Friday, January 25, 2019

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: Is Israel’s Inevitable War With Iran Already Underway?
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime — weakened by restored US sanctions and the massive unrest of its subjugated populace — is boasting about its military prowess. This is par for the course in Tehran, particularly as the ruling mullahs are marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which ousted Shah Reza Pahlavi and ushered in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s reign of terror.

In an interview with Iranian state TV on Tuesday, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, went as far as to flaunt the regime’s nuclear achievements, thanks in large measure to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the nuclear deal signed with world powers in 2015 — which, he said, “marinated” Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

The only drawback he mentioned was the fact that “for Europeans, a centrifuge takes eight years from designing to become operational, while the process takes us 10 years.”

Salehi then announced that he would be traveling at the end of the month to Ardakan “to oversee the transport of 30 tons of yellowcake produced … there to [the Uranium Conversion Facility at] Isfahan, [which] means that the Ardakan site has become operational.”

It would be a grave mistake to dismiss Salehi’s words as mere saber-rattling, given the Iranian regime’s stated intention and increasingly overt attempts to annihilate Israel, even at its own potential peril. Rather than looking the other way, at best — or, worse, condemning Israel at international forums — the world should be thanking the Jewish state for doing its dirty work. The inevitable war against Iran should have been fought by America decades ago. Today, it is up to the IDF.

When the snow melts on Mount Hermon, we Israelis will be back in shorts and sandals, heading for the polls this spring to elect the next Knesset. The only question at this point is whether we will be doing so in bomb shelters.
House Majority Leader Calls for US Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty Over Golan
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has called for the United States to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the congressman’s office told Jewish Insider.

The Golan spans about 700 square miles and directly abuts what is now a civil-war-torn Syria.

This development comes as members of Congress have called for the Trump administration to formally acknowledge Israeli control of the Golan Heights, a geographical security barrier for Israel in the fight against terrorism from Hezbollah, with its growing arsenal of missiles and rockets, and other Iranian-backed groups.

Earlier this week, Iranian fighter jets fired a surface-to-surface missile at the Golan Heights, prompting Israel to launch a massive attack on numerous Iranian targets in Syria.

Last week, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) sent a letter to US President Donald Trump calling for the official recognition.

Gottheimer followed Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who introduced a resolution last month that stated, “Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights is critical to Israel’s national security,” and that “Israel’s security from attack from Syria and Lebanon cannot be assured without Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”
Jonathan S. Tobin: Israel’s Foes Finally Admit That Rocks Can Kill
As far as the mainstream media is usually concerned, when rocks are thrown in the Middle East, it’s nothing to get too worked up about. When Palestinian mobs throw rocks at Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border fence as part of their effort to cross into the Jewish state and commit mayhem, such actions are generally depicted as a non-lethal form of protest.

Ever since the Palestinians launched an intifada — a “national uprising” — in December of 1987, rock-throwing has been treated as a popular form of protest against Israel. Indeed, the act of throwing rocks at Jews has long since become an iconic symbol of the “resistance” to Israel, glorified in Palestinian culture, poems, and songs. Throwing rocks at soldiers and settlers — or their cars and buses — has become something like a national sport, as well as a rite of passage for Arab youth.

Incidents of stone-throwing at Jewish targets are a daily occurrence, and so numerous that Israel barely bothers to keep statistics on them. But we do know that at least 14 Israelis have been killed as a result of car crashes caused by rock-throwing or direct blows. When Palestinians are arrested in connection with such crimes, they are either depicted sympathetically as legitimate combatants using the only weapons available to them, or as children who are unjustly harassed or even tortured by the Israeli army and police for what is, at worst, nothing more than so-called teenage mischief-making.

But after more than 30 years of such stories in the media, the international press has finally decided to treat this “harmless” activity in the West Bank as a crime.

A Palestinian women was killed in October when she was struck in the head by a stone thrown by what police believe was a group of Israeli teenagers. Aisha Rabi, a mother of nine, was with her husband and two of their children driving in a car when the crime occurred. The suspects are students at a West Bank yeshiva high school — one of whom remains in custody since being arrested in December due to the fact that, according to Israeli authorities, traces of his DNA was found on the stone that killed Rabi.

The case raises a lot of uncomfortable questions for both Arabs and Jews.



Evelyn Gordon: The Israeli Left Shoots Itself in the Foot by Demonizing Benjamin Netanyahu
For years, leftists in Israel—from moderates like the Hatnuah-party leader Tzipi Livni to post-Zionists writing for the newspaper Haaretz—have painted Prime Minister Netanyahu as a dangerous threat to democracy and an enthusiastic builder of settlements. Not only are these claims false, argues Evelyn Gordon, but they have done Netanyahu’s political opponents no favors:
[This leftist] narrative about Netanyahu . . . has been widely embraced by American Jews and the Democratic party. That’s bad for Israel as a whole, as it has contributed to growing anti-Israel sentiment among both groups. I don’t think either group’s alienation stems primarily from Israel’s policies, whether real or alleged. Nevertheless, had prominent Israeli leftists told the truth—that Netanyahu was doing very little settlement- building [and] that his actual positions are far from his hardline image—it might have slowed the process.

[Moreover], this false narrative hurts leftists themselves since it impedes Netanyahu’s ability to adopt policies they favor. Many such policies, like the dearth of settlement construction, are indeed very unpopular with his base, but he could justify them if they were achieving something important for Israel, like maintaining its bipartisan support in America.

In reality, however, they don’t achieve anything. For instance, despite Netanyahu’s restraint on settlements, the Obama administration repeatedly accused him of “aggressive” settlement-construction, with full-throated backing from Israeli leftists. That makes it impossible for Netanyahu to justify restraint to his unhappy base, which is precisely why he sometimes “caves to them” [as Livni herself put it in a recent interview]. Finally, this false narrative hinders his ability to form a broader-based government. . . .
House Resolution Introduced, Rejecting Anti-Israel and Antisemitic Sentiment
Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, three Republican members of Congress introduced on Wednesday a House resolution condemning antisemitic and anti-Israel vitriol in the United States and worldwide.

Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), introduced the resolution that calls out both Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for his extensive record of spewing anti-Jewish rhetoric and Women’s March leader Tamilka Mallory, who refused to condemn Farrakhan and who attended his annual Saviour’s Day address last year during which the minister labeled Jews as “satanic.”

The resolution also names Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who both support the anti-Israel BDS movement.

Since being sworn in, Tlaib displayed a map in her office with a note posted over Israel that reads “Palestine,” accused Republican lawmakers of dual loyalty and forgetting “what country they represent,” and met with a Palestinian activist who has said that Israel is a “terrorist entity” with a “delusional ISIS-like ideology,” and that its founding was a “crime.”

Omar has tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world” and has posted that Israel is an “apartheid” state. She was appointed last week to serve on the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over bills and investigations related to the foreign affairs of the United States. Her appointment raised alarm bells in the Jewish community.

Furthermore, the resolution denounces BDS especially on college campuses, such as New York University and the University of Michigan.


Israel is the first country to finalize post-Brexit trade deal with UK
The UK agreed in principle to a post-Brexit free trade agreement with Israel, the two sides revealed at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Britain’s Secretary for International Trade Liam Fox announced the decision on Wednesday together with Israel’s Economy Minister Eli Cohen.

“I’m delighted that as Britain prepares to leave the European Union and to ensure continuity for our businesses in both directions, we’ve reached agreement in principle today with our colleagues in Israel,” Fox said.

“Israel has been one of the most cooperative and productive partners in this relationship where our trade is already strong and set to go further,” he added. “For us, the continuity as we leave the European Union will be a precursor to an even more ambitious agreement in the future.”

Cohen commented that Israel’s trade with Britain was valued at more than £10 billion in 2018, and expressed his hopes that the trade agreement “will accelerate, increase and strengthen our economic relationship.”
Report: BDS blacklist under review by UN body will harm Palestinians
The lives of ordinary Palestinians will be severely harmed if the UN Human Rights Council blacklists companies that do business in the West Bank, a report from NGO Monitor revealed on Thursday.

A major source of the list of companies the UNHRC may publicize soon, says the report, was Who Profits, a project of the Coalition of Women for Peace, a known left-wing Israeli organization.

At the root of the NGO Monitor report is the premise that Who Profits has not taken into account that its list, which filters into the UNHRC blacklist, will not just harm Israel, but also West Bank Palestinians and east Jerusalem Arabs.

According to NGO Monitor, the Who Profits list of Israeli and international businesses is a prominent tool for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaigns around the world.

The report said the blacklist’s publication has been delayed by two years partially due to NGO Monitor’s efforts at the UN, though Israel and various allies have been heavily engaged in pushing off the list’s publication.

But NGO Monitor says the list is finally expected to be published in advance of the March 2019 UNHRC session.
Barry Shaw: What is it with the Irish?
Regarding the advancement of an Irish boycott bill against Israel we need to question what is it with the Irish that they would jeopardize their own economy in their detestation of Israel?

Why is it that they will pass a law against an Israeli village built on state land, according to the international law introduced by the League of Nations and enshrined in Article 80 of the UN Charter, yet call that village "a weapon of war"?

Why is it that the Irish Parliament has said nothing, done nothing, about decades of murderous Palestinian terror that has slaughtered and injured thousands of Israeli civilians, and the rejection of peace by their leaders?

One has to look for a forensic answer to this blatant bias.

When the Irish government, some dressed in Palestinian keffiyehs, pick on one small country to act out its venom, yet ignores others such as Russia, Turkey, Morocco, who are guilty of actual occupation of other countries, one has to examine why the Jewish State of Israel is the only one singled out for legal sanction.
Irish envoy given ‘angry rebuke’ over bill outlawing settlement goods
The Foreign Ministry reprimanded Ireland’s envoy to Israel on Friday following the advancement of an Irish bill criminalizing Israeli products from areas captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The ministry said Ambassador Alison Kelly was given an “angry rebuke” over the “scandalous” bill, which was passed by the lower house of Ireland’s parliament on Thursday.

“It was clarified to the ambassador that the hypocritical and anti-Semitic legislation will have serious ramifications for Israel-Ireland relations and [Ireland’s] status in the region, should it be advanced,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“It would be better for Ireland to deal with dark dictatorships and terror groups instead of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,” the statement added.

The bill would apply to Israeli goods from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Jordan and Syria in the Six Day War.

The measure, introduced by the conservative Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party would make illegal “the import and sales of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal settlements in occupied territories.” Sinn Fein, a left-wing party, supported the bill.

The Dail, Ireland’s lower house, passed the measure by a vote of 78-45 with three abstentions. The bill must still pass three more stages before becoming law, according to reports.
Palestinian official slams US over its support for Venezuelan opposition leader
A high-ranking Palestine Liberation Organization official lashed out at the Trump administration on Thursday for supporting a Venezuelan opposition leader who has declared himself interim president of the South American country.

“The barefaced American intervention in the affairs of countries, as is happening in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is an extension of the Trump administration’s policy of denying the will of peoples,” PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani said in comments published on the official PA news site Wafa.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he recognizes Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido as the interim president of the Latin American nation. Earlier in the day in front of masses of anti-government demonstrators, Guaido declared himself interim president.

“The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate [President Nicolas] Maduro regime,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the Venezuelan head of state who has ruled the country since 2013. “Today, I have officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela.”
Turkey's Erdogan: ‘Maduro Brother, Stand Tall’ in Venezuela
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a serial human rights violator believed to be the world’s most prolific jailer of journalists, expressed “shock” at the United States declaring Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro illegitimate and offered words of support to the socialist leader Thursday.

Erdogan reportedly called Maduro on Wednesday to confirm Turkey’s support for his dictatorship after the National Assembly, the only democratic institution left in the country, swore in Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela. The Venezuelan constitution requires the people to reject the legitimacy of a leader who either violates human rights or disturbs the democratic order, both of which Maduro is guilty of doing.

The United States has recognized Guaidó, previously the president of the National Assembly, as the legitimate president and, as such, will disregard any authority Maduro claims to have.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Erdogan said he was “shocked” that the Trump administration would not support Maduro, even though Trump made opposition to socialism in Venezuela a pillar of his 2016 presidential campaign.

“I was shocked by Trump’s attitude [to the situation in Venezuela]. It is necessary to respect the person who won the election. We are coming out against any anti-democratic actions,” Erdogan said. “If Maduro takes a tough stance … I believe the Venezuelan people will back their elected president.”

Erdogan went on to accuse those who did not “respect election results” of being “totalitarian.”
Hezbollah, Iran's Terrorist Proxy in Latin America, Slams U.S. Imperialism in Venezuela
The Hezbollah terror organization slammed the U.S. on Wednesday for recognizing the Venezuelan opposition under Juan Guaidó as the legitimate government — though Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, is active there and throughout Latin America.

In a statement, Hezbollah reportedly condemned “blatant American intervention” and reiterated its support for the autocratic government of Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded strongman Hugo Chavez and has been crushing dissent.

Hezbollah has been active in the region for decades, and is deeply involved in the illicit drug trade as well as terror. The Miami Herald noted last year that Hezbollah’s involvement in Latin America began with a deadly terror attack:
Hezbollah’s growth in the West began on March 17, 1992, when a suicide bomber smashed an explosives-filled car into the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people and wounding 242 in the first major international terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere. On July 18, 1994, another car crashed into the Jewish Center of AMIA, the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina, also in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and injuring hundreds — the deadliest terrorist attack ever in Latin America. Iran and Hezbollah were linked to both attacks.

Since then, Hezbollah has expanded its operations into Venezuela, as well as a “subregion of South America known as the Tri-Border Area (TBA), at the crossroads of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay,” The Hill noted recently. Iran, which backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and throughout the world, has used the group to expand its global influence.




Israeli President in Paris: Israel May Have to Hit Hizbullah Rocket Factories in Beirut
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday told his French counterpart that Israel could be forced to strike the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket-building operations “in the heart of Beirut,” a development he warned would drag Lebanon into a punishing regional war that neither side wants.

Rivlin made the remarks during a meeting with France’s President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in Paris during an official visit to mark 70 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and France.

“If we are threatened from Lebanon, we will not stand by,” Rivlin told Macron, according a statement from his office. “Hezbollah is creating facilities to produce and convert precision-guided missiles in the heart of Beirut under civilian cover and with Iranian support.”

“This threatens Israeli security and could force us to respond, dragging the region into escalation that could badly harm Lebanon.”

The last major conflict between Israel and Lebanon was the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Rivlin stressed that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for all military activity in its territory and urged Macron to use France’s diplomatic clout to convince Beirut to contain the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“Lebanon bears sovereign responsibility for all Hezbollah actions,” he said. “France is a power with decisive influence in our region and it is vital that she understands that Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese system. I expect France to exert whatever pressure necessary on the Lebanese government to display its sovereignty and rid itself of Iranian and Hezbollah involvement that could lead us to war.”
Algeria court ditches sentence for blogger who interviewed Israeli
An Algerian court has scrapped a seven-year jail sentence for a blogger accused of providing intelligence to foreign governments, his lawyer said Thursday.

Merzoug Touati, who was arrested in January 2017 after an online video interview with an Israeli official, remains behind bars pending a new trial, lawyer Salah Dabouz told AFP.

Dabouz said the case had been returned to the appeals court in the eastern city of Skikda, with the date of the hearing still to be set.

The lawyer warned that a fresh trial could end up seeing Touati, 30, being given a heftier sentence.

“It’s a sensitive case, I have a lot of fears,” Dabouz said.

But press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said it was still “extremely relieved” to hear the sentence had been ditched.

Touati was initially handed a 10-year sentence in May, but that was cut to seven years following an appeal.
New Ethiopian-Israeli party joins Knesset race
A new party representing Jewish-Ethiopian immigrants has officially entered the race for the upcoming national elections in April. The new party is called Kol Yisrael Achim Leshivion Hevrati -- "All Israel are Brothers for Social Equality."

The party is headed by former Member of Knesset Alali Adamso, a veteran of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.

Adamso immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1983 and earned degrees in Economics and Political Science and Public Policy at Tel Aviv University before serving as an MK with Likud from 2012-2013. He also served as the Prime Minister's advisor on Ethiopian affairs

Michael Corinaldi, a professor at the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University is on the number two slot on the list.

Prof. Corinaldi was an advocate in the late 1970s and early 1980s for bringing the Jewish community of Ethiopia to Israel and is the author of Jewish Identity: The Case of Ethiopian Jewry and an expert on the Law of Return. He also serves as chairman of the International Institute for Secret Jews (Anusim) Studies at Netanya Academic College.

The party intends to focuses on eradicating racism and promoting equal rights for new immigrants.

Current MKs of Ethiopian origin include Dr. Avraham Neguise of Likud and Pnina Tamano-Shata of Yesh Atid.
Family of Palestinian killed by Gaza rocket in Israel sues state for negligence
The family of a Palestinian killed in Ashkelon by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip last year has sued Israel for tens of millions of shekels, saying the time it took rescue workers to find his body led to his death, Israeli television reported Thursday.

Mahmoud Abu Asabeh, a 48-year-old from the West Bank city of Halhul, was in Israel on a work permit when the building in Ashkelon he was staying at was struck by a rocket during a major flare-up in November between the Israeli military and Gaza-based terror groups.

Firefighters who searched the building evacuated several wounded people but did not find Abu Asabeh or a Palestinian woman who also lived there and was seriously injured by the rocket. The two were only found by a local man over an hour after the impact.

According to Hadashot TV news, Abu Asabeh’s relatives say his death was due to rescuers carrying out a quick search of the building and not continuing to look despite neighbors telling them people remained trapped underneath the rubble, and are therefore suing the state and rescue services for NIS 10 million (approximately $2.7 million).

“I say this is a screw-up by the fire service. They could’ve saved him but now they won’t speak with us,” Abu Asabeh’s brother Mazen told the network.
One Killed, 22 injured in clashes along the Gaza-Israel border
One Palestinian was killed and dozens more injured by IDF fire during the weekly protests which saw some 10,000 demonstrators riot along the Gaza security fence.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 25 year-old Ehab Atallah Abed was killed during clashes with IDF troops east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Another 24 were injured including fourteen minors, the ministry was quoted by Palestinian Wafa news as saying.

An ambulance was also hit with gas bombs in eastern Gaza, wounding six paramedics, the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the rioters had been burning tires,throwing rocks and hand grenades at Israeli troops who responded by riot-dispersal means, including firing rubber-coated steel rounds and live bullets at the protesters.

Earlier on Friday two Palestinians were taken into custody after they crossed the border fence from Gaza. The military said they were unarmed.
Qatar envoy says UN will take over Gaza cash distribution, calls for calm
Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi said at a Gaza press conference on Friday that the UN would take over distribution of aid money from the Gulf state and it would now be used to ease humanitarian conditions in the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

“The first project will be signed with the UN on Monday at a value of $20 million for a temporary cash-for-work program to last four to six months,” he said.

The change came after Israel held up the delivery of the cash for several days following a flare up of violence. Hamas then refused to accept the money, sparking fears of a breakdown in an unofficial truce.

Al-Emadi stressed that the aid money from the Gulf state was not an attempt to buy the silence of border protesters, and added that he affirmed the right of the Palestinian people to demonstrate. However, he said he hoped Friday’s protests would remain calm.


Egypt gives Hamas ultimatum on cooperating with Iran
Israel Hayom has learned that alongside Jerusalem's decision to postpone the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas following the escalation on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, Egypt has issued the terrorist organization's political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh an ultimatum. Cairo has made it clear Haniyeh must decide whether "Hamas takes its orders from Tehran or continues to implement the understandings for calm" formulated by the head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel.

A senior Egyptian intelligence official told Israel Hayom that senior Hamas members, chief among them Haniyeh, had contacted Kamel with the request that Israel be sent the message that "Hamas was not involved in the grave events on the border."

Hamas further asked the Egyptian intelligence chief to "prevent the postponement of the transfer of the money from Qatar." Haniyeh clarified that "Hamas will not ignore the Islamic Jihad's provocations, which were carried out at the direct order of Tehran."

The source said that while "Hamas was furious that senior Islamic Jihad officials did everything they could to bring about an escalation in the security situation in Gaza that postponed the transfer of money from Qatar to the [Gaza] strip," they did not expect the Egyptian ultimatum, which pushed them into a corner.
Iran’s nuclear chief: We bought spares for nuke equipment we agreed to destroy
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has detailed how Iran quietly purchased replacement parts for its Arak nuclear reactor while it was conducting negotiations for an international agreement under which it knew it would be required to destroy the original components.

In an interview broadcast on Iran’s Channel 4 TV on January 22, Salehi recalled that during talks for the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for it dismantling the weapons-capable parts of its nuclear program, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned his country’s negotiators that he expected Western parties to renege on the agreement.

An English translation of some parts of the interview were provided Thursday by the Washington-based non-profit Middle East Media Research Institute.

“When our team was in the midst of the negotiations, we knew that [the Westerners] would ultimately renege on their promises,” Salehi said. “The leader [Khamenei] warned us that they were violators of agreements. We had to act wisely. Not only did we avoid destroying the bridges that we had built, but we also built new bridges that would enable us to go back faster if needed.”
Iran angrily blames Russia for disrupting S-300 system amid Israeli attack
Official news sources in Iran publicly attacked the Russian government, blaming them for deliberately disrupting the S-300 air defense systems during the recent flare-up between their forces in Syria and Israel.

Meanwhile, Russia announced that the S-300 air defense systems in Syria are not ready for operation.

Israel hit several Iranian targets in Syria targets this week after a rocket was shot toward the northern border.

Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy Commission head Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told the Islamic Republic News Agency that they were extremely dismayed by the fact that the S-300 system was inactive during the incident.

Falahatpisheh made the statement upon his return from Turkey. He blasted the "Zionist regime" as the ones responsible for creating instability in the region.

The IDF deployed an Iron Dome anti-missile battery late Thursday in central Israel.
Al-Nujaba Militia Leader Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi: IRGC And Lebanese Hizbullah Officers Have Guided Us In Fighting The American Forces Since 2004
Secretary-General of the Al-Nujaba militia in Iraq, Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi, was interviewed on the organization's TV network, Al-Nujaba TV, on January 1, 2019. Al-Kaabi said that the IRGC and Lebanese Hizbullah helped the militant Shi'ite forces that were fighting the U.S. forces as early as 2004. He recounted the details of the 2004 battle of Najaf between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the militant Mahdi Army, in which 13 American servicemen were killed and over 100 were wounded. He said that IRGC and Hizbullah officers were present on the ground and helped the Mahdi Army in the battle. Al-Kaabi added that when the battle of Najaf was over, he traveled to Lebanon and met Hassan Nasrallah and Imad Mughniyah, who debriefed him about the battle. According to Al-Kaabi, Nasrallah and Mughniyah put all their capabilities and expertise at his disposal. He went on to describe how the Al-Nujaba militia began using explosively formed penetrators in the IEDs that they employed against American M1 Abrams tanks in Iraq.

"The Brothers From Hizbullah And From The IRGC Helped Us In That Battle In Najaf – Even In Sadr City, There Were Iranian Consultants"

Secretary-General Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi: "Today, we are fighting a policy – the policy of the U.S. and British regimes, or the entire Zionist occupation. The Zionists constitute an army for which a state was created and for which they want to create a people. All the forces and all the Israelis on the land of Palestine are occupiers – even the newborn babies. There are no exceptions. They constitute an army brought over by the British occupiers, who created this cancerous tumor and planted it in the region.

"The damage caused to the Americans [in Iraq] was great."
France Tells Iran New Sanctions Loom if Missile Talks Fail
France is ready to impose further sanctions against Iran if no progress is made in talks over its ballistic missile program, the French foreign minister said on Friday.

“We are ready, if the talks don’t yield results, to apply sanctions firmly, and they know it,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters.

Diplomats previously told Reuters in private that France, Britain and other EU countries were considering new economic sanctions against Tehran.

Those could include asset freezes and travel bans on Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards and Iranians developing the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program, three diplomats said.






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