ALERT Main Israel/Hamas/Gaza Thread

jward

passin' thru




Israel Kicks A**
@Israelkicksass

1h


IDF to respond strongly if #Gaza rockets continue - security cabinet
IDF to respond strongly if Gaza rockets continue - security cabinet
The fishing zone in the Gaza Strip has been completely closed until further notice.
By LAHAV HARKOV, UDI SHAHAM
APRIL 26, 2021 22:18


TRAILS ARE seen in the sky as an Iron Dome projectile intercepts a rocket fired from Gaza, above Ashkelon in May 2019.  (photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)


TRAILS ARE seen in the sky as an Iron Dome projectile intercepts a rocket fired from Gaza, above Ashkelon in May 2019.

(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)





The IDF will respond powerfully if rocket fire from Gazacontinues, the security cabinet decided on Monday after an hours-long debate.

The cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to instruct the IDF to react strongly if Gazan terrorist groups launch more rockets on the heels of a weekend that saw more than 40 rockets launched into southern Israel.



The ministers also voted in favor of an operational plan to strike Hamas.

UN Special Envoy Tor Wennesland and Egypt said Hamas does not want an escalation, Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alian, coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), told the security cabinet.

Terrorists launched three rockets from Gazainto Israel in the early hours of Monday morning. Iron Dome missiles intercepted two, and one projectile exploded inside the Gaza Strip. More than 40 rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into the South since violence began on Friday.

The IDF responded with fighter jets and tank fire on Friday, but it refrained from doing so since then. On Monday, the army denied reports it had reinforced troops near the Gaza Strip.

About 250 Palestinians held protests and burned tires near the security fence in several venues, the IDF said. The army dispersed them with tear gas.



Early Monday morning, Alian said the Gaza Strip fishing zone would be completely closed starting at 6 a.m. until further notice.

COGAT had issued an earlier statement that the fishing zone would be restricted from 15 to nine nautical miles. But after more rockets were fired, the decision was made to completely close it.

“The decision was made in light of repeated terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip against the citizens of the State of Israel during recent days, which constitute a violation of Israeli sovereignty,” COGAT said.

“Hamas is held accountable for all that is done in and from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, and it will bear the consequences for the violence committed against the citizens of the State of Israel,” it said in a statement.

Also on Monday, Col. Iyad Sarhan, head of the coordination and liaison administration for Gaza, approached residents of the Gaza Strip through Facebook and said Hamas was to blame for the escalation. He stressed that by doing so, Hamas was hurting the Strip’s residents.

“The blessed month of Ramadan is intended to be a time for families, and yet, Hamas has chosen a course to the detriment of the Gaza Strip, and rather than investing in the improvement of the civil and economic situation, it is escalating and bringing harm first and foremost to you,” Sarhan said.

“Following three days of rocket fire from the terrorist organizations, Israel has decided to close the fishing zone that has been significantly contributing to the Gaza Strip’s economy and welfare,” he said.

“The security stability is a direct factor that affects the civilian reality in the Strip,” Sarhan said. “Unless the security stability returns, the fishing zone of the Gaza Strip won’t be extended.”

Posted For Fair Use
 

jward

passin' thru
parallel_universe #FreeNavalny
@ignis_fatum



Today’s thread for threats , statements, assessments and so on #Israel #Gaza #WestBank #Jerusalem

Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper : Israel conveyed message to Hamas that will actively de escalate the situation in Jerusalem and will actively work to prevent violence by Jewish extremists against the Arab citizens of the city (1/2)

Hamas is demanding that Israel will allow the Palestinian elections to be held in east #Jerusalem. Hamas also responded to #Israel’s threat for escalating strikes if and when the rocket fire continues by saying : “The response would be major and unpredictable “ (2/2)

Al Akhbar is being used by the #Gaza factions thin itself to deliver messages : 1.Hamas is upset about the Palestinian elections 2. Signal that rocket fire will continue eventually and that Hamas is “ready to fight if Israel wants to” 3. Paint the Israeli government as weak.

More from Al Akhbar : Abu Mazen informed the EU, Jordan and Egypt of his decision to cancel the Palestinian elections. The EU has advised him to wait with the decision until Thursday, so that they can try to pressure #Israel to agree to hold elections in East #Jerusalem.
 

jward

passin' thru
Report: Gaza preparing for escalation with Israel
Gaza preparing to pressure Israel with explosive balloons, report says.
Tags: Gaza Rocket Attacks


Arutz Sheva Staff , Apr 27 , 2021 11:45 AM
Hamas Gaza terrorist

Hamas Gaza terrorist
צילום: Flash 90


Gaza is preparing for a continued war with Israel, Al Akhbar newspaper reported.
The Lebanon-based newspaper quoted a Gaza source who said that Gazans are preparing to renew the "balloon terror," in which Gaza terrorists send explosive and incendiary balloons into Israeli territory.
According to the source, this move is intended to pressure Israel. At the same time, the "night units" which operate on the Gaza-Israel border are preparing to increase their activities and have "completed their preparations all along the borders."
On Monday, Israel reduced Gaza's fishing zone in response to the continued rocket attacks from Gaza.
In response, Hamas spokesperson Abad al-Latif al-Qano said that "the closure of the fishing zone by the Zionist occupation is a gross violation of human rights and constitutes another form of aggression against our nation. It will not break our steadfastness."
 

jpigott

Veteran Member
Senior commanders make it clear that there is no reason for complacency after the quiet night on the Gaza Strip border, and estimate that if the Palestinian Authority elections are postponed, Hamas will respond by launching rockets. The organization feels that they did not pay a heavy price for the last round, and gradually responded to the demonstrations on the fence and hinted at the inflow of incendiary balloons.

View: https://twitter.com/amirbohbot/status/1386960358267662342
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
If the Jerusalem Post is publishing his now then things are very soon to go very dumb considering the number of Obama retreads now working out of the White House and Foggy Bottom......

Posted for fair use.....

Biden to green-light intifada if Israel opposes Iran deal - opinion
As the number and severity of Palestinian and Iranian attacks against Israel increase, US President Joe Biden moves quickly to restore former president Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal.

By REED D. RUBINSTEIN
MAY 1, 2021 19:20

Over strong Israeli opposition, and despite Iranian promises to destroy the Jewish state, US President Joe Biden is moving quickly to restore Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, paving the way for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

At the same time, there has been a decided uptick in the number and severity of Palestinian and Iranian attacks against Israel. My sources inside the US government suggest one factor behind this may be tacit Biden permission or support for increased violence from Gaza and a new intifada if Israel refuses to accede quietly to a new Iran deal or takes “unapproved” steps to defend itself against the Iranian threat. This would be a catastrophic mistake and horrific breach of trust. But on the facts, the idea the Biden government would pressure the Israeli government by green-lighting Iranian or Palestinian terror attacks against innocent Israelis cannot lightly be dismissed.

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The evidence of Biden/Obama duplicityregarding Iran is hard to miss. Recently, The New York Times reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was recorded on recently leaked tapes saying John Kerry, secretary of state during the Obama administration, informed him of more than 200 secret Israeli operations in Syria. This report is credible given Kerry’s happy collusion with Iranian leaders to undermine the Trump administration’s efforts to isolate the mullahs, impose an effective sanctions regime, and choke out their nuclear and conventional weapon programs.

That Kerry, who has a seat on Biden’s National Security Council, was passing US intelligence information on Israeli defense activities to a regime sworn to wipe Israel from the map might seem to be an unseemly betrayal of America’s closest Middle-Eastern ally. But when it came to Iran, the Obama administration did not merely betray the Israelis. It also lied repeatedly to Congress and the American people.

For example, Obama famously failed to disclose the existence of secret side-deals on inspections when he transmitted the nuclear accord to Capitol Hill. They were only uncovered by chance when then-representative Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tom Cotton learned about them during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Vienna. Then, the Obama administration secretly sent a plane to Tehran loaded with $400 million in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies on the same day Iran released four American hostages, which was followed by two more secret flights carrying another $1.3 billion in cash.

The Obama administration worked closely with the Iranians to indirectly transfer billions of dollars, subsequently used to fund Iranian activities in Syria and to support Hezbollah in Lebanon. For example, it signed a secret agreement with Iran to lift UN sanctions from two Iranian banks that helped finance Iran’s ballistic-missile program.

In 2018, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), revealed the Obama administration secretly tried to help Iran use US banks to convert $5.7b. in Iranian assets while promising Congress that Iran would not get access to the US financial system. Treasury official Adam Szubin played a key role in this effort.

Months before Szubin testified in front of congressional committees promising Iran would not have access to the US financial system, the Treasury Department issued a specific license to Bank Muscat permitting the conversion of Iranian assets in precisely that way. Portman’s report noted a 2016 email showing Szubin taking steps to facilitate Iranian access to the money. For his efforts, and almost certainly to delay and obstruct incoming Trump officials, Szubin was rewarded with an appointment as acting Treasury secretary.

At roughly the same time Kerry was passing intelligence on the Israelis to the Iranians, and Szubin was misleading Congress and working to bypass Iran sanctions, the Obama administration was directing US taxpayer dollars to build a political campaign infrastructure to subvert Israel’s government. Obama was caught and exposed by the bipartisan Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer grants to a nonprofit front group to build Israeli voter databases, train activists, and hire Obama campaign political operatives, all to take down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The State Department’s top diplomat in Jerusalem was informed of these activities in emails, but the official, then-consul general Michael Ratney, claimed never to have seen them. Not surprisingly, this overt and poorly executed foreign election interference was buried by the American media.

This history is instructive because the Biden administration is staffed by many of the same individuals responsible for executing Obama’s policies. And the evidence is Obama’s Iran playbook is back in use.

To begin with, Biden has ended the Trump administration’s policies of strong support for Israeland vigorous opposition of Iran. “Negotiations” are back in full swing to relax Iran sanctions and ensure Iran again has a clear path to a nuclear weapon by hamstringing Israel’s defense. And once more, American officials are working to stop Israel from defending itself. According to The Wall Street Journal, “unnamed” US government officials recently leaked information on longstanding covert Israeli efforts to stop Iranian oil and weapons shipments. Biden’s people have informed Jerusalem of their displeasure over recent attacks against Iranian targets attributed to Israel for interfering with a quick deal. What John Kerry did, it seems, is being done again.

Also, “indirect” funding of the Iranian government may again be on the table. Republican legislators recently asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for information into foreign reports that the United States is facilitating “ransom” payments of over $1b. from South Korea to Iran. Yellen never answered, directing Congress to the State Department for additional information. What Adam Szubin did, it seems, is being done again.

For now, the Biden administration has the benefit of working in the shadows. Congressional Republicans are in the minority with limited oversight tools and leverage. During the Obama years, Democrats, even (or especially) those claiming to be “pro-Israel,” fought meaningful steps to expose, oversee or oppose that administration’s support for Iran. Given their extraordinary silence about the metastasizing anti-Israel/pro-Iran Biden foreign policy and national security apparatus, there is no reason to believe they will do anything to oppose the Biden administration either.

Israel is not entirely on her own in confronting Iran and its Palestinian proxies. But it is time to tell the truth: In Biden’s administration, Israel’s security will be sacrificed, and happily so, for a deal with Iran.

The writer is a former Trump administration official who served as deputy associate attorney-general, senior adviser to the Treasury secretary, and general counsel at the US Department of Education.
 
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