WarSclerotic

Israel Has Launched Long-Shot Attacks Before – Wall Street Journal – WSJ.com.

Iran should take heed: In 1967, a pre-emptive strike on Egypt seemed impossible too.

By Daniel Nisman

Former Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in 1965.

Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images

Last week, Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, sought to settle a long-running debate regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s willingness to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“Certainly,” Mr. Oren told daily newspaper Haaretz, “[Mr. Netanyahu] was the one who succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the threat. . . . But this success is not enough. The question he faces is similar to the question that [former Prime Minister Levi] Eshkol faced in May 1967.”

As a close confidant to the prime minister and an award-winning historian of the Six Day War, Mr. Oren’s comparison of Mr. Netanyahu to Eshkol is an ominous one that shouldn’t be ignored.

Throughout its short history, the state of Israel has repeatedly shocked the world with bold military operations previously considered impossible, unthinkable, or borderline suicidal. On June 5, 1967, Eshkol sent most of Israel’s air force into Egypt for a surprise preemptive attack, which left less than a dozen warplanes to defend the entire homeland. In the six days that followed, Israel defeated multiple threatening Arab armies, changing the face of the Middle East to this day.

Since the Six Day War, successive Israeli leaders have signed off on daring operations that have entered the annals of history: the 1976 hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda, the bombing of Saddam Hussein’s Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981 and the sneak attack to spoil Bashar al-Assad’s own nuclear ambitions in 2007, to name a few. Premiers like Eshkol, Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Olmert embarked on each of these operations after becoming convinced that even their staunchest allies would not come to Israel’s assistance.

In the face of such choices, forget the intelligence estimates and risk assessments. It ultimately takes a do-or-die, all-or-nothing mindset to make a decision which could either bring complete victory, or considerable military defeat and diplomatic isolation. In this context, Mr. Netanyahu not only views Iran as an existential threat comparable to the Nazi Holocaust—he also wishes to be remembered as the one who personally delivered its demise. On this point, sources close to the prime minister assert that he keeps in his desk drawer World War II-era letters from the U.S. War Department, which decline requests by the World Jewish Congress to bomb gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Amid turmoil now in Egypt, bedlam in Syria and musings of reform from Iran’s newly elected President Hassan Rouhani, Mr. Netanyahu now fears that his campaign to stop Iran from going nuclear has been put on the international community’s back burner. Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosor, has repeatedly warned the Security Council that Iran’s nuclear program is racing forward like an express train, passing diplomatic efforts that lag behind on the local route. Recent statements by the Netanyahu administration indicate they believe that Iran’s nuclear train will arrive at its final destination by Nov. 2013 unless the international community intervenes.

Last month, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz revealed Israel’s assessment that Iran is close to stockpiling 200 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium and repeated that acquiring 250 kilograms would constitute Mr. Netanyahu’s so-called “red line.” His assessment is in line with th International Atomic Energy Agency’s May 2013 report, which alleges that Iran possessed approximately 182 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium. With Iran’s current ability to stockpile roughly 15 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium per month, Iran could trigger a preemptive Israeli strike in less than four months.

Meanwhile, while Mr. Netanyahu may have faced resistance in the past to launching a preventative strike, current conditions at home and across the region may be the most optimal he has ever had. Since Jan. 2013, Israel has provoked Iran and its allies (at least) three times with airstrikes against weapons convoys destined to Hezbollah in Syria, albeit without any reaction. The incidents, which served to reduce fears of a regional conflagration, have clearly resonated with Israel’s various security chiefs, who have refrained from voicing any concerns about a strike on Iran, unlike their predecessors.

On July 14, Mr. Netanyahu commenced a widespread public and back-channel diplomacy campaign to re-rally Israel’s allies to commit to both a convincing military threat and additional economic sanctions against Iran. His hope is that such a stance by the world community would deter Iran’s decision makers from taking advantage of Mr. Rouhani’s transition period to advance the nuclear program beyond the point of no return. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have stated that nuclear negotiations with the West should be put on hold until after Mr. Rouhani’s cabinet is inaugurated in August. It is Jerusalem’s fear that by the time Iran and its negotiating partners agree on a timetable and venue for new talks, it may be too late.

Many Israeli pundits, as well as Ambassador Oren himself, have compared Mr. Netanyahu’s diplomatic push to Eshkol’s last-ditch efforts to convince Washington of the existential threats posed by Arab nations in the weeks before June 5, 1967. As in 1967, this is a conflict that Israel has been anticipating for years, building previously unused military capability and practicing its strategy in preparation for another surprise feat, which may ultimately shock the world once again.

Having recently announced its willingness to negotiate with President-elect Rouhani, the Obama administration should heed this history lesson, lest the U.S. and the international community be caught off guard by another Israeli-induced regional earthquake.

Israel scratching its head after US officials (again) leak Syria strike | The Times of Israel.

Sources in Jerusalem say ‘there’s no anger’ over American reports of Latakia bombing; only an attempt to figure out the leakers’ motives

An Israeli F-15I at the Hatzerim Airbase (photo credit: Ofer Zidon/Flash90)

In the wake of Israeli media reports about “anger” in Jerusalem over American leaks to CNN and The New York Times regarding an alleged Israeli attack in Syria this month, official sources clarified to The Times of Israel Monday that “there is no anger toward the administration.”

Still, according to the sources, Israel is trying to understand how and why it happened: why twice in the past two months American media ran reports — based on tips from US officials — that could get Israel caught up in a military conflict with Syria. According to the same sources, there is also disappointment among decision-makers regarding the conduct of the American media. But again, they stressed, “there’s no anger.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad has threatened a military response to any future Israeli strike on targets in Syria. However, since Assad has his hands full with the civil war in his country, it is widely assumed that he wouldn’t risk a head-on conflict with Israel unless he felt he had no choice. Reports of Israeli strikes increase the pressure on Assad to respond or risk losing his credibility.

According to the reports in CNN and The New York Times, Israeli warplanes targeted a Syrian naval base in Latakia earlier this month and destroyed a warehouse full of Russian-made anti-ship missiles that may have been bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

There are two, conflicting assessments in Jerusalem as to the source of the leaks. One suggests that they come from groups interested in deeper US involvement in the fighting in Syria. Through such leaks, those groups are trying to show that, just as Israel has managed to avoid getting sucked into the fighting in Syria, the American military can do the same while still achieving meaningful intervention. This despite assessments in the Pentagon that military involvement — to impose a no-fly zone, for instance — would require hundreds of aerial sorties and even boots on the ground.

The second Israeli assessment holds that those who oppose American involvement in the fighting in Syria are trying to send the message that such a campaign is unnecessary, since for the time being Israel is striking critical targets; and that an attempt to topple the government in Syria could bring to power a government even more extreme than the one in Damascus today.

The Israeli officials pointed out that despite the leaks, there’s a noticeable effort by the Syrian regime to emphasize that the incident in Latakia wasn’t an Israeli attack. The Syrians underscored in reports published over the past few days that “No foreign army was involved in the explosions, and there was no action from the air or from the sea,” as some Western and Arab media outlets claimed.

President Assad is apparently trying desperately to avoid being forced into standing by his promise from two months ago that he would respond militarily against Israel if it attacks Syria again.

Report: Israel made sure no Russians in Latkia – then attacked – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Lebanese station says Israel attacked stockpile of Russian Yakhont missiles only after ensuring no Russian experts were on-site. Another report: Senior rebel commander passed on information regarding missile stockpile to US

Roi Kais

Even after US sources affirmed that Israel was the one behind the bombing of the Yakhont missile stockpile in Latkia, Syria, the whole story behind the attack on the anti-ship cruise missiles remains murky.

Monday evening, Lebanese channel MTV reported that Israel had bombed the advanced land-to-sea missiles, which had been transferred from Russia to President Bashar Assad, only after it made sure that no Russian experts were on-site.

At the same time, Syrian news site Al Hakika quoted Turkish officials who said that a senior rebel source, Malik al-Kurdi, sent a message to the US that Yakhont missiles had arrived in Syria and Assad intended to give them to Hezbollah.

The sources, close to the Free Syrian Army command in Istanbul, said that al-Kurdi, who defected from the Syrian Army in 2011, recently sent a message to the US military attaché in Ankara via a Turkish officer, asking to meet in order to pass on “important information of interest to the US and Israel regarding Hezbollah and the Syrian regime.”

According to the same Turkish sources, al-Kurdi said in his communiqué that “he had important military secrets related to the arrival of Yakhont missiles in Syria and that the regime intends to give some of them to Hezbollah.” He noted that his former colleagues in the Syrian naval command had provided him with the information and the location of stockpiles.

The report claimed that the senior rebel gave the US naval attaché additional, accurate information regarding the stockpiles, and met with him again at the end of June. According to the Turkish sources, this information was what made it possible for Israel – after consultation and coordination with the US government – to determine at least three locations where the missiles were stored.

The same report said that the missiles were destroyed with three sea-to-land Harpoon missiles.

On Monday, the Russian news site RT reported that Israel used military bases in Turkey for one of the sea-to-land strikes against Syria. Apparently, this referred to the attack on arsenals in Latakia, which was generally attributed to the Israeli Air Force. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu quickly denied the report of Turkey’s involvement, calling it a complete lie.

Another article, this one appearing earlier in the week in Britian’s Sunday Times, stated that the missiles which destroyed the Yakhont stockpile were launched from a Dolphin submarine. It is still unclear how the attack was carried out.

Failed US policy endangers Israel – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Analysis: Political disputes in Washington putting Israel’s citizens in truly dangerous situation

The American policy toward the Middle East has been moving in the past few months from failure to failure, and mainly from helplessness to embarrassing mistakes. The inability of the Obama administration to produce worthy responses to the developments is angering not only the supporters of the US in the region, but also the political establishment and media in American itself.

Even media outlets that are considered to be traditional supporters of the president, such as the New York Times, have leveled harsh criticism over the lack of policy and mainly the failed conduct vis-à-vis Syria. But this isn’t all. The efforts invested by Secretary of State John Kerry in an attempt to bring Netanyahu and Abbas to the negotiation table have been dubbed “obsessive” and “pathetic.” Meanwhile in Egypt, Defense Minister al-Sisi is furious with the Americans over what he claims is their continued support of deposed president Morsi.

The Obama administration, at least in the beginning, capitulated to various human rights groups until it realized that supporting Morsi goes against American interests in the region, goes against the interests of the Sunni Arab states, particularly in the Gulf, and is also unjustifiable because the Egyptian army does not want to rule the country, even if this power is served to it on a silver platter. Al-Sisi wants to remain behind the scenes rather than become a new pharaoh.

Those who helped the Obama administration realize this were senior Israeli officials, including National Security Advisor Ya’akov Amidror and Defense Minister Ya’alon, who discussed the matter with his American counterpart Hagel.

Another indication of the confusion in Washington is the leaks by anonymous sources in the Pentagon regarding the operations in Syria allegedly carried out by the IDF. In May they leaked to CNN’s military correspondent that the Israeli Air Force attacked Iranian missiles near Damascus, and this past weekend the same correspondent reported – and later other news outlets – reported that Israel struck from the air Russian-made land-to-sea Yakhont missiles that were stored northeast of the Syrian port city of Latakia.

In May senior American officials apologized and promised that the leaks would stop. Israel made it clear to the Americans at the time that the reports may force Assad to launch devastating missile attacks on northern Israel so as not to be perceived as a collaborator and lose what’s left of his credibility as an Arab ruler. Then came the most recent leak, which shocked the Israeli leadership.

Once again the question was asked: Why did the leak come from the same Pentagon officials? The answer is not encouraging. The reason Pentagon officials were behind the current and past leaks is most likely political – part of an internal dispute within the Pentagon: Should the US act militarily to end the massacre in Syria? Can it? Or should it avoid a military operation and also ignore the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s forces, despite Obama’s threats?

Obama on way to golf game as Egypt erupts (Photo: EPA)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey claimed the US Military would need 700 sorties to neutralize Syria’s anti-aircraft force and secure a no-fly zone. This was how the US and its allies came out on top in past conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Libya. But America does not want another war after it has already withdrawn from Iraq and is trying to leave Afghanistan by the skin of its teeth. This is why senior government officials are using various excuses provided by the generals in the Pentagon in order to avoid military intervention in Syria.

The leaks, which point to Israeli successes in Syria, expose the emptiness of the Obama administration’s excuses. Therefore, some people estimate the leaks are actually meant to embarrass the administration and come from those who are in favor of Western military intervention in Syria and from Republicans looking to attack the Obama administration any chance they get.

The Israeli political established is fuming, because the internal disputes within the US are putting Israel’s citizens in a truly dangerous situation. The leaks are reducing Assad’s so-called “room for denial.” The Syrian president is really not interested in getting involved in a conflict with Israel at this juncture.

Without addressing the question of whether Israel was behind the destruction of the Yakhont missiles, it is clear that the leak from Washington may push Assad into a corner and force him to respond in a way that will hurt and endanger Israel.

American officials, in the heat of the domestic argument, are pitting Israel and Syria against each other. This is not a legitimate move by our closet ally and patron. After all, it is Israel that will suffer from the missile attacks, not the US.

This is not the only damage caused to Israel and other countries by the US’ befuddlement and careless conduct. But everyone has to keep quiet because we have no other superpower that supports us.

Egypt’s Gen. El-Sisi tells visiting US official: Don’t bully Cairo by threats to suspend military aid.

US Dep. Secretary of State William Burns in Cairo

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, the first senior US official to visit Cairo since the military coup of July 3, exchanged tough talk with the coup leader, Defense minister Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Monday, after he met interim President Adly Mansour and Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi.
The general frankly advised Washington to be more realistic about the situation in Egypt. Accordingly to debkafile’s Middle East sources, El-Sisi asked Burns bluntly why the Obama administration backed the Muslim Brotherhood and appeared to accept an Egypt plunged in chaos and economic meltdown during Mohamed Morsi’s one-year presidency.
Burns said the US remained committed to an Egypt that is “stable, democratic, inclusive and tolerant,” stressing Washington understood that “only Egyptians can determine their future.” To this, Gen. El-Sisi replied that in ousting Morsi, the military had obeyed the authentic will of the Egyptian people. He said the army’s role is national not political.
On the question of US military assistance, the general remarked that the “US is more keen than Egypt on keeping up military aid as an assurance of the continuation of military ties between the two countries.” debkafile: Implicit in this comment was a hint that military ties with Washington would suffer if the administration tried to push the Egyptian army around.
Present at the two-hour meeting were Egypt’s chief of staff Sobhi Sidki and US Ambassador Anne Patterson, a known supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood who tried hard to bridge the differences between the Brotherhood and the general and avert the coup.
Secretary Burns faces an uphill task in his mission to mend fences between the Obama administration and the caretaker rulers of Egypt – especially when the Egyptian street’s two halves – anti and pro-Morsi – are united on little else but anti-American sentiment.

Earlier Monday, debkafile carried this report:
The last ten days have seen dozens killed and hundreds wounded in battles between Egyptian security forces and a coalition of increasingly aggressive Islamist Salafists and Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami fighters, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report. The Egyptian military has clamped a news blackout on the Sinai battlefield.

In the latest incident Monday, July 15, rocket-propelled grenades blew up a bus carrying workmen to the Multinational Force-MFO based at Al Gora near the North Sinai town of El Arish. According to official sources, three of the passengers were killed and 17 injured. Unofficial estimates were as high as 13-20 dead. The attackers shouted Allahu Akbar when the bus blew up.

debkafile reports that further, unknown numbers of Egyptian soldiers and Islamist assailants were killed in a gunfight nearby. The Salafists were trying to plant explosives along the road connecting the town of Sheih Zweid to the MFO encampment. Many of them died when gunshots detonated the explosives they were holding.

Our sources disclose that since the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on July 3, Egyptian troops confront surging Islamist violence at four current flashpoints in Sinai, two near the Israeli border.

One is the Rafah area south of the Gaza Strip where the Salafists are tackling Egyptian forces engaged in blocking the smuggling tunnels running contraband into the Palestinian enclave.
The commander of Egypt’s Second Army, Gen. Ahmed Wasfi, is convinced by incoming intelligence that the Muslim Brotherhood unseated two weeks ago in Cairo and its Libyan allies are conniving with the Salafist Bedouin of Sinai and the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami of the Gaza Strip to stage a violent uprising against the Egyptian army and security forces in Sinai.

The events of the past 24 hours confirm him in this conviction. Saturday, July 13, the Egyptian army intercepted and destroyed three arms convoys crossing from Libya into Egypt on their way to the Gaza Strip. The next day, armed Salafists conducted a multiple onslaught on Egyptian Border Police camps, checkpoints and patrols opposite the Israel region of Halutza.

The residents of Bnei Netzarim, Naveh, Yevul, Dekel, Avshalom and Sdeh Avraham were told to stay in protected areas and local security squads placed on alert, in case the Salafist assailants stormed across the border to attack Israeli targets.

Overnight, the IDF bolstered military units in the area. In the process, an Israeli Hermes 450 drone crashed while on surveillance duty over the embattled area. The Israeli Air Force reported that a technical fault caused the drone to fly out of control.
All Sunday, the Egyptian army sent extra forces to bolster the engineering units engaged in destroying the smuggling tunnels carrying arms, fighters and consumer goods into the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, which provided the Hamas-ruled regime with a major source of revenue. Orders from the high command in Cairo were to step up the pressure on Hamas and Jihad Islami. And so, the Egyptian army targeted a number of tunnels on the Rafah border used to smuggle fuel to Gaza. Without gas, their combat mobility will be sharply reduced.

Bulldozers were used to remove several machines pumping fuel into the Gaza Strip through the tunnels.

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh tried appealing to Egyptian intelligence chiefs in Cairo to stop the operation. He was fobbed off with junior officers who said they were not competent to make decisions in the matter and would pass his request to higher authority.
The El Arish area has become the most dangerous of all the four flashpoints: There, the heavily concentrated Egyptian force is battered by constant assaults. They are hemmed in by thousands of Salafist gunmen. Any officer, soldier or vehicle trying to exit their fortified compound runs the gauntlet of roadside bombs, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades and heavy machine gun fire.
Fighting is raging at two more locations: the central mountains of Jabel Halal and along the Egyptian-Israeli border opposite Israel’s southern air base of Ovda.

Is Washington backing the Brotherhood? – Alarabiya.net English | Front Page.

( A fascinating analysis of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy.  It wants to be friendly but can’t help sound patronizing.  I wish Israel was in a position to be as equally honest and open about the US. – JW )

Abdulrahman al-Rashed

For a year now there has been talk of a conspiracy that Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi’s rise to power was planned overnight in Washington. Those spreading this conspiracy based it on a report by the New York Times. The report alleges that U.S. president Barack Obama, after advising Hosni Mubarak to step down in the end of January 2011, said during a secret meeting that he would support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Of course, both the Brotherhood and their opponents claim that their rivals are a product of the Americans. The youths of Tahrir Square and the leftists accuse the White House of giving a helping hand to the Brotherhood in the elections and of wanting the Brotherhood’s return to power. In turn, the Brotherhood claims that President Barack Obama is behind the coup against it.

Stuck in the middle?

This is part of the propaganda war between the two parties sparring in Egypt. The U.S. administration says it is caught in the middle of this dispute. But it does seem to tend to take the Brotherhood’s side, requesting that the ousted Mursi be released. It also does not oppose his remaining president until the end of his presidential term, while simultaneously reminding him that democracy is not only about elections.

Washington’s stance reveals that it prefers to deal with the Brotherhood because the U.S. believes that the Islamists proved their credibility on the level of respecting international agreements since the Islamist group upheld the Camp David Accords, deterred jihadist groups in Sinai, restrained Hamas and destroyed its tunnels. This positive performance of Mursi’s cabinet was favored by the Americans who considered that their experience with the Brotherhood was the only successful one with an Islamist group in the region, compared to their failed history with the Iranian regime and Hamas. As for Turkey, the Americans do not consider it to be an Islamic regime but rather a secular one.

The problem of academic analysis in Washington is that it collects all similarities in one basket, and then confuses its analyses. Washington thinks that supporting a Sunni Mohammad Mursi in Egypt balances its support of the Shiite Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq, who like Mursi came to power through elections. This leads the American government to think that it has a balanced relation with Muslims of both sects. The problem is that the result is identical, and identically negative. Democracy in both countries, Iraq and Egypt, produced two religious fascist groups. Mursi, like Maliki, does not respect the democratic system that brought him to power.

The attempt to engineer regimes for the region by excluding the military and including religious dictators or preferring certain groups over others will not result in stability but in more tension. And above all, the plan will not succeed. Proof of that is the Americans’ sympathy with the Shiite religious opposition movement in Bahrain, which failed. Preferring Egypt’s Brotherhood will fail to bring the Brotherhood back because it will clash with local and regional disputes which the Americans don’t have enough capability to influence.

If Egyptian political parties accept the Brotherhood’s return to politics, they will place many obstructions to prevent the Brotherhood from returning to governance. Activists in Egypt believe they have granted the Brotherhood its chance. But instead of democratically practicing governance, the Brotherhood attempted to take over everything. The Brotherhood proved that it is a fascist movement that only believes in democracy as a ladder to completely seize power and not as a means towards participation and a peaceful devolution of power. The Americans’ best option is to keep away from Cairo’s rebellious Squares. The Egyptians know better about their own affairs. Whoever emerges victorious will not find an alternative for the U.S. as a strategic ally.

This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 15, 2013

Abdulrahman al-Rashed is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. A veteran and internationally acclaimed journalist, he is a former editor-in-chief of the London-based leading Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, where he still regularly writes a political column. He has also served as the editor of Asharq al-Awsat’s sister publication, al-Majalla. Throughout his career, Rashed has interviewed several world leaders, with his articles garnering worldwide recognition, and he has successfully led Al Arabiya to the highly regarded, thriving and influential position it is in today.

Hamas manufacturing rockets that threaten Tel Aviv | The Times of Israel.

Terror organization no longer relying on smuggled weapons, developing its own technology to strike at Israel’s center

A volley of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on November 15, 2012. (photo credit: Edi Israel/Flash90)

Hamas has developed the ability to locally manufacture rockets with the range to hit Israel’s heartland, including Tel Aviv, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Monday.

Speaking to a joint conference of the Defense Ministry and the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Gantz explained that the terror organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, is producing its own 200 millimeter caliber missiles, known as the M-75, which can strike to about 80 kilometers (50 miles).

“The Gaza Strip is relatively quiet after [November’s Operation] Pillar of Defense. The level of deterrent is very high,” Gantz said. “However, the process of build-up has not stopped. Whether it is smuggling activities — which have been slightly reduced — or the local manufacture that is developing all over that area.”

A number of M-75 rockets, based on Iranian technology, were fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during Pillar of Defense, which was launched by Israel to halt persistent rocket fire against towns near the Gaza border. Most of the missiles were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor.

The technology was relatively new at the time, but Gantz said the Strip had continued to develop its manufacturing of the rocket.

The rocket became something of a rallying point for Gazans, whose missile range had been limited to Israel’s south in previous engagements. Visiting the Strip after a ceasefire, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal popped out of a model of the rocket on a stage.

Gantz also commented on the deteriorating situation in Sinai, where terrorists killed three people in an attack on a bus on Sunday.

“In Sinai we can see terror organizations increasingly established, and we are following that story on a daily basis because things are happening there all the time that are certainly of interest to us,” Gantz said.

Last month a barrage of six rockets were fired out of Gaza at southern Israel. Four landed in open areas and two were shot down by the Iron Dome system. The rockets were thought to be fired by Islamic Jihad, which is competing with Hamas for control of the Strip.

US outraged after Israel backs out of terror suit – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Congress, White House angry at Israel for decision to back out of trial against Bank of China for involvement in laundering of money for Hamas, Islamic Jihad. The reason: China conditioned Netanyahu’s state visit on Israeli promise not to testify in trial. Now, US threatening to subpoena Ambassador Oren

Shimon Shiffer

Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren was called back to Israel to take part in an emergency meeting convened this weekend by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so that Oren could pass on  messages sent by the US administration and Congress in the wake of tensions between the two countries.

The tensions and lightening visit stem from the US’s outrage at Israel’s decision to back out of their commitment to a terror prosecution involving a Chinese bank allegedly laundering monies for Hamas so that Netanyahu and his family could embark on their State visit to the country last May.

This weekend Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer from Yedioth Ahronoth broke the story and revealed that the Chinese government threatened to cancel Netanyahu’s visit if Israel refused to promise that senior Israeli defense officials would refrain from testifying against the Bank of China in a federal court trial currently underway in New York.

According to the report, China conditioned Netanyahu’s visit on the demand the officials retract their promise to testify in the trial being led by the family of terror victim.

PM, wife Sara on Great Wall (Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO)

The case itself is a civil suit filed by Sheryl and Yekutiel Wultz from Florida, whose son Daniel was killed in terror attack in Tel Aviv in 2006 when he was only 16 years old.

According to the suit, the money used by Hamas to undertake the terror attack reached the terrorist group through a money laundering scheme run the Chinese bank in which some $6 million were laundered through trade.

The story has invoked the rage of the White House, a number of US congressmen and Jewish organizations active in the US who were flabbergasted by the decision to back out of a legal battle against the funding of international terror only in an attempt to prevent harm from coming to Netanyahu’s visit.

Mr. Terror

On Sunday, during the meeting called by Netanyahu, Oren was meant to stress to the additional participants – among them ambassador designate Ron Dermer – that the Americans view with severity Israel’s decision to cave into China’s pressure and prevent testimonies which would legally link Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to the Bank of China.

Oren was also to convey the American shock that Netanyahu, who the Americans call “Mr. Terror” for his zero tolerance approach to terror, would take such decision.

Congress, Oren was indented to say, sees the move as nothing short of betrayal by Israel of the US, both in regards to the international war on terror and in regards to the struggle for hegemonic control raging between the West and the rising eastern powerhouse.

The crux of Oren’s mission was to inform the Israel administration of the US’s intent on advancing legal procedures against the Bank of China; to inform them that if the security officials fail to show up in court they would be subpoenaed; and additional subpoenas would also be filed against Oren, Dermer and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror.

In addition to the suit filed by the Wultz family, the Bank of China also faces a lawsuit by Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, representing 22 Israel families – the relatives of the victims of the suicide bombing in an Eilat bakery as well the Mercaz Harav shooting – that is being discussed instate courts throughout the US.

According to Darshan-Leitner, these cases are also structured around the testimonies of security officials and could fail should the officials fail to testify.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to the story Sunday evening.

Russian Military on Alert After Suspected Israeli Airstrike Destroys Russian Missiles in Syria | Las Vegas Guardian Express.

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Tens of thousands of Russian troops have been placed on alert after a suspected Israeli airstrike destroyed advanced, Russian missiles recently delivered to Syria.

Last week, in the Syrian port city of Latakia, several pre-dawn explosions were reported to have destroyed advanced Russian missiles that had recently arrived and were being temporarily stored at the port. A spokesman for the opposition Free Syrian Army, describing the July 5 attack, said Tuesday that “It was not the FSA that targeted this. It is not an attack that was carried out by rebels.” The FSA spokesman, Qassem Saadeddine, went on to say “This attack was either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean.” The suggestion is that Israel was behind the attack. The Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles, it is speculated, could have been considered a threat to Israel’s naval forces.

Israel has not commented on the attack. In May, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon commented that Israel “will know what to do” in the event that Russian missiles were delivered to Syria. Israel has carried out previous airstrikes in Syria, including and attack upon vehicles carrying weapons towards the Lebanese border.

In a July 13 report from the official Russian news agency, ITAR-TASS, The Russian Defense Ministry has announced what is being described as  “the most ambitious [check alert] in the history of post-Soviet test readiness.” A check alert, according to the Defense Ministry is a mobilization for exercises designed “to test the readiness of units to perform assigned tasks, and assessment of the level of training of personnel, staffing and technical readiness units and formations with arms and military equipment.” The alert, according to the ITAR-TASS report, involves more than 80,000 troops, around a thousand tanks and armored personnel carriers, some 130 aircraft and 70 naval vessels.

This massive military alert is seen as a response to the disclosure Friday to CNN, by unnamed US officials, that the destruction of the Russian missiles in Syria was a result of Israeli airstrikes.

The United States government has previously indicated its desire to provide the rebels in Syria with weapons and other military assistance. Meanwhile, both the rebels and pro-government forces in Syria have obtained American weapons – likely via Iraq.

The Syrian army – aided by Iran and Lebanese-based Hezbollah, continues to make slow progress in rolling back rebel gains. FSA pockets of resistance in the city of Homs continue to struggle against a tightening siege by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad. This latest suspected Israeli airstrike and Russian military alert signals a growing danger that the more than two-year-old Syrian conflict will escalate into a wider, regional conflict.

Graham J Noble

Source

Israel Hayom | US fears Iran will develop a nuclear bomb ‘under the radar’.

Western source tells Israel Hayom Washington is no longer sure it will know ahead of time when Iran reaches military-grade nuclear capability • PM Netanyahu urges West not to be complacent, says President-elect Rouhani is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”