News Digest — 8/25/22
14 Arrested In West Bank Overnight, IDF Soldier Lightly Wounded By Gunfire
An IDF soldier was lightly injured after he was shot in the arm by terrorist fire during operational activities overnight in the village of Burkin located near Jenin in the area of the Menashe regional division, an IDF spokesperson said Thursday morning (25th).
The IDF emphasized that the soldiers arrested suspects as part of an operation which was completed successfully. The soldier was sent to the hospital for medical treatment.
IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police operated in a number of centers throughout the West Bank on Wednesday night (24th).
IDF troops arrested two wanted persons in the city of Jenin and four in the village of Deir al-Basha where weapons were also confiscated.
Two more were arrested in the city of Nablus, where suspects fired weapons and threw rocks at soldiers.
Led by the Binyamin Brigade, security forces also arrested two suspects wanted for terrorist activities in Silwad.
Altogether 14 arrests were made in the operations and all suspects were transferred to officials for further investigation.
The current operations are in response to recent terror attacks in Israel that left 19 Israelis dead. Since then Israel has gone on offense against terrorism and terror groups operating in PA areas of the West Bank.
Netanyahu: Signing New Iran Nuclear Deal Is Madness
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the proposed revival of the Iran nuclear deal as “madness.”
Speaking to Fox and Friends Wednesday (24th), Netanyahu said that the agreement in its current form is “a horrible deal, a dangerous deal, that will pave Iran’s path with gold, a golden-paved highway to a nuclear deal.”
“If Iran has nuclear weapons, they don’t merely threaten my country Israel, or the entire Middle East and America’s allies, they threaten you directly,” Netanyahu told the Fox News hosts.
“Simultaneously with their developing nuclear weapons, they are developing the means to deliver them across continents,” he added.
“You could have Iran, governed by these fanatical ayatollahs, hold every American city hostage to nuclear weapons.”
“I think this is a threat to the peace of the world, and that’s what this horrible deal facilitates. It’s even worse than the first one,” he said.
Netanyahu said that if he wins the upcoming Knesset elections in Israel this November, he would ensure that the Israeli government uses all means at its disposal to ensure Iran never develops nuclear weapons.
Saudi Report: IAF F-35s Penetrate Iranian Airspace Months Ago
Israeli Air Force F-35 advanced fifth-generation fighter jets penetrated Iranian airspace multiple times over the last two months, according to the Saudi media outlet Elaph. Both Iranian and Russian radars failed to locate them, according to the report.
According to the news site, Israel and the United States have conducted large-scale exercises over the Red Sea in order to simulate an aerial and maritime strike on Iran and the seizure of Iranian vessels in the Gulf Sea. The exercises come as part of a series of drills conducted by the two countries both secretly and publicly in order to prepare for strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Israel has been preparing its aerial fleet – chief among them the F-35s – to be prepared in the case of a nuclear Iran, specifically upgrading the jets so that they would not require mid-air refueling.
The IAF recently integrated a new one-ton bomb into the arsenal of weapons used by the F-35s (known in the IAF as the “Adir”) that can be carried inside the plane’s internal weapons compartment without jeopardizing its stealth radar signature.
The IDF has held independent as well as joint F-35 drills with other countries over the last few months.
The Israeli Navy has also strengthened its presence off the coast of Lebanon and in the Red Sea, according to the report.
An Arab source told Elaph that the exercises between the US and Israel show that Israel will receive support and assistance if it strikes Iranian facilities after a deal is reached with Tehran in Vienna. The source added that he does not rule out the outbreak of a conflict between Israel and Iran soon.
The Saudi news report comes on the heels of heightened tensions with Iran and the final text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal. Iran, has over the last few days, demanded that the probe opened by the International Atomic Energy Agency into its enriched uranium sites be closed.
On Wednesday (24th), Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that US President Joe Biden would not be fulfilling his commitment to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon if the US joins the Iran deal as it stands.
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
Ted Cruz Decries Possible Iran Deal Revival: ‘Ayatollah Wants Death To Israel’
Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday (23rd) decried the possible revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and vowed to fight its implementation.
“I intend to systematically fight the implementation of this catastrophic deal, and will work with my colleagues to ensure that it is blocked and eventually reversed in January 2025,” he said in a statement.
“This administration intends to give a nuclear arsenal to Iran. The details of this deal are only now emerging, but we already know they will be catastrophic to the national security of America and our allies, and to the safety of Americans,” Cruz said.
“Thousands of people will die because of the Iranian terrorism enabled by this deal,” he said, adding that “tens of millions may die because of the nuclear arsenal it will provide to the Ayatollah.”
Cruz cited the Iranian plot to murder former American officials and dissidents on American soil.
“This deal will quickly flood the regime with hundreds of billions of dollars, and soon afterwards, the deal will be worth trillions,” he wrote. “It will dismantle sanctions on the Iranian economy, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and provides the IRGC with the resources it needs to export its terrorism globally.”
“Meanwhile the Iranian regime violated the last nuclear deal, violated their most fundamental nuclear obligations beyond the deal and violated international norms against nuclear proliferation,” he added. “This deal will excuse Iran from that previous cheating, while enabling it to continue into the future. It repeats the inexplicable folly of the previous nuclear deal by legalizing the regime’s nuclear program, which had previously been prohibited by multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
According to the deal, using waivers the Biden administration has already been providing, Russia and President Vladimir Putin can now help build up Iran’s nuclear program,” Cruz wrote. “It will eventually be used to develop nuclear weapons that will inflict destruction on America and our allies. When the Ayatollah chants ‘Death to America’ and Death to Israel,’ he means it.”
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
Jordanian Waqf Dumps Trash/Garbage On Temple Mount In Front Of Temple Site
The Bayadenu (In Our Hands – Returning to the Temple Mount Foundation) organization revealed this week the continuing desecration of the Temple Mount (also called Har Habayit). Two weeks after Tisha B’Av and the commemoration of the destruction of the Temples, the desecration continues to grow.
After Bayadenu revealed that antiquities and Temple Mount stones are being destroyed and thrown away in clear view, they now disclose a new and dangerous phenomenon – garbage trucks are transporting garbage around the Temple Mount and disposing of it at the site which, according to Jewish tradition, is considered the holiest spot within the Temple Mount, the Ezra area in front of the Holy of Holies.
In a video recording taken Wednesday morning (24th), a Waqf garbage truck is seen dumping trash without any interference from law enforcement that should be offering protection of the holy site for the State of Israel.
Members of Bayadenu approached the Director General of the Antiquities Authority Eli Eskosido with the video. Eskosido turned to the police demanding that they act to protect the antiquities in the place, to no effect.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Bayadenu, stated that : “After football games on the grounds of the Temple Mount and the desecration that follows- the area is being turned into a playground for the Arabs. After recognizing that the Temple Mount has no true values in the eyes of Arabs, the time has come for the State of Israel to start enforcing its sovereignty in the holiest place in the world and decide if it wants to own Har Habayit. The dumping of waste at the holiest site in the world is a painful and bizarre spectacle – and is a shame and disgrace to the Jewish people.”
(isnn.com)
IDF: Terrorists’ Improperly Stored Explosives Killed Gazan Child
High-powered explosives which terrorists had improperly stored within a family home ignited a massive blast in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (23rd), killing a 9-year-old girl, IDF officials said.
The explosion, which occurred in the city of Khan Younis, was said to have killed two and injured several more people.
Arabic-language media identified the deceased as 9-year-old Mira Attal, and her relative who owned the apartment, Nidal Attal.
“Another tragedy in the Gaza Strip today,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, the IDF’s international media spokesperson, in a media statement.
“Weapons stored unsafely in the house of a member of a Palestinian terrorist group exploded and killed a young child in the vicinity.”
On Twitter, Hecht added that “these are the sad consequences of militarizing civilian areas for terrorist activity.”
In a press statement, Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry said that the cause of the blast was still under investigation.
Pictures of the blast site circulating on social media show significant damage to the structure, with a massive hole in the side of the building.
Palestinian Shehab News Agency referred to the blast as “accidental.” That description is particularly significant, as the outlet has repeatedly inaccurately blamed Israel for the deaths of Gazan civilians in the past.
Israel has long criticized Gaza-based terror groups for using civilian homes in residential areas for military operations, such as weapons storage or rocket launching sites.
During Israel’s recent Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza, up to one-third of all Palestinian casualties occurred due to misfired rockets which were launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group but fell short and hit homes within the coastal enclave.
The Associated Press conducted an independent investigation which supported the assessment by Israeli military officials that at least 14 out of the 47 Gazans killed during the hostilities were the victims of failed rocket launches.
(worldisraelnews.com; ap.com)
