/30): “We’re doing everything to make sure that the forces that are basically financed and equipped and pushed by Iran, that are trying to foment this violence around our borders and within our borders, do not succeed.”
→ “Our Arab neighbors…have no illusions about the danger of Iran and Iran-sponsored terrorism and aggression in the region and they also have no illusion about the fact that Israel is a force for stability, for peace and for security.”
→ Peace with the major Arab countries is not only possible, I think it’s likely, and I’m doing everything that I can – not everything is above the surface – to advance it because I think it will change history. It will be a pivot of history. I will end the Arab-Israeli conflict and will advance the solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
→ “The alliance between the United States and Israel is strong. It has strong bipartisan support….I don’t know of many countries that have had, within a few days, the Democratic and Republican leaders of both houses of Congress coming to them, but they have come to Jerusalem to support Israel. And 400 and more congressmen and congresswomen voted for legislation strongly supporting the Jewish State on its 75th anniversary. So I’m confident about the strength of our alliance.”
→ “If you want to stop Iran from becoming a military nuclear power, the only way that you can stop them is with a credible military threat. This is what worked against Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapon program in Iraq. That was done by us. This is what worked against Bashar al-Assad’s nuclear military plans in Syria. This was done by us. This is what worked against Gaddafi’s Libya military nuclear plan. It was stopped by a credible military threat on your part.”
→ “The onus is on all of us – Israel, the United States, the free world, and many of our Arab neighbors – to do everything in our power to prevent Iran from becoming a military nuclear power.”
(cnn.com)
Israel At 75 Is A Modern Wonder – Josh Glancy
The other day I had my first journey on the sleek new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway, which shuttled me from Ben-Gurion airport to the Holy City in about the time it took to skip the ads on a podcast. It embodies the best of modern Israel: fast, efficient and impressive.
Israel turned 75 on Wednesday (4/26). It is one of the most astonishing achievements of the modern age. Every time I visit Tel Aviv, I still feel a shudder of awe over the sheer improbability of its existence, a thrilling modern metropolis built on little more than ancestral longing and borrowed guns.
Israel at 75 has a GDP per capita notably higher than Britain’s. It is 11 times richer than its neighbor Egypt. It has won more Nobel prizes per person than America or France. This country is a towering monument to the power of ideas. It is literally a dream come true.
Who is to blame for the predicament of the Palestinians? The Palestinians were let down repeatedly over the years by their Arab allies in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, who generally treated them as political pawns, not a sovereign people. They have been let down by their own leaders, who “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Their propensity for violent terrorism has also done them no favors, all but destroying the peace movement in Israel. Most Israelis see peace as a fantasy.
Berlin Police Banned Pro-Hamas Signs, Israel Flag Burning During May Day Rallies
Two weeks ago after a Berlin rally in which protesters called for the death of Jews, police in Germany’s capital announced a ban on signs supporting Palestinian terrorist organizations and on calling for Israel’s destruction during far-left demonstrations on Monday (1st) marking May Day.
Citing public safety, instructions posted to the police website on Saturday (4/29) stressed that “any advertising” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) or Hamas was banned.
The police also emphasized that “identification marks, symbols or emblems of these organizations could not be shown on flags and banners, nor on the clothing of the participants or in any other way.
They also prohibited statements calling for “the annihilation of the State of Israel and/or its inhabitants.
The PFLP, the second-largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization, is a hardline Marxist organization that carried out a series of high-profile lethal airline hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s, and continues to attack Israelis.
Hamas, the radical Islamic group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and openly seeks Israel’s destruction, has engaged in a series of conflicts with Israel and fired many thousands of rockets at Israeli cities.
The announcement banning the organizations and their symbols came in the wake of an April pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin where demonstrators chanted “Death to the Jews” and “Death to Israel,” phrases that if verified could be criminal offenses under Germany’s strict post-World War II hate speech laws.
(timesofisrael.com; afp.com)
