Israel and Middle East News Update
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Israel and Middle East News Update Thursday, August 5 Headlines: ● Lapid Has Not Attended Any Coronavirus Cabinet Meetings ● Coalition Overcomes Challenge in Judicial Committee Vote ● Israel Fires Back After 3 Rockets Launched From Lebanon ● Israel Names Iranian Commander Behind Tanker Attack ● ‘Armed Iranians on Board’ - Tanker Transcript Says ● International Conference on Lebanon Raises $370m ● Saudi Praises Abraham Accords, Palestinian Statehood First ● Scientists: Mediterranean Has Become a ‘Wildfire Hotspot Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Brother or Other’’ - By Yedidia Stern ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “The Hands are the Hands of Iran’’ - By Yossi Yehoshua S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts August 5, 2021 Times of Israel Lapid Has Not Attended Any Coronavirus Cabinet Meetings Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid has not attended a single meeting of the coronavirus cabinet since it was reinstated in late June. According to the law establishing the government, Lapid must be a member of the coronavirus cabinet. He also serves as the alternative chairman of the cabinet in the event that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett cannot attend. Yet he has not shown up to any of the four meetings that have been held over the past six weeks, Kan revealed. In response to the report, Lapid said that his presence is not necessary at the meetings and that his representatives attend and keep him updated. Officials in the coalition also reportedly expressed anger at Lapid’s behavior. According to Channel 12, some officials believe Lapid is attempting to shift responsibility for the cabinet’s decisions to Bennett and the other ministers. Opposition leaders were quick to slam Lapid following the report. Jerusalem Post Coalition Overcomes Challenge in Judicial Committee Vote The opposition failed to defeat the coalition of Prime Minister Bennett in a vote for the Knesset’s representatives on the powerful judicial selection committee, which is set to choose six Supreme Court judges over the next four years and dozens of lower-level judges. Coalition candidate Efrat Rayten of Labor won a seat on the committee. Traditionally, one MK is chosen from the coalition and one from the opposition, but the opposition hoped to elect two of its MKs, defeat Rayten and embarrass the coalition. Ministers Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) and Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) will also be on the committee, along with representatives of the Supreme Court and the Bar Association. The Knesset also voted for its representatives on the selection committees for Jewish, Muslim and Druze religious courts. Dig Deeper ‘‘No Likud Rep as Coalition, Opposition MKs Elected to Judicial Selection Panel’’ (Times of Israel) Ynet News Israel Fires Back After 3 Rockets Launched From Lebanon The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired over 100 artillery shells into Lebanon causing a large fire to break out, and is considering launching aerial strikes as well in response to a volley of rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon’s south. Air raid sirens sounded in northern Israel as the rockets were fired, with two of them landing inside Israeli territory wounding four people. One rocket landed short in Lebanon. The squad that fired the three rockets belongs to a Palestinian faction affiliated with Hamas. The faction enjoys freedom of action from Hezbollah. In the wake of the attack, the fifth from Lebanon in three months, Israel is discussing whether to launch preemptive attacks on Sunni militants on Lebanese soil — a move that could prompt a military response from Hezbollah. According to one estimate, Hezbollah will refrain from intervening even if Israel does carry out an open counterterrorism operation on Lebanese soil against the belligerent pro-Palestinian squad. 2 Israel Hayom Israel Names Iranian Commanders Behind Tanker Attack Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Lapid highlighted Iran's aggression in the region in a special meeting with ambassadors to Israel, revealing the perpetrators of the recent maritime incidents. Gantz and Lapid named the Iranian commanders responsible for the recent drone attacks on civilian ships, including last week's attack on the Israeli-operated vessel Mercer Street off the coast of Oman, which killed two crewmembers. "Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh is behind dozens of terror attacks in the region employing UAVs and missiles," Gantz said. Gantz and Lapid explained to the ambassadors that the Iranian threat was not a local problem, but a threat to world order that warranted an immediate response. Lapid called Iran's attacks on shipping arteries "an international crime." Did Deeper ‘‘Israel Considers Options After Drone Attack on Ship Blamed on Iran’’ (Al-Monitor) I24 News ‘Armed Iranians on Board’ - Tanker Transcript Says "Five to six armed Iranians" hijacked a tanker off the coast of the UAE, according to a leaked transcript of a conversation between crew members, Kan reported. The Oman Maritime Safety Center said that it had received reports that the Panamanian-flagged Asphalt Princess was being "hijacked in international waters of the Gulf of Oman," and indicated that the sultanate's navy deployed several ships to help secure the area. Three maritime security sources had already claimed that Iranian- backed forces seized an oil tanker in an area of the Arabian Sea leading to the Strait of Hormuz - through which around one fifth of global oil exports pass by sea. UK Maritime Commercial Operations (UKMTO) had previously reported a "potential hijack" and advised vessels in the area to exercise extreme caution. The Iranian foreign ministry called the information "dubious" and warned against any effort to create a "false atmosphere" against the Islamic Republic. Dig Deeper ‘‘Hijacking Ends in Arabian Sea, Says UKMTO, as Oman Identifies Tanker Involved’’ (Reuters) Associated Press International Conference on Lebanon Raises $370m An international conference on Lebanon raised some $370m in aid to meet the Lebanon’s humanitarian needs, one year after the massive explosion at Beirut’s port, the French presidency said. The pledges, to be delivered over the next 12 months, go beyond the $357m sought in the third global effort to show support for the Lebanese people, President Emmanuel Macron said at the virtual conference co-hosted by France and the United Nations. France will provide $118.6m, Macron said. Paris will also send 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the country. President Joe Biden, who addressed the conference in a video message, pledged to give $100m in new humanitarian assistance. The conference drew 33 states, some represented by heads of state or government, diplomats and 13 international organizations, plus five representatives of Lebanese civil society, according to Macron’s office. Participants included Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Dig Deeper ‘‘Saudi Arabia Says Hezbollah Power a Major Cause of Lebanon’s Crisis’’ (Reuters) 3 Jerusalem Post Saudi Praises Abraham Accords, Palestinian Statehood First The Abraham Accords have been good for the Middle East, but their momentum should be used to help the Palestinians achieve statehood, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said at a virtual conference of the Aspen Security Forum. The Saudi foreign minister said that the best way to build on the normalized relations between Israel and Arab states in the past year would be “to find a path to solving the issue of the Palestinians and finding a path to a Palestinian state, because that will deliver complete normalization for Israel in the region.” Faisal added that peace “is a strategic choice of the Arabs” that must be used to reach a comprehensive solution for the Palestinians. Asked if that’s a precondition for Saudi-Israel normalization, in light of the divisions among Palestinian factions making Israel-Palestinian peace unlikely in the short term, Faisal did not address the first part of the question. Rather, he said that the PLO and Palestinian Authority are the legal representatives of the Palestinians. Faisal pointed to the new government in Israel, saying “perhaps it can deliver some progress. Let’s wait and see.” Dig Deeper ‘‘Israel in Contact With Most Arab Countries, Including Iraq — Senior Diplomat’’ (Times of Israel) Reuters Scientists: Mediterranean Has Become a ‘Wildfire Hotspot The Mediterranean has become a wildfire hotspot, with Turkey hit by its most intense blazes on record and a heatwave producing a high risk of further fires and smoke pollution around the region, a European Union atmosphere monitor said. Wildfires are raging in countries including Greece and Turkey, where thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and a fire threatened to reach a coal-fired power plant. The fires have struck as Southern Europe experiences an intense heatwave, with some places in Greece recording temperatures of over 115 Fahrenheit. Human- induced climate change is making heatwaves more likely and more severe, scientists say. The EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said the hot and dry conditions had hiked the danger of further fires, although high temperatures alone do not trigger wildfires because they need a source of ignition. Italy, Albania, Morocco, Greece, North Macedonia, Turkey and Lebanon have all faced wildfires since late July. The European Commission said it had helped mobilize firefighting aircraft, helicopters and firefighters to assist Italy, Greece, Albania and North Macedonia. Dig Deeper ‘‘IDF Tentatively Facing up to Israel’s Next Major Threat — Climate Change’’ (Times of Israel) 4 Yedioth Ahronoth – August 5, 2021 Brother or Other By Yedidia Stern ● The Olympic Games are an event with an inherent contradiction: on the one hand, it is a global, pan-human event. The Olympic spirit, the five interlocking rings, unites people of all colors and races, religions and cultures, into one shared activity, shoulder to shoulder.