Israel renews gas exploration, plans exports to Europe

 

           

Marc Israel Sellem/POOLView of the Leviathan gas field  gas processing rig near the Israeli city of Caesarea, on January 31, 2019.

Israel's Energy Ministry is set to launch a new offshore licensing round, with the European Union and Egypt about to sign an agreement for Israeli gas exports via Egypt.

Energy Minister Karine Elharrar on Monday announced the opening of a new competitive process for natural gas exploration licenses in the Mediterranean.

She said the Russia-Ukraine war has illustrated in recent months the dangers and risks of energy availability and prices during the transition period from fossil fuel use.

"Alongside the real and sincere concern in Europe, there is a real opportunity for Israel to export natural gas to Europe," Elharrar said at a news conference.

"We established a three-way working group with Israel, Europe and Egypt. We will sign, I hope in the near future, a memorandum of understanding that will create the framework agreement for export," she said.

When asked about keeping gas reserves for Israel, she reiterated that the needs of the Israeli economy will always take priority.

The Karish gas field is expected to go online in the third quarter of 2022 and in March was connected to the Israel National Gas Line. The much larger Leviathan and Tamar gas fields already operate in Israel's territorial waters.

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No Other Words Necessary!

 

Palestinians preparing to declare war on Jerusalem Day next Sunday

(Cross posted from Elder of Zion's blog)

Ma'an is not affiliated with any terror organization. Yet even that news outlet is saying that there is no reasonable alternative to attacking Israeli Jews next Sunday with rockets, terrorism or both.

 Last year's Jerusalem Day was marked with Hamas rockets towards Jerusalem - endangering the very holy places that Muslims claim are so important to them. To Palestinians, the war was a net positive because it showed that they could still affect Israel and stop Jews from celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem. 

They don't look at a war that killed hundreds and that destroyed part of Gaza as a loss - to them, it was a victory, and Hamas rode a wave of popularity for months afterwards, as it took on the mantle of "defender of Al Quds and Al Aqsa." 

All the Palestinians need is an excuse to repeat their purported victory. And they are collecting them.

1.) The march itself, which is an unacceptable provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims.

2.) A court decision, not being enforced by Israeli police, allowing Jews to pray aloud on the Temple Mount.

3.) Jews continuing to visit and silently pray at the holy site, as they have done for years now.

4.) "Price tag" attacks by far right settlers, even though they are denounced by almost all Jews.

5.) Naftali Bennett not even mentioning Palestinians at his UN speech last September, which they find disrespectful.

6.) Israel rooting out terror cells in Jenin.

7.) The death of Shireen Abu Akleh.

8.) Israeli police attacking people trying to take her body on a different route at her funeral.

9.) The US taking Kahana Chai off the list of terrorist organizations.

 None of these are remotely a reason to start attacking Jewish civilians. But in the Palestinian honor/shame system, not attacking Jews is being framed as unacceptable and shameful.

The editorial ends with not a threat but a virtual promise:

 The statement of the Palestinian Authority and the statement of the Kingdom of Jordan to hold the occupation responsible for the upcoming religious war represents more than a warning of what will happen.

The question is no longer if a new battle will take place next Sunday. Rather, the more accurate question: What is the miracle that can prevent the occurrence of such a battle?

Palestinians are being primed in all their media for a war. 

Why the IDF Needs to be in Palestinian Neighbourhoods

I suppose the so called Human Rights organisations would tell us we should not be doing this - sick

" Israeli security forces recently captured a terrorist cell which was in the midst of planning a series of attacks on Israelis, including the assassination of an Israeli lawmaker.

This week, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed that as part of a joint operation with the Jerusalem district police in early April, it had uncovered a cell of terrorists aligned with the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist organization.

The terrorists, residents of eastern Jerusalem, were planning various attacks on Israeli targets, including shooting attacks and even several assassinations.

Among the prominent figures targeted by the cell was MK Itamar Ben-Gvir (Religious Zionist Party), chairman of the Otzma Yehudit party and a long-time right-wing activist.

The terror cell also planned to build improvised explosive devices for a string of bombing attacks, and plotted to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

The Israel Security Agency also revealed that members of the terror cell had purchased a drone aircraft, with plans to arm it and use it in a future terror attack against the Jerusalem light rail.

The cell was led by Rashid Rashak, a prominent Hamas terrorist in the Old City of Jerusalem, who also planned – together with Mansur Tzafadi, a Hamas terrorist from Abu Tor – to carry out a shooting attack or suicide attack in Jerusalem. he members of the cell planned to hide in Hebron or Jenin after carrying out their attacks.

The ISA found that Rashak established a network in Jerusalem aimed at causing T disturbances in the city's eastern neighborhoods and in Har Homa during this past Ramadan in order to undermine stability in the city, including on the Temple Mount. To this end, the network delivered many fireworks, flags and Hamas videos to eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and the Temple Mount for use during the Ramadan disturbances.

The ISA did not disclose how many terrorists were arrested in the operation.

In addition to the arrests, Israeli authorities seized the drone aircraft purchased by the terror cell, along with a camera, cash, and "Hamas organization equipment".

“57 House members urge FBI, State Dept. to investigate death of Abu Akleh”

 (With thanks to Yigal Horovitz and David Smith)

 The above request quickly enters the realms of fantasy and fiction since the House members wrote that “it was reported that Palestinian journalists who were with Ms. Abu Akleh at the time said that they made their presence known to Israeli soldiers, and they did not see militants [terrorists] in the area.”

But, there is no such person as an impartial Palestinian journalist. There has never been impartial reportage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Palestinian press. The Palestinian journalists are so-called freedom fighters and their only interest is the furtherance of the Palestinian causes which include the destruction of the State of Israel. They are militants in the cunning disguise of journalists. 

What a travesty! Why are they picking Israel out for special treatment? In the article, there is no mention of Israel’s need to defend itself from recent terrorist attacks that have killed nearly 20 innocents. Or that the Palestinian Authority refuses to cooperate with Israel in a joint autopsy, or to hand over the fatal bullet. This, at the same time that they give cover to the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Being a reporter in a war zone is a dangerous job. That is why they have extensive protection. And what about the journalists killed to date covering the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, regarding which US Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden gave Putin the green light by saying that minor incursions would be alright. Do the 57 members even know the name of one of these journalists?

 

When people say "Free Palestine", do they mean West bank and Gaza, or the whole region of Palestine?

Whether they know it or not, this is what they mean:

The only real problem with this “aspiration” is that there’s the minor detail of a country with 9.25 million people called Israel within the area depicted on this map.

As the instigator, aggressor and loser of multiple wars declared as wars of extermination against Israel, for some reason the Palestinian leaders and their followers, foreign and domestic, seem to think that the loser of multiple wars that they either started, incited or participated in have the right to dictate terms of surrender to the winner of those wars.

Oddly enough, we Israelis have this strange objection against committing national suicide, so this forlorn Palestinian hope isn’t going to happen any time soon.

 

Shireen Abu Aqleh - What Israel Should have said

 (With thanks to Israellycool)

On the morning of May 11, 2022, IDF, ISA, and Border police forces conducted counterterrorism activity in the Jenin Camp and other locations in Judea and Samaria to apprehend terrorist suspects. This was a response to the murders of 19 Israelis at the hands of Palestinian terrorists since March, and the least our democratic country can do to protect its civilians – whether they be Jewish, Muslim or Christian.

A democratic country that also safeguards the freedom of the press.

During the course of intense firefights in Jenin, Al Jazeera 
journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was tragically killed. We believe 
it was highly likely she was killed by the terrorists we were 
engaged with, given a number of factors, including:

• The relative locations of our forces, the terrorists, and Shireen Abu Aqleh
• The care our forces take to avoid civilian casualties vs the lack of care of the terrorists, who have a track record in using their own people as human shields
• Video footage showing the indiscriminate way in which the terrorists were firing at IDF positions, including right before Shireen Abu Aqleh was shown to have been killed

Despite the fact we believe it was more likely she was killed by 
the terrorists, we understand only a comprehensive, joint 
investigation may uncover what actually happened. We have 
expressed our desire to cooperate with all parties in order to 
get to the bottom as to how exactly she was killed. Unfortunately, 
the PA have refused to cooperate, which beggars the question: 
are they trying to hide something?

To those who are accusing Israel of having assassinated 
Shireen Abu Aqleh, we ask you these questions:

• Are you in possession of any information that even the Director of the Palestinian Forensic Medicine Institute – who publicly stated that the initial autopsy results were inconclusive – is not?
• Why were you silent over the cold-blooded murders of 19 innocent people that necessitated our operation in Jenin to begin with?
• Why have you been silent over the deaths of 20 journalists killed so far in the Russian war in the Ukraine?
• Why is it that you seem to dispense with the presumption of innocence when it comes to the Jewish state?

By rushing to act as judge, jury and executioner, your actions 
do nothing to help bring about peace. On the contrary, you provide 
an added incentive for the terrorists to target our innocent people 
while showing scant regard for their own. Instead, we encourage 
you to implore the PA to refrain from disrupting or contaminating 
the investigation, and co-operate with us in order to allow 
Shireen Abu Aqleh‘s family to find justice.

Another $70 billion for Israel!

Energean said in a press release that it found 8 billion 
cubic meters of gas in an area known as Athena near 
Israel’s Tanin field, west of the northern city of Haifa. 
The London-based firm said it's considering 
options to sell the gas domestically in Israel and may 
also export it to Egypt via an agreement with the 
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company. 

Read more at https://tinyurl.com/2r75yv8j

Can Palestinians in the West Bank attend universities in Israel?

The knee-jerk reaction is “why should they? “

But they do.

Arabs who identify themselves as Palestinians (and those who don't) who live in Judea and Samaria and the old part of Jerusalem attend Israeli universities (mostly for free) 

But then there’s  Abu Mazen who complains that this is the Zionist conspiracy to hurt Palestinian high education system by stealing the best minds.

There are six universities in Israel, all accept Arabs who are not Israeli citizens/ don't have permanent residency status (Oman Barghuti, the head of the BDS has one. Yes, the same guy who calls people to boycott Israel has a permanent residency of Israel status and studies in Israeli university.)

Who Is responsible for Spreading Bloodshed in the Middle East?

It is always interesting to hear Arabs speaking truthfully 

about Israel, we need more to do so