Yachad Ministries’ Israel's News Update December 3, 2020 (17th Kislev, 5781)

For the Yachad Report Newsletter For December 2020

Iranian Diplomat Accused of Terror Plot on Paris Meeting; An Iranian diplomat has been accused of plotting to bomb a huge French political event attended by President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani — but invoked immunity to avoid attending the start of his trial Friday. Assadollah Assadi, 48, is accused of masterminding the attempted attack on a June 2018 meeting in Paris of one of Iran’s exiled opposition movements, which was attended by politicians from the UK and US, including Trump allies. It was only thwarted after Belgian police stopped a Mercedes allegedly on the way to France carrying 550 grams of the so-called “Mother of Satan” TATP explosive and a detonator. Lawyers for one of the alleged targets, the exiled Mujahedeen-e-Khalq opposition group, or MEK, insisted the plot was on “orders from Tehran,” which “authorized the death of thousands of people.” At least 25,000 people were in the French town of Villepinte, north of Paris, that day, officials said.

Israeli Airstrike in Syria Kills 19 Pro-Iran Fighters; Airstrikes likely carried out by Israel killed at least 19 pro-Iran militia fighters in war-torn eastern Syria, a war monitor said Thursday. The early morning strikes hit positions of Iran-backed militias outside the town of Albu Kamal in Deir Ezzor province, killing mostly Pakistani fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian state media did not report the attack and Israel rarely acknowledges individual strikes, but the Observatory has accused the Jewish state of launching at least two other aerial attacks against pro-Iran forces in Syria since Saturday. Early on Wednesday, at least eight Iran-backed fighters were killed in strikes near Damascus and in southern Syria, according to the war monitor, which is based in the UK but relies on a network of sources inside Syria. On Saturday night, airstrikes near Albu Kamal killed at least 14 pro-Iran militia fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Observatory said.

Iran’s Top Nuclear Program Scientist Assassinated Near Tehran; Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, the scientist alleged to be in charge of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, was reportedly assassinated Friday morning outside of Iran. In addition to serving as a professor of physics at Imam Hussein University in Tehran, Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi was also a former brigadier general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and held a senior Defense Ministry position at the time of his death. The assassination claim was originally made by Iranian state-run media and was shortly confirmed by Western news outlets, including the Associated Press. No country or group has yet taken credit for Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi’s death, although Iranian media blamed Israel.

Netanyahu nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was nominated Tuesday for the Nobel Peace Prize, for the recent string of peace deals between Israel and moderate Arab states. The nomination was submitted by Lord David Trimble, a former North Irish lawmaker who was instrumental in the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which effectively ended the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in North Ireland. Trimble is himself a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, receiving the prize in 1998. Because Netanyahu has been nominated by a prize laureate, the prize committee is required to convene to consider the nomination.

Israeli Officials Grapple with Vaccine Incentives; Although Health Ministry Director Hezy Levy yesterday insisted to reporters that "we won't force people to take a vaccine. Israeli law doesn't allow for it," speaking before the Special Coronavirus Committee chaired by MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, Sheba Medical Center Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Eyal Zimlichman listed measures that are being planned to "maneuver" the population into vaccinating as a way of regaining freedom of movement. The issue of how to "motivate" vaccine compliance has generated increasing interest, with commentators such as Mike Cernovich writing: "Government won’t force you to take the vaccine. Amazon will. Airlines will. Banks will. You won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade without the vaccine." As if underscoring Cernovich's words, Dr. Zimlichman told the committee: "Another thing that will apparently come into our lives, starting in small numbers already in January which is soon, and that's the vaccine.

Israel May Close West Bank Crossings to Palestinian Areas amid Virus Surge; Prime Minister said Wednesday that he was ordering the government to examine the possibility of closing the crossings to West Bank areas under Palestinian Authority control due to a surge in coronavirus cases among Palestinians. “Because of the dramatic surge in infection in the Palestinian Authority, I have directed the government to immediately analyze the option of closing the crossings to Palestinian areas,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. Palestinians saw a record-shattering 1,811 new confirmed coronavirus infections between Monday and Tuesday as the pandemic worsened in both the West Bank and Gaza. Around 26 percent of tests came back positive among all Palestinians, indicating that the coronavirus was spreading even more widely while going largely undetected.

US Supreme Court Blocks Cuomo's Bid to Limit Worship Attendance; The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the decision of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to limit the number of worshipers and congregants in the state's synagogues and churches. The decision passed with a majority of just one (the court splitting 5 - 4), and was the first time that President Trump's nomination to the court, Amy Coney Barrett, tipped the balance, adding her vote to those of the other conservative-leaning judges. In its ruling, the court wrote that "It is hard to believe that admitting more than 10 people to a 1,000–seat church or 400–seat synagogue would create a more serious health risk than the many other activities that the State allows."

Israeli Mom-Son Team Set to Become World’s 1st Producer of Oral Insulin; An Israeli company has started final-stage tests of its oral insulin, bidding to become the first to make the product available on the international market. The product started phase three trials under the US Food and Drug Administration in California on Monday, after 14 years of development. If all goes well, Oramed Pharmaceuticals says it expects type 2 diabetics to start taking its pills in just over three years, followed by type 1 diabetics after further testing. “This has the potential to improve lives of hundreds of millions of diabetics worldwide,” Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron told . “And by improving treatment it can reduce complications and, in turn, reduce the cost of treating diabetics.”

American Jews Find Ways to Give Thanks, Despite COVID-19; Traditionally, Thanksgiving was an action-packed day for the Chelst family in Washington, DC, beginning with an afternoon of football and extending into a night of socializing. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the country, they, like most Americans, experienced a different kind of holiday. “This year it’s dinner and leaving, that was the compromise,” said Michael Chelst. He plans to eat with his wife, two daughters, and at the opposite end of an eight-foot table, his 90-year-old mother-in-law. “Because she is a fragile age, we planned everything out in advance. She sits down first, one person brings her food, and the rest of us stay at the other end of the long table. We had to weigh the risk of having people together or her not being able to have Thanksgiving. We consulted with doctors and decided it was the right choice as long as we did so carefully,” Chelst said.

Knesset to Crack Down on Violence Against Women; The Knesset gave an initial go-ahead to two bills aimed at providing support for victims of domestic violence Wednesday, as the world marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. One bill would protect women living in shelters from losing their jobs, and the other would remove guardianship rights for fathers convicted of domestic homicide. They both passed a preliminary reading, but must still go through three more readings and committee markup before becoming law. The parliament vote came after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation overcame coalition tensions to convene and approve the bills. The panel, which determines whether the government will back legislative measures, had been prevented from meeting by increasingly frayed ties between the and Blue and White parties, which have threatened to bring down the government.

A Fourth Election within Two Years is Now a Certainty; Sometimes it’s important to state the obvious: The 35th Government of the State of Israel was a halting, limping mess. It couldn’t pass a state budget, struggled to craft coherent coronavirus restrictions, often failed to enforce those it managed to approve, and couldn’t fill vital posts in the public service — from top cop to key public health officials. It couldn’t even coordinate among its bickering partners basic steps to streamline the new regional normalization moves as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on keeping his Blue and White partners far from any limelight or credit. It was that compartmentalization that left the Defense Ministry scrambling to sign a new agreement with the Pentagon ensuring Israel’s “qualitative military edge” after the surprise discovery that the UAE peace deal included, unofficially, a fleet of F-35s for Abu Dhabi.

IDF Preparing in case Trump Launches Parting Strike on Iran; A report Wednesday claimed that the Israeli army has been preparing for the possibility that US President Donald Trump will order a strike on Iran before leaving office in January. Citing senior Israeli officials, it said there is no specific information that such an attack is imminent, but Israeli leaders believe the US president’s final weeks in the job will be “a very sensitive period.” The officials said Washington would likely update Israel before carrying out military action against the Islamic Republic. Still, there were concerns it would not give the Israel Defense Forces enough time to prepare for possible retaliation targeting Israel, including from Iran’s proxies in Lebanon and Syria, according to the report.

Syria Reports Israeli Air Strikes; Syrian media reported Israeli airstrikes on several targets in the country on Tuesday night. The attacks reportedly took place in the southern Quneitra area and in Jabal Mana', southeast of the capital Damascus. Syrian television reported that the country’s air defense systems were activated and intercepted targets. A military source in Syria said there were no casualties in the attack and that only damage was caused. Last week, IDF fighter jets attacked military targets in Syria belonging to the Iranian Quds Force and the Syrian army. The attack was carried out in response to the placement of explosives near the border fence with Syria in Israeli territory, by a Syrian squad operating under Iranian guidance.

Report: 22% of European Hate Crimes Against Jews; Anti-Semitic incidents accounted for 22% of hate crimes recorded last year in the pan-European region, though Jews comprise less than 1% of the population there. The data on hate crimes comes from a report about 5,954 incidents recorded in Europe, Russia, and Central Asia by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, or ODIHR, of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, ODHIR said in its annual report published last week. The report is based on data transmitted by governments and watchdog groups. Of the total incidents, 1,311 were anti-Semitic, according to the report titled “2019 Hate Crime Data.” Anti-Semitism was the category with the second-largest number of incidents after the 2,371 incidents in the more general Racism and Xenophobia category. Those targeted for their gender or sexual orientation (1,277 cases) made up the third-highest group, followed by Christians (573) and Muslims (507).

Israel Commits to Regulating Judea and Samaria; Settlement Affairs Minister announced Wednesday evening at the Knesset plenum that he will promote a move to regulate 'outposts' in Judea and Samaria in agreement with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Michael Biton. "We have jointly agreed to formulate a resolution to the government to promote all legal moves that will lead to the regulation of young settlements. I am convinced that the government will take the issue very seriously and examine it with in-depth consideration," Hanegbi said. "I thank the Knesset members who raised the issue on the agenda. The mobilization of many forces to finally regulate the young settlement is to be welcomed. After 20 years of these pioneers working for us, it is time for us to work for them," he added.

Water Authority Prepares to Open Degania Dam amid High Hopes for Kinneret; The Water Authority is preparing for the possibility that it may need to open the Degania Dam for the first time in 25 years as the Kinneret remains high after two years of especially rainy winters. If the rainfall in the coming winter exceeds 90% of the perennial average, then the dam will need to be opened. The hydrological service's forecasts predict that the coming winter will have slightly lower rainfall than the perennial average, but the Kinneret is already just a little less than 1.2 meters below the upper red line which marks a full lake, due to the last two rainy winters. The Water Authority, therefore, believes that there is likelihood that the Kinneret will fill up this winter and that the Degania Dam will need to be opened. The opening of the dam will likely take place around April 2021 if the water level rises high enough.

Robert I. Solomon: Messianic Rabbi, [email protected] Jeffery Blalock: Ministries Coordinator, [email protected] Yachad Ministries, 950 Pine Grove Road, Roswell, Georgia 30075 E-mail: [email protected], Web Page: www.yachad.com Phone: 770-641-3000 (ext. 6) Sharing Yeshua in unity with both Jew and Gentile

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