IDF rescues abandoned pets, exotic birds and even a lion from Gaza

 Coverage of the Israel-Hamas war often focuses on humans affected by the conflict. Still, many of the IDF’s heroic efforts may go unnoticed, including the rescue of abandoned animals from Gaza.

Since the ground war in Gaza began, the IDF has rescued cats, dogs, parrots, owls, and even a neglected lion from the Gaza zoo.

Lieutenant Lihi Agiv, a communications officer in the 12th Division described rescuing a puppy while serving on the front lines.

Lt. Agiv told Ynet: “I was touring with the division commander when I noticed a skinny, scared little puppy that ran to us. She was shaking. I have a dog at home so I’m very sensitive to animals. I picked her up and took her with me.”

After Lieutenant Lihi fed the puppy and gave her water, she knew that Beit Hanoun was no place for such a vulnerable creature.

The puppy was sent to her new owner, and all of the soldiers gave her a warm welcome.

“As soon as I took her, all the soldiers wanted to pet her. People were so crazy about her that they gave her their food. The 12th Division is filled with incredible decency and humanity that you don’t see everywhere,” said Lt. Lihi.

Towards the end of one of the Shaked Battalion’s missions in Gaza, Platoon Commander Lieutenant Eran Admoni found a white fluffy cat that had been abandoned.

He said, “They gave her a kind of shelter. When the mission was over, they took her back to Israel. The fighters searched for people to adopt her and finally found an adoptive family.”

The cat wasn’t the only animal the Shaked Battalion rescued in Gaza; Major Tal Attias and Lieutenant Yoav Sander shared the privilege of walking with a large, colorful parrot on their shoulders.

The troops rescued the parrot which was trapped under the rubble in Gaza’s Palestine Square, a place that holds special significance for the current war because it was the first location in Gaza where the hostages were brought.

When the Israeli navy was sailing off the coast of Gaza, an injured owl landed on the deck. The sailors fed the owl and made a small cage for him.

Lieutenant Jonathan, an Israeli Navy officer, reports that when they reached Haifa, they placed the owl in a wildlife hospital and since then, the owl has made a full recovery and was released back into the wild.

Perhaps the most astounding and heart-rending rescue is still in process and involves saving a malnourished lion from a Gaza zoo.

The Nature and Parks Authority is in communication with the IDF to determine how and when to rescue the lion from Gaza safely.

Why Israel chose to aid an ailing enemy

 For full article read https://www.jns.org/opinion/why-israel-chose-to-aid-an-ailing-enemy/

 (October 19, 2020 / JNS) It’s the kind of story that drives a lot of friends of Israel nuts. One of its chief opponents, Palestinian Liberation Organization senior leader Saeb Erekat recently fell ill with COVID-19. Faced with the decision as to where to be treated, it was only natural that instead of going to a Palestinian hospital or even one in neighboring Jordan, he chose to go to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

 This is, after all, the same person who spent his career lying about Israel, and smearing it as a nation of oppressors and war criminals. He’s part of a government that spends far more on paying salaries and pensions to terrorists and their families than on hospitals. Indeed, in March of this year, he actually went as far as to falsely allege that Israelis were spitting on Palestinian cars so as to spread the coronavirus to them. And though he has served as the P.A.’s chief peace negotiator, he’s spent his tenure in that position working to make peace negotiations impossible, swearing that he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and end the ongoing conflict.

 However, when faced with the question of where was the best place in the region to seek help, Israel was the obvious answer. One of the region’s pre-eminent health-care facilities, Hadassah and its doctors took him in.

 The better question is: Why would Israel, which has been on the receiving end of his vitriol, slanders and worse, open its doors to Erekat and do what it could to save him?

Some Israelis and friends of the Jewish state can’t understand it. They see this willingness to help even enemies as a particular form of weakness.

Others think that it was wrong of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to exact concessions from the Palestinians in exchange for what may well be the best chance of saving Erekat’s life. And it wasn’t just right-wingers saying that. Michal Cotler-Wunsh, a moderate member of the Knesset from the Blue and White Party, asserted that prior to admitting him, Israel should have gotten the P.A. to agree to reciprocal humanitarian gestures, such as returning the bodies of slain Israeli soldiers being held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

One pragmatic answer is that for all of the antagonism between Israel and the P.A., in addition to the latter’s refusal to make peace, the day-to-day working relationship between them continues. There is a fair amount of security coordination going on that is partly aimed at reducing Palestinian attacks on Israelis, yet also focused on keeping Abbas alive against threats from his Hamas rivals.

But the real reason goes far deeper than that.

As much as Israel is depicted as a militarized state that is dominated and governed by its security establishment—Jewish values still play a crucial part in its decision-making. Being a Jewish state necessarily involves considerations that a purely utilitarian approach to life would reject.

 It’s doubtful that any other country would be so generous to an enemy, yet somehow, the notion that Israel would turn away a person in need is inconceivable. Unlike the English common-law tradition, there is a specific Jewish obligation to help others rather than to stand by only watching their plight.

 Like the peace offers that Erekat and his comrades have repeatedly rejected, no one will give Israel credit for its unilateral humanitarianism. But it’s entirely natural, if also frustrating, that Netanyahu would help a Palestinian leader in need even when we know that if the shoe were on the other foot, Israel’s foes would not do the same.

The instinctual application of traditional Jewish values by the Jewish state’s secular government should not surprise anyone. Even when it will not advance Israel’s cause, behaving decently to those who would not reciprocate such a gesture is still the default position of any government of the Jewish state.

Co-Existence Par Excellence

 Arab Contractor Donates Prayer Area to Israeli Community in Samaria

 By Aryeh Savir/TPS • 13 October 2020

An Arab contractor who paved an open space that will serve the worshippers at the Israeli community in Samaria decided to donate it.

The contractor, Rami Yihya from Teibeh, was hired by the members of the Yemenite synagogue in Einav to prepare a proper area at which they could pray during COVID-19, when the synagogues are closed.

Hearing that the construction was meant for prayer, Yihya donated the materials and work time.

"This is a holy place," he explained while speaking at a ceremony held this week after the conclusion of the construction at which he was the guest of honor, "God will pay me", he added.

He further shared that after the murder of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger in a terrorist attack in March 2019, he came to pay his respects to the family and saw that the family's 12 children were sleeping on mattresses on the floor. He built beds for them and repainted the house.

He visits the family on a weekly basis. "We are all human beings," he stressed.

His gesture was warmly welcomed by Israelis on social media.

"I shed a tear. May there be more people like him," one Israeli tweeted.

"Tears. I have heard moving stories in my life, but I have never experienced such a story about a (seemingly) simple person with a sensitive mind and a well-developed sense of grace," wrote another.

"People like Rami are the real hope for a better world. If there is a narrow crack through which coexistence can pass, it is thanks to Rami the contractor," he added.

 

Israeli-made COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Start

 The Hadassah Medical Organization is slated to begin a clinical trial with an Israeli-made COVID-19 vaccine this month. One hundred volunteers are being recruited to participate at Hadassah and Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center.

The vaccine, developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), was tested successfully on hamsters. IIBR announced in June that hamsters who were given its vaccine and later exposed to the contagion did not contract the coronavirus.

The initial phase of the human trial will test for any major side effects. Should the initial results prove positive, the trials will be expanded to hundreds of volunteers in additional medical centers around the country. Volunteers who receive the vaccine will be paid, and they will remain under medical surveillance for a year.

While the experiment still requires the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Health’s Helsinki Committee, which oversees the rights, safety, and well-being of participants recruited for medical research, Hadassah and Sheba have already begun preparations to recruit young and healthy volunteers.

IIBR engineered the vaccine by replicating a virus that is not harmful to humans and replacing one of its proteins with the coronavirus spike protein. This protein will trigger the production of antibodies to it, preventing the virus from binding to human cells.

IDF Takes Control of Israeli Spy Satellite that Watches Iran

 By United with Israel Staff

Three months after Israel successfully launched the Ofek 16 satellite into space, Israel’s Space Administration officially transferred operational control of the cutting-edge spacecraft to the nation’s military.

Ofek 16 helps Israel keep an eye on archenemy Iran, among other regional threats.

Just one week after the spy satellite’s launch, the Ministry of Defense turned on its super-sensitive observation camera and the first pictures were downloaded.

Israel is known as a world leader in advanced optics and the Ofek 16 is equipped with a super high-quality camera developed and manufactured in Israel by Elbit Systems. The in-orbit shakedown testing was finished recently, after which control of the operational satellite was transferred to the IDF’s Intelligence Corps.

“The significant advantage of Ofek is a route that allows greater repetition over Iran … that allows a high-frequency of photography, several times a day, which commercial satellites almost do not allow,” tweeted Dan Harel, an Israeli expert in remote sensing.

Ofek 16 gives the IDF unprecedented access to data about Iran, whose political and military leaders have repeated for years that their goal is the “total annihilation of Israel.”

Not only does the satellite give Israel’s military intelligence agents high resolution photos of Iranian sites including those associated with its illegal military nuclear weapons program, it also provides detailed views of the activities of terror groups supported by Iran around the region in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

On Sunday, officials held a small ceremony handing the “keys” of the satellite to the IDF’s 9900 Intelligence Unit.

Israeli Professor’s Study Rejected by Scientific Journal for Refusing to List Address as ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’

By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

A researcher at Israel’s Ariel University located in Samaria has refused the demand of a Swiss-based scientific journal to remove “Israel” from her institution’s address in her paper.

Dr. Mindy Levine heads a chemistry research lab at Ariel University studying toxicant detection, environmental remediation, and supramolecular organic chemistry. She submitted a new scientific paper to the journal Molecules.

The paper would have appeared in the January, 2021 edition of the journal, however, a group of anti-Israel academics demanded that Molecules reject the paper unless Levine agreed to say she wrote it from “Ariel University, illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel, Occupied Palestinian Territory” instead of “Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.”

“Molecules has put politics over science,” stated Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, Director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum,

“It requires all authors to provide a mailing address; whatever one thinks of the politics, ‘Ariel, Israel’ is indeed the correct mailing address, as one can discover by sending a letter. The purpose of a contact address – to allow communication with the author – has been turned into a geopolitical judgement by chemists unqualified to make it,” Kontorovich said.

“Papers from authors in other contested areas have been published without any insistence on any ‘legally correct’ description,” Kontorovich noted. “Now Molecules must revise its policies for several territories, or stick with a Jewish-only double standard.”

Hundreds of Arabs study at Ariel University, which also attracts Druze and Circassian students, in addition to Jewish Israelis from a variety of backgrounds.

The anti-Israel chemists say that Ariel is not located in the sovereign territory of Israel and demanded Levine change the address to “illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel.”

One of the activists is Nobel Prize winner Prof. George Smith of the University of Missouri. An investigative report by Vox Magazine earlier this year revealed that the “U.S. government expropriated nearly 11 million acres of land from Native American tribes that was then sold to fund 52 modern-day universities – including the University of Missouri, which received land taken from the Osage people.”

The University of Missouri website lists the contact address of the school as “230 Jesse Hall, Columbia, MO 65211,” and not “occupied Osage territory.”

After receiving the complaint from Smith and his cohorts, Molecules editors asked Levine to get rid of “Israel” from the Ariel University address, but she refused. Molecules then informed Levine they would not publish her study.

Hospitals Begin Turning Away Coronavirus Patients

 By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Sarah Chemla Sept22, 2020

For full article see https://tinyurl.com/y52p265r 

Hospitals began turning away coronavirus patients and shutting down internal medicine wards on Monday as the number of those seriously ill spiked.

The coronavirus cabinet is expected to meet on Tuesday to outline a list of new restrictions that could be implemented immediately after Yom Kippur next week.

Both Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Monday said they could accommodate no more coronavirus cases. Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy called on hospitals to cease offering elective surgery and other services and instead focus on COVID-19.

“This is urgent,” he said in a letter to hospital CEOs. “I expect everyone to act with personal responsibility and determination.”

Meanwhile, the IDF on Monday announced it would open a 200-bed field hospital to help accommodate patient overflow.

The cabinet met Monday to discuss the next steps in the fight against coronavirus.  “Since we made the decision about the lockdown, there has been a consistent rise in the number of serious patients,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting. “Therefore, tomorrow at the coronavirus cabinet meeting, we will consider further steps.

“Anyone who violated the directives or, worse than that, any MK who pushed for looser restrictions, should not ask afterward why the infection rate is rising and should not now come with complaints. The reason for the infection rate is gatherings and people not wearing masks.”

In Nahariya, The Galilee Medical Center director-general Dr. Masad Barhoum said his hospital would open a fourth coronavirus ward by Tuesday at the expense of an internal medicine ward.

“This is the second internal medicine ward that is becoming a coronavirus ward,” Barhoum said. “We will have to use anesthetics as part of a [coronavirus] team to treat serious patients, so we will have no choice but to postpone elective surgery.”

Israel shut down beginning on Rosh Hashanah for what is expected to be a three-week closure. However, as many health experts have pointed out, the closure has a lot of flexibility of movement for citizens and is not expected to reduce morbidity very fast.

Despite the spike in patients, much of the public continues to break Health Ministry regulations. On Monday, N12 visited a neighborhood in Bnei Brak where a Talmud Torah religious school was open despite instructions that the education system remain closed.

In addition, media reports and social media showed that several businesses across the country opened despite fines of up to NIS 5,000 and against Health Ministry rules.

Gamzu, the corona c\ar, lashed out at protesters who continue to gather in large groups, many without masks.

“We need to understand that we are in an emergency; this is a war,” he said. “We [may end] this week with 800 critically ill patients, and that requires a change in the behavior of all of us.”

“We currently need to focus on one goal: reducing morbidity,” he added. “There will be time for demonstrations afterward.”

Tags Coronavirus Coronavirus in Israel coronavirus lockdown Coronavirus Live Updates Ronni Gamzu

Mahmoud Abbas – The Twilight Era

 By Baruch Yedid/TPS • 7 September 2020

The man who came to power after Yasser Arafat’s death and determined the strategy of the “political intifada” and rejected the armed struggle in Israel is about to leave the stage, tomorrow or the day after.

Mahmoud Abbas’ strategy is known in Ramallah as the “waiting policy.” This term is used as criticism and to ridicule Abbas who preferred to wait outside the arena rather than be an active player.

This strategy has taken a very heavy toll on the Palestinians.

1.     PLO offices in Washington have closed.

2.     American budgets for the Palestinian Authority have been cancelled.

3.     UNRWA’s budgets are almost gone.

4.     The United States Embassy in Israel was moved to Jerusalem.

5.     The economic conference in Bahrain was held despite the absence of the Palestinians.

6.     The US-formulated Deal of the Century diplomatic plan was published.

7.     A peace agreement was signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

8.     The Palestinians are embroiled in a conflict with the Arab League.

9.     Saudi Arabia authorizes Israel flights through its airspace.

10. Bahrain signed an agreement with Israel.

11. Sudan likely to sign an agreement.

And if all these “disasters” are not enough, then Abbas is also responsible for the disintegration of the Palestinian arena.

12. During his shift, the Gaza Strip was torn apart and became an independent entity.

13. During his shift, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya became a Palestinian statesman conducting political campaigns.

14. During his shift, Fatah disbanded into three camps.

Corruption has increased dramatically

15. The separation between the three powers ended, and Abbas became a dictator who is the administration and the legislature, and he dissolved the Legislative Council.

16. The judicial system has become a corrupt authority.

17. Abbas controlled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

18. The Palestinian investment fund became a playground for him and his children, and the fund’s size was reduced by $600 million. Abbas received the fund with a billion and four hundred million dollars, and now its capital is $800 million dollars.

19. He destroyed the PLO and appointed whoever he wanted on the Central Council and its Executive Committee

This is Abbas’ legacy and this is how Palestinian historians will write it.

 

UN Rights Chief Ignores Israel Arab Peace Deals

 Following are remarks delivered by UN Watch Executive Director 

Hillel Neuer before the UN Human Rights Council,

             on September 15, 2020, in response to the opening plenary speech 

                   by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Palestinians Must Face Reality, Stop Their Ingratitude Towards The Gulf States

 The reaction of the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by President Mahmoud 'Abbas, to the August 13, 2020 announcement of UAE-Israel normalization was blunt and harsh. The PA accused the UAE of betraying the Palestinians and their cause, as well as Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, of "aggression towards the Palestinian people," of stabbing the Palestinians and the Arab and Islamic nation in the back with a "poisoned dagger," and of making concessions to Israel for nothing in return.

The PA leaders called the UAE's move unacceptable and an act of deception, and accused the UAE of abandoning the Arab Peace Initiative and capitulating and groveling to the U.S. Calling on the UAE to reverse its "disgraceful decision," they also warned other Arab countries not to follow its example. The condemnation reached its peak at a September 3, 2020 conference of Palestinian faction leaders that included representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad alongside representatives of Fatah and other factions. At the conference, 'Abbas, as well as Mu'in Hamed, leader of Al-Sa'iqa organization, a PLO faction, spoke bluntly and derisively of the Gulf states, calling them "illiterate" and saying that the Palestinians, who are far more educated than they, do not need anyone's help.

The Palestinian leadership's statements provoked much criticism on social media and in the Arab press, especially in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. Daily newspapers in these three countries have published dozens of articles since the normalization agreement was announced expressing support for the UAE's decision and condemning the Palestinians, especially their "ungrateful" leadership. The writers claimed that this leadership has exploited the Palestinian cause for seven decades to extort more and more funds from the Gulf states. Some even accused Palestinian officials of taking the money for themselves and of deliberately rejecting every peace initiative in order to perpetuate the situation and remain in power. They further claimed that since the world and the global balance of power have changed, slogans like "Palestine from the River to the Sea" are no longer relevant, and also that the Arab countries are entitled to prioritize their own interests.

For more on this go to MEMRI

 

 

Consequences of PA Suspending Security Cooperation for Palestinians

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/west-bank-loss-contact-israel-affecting-palestinians-200829154958608.html

This Al Jazeera video repeats the the usual mantras against Israel

but it seems the decision by the PA is causing serious problems

for the man in the street.

Is Israel Approaching Herd Immunity?

  By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

A new study conducted by Ben Gurion University predicts Israel will reach a state of herd immunity against the coronavirus in the coming weeks, Hamodia reported Sunday.

Herd immunity occurs when a high enough percentage of the population has already contracted a disease and recovered from it, giving them enough antibodies in their systems so that the rate of new infections drops as more people gain immunity.

Prof. Mark Last of Ben Gurion University is not a doctor of medicine, but instead is an expert in the field of “medical informatics,” using the power of computer and information science to optimize medical care.

Last says his analysis shows that Israel’s coronavirus infection rate is about to decline. According to his figures, another national lockdown is not necessary if the government maintains current restrictions and no new major outbreaks occur from changes like the opening of the school year this week.

 “If there is no unusual outbreak because of the return to school or the [upcoming Jewish holidays], then the infection rate will start dropping,” Last said. “According to my calculations, we need 1.16 million people with antibodies in order to achieve herd immunity and we are very close to that number,” he said.

In June, the first serological survey showed that the national infection rate then was 2.5 percent indicating some 200,000 Israelis had been infected at the time, but most had few or no symptoms. Since then another 86,000 Israelis have tested positive, most likely exposing several hundred thousand more Israelis to the disease.

Last says his model analyzed the available data and he predicts that the infection rate that peaked before the weekend at just over 2,000 confirmed cases a day will start to go down sometime in the second half of September.

“We cannot know the actual number of cases of infection unless we test the entire population every day,” Last said. “Initial serological tests indicate the ratio of confirmed cases to actual cases is about 1 to 10. Using those numbers, we now have slightly above one million people with antibodies in Israel and we need at least 1.2 million.”

Last is in agreement with government officials who say that another lockdown is not needed because social distancing and the gathering herd immunity will soon produce a reduction in the infection rate.

“We are heading in the right direction, but it is important not to relax our restrictions or get overconfident,” Last warned, estimating by the end of September an additional 500 Israelis will likely die from the virus and bring the death toll up to 1,400.

The Emirati-Israeli Agreement: Breaking the Barriers of Illusion

 Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, August 14

Put simply and succinctly, the United Arab Emirates achieved a major political, psychological and security breakthrough in the Middle East with the announcement of its historic agreement to normalize ties with Israel. This agreement not only protected the Palestinians’ right to establish their own independent and sovereign state, but also preserved the sanctity of all Muslim sites in Israel.

Above all, it strengthened the moderate Arab world and united it against the Muslim Brotherhood, the mullahs and the Arab nationalists who have been rearing their heads in the Middle East. The UAE reaped a tangible gain for the Palestinian cause, not by words but by deeds: It brought to an immediate and unequivocal end the Israeli encroachment of West Bank territory, an achievement explicitly outlined in the tripartite statement released by the UAE, the US and Israel. We all know what to expect next.

The well-oiled propaganda machines in Turkey, Iran and Qatar, alongside radical groups like al-Qaida, Islamic State and the Houthis, will all rush to attack the emirates. They will describe the UAE as a “traitor” and as “weak.” But the truth is far from that. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was vehemently attacked after signing a peace treaty with Israel. But the fact of the matter remains that in historic perspective, he liberated Egyptian lands and prevented a bleak future for his country. He was a true hero of war and peace, and Egypt is still reaping the fruits of the peace he created.

The great king of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal, was also attacked after reaching an agreement with the Israelis but he refused to submit to these accusations. This led his country to the great Wadi Araba Treaty, which ensured Jordan’s territorial integrity and water rights with Israel. Therefore – and because he is a realistic and responsible Arab leader – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi took the initiative to commend this development.

Most ironically, those very countries that responded with criticism – Turkey and Qatar – are also those maintaining the most extensive covert trade and tourism ties with Israel. Whether one supports it or not, the Emirati-Israeli agreement will not come at the expense of the Palestinians, but rather in their favor. Like it or not, Israel is one of the countries of the region.

Like it or not, most of the harm to Arabs has been carried out by the hands of Iran and Turkey. According to a joint Emirati, American and Israeli statement, this historic diplomatic achievement will enhance peace in the Middle East and preserve the two-state solution on the ground, not in imagination. This is a historic agreement that brings back memories of great leaders who dared take risks to bring about peace. – Mishary Al-Dayidi (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)

Iran and the Israel-UAE Deal

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,704, August 21, 2020

Full article at https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/iran-israel-uae-deal/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates presents the Iranian regime with dilemmas on both the foreign and the domestic front. The regime fears the emergence of a new international alliance that will have greater power to contain its hegemonic regional aspirations, and there is a new urgency to the need to prove to the Iranian people that the government’s imperialist foreign policy works to their benefit.

 The condemnations in the Iranian media of the nascent Israel-UAE peace agreement are hardly surprising. The regime’s leadership is covering its embarrassment and apprehension with a stream of defamation and threats. Parliament Speaker Muhammad Bakr Qalibaf called the agreement “despicable and a betrayal of human and Islamic values,” while President Rouhani warned the UAE leaders “not to open their gates” to Israel. (An interesting exception to this pattern was the statement of former MP Ali Motahari, who tweeted, “Apart from the betrayal of UAE rulers, the blame was also on us for scaring the Arabs and pushing them into Israeli arms”.)

 Israel’s rapprochement with the Gulf state is raising concerns in Tehran for a number of reasons. First, the regime fears that an alliance comprising Israel, the Gulf States, and other countries, supported by Washington and Riyadh, would be a serious roadblock in the path of Iran’s goal of regional hegemony. A multinational system of that kind would strengthen its constituent members not only on the security level but also on the economic, commercial, and cultural levels—a worrisome prospect for Tehran.

The prospect of such an alliance is particularly troubling to the regime at a time when its regional status is declining. The deep crisis now engulfing Lebanon and the Hague’s conviction of a Hezbollah member for the assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri do not contribute to Iran’s prestige.

Another element of the Israel-UAE deal that is causing discomfort for the Islamist regime is the problem of how to control discourse on the subject among the Iranian general public. The leadership is finding it difficult to explain the emerging ties between Israel and Muslim countries to its citizens. It is defaulting to the traditional pattern of labeling those states traitors to Islamic values and the Palestinian cause.

This message is not getting the traction it once did among ordinary Iranians. The educated social stratum in Iran does not buy the argument that normalization with Israel is a betrayal by definition. Compounding this problem, more and more Iranians are expressing the view that the regime’s investment of resources in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza comes at their expense.

From the mullahs’ point of view, the Israel-UAE agreement is a painful blow because it sends a message that Muslim countries not only do not view Israel as an enemy that must be destroyed but view it as a potential partner for mutual prosperity and security. The Iranian people, unlike their leadership, do not believe Egypt, Jordan, and now the UAE are traitors to Islam.

The foreign policy of the Iranian leadership is designed to strengthen extremists at the expense of the welfare and prosperity of the country’s own citizens. The regime has no intention of altering this policy, and will continue to threaten other countries in the Persian Gulf that might be considering a similar rapprochement with Jerusalem. It is possible that Iran will now concentrate its efforts on harassing oil tankers anchored in UAE ports.

According to media reports, Bahrain is likely to be one of the next Gulf States to advance its ties with Israel. There too, Iran’s subversion of Bahrain served as a catalyst for the Khalifa family to establish ties with Israel.

Bahrain’s demographic structure is 70% Shiite, which rendered it, in the eyes of the Iranian regime, fertile ground for the advancement of its revolutionary worldview. As early as December 1981 the “Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain” tried and failed to overthrow the ruling monarchy and establish an Iran-backed theocratic regime, and in 1996 the Bahrain authorities uncovered another attempt by Tehran to overthrow the regime and replace it with a theocracy according to the Velayat-e Faqih model. Iran accompanied these subversive activities with “soft power” measures and support for opposition organizations, and it trained militants in the emirate.

The Iranian revolutionary model has been a threatening and destabilizing factor in the Middle East for decades. The greater Iran’s hostility toward the countries in the region, the greater the likelihood that they will eventually come together in some way to oppose it.

The formation of alliances among countries experiencing a common threat is not a new phenomenon in the Middle East. This was true six decades ago, when the Iranian monarchy felt threatened by the spread of Arab nationalism led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, and it is true today. The expression “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is as valid today as it ever was, despite attempts to throw that realpolitik model into the so-called dustbin of history.

 The Israel-UAE deal makes it much harder for the Iranian regime to justify an imperialist foreign policy that comes at the expense of the Iranian people.

 

What Really Happened at the Port of Beirut?

(By Dr Mordechai Kedar)

The official report of the Lebanese authorities on the massive August 4 explosion at the Port of Beirut is that a warehouse near the water containing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded. They claim that this material had been in the warehouse for over six years, with the approval of the court, and confirmed this claim with documentation.

With all due respect to the Lebanese authorities, I do not buy this story. I believe that explosives, ammunition, and missile fuel (which are highly volatile and flammable substances) were stored by Hezbollah in this warehouse after being shipped from Iran. There are several reasons why I believe this.

1. a)There was a series of at least three explosions, each of which had a different result. The first created a gray column of smoke that remained for several minutes. The second, a column of red smoke, also remained for several minutes, while the third created a white mushroom cloud that dissipated within seconds. This suggests that at least three different materials were stored in that warehouse (see video).
2. b) Anyone familiar with how a port operates knows that the front row of warehouses, which are closest to the water, are used for short-term storage. Cargo that is meant to be stored long-term is moved to warehouses further away from the water.
3. c) Anyone who ships sensitive cargo and does not want it to be seen, photographed, or targeted by others from air, space, or ground tries to hide it as close as possible to the water. The warehouse that exploded was on the water’s edge.
4. d) After Israel (according to foreign sources) attacked the warehouses at Damascus Airport several times, Beirut Seaport replaced Damascus Airport as the destination for Hezbollah’s ammunition and explosives imports from Iran. What used to arrive at Damascus Airport by air is now brought to Beirut by ship. For Hezbollah’s purposes, the warehouses at the port of Beirut have replaced the warehouses of Damascus Airport.
5. e) What probably happened on August 4 was an explosion of volatile and flammable materials that were incorrectly stored by Hezbollah for at least a day in a metal, non-airconditioned warehouse. As it is midsummer, temperatures are very high. I believe missile-fuel fumes evaporated from a container and touched the hot wall or ceiling, where they ignited and caused a chain reaction of explosions.
6. f) Less than an hour after the explosions, Hezbollah announced that the exploded material was ammonium nitrate. Hezbollah was the first to report it. The reason: Hezbollah was looking for a way to cover up its own negligence and establish an official version that deflected attention away from itself, because no one in the government would dare contradict them.

I suspect that very few people in Lebanon buy Hezbollah’s version of the story. I think Hassan Nasrallah is viewed by the Iranians and, indeed, by his own friends in Hezbollah as personally responsible for this disaster. 

1. 
   

IDF Technology Creates ‘Safest Car Seat Ever’

The seat for children is based on the same technology used to keep soldiers in military vehicles safe.

By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

The Israeli company BabyArk announced Tuesday it has been awarded a €2.5 million grant from the European Union to develop “the safest car seat ever created” for children.

BabyArk knows about safety – the “smart” car seats will be produced based on breakthrough multiple-patented technology developed by Mobius with the goal of reducing the injuries that happen to the 1.3 million children who are involved in motor vehicle crashes each year. Shockingly, the company says car crashes are the leading cause of death and injury among infants where in Europe alone some 700 children are killed yearly on the roads and 80,000 are injured.

“All parents believe their children are their most precious gift but fail to realize that their kids are facing real risk while sitting in a standard car seat,” said Mindel, BabyArk’s CEO, adding that car seat technology hasn’t changed for more than a decade, “resulting in tragic life loss and economic damage.”

The company claims that the BabyArk car seat will increase safety by a factor of four compared to statutory requirements and be twice as safe as the top products currently on the market, while at the same time far superior in terms of usability.

“Our mission is to introduce the most advanced technologies and design to set a new level of safety that will reduce child mortality and injuries significantly,” Mindel said. “Potential users are already showing great interest in BabyArk’s solutions, which aim to revolutionize the traditional safety seat industry.”

Mindel says his company invested heavily in R & D to develop a spring-like energy absorption technology that converts kinetic energy to plastic deformation, meaning dangerous energy is absorbed, thus substantially reducing head trauma and severe infant injuries.

Instead of just strapping it to a seat belt, the BabyArk seat uses a special mechanism to anchor the seat to the vehicle’s frame, based on the same special safety seats developed by Mobius for armored vehicles for the most extreme wartime environments

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