News Digest — 6/7/23
Gallant: We Will Bomb Hezbollah Into The Stone Age If They Make A Mistake With Us
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday (6th) threatened to bomb Hezbollah and Lebanon “into the stone age,” if the terror group “makes a mistake and starts a war against Israel.”
During a visit to the IDF’s Northern Command, he said, “I hear our enemies boasting about weapons they are developing. For any such development, we have an even better response – by air, by sea and on land and through other means of attack and defense.”
The defense minister was visiting the North within the framework of the two-week-long “Firm Hand” military exercise. During the visit, Minister Gallant held a situation assessment together with senior IDF officials.
Gallant reassured Israel’s citizens that his visit and updates from the drill confirmed “that our troops are excellent.”
“We will know how to defend the citizens of Israel and how to strike our enemies with a decisive blow, heaven forbid, they initiate a war with us,” he stated.
The defense minister’s threat comes after a series of threats and counter threats between Israel and Hezbollah in May.
IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and IDF Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva had warned Hezbollah in May of a conflagration if it pushed Israel too far. More specifically, they had said that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah might get overconfident and misread Jerusalem’s situation and think he can gamble against it, Halevi said Hezbollah “thinks it understands how we think which can lead it to dare and challenge us in scenarios where we won’t go to war,” in response.
This came one day after Haliva said that Nasrallah might miscalculate his understanding of Israel and accidentally drag both sides into a larger conflict.
Haliva referenced Hezbollah’s recent daring to carry out a bombing at Megiddo inside Israel.
Some had viewed that Hezbollah’s move showed it was ready to pressure the Jewish State more than in the past. In early April, Hezbollah also allowed certain Palestinian terror groups to fire rockets on Israel from areas it controls. All of this was in the context that, since the Syrian civil war had mostly ended, Hezbollah has tried a variety of ways to show it is still in conflict with Israel.
The Jerusalem Post witnessed that Nasrallah has increased the presence of Hezbollah operatives close to the Metulla border with Israel, even if in civilian clothes. Nasrallah has done this quietly, by erecting numerous new observation towers under the guise of the “Green Without Borders” organization.
Besides these quieter, but consistent moves, Hezbollah has also initiated several clashes with IDF soldiers along the border who were working on completing the fence or marking the border.
“You are not the ones threatening war, it is us who do so,” Nasrallah emphasized in a May speech. “And any such war will include all of Israel’s borders.” He further said that “any wrong action in Palestine, Syria or Iran could lead to a major war.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Visits The Philippines For First Time In 56 Years
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen traveled to the Philippines on Monday (5th), becoming the first Israeli diplomat to do so in 56 years.
During his visit to the capital of Manila, Cohen met with Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his counterpart Enrique Manalo.
Israel and the Philippines are marking 65 years of diplomatic relations this year. Cohen is the first Israeli foreign minister to visit the Southeast Asian country since Abba Eban in 1967 and just the third ever to do so after Eban and Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1962.
During the visit, Cohen, President Marcos and Manalo discussed strengthening bilateral relations, as well as exploring new opportunities brought about by the signing of the Abraham Accords and the opening of the Saudi-Oman corridor for flights from Israel, which cuts flight times between the Jewish State and East Asia significantly.
Cohen also presented his hosts with an initiative to establish a maritime and land transportation route between Asia and Europe through the Middle East and Israel, which would significantly reduce international shipping costs.
During his visit, Cohen inaugurated the new wing of the Israeli Embassy in Manila and met with representatives of the Jewish community in the country.
Cohen was also invited to lay a wreath at a monument honoring Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero, just as his predecessors did before him. Furthermore, as part of the Israel-Philippines Business Forum, Cohen met with representatives of major Filipino and Israeli companies.
“Israel and the Jewish people have a historical debt to the Philippines for saving 1,300 Jews during the Holocaust and being the only Asian country to support the establishment of Israel on November 29, 1947,” Cohen said during his visit, referring to the UN resolution on the partition of British-ruled Palestine which paved the way for the establishment of the Jewish State.
According to Cohen, “The visit to the Philippines will strengthen Israel’s diplomatic ties and presence in East Asia, alongside the visit to India last month. Strengthening diplomatic and economic ties between the countries will open doors for Israel in other countries in the region and bring us new economic opportunities.”
Netanyahu And El-Sisi Speak After Egypt Attack Killed Three IDF Soldiers
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi spoke on Tuesday (6th) in the wake of the terrorist attack along the Sinai border that killed three soldiers.
El-Sisi extended his “deepest condolences” over the incident, and Netanyahu thanked the Egyptian leader for agreeing to a “thorough and joint investigation,” according to an Israeli readout of the call.
“The two leaders expressed their commitment to continue strengthening the peace and security cooperation that is vital to both countries,” added the statement.
The terrorist who killed three Israeli soldiers over the weekend was identified Monday (5th) as Mohamed Salah Ibrahim. Ibrahim, 22, was drafted into the Egyptian military last June and stationed along the Israeli border as a police officer. He had complained repeatedly about his military service and recently went “absent without leave” for 18 days.
Ibrahim shot dead Sgt. Lia Ben-Nun, 19, and Staff Sgt. Uri Iluz, 20, early Saturday morning (3rd) while they were manning an observation post near the border. During the subsequent manhunt, Staff Sgt. Ohad Dahan, 20, was killed in Israeli territory in an exchange of fire with the terrorist, who was fatally shot. A fourth Israeli soldier was lightly wounded.
A preliminary investigation found that Ibrahim crossed the border through an emergency gate used by IDF soldiers, in coordination with Cairo.
Egypt initially claimed he had crossed the border to chase drug smugglers in the aftermath of an earlier bust.
However, Israel’s Army Radio reported on Sunday (4th) that the Egyptian policeman had in his possession six magazines for his rifle, a Koran and a knife. The IDF believes that the presence of the Koran suggests that Ibrahim was motivated by Islamic religious extremism, the report said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Egyptian Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Zaki spoke on Saturday evening (3rd) and agreed to cooperate in investigating the attack.
(gglz.net; jns.org)
Iran Embassy In Riyadh Reopens After 7 Years
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Iran reopened its embassy on Tuesday (6th) in Saudi Arabia following a seven-year closure, Tehran and a diplomatic source said, sealing a Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal announced in March.
Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran, and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad were attacked during protests over Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Iran’s diplomatic mission, which was expelled by Saudi authorities, will return under the leadership of Alireza Enayati, who previously served as Iran’s ambassador to Kuwait.
Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani announced the reopening in a statement Monday (5th), confirming earlier comments by a diplomatic source in Riyadh.
Iran’s embassy in Riyadh, its consulate in Jeddah and its representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) “will be reopened on Tuesday (6th) and Wednesday (7th),” Kanani said.
The diplomatic source had earlier told AFP that the opening “would take place Tuesday (6th) with the presence of the newly appointed Iranian ambassador” to Saudi Arabia.
Iranian media had named Enayati as the Islamic Republic’s Saudi envoy last month. He had previously served as assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry, according to Iranian reports.
After years of discord, the two Middle East heavyweights signed a surprise reconciliation agreement in China on March 10.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has restored ties with Tehran ally Syria and ramped up a push for peace with Yemen, where it has for years led a military coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Iran and Saudi Arabia had backed opposing sides in conflict zones across the Middle East for years before mending fences.
(timesofisrael.com; afp.com)
Australia To Introduce Bill Banning Public Display Of Nazi Symbols
The Australian federal government will introduce a bill next week to ban the public display of Nazi symbols across Australia according to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) which also welcomed and applauded the announcement.
The announcement was made days after Victoria Police reported they were investigating two young neo-Nazis, Nathan Bull and Michael Nelson, for performing the Nazi salute during a protest in Melbourne’s central business district on Sunday (4th), according to the Herald Sun.
The pair were seen smiling while performing the salute surrounded by police officers outside the State Library of Victoria. They were eventually moved on from the area by police, according to the report.
AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Colin Rubenstein said on Wednesday (7th) that “we believe the legislation will send a clear message to the Australian community that we as a nation will not tolerate those who seek to divide us by promoting an ideology characterized by racism, industrialized genocide and mass murder.”
Rubenstein continued, “The bill is particularly welcome at this time when anti-Semitism is rising globally and, frighteningly, moving into mainstream discourse in numerous different ways, a process that has been abetted in Australia by the public displays by Neo-Nazi thugs on the streets of Melbourne and other cities. Unless and until there are consequences for their actions, we can expect neo-Nazis to become more brazen, with all the destructive consequences they create for communal harmony and the rights of vulnerable minorities.”
AIJAC Director of Community and International Affairs Jeremy Jones added, “Australian right-wing extremists deserve contempt and ridicule, but also need clear deterrents to their harmful behavior. The proposed commonwealth laws appear to be designed to supplement existing and proposed state Nazi symbol laws in several useful ways: it clearly applies to symbols displayed online, it bans the traffic in Nazi memorabilia and it provides police with the ability to immediately act to deal with the display of Nazi symbols by giving them the power to order their immediate removal.”
Rubenstein concluded that his organization is “grateful to the federal government in general, and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus in particular for their efforts to develop and advance this bill so quickly. We also thank the opposition for their efforts to help promote a Federal bill to ban Nazi symbols. We hope and expect that the current proposed bill can receive bipartisan support, and become law as soon as practicable.”
(jpost.com; heraldsun.com.au)
