A report in the Israeli media claims that the PA president is furious at Egypt for attempting to broker a “treasonous” truce between Israel and Hamas.
By: World Israel News Staff
Israel’s Channel 10 News published a report on Tuesday based on comments from a senior Fatah official demonstrating Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ intense hostility toward any potential deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, the Fatah official told Channel 10 that Abbas was furious with the Egyptians for mediating the agreement, which the PA chief referred to as “treachery and defiance against the leadership.”
The official also claimed that Abbas acknowledged that the supposed reconciliation process between his party and Hamas was disintegrating.
Abbas apparently made his position on the ceasefire clear, commenting “An agreement between Hamas and Israel, over my dead body!”
Among Abbas’ complaints with regard to any future agreement involving Hamas is the illegitimacy of the terror group’s rule over the Gaza Strip, which was achieved via a violent coup through which the PA was ousted from the coastal enclave.
Regardless of Abbas’ comments, senior Hamas officials claimed that the ceasefire agreement could be concluded in the near future, after a break in negotiations due to the Eid al-Adha holiday.
With Hamas officials issuing statements regarding the terror group’s intention to maintain its arsenal and militaristic capabilities, and their contention that prisoner exchanges would be addressed separately, the ultimate fate of the ceasefire remains to be seen.
The terrorist group Hamas will continue to arm itself even if a truce agreement is signed with Israel, a senior Gaza official said Monday.
Hamas foreign relations chief Osama Hamdan said that even if a long-term ceasefire agreement is reached with Israel, the terrorist group will still pursue the destruction of the Jewish state “because it gives no credence in the Zionist entity”.
Hamdan was quoted in Palestinian media as saying that the ceasefire agreement currently being negotiated with the help of Cairo does not include the construction of a seaport or airport to serve the Hamas-led enclave.
“Everything that’s been published about this so far is a lie,” he said.
“The Zionist enemy has come to the conclusion that it is impossible to thwart Palestinian resistance,” Hamdan said, adding that Israel “will see that it made a grave mistake if the truce with Hamas fails.”
Hamdan also said that Hamas was interested in a prisoner exchange agreement “more than before”. He said the agreement is independent of the ceasefire talks, although Israel insists that no formal truce will be reached without the release of Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers held in Gaza.
Numerous reports have reported that Israel is in the advanced stages talks with Hamas, through UN, Egyptian and Qatari mediation, for a long-term truce in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, Hamas official Husam Badran said Palestinian factions had postponed talks in Cairo on a long-term ceasefire with Israel, as well as on inter-Palestinian reconciliation.
Gaza has seen an increase in violence since the start of the “Return March” protests along the border in March. The clashes, which the Hamas rulers of Gaza have orchestrated, have included attacks with stones and Molotov cocktails against Israeli troops, as well as attempts to break through the border fence and attack Israeli citizens.
Palestinians in Gaza have also launched incendiary air strikes into Israel, burning thousands of acres of forest and farmland, resulting in millions of dollars in damage.
The clashes, which the Hamas rulers of Gaza have orchestrated, have included attacks with stones and Molotov cocktails against the troops, as well as attempts to break through the border fence and attack Israeli soldiers.
Palestinians in Gaza have also launched incendiary air strikes into Israel, burning thousands of acres of forest and farmland, resulting in millions of estimated shekels of damage.
At least 171 Gazans have been killed by Israeli gunfire since the start of the fighting, according to the Hamas-led health ministry. An Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper. Hamas has acknowledged that dozens of Palestinian deaths were members of terrorist groups.
In addition, Israel and Hamas have engaged in several deadly exchanges of fire in recent months that resulted in terrorist groups firing hundreds of rockets and mortars into Israeli territory, including one earlier this month that was the largest escalation of violence since 2014 war.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov and Egyptian officials have been seeking to negotiate a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. The two sides have fought three wars since 2008.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza to prevent weapons and other military equipment from entering the Strip.
The International Court of Justice- Photo Credit: Lybil BER via Wikimedia
Iran, on Monday, asked the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order President Donald Trump to lift the sanctions he imposed on the Islamic Republic, and to reverse his unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, and suspend his accusations about Iran’s spreading terrorism in Middle Eastern countries.
Iran argues Trump’s moves violated a decades-old Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations signed between Iran and the US in 1955. Of course, in 1979, Iran violated every possible aspect of the same treaty, when it invaded the American embassy in Tehran and kept embassy staff hostage for more than a year.
The American delegation was given three hours to present its initial response on Tuesday.
The response the U.S. gave to the U.N. judges a short time later was that they have no jurisdiction to rule on Iran’s demand.
U.S. State Department lawyer Jennifer Newstead told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that it “lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran’s claims,” according to an AFP report. She argued that the U.S. has the right to protect its national security interests.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial body of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes between member states and gives advisory opinions to authorized UN organs and specialized agencies. The court comprises a panel of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms. It is seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.
In contentious cases, the ICJ produces a binding ruling between states that agree to submit to the ruling of the court.
Blaming US sanctions for economic woes during parliamentary questioning, Iranian president says Tehran ‘will not allow the US plot against the Islamic Republic to succeed.’
The parliament summoned Rouhani for the first time to answer questions on weak economic growth and rising unemployment, but Rouhani said the troubles only began when Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran.US President Donald Trump withdrew in May from a deal that had lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
President Rouhani and President Trump (Photo: AFP, Getty Images)
Washington imposed a new round of sanctions in August targeting Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals, its purchases of US dollars and its car industry. A new round of sanctions to be imposed in November targets Iranian oil sales.
“I want to assure the Iranian nation that we will not allow the US plot against the Islamic Republic to succeed,” Rouhani said in a live broadcast on state television.
“We will not let this bunch of anti-Iranians in the White House be able to plot against us.”
He added, “We are not afraid of America or the economic problems. We will overcome the troubles.”
Rouhani, a pragmatist who reduced tension with the West by striking a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, now faces a backlash from hardliners over Washington’s pullout from the pact.”Be aware that sabotage creates destruction. Be aware that painting a bleak picture of people’s lives will lead to further darkness,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani also made a cryptic remark that Iran had a “third way” to deal with the crisis other than abandoning or staying in the nuclear deal. He did not elaborate, but said he mentioned it to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Hardline elements in the parliament have pressed Rouhani to reshuffle his economic team to better shield the economy from Trump’s moves and tamp down public discontent.
Rouhani said the troubles began with anti-government protests in early January when many Iranians, angered by rising prices took to the streets, chanting slogans against the government and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”The protests tempted Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal,” he said, asking lawmakers to support his cabinet and not add to anti-government sentiment.
Iranians take to the street in protest against economic hardships
Although the economic problems were critical, Rouhani said, “More important than that is that many people have lost their faith in the future of the Islamic Republic and are in doubt about its power.”
Lawmakers asked why the government had not adopted reforms in the financial sector and foreign exchange market, and sought an explanation why, more than two years after the nuclear deal, Iranian banks still had only limited access to global financial services.
Rouhani appointed a new central bank governor and accepted the government spokesman’s resignation, suggesting that he accepts the need to reshuffle his economic team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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American team secretly visited Damascus in July, says Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper • The U.S. also wants its energy companies to have access to eastern Syria, and intelligence on possible terrorists • Assad regime reportedly rejects the proposal.
Israel Hayom Staff
A U.S soldier in the Syrian town of Darbasiya, near the Turkish border
|Archives: Reuters
The United States has reportedly told the Assad regime it will remove its forces from Syria if Iran removes its forces from the country’s south, where it borders Israel and Jordan, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Tuesday.
The report first appeared in the Beirut-based Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar daily newspaper.
The Americans, according to Al-Akhbar, also asked that American energy companies be allowed to pursue oil interests in eastern Syria, and asked the Assad regime for intelligence information on terror suspects who could act in Western countries.
The Syrian regime rejected the American proposal, Al-Akhbar reported.
In July, a delegation of American intelligence officers secretly visited Damascus, the report said. The delegation is said to have met with Ali Mamlouk, head of the country’s national security bureau.
Mamlouk allegedly told the Americans that their presence in the country equated to “occupation,” and that if they entered the country uninvited they should leave it in the same fashion.
According to Al-Akhbar, Mamlouk also rejected the request to remove Iranian forces from southern Syria.
“The American proposal won’t change our position toward our allies,” Mamlouk reportedly said, referring to Iran.
As for American energy interests, Mamlouk said companies from countries that fought against Syria wouldn’t receive any benefits; but that the matter could be revisited once Syria’s rehabilitation was underway. He also rejected the request to share intelligence information, citing the current state of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
IDF forces during the Second Lebanon War. (Haim Azulay /Flash90)
Avigdor Liberman announced Monday that his ministry had ordered state-of-the-art rockets with unprecedented precision and accuracy worth hundreds of millions of shekels.
By: World Israel News Staff
On Monday, Avigdor Liberman announced that Israel’s Ministry of Defense ordered new precision rockets from Israel Military Industries (IMI).
According to the Ministry of Defense, the new rockets, worth hundreds of millions of shekels, will allow the IDF to more accurately strike targets while decreasing mission cost in comparison to other combat systems, reported the Jerusalem Post.
Liberman, who serves as minister of defense, tweeted that the missiles would help “turn[] the IDF into a stronger, more diverse and smarter army.”
The missile acquisition announced Monday is part of an overall IDF strategy designed to improve the IDF’s precision in armed conflicts and follows the announcement several months ago regarding the army’s formation of a designated Missile Corps.
The precision missiles reportedly have a range of between 30 and 150 kilometers, with significantly improved accuracy capabilities that make them more suitable for the type of urban warfare the IDF could encounter in a future conflict with Hamas in Gaza, thereby reducing the likelihood of collateral damage.
The announcement on Monday follows a senior IDF officer’s revelation in August that the army intends to convert 50 percent of its land-based ammunition into precise weaponry.
To that end, the new precision missiles will join the IMI’s surface-to-surface GPS-guided Romach rockets, capable of hitting targets with an accuracy range of under 10 meters at a range of 35 kilometers.
In addition to the threat posed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the IDF is also on guard against potential attacks by the Hezbollah terror group operating in Lebanon, near Israel’s northern border.
Hezbollah claims to possess an arsenal of over 100,000 rockets, with ranges between 10 and 500 kilometers. According to Israeli officials, the terror group could expand its arsenal to more than 1,000 precision-guided missiles within 10 years’ time.
DEBKAfile: Russian sources are ramping up war fever over Syria. Syrian air defense forces were reported Monday night on high alert for a possible US attack on Damascus. This was not confirmed by government sources in the Syrian capital.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Syrian rebels in Idlib were preparing to stage a false flag chemical weapon attack against civilians in order to blame Damascus and give the US and its allies a pretext for a punitive strike against Syria. The ministry spokesman earlier claimed that the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, had entered the Mediterranean on Aug. 25 armed with 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting any target in Syria.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources attribute the war tensions generated by Moscow against the US to information that Iran and Syria are plotting a string of military attacks on US forces deployed east of the Euphrates near the Syrian-Iraqi border in the coming hours. These attacks may also be be aimed at Israeli targets. Neither the US nor Israel will likely take such strikes without response.
Two top American financial institutions would not commit to cutting Iranian access to international financial markets, a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s new sanctions on Iran, adding fuel to concerns among U.S. officials about efforts by European countries and Iran’s regional allies to skirt the new American sanctions ahead of a Nov. 4 implementation deadline, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
J.P. Morgan and Citibank—top American financial institutions that sit on the board of the SWIFT financial network, which facilitates international banking transactions—declined Free Beacon inquiries into whether they intend to disconnect Iran from the network and comply with the Trump administration’s sanctions.
Both banks could play a pivotal role in ensuring SWIFT and its members obey the new sanctions, which target Iran’s Central Bank and critical infrastructure networks.
However, an ongoing standoff between European allies and the Trump administration over the implementation of the new sanctions threatens to force these U.S. financial institutions to pick a side.
The European Union, which has been plotting for months to help Iran skirt the new U.S. sanctions, approved earlier this week a $21 million financial package for Iran in a bid to keep the hardline regime afloat and the landmark nuclear deal on life support. German officials have called on its allies to build independent banking systems that cannot be hit by U.S. law, a move that has fueled diplomatic tensions and put U.S. banks in a particularly delicate situation.
Congressional efforts to ensure U.S. banks and others disconnect Iran from SWIFT also have been met with muted reaction.
Senior U.S. officials and leaders on the Hill have been pressuring global banks, including those in the United States, to choke Iran’s global financial access, particularly via SWIFT, the leading provider of financial transactions and banking information worldwide.
A delegation of 16 Republican lawmakers on Thursday called on SWIFT to immediately disconnect Iranian access or face the brunt of new U.S. sanctions, which could hit both American and European financial institutions that decline to enforce the measures.
“Quick robust enforcement will be critical for the administration’s maximum pressure strategy to succeed, both immediately to drain the Iranian regime’s resources for malign behavior and as a signal of America’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of our sanctions architecture,” the Republican lawmakers wrote to Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin. “The administration’s maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT.”
U.S. officials who have been working on these efforts for months told the Free Beacon that U.S. banks such as J.P. Morgan and Citi are being reminded they will not be spared from the Trump administration’s sanctions if they do not take steps to cut Iran’s access to SWIFT and other financial networks.
“There’s a time for a light touch and a time for not,” one U.S. official involved in the sanctions push told the Free Beacon. “Our officials have been holding educational sessions all over the world explaining that no matter where in the world you are, if you undermine the president’s pressure campaign we will find ways to hit you with billion dollar fines.”
“What do you think the odds are that we’re going to let companies and people physically headquartered in New York off the hook?” the official said.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who has been advocating for SWIFT to disconnect Iran, told the Free Beacon the American banks on SWIFT’s board are facing a critical decision.
“There is an enormous amount of risk here for SWIFT and its directors to be taking on,” said Goldberg, a former senior Senate staffer who helped architect the original sanctions on Iran. “We wrote this sanctions law back in 2012 with the banks on the board in mind. That’s where the president has the leverage to force SWIFT to act.”
“This is something SWIFT should be doing already under its own corporate rules,” Goldberg said. “It is unfortunate they’ll only act under the threat of sanctions.”
The State and Treasury Departments did not respond to request for comment by press time.
The Iranian navy are “vigilantly controlling” the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz and there is no need for the naval presence of “alien” countries, Tehran’s new naval chief has declared.
“We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the US and the countries whose home is not in here,” Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, head of the naval branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Monday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Having “outsiders” operate nuclear-powered ships in the Gulf creates potential environmental problems not just for Iran but its Arab neighbors as well, Tangsiri said. He also accused Iran’s enemies of misrepresenting reality “in order to deploy forces to the region and sell their weapons.”
Tangsiri’s comments were reported with alarm in the US media, complete with warnings that Tehran might decide to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for Gulf oil exports. Tankers carry 18.5 million barrels of crude oil through the strait every day.
The Iranian admiral’s words are guaranteed to ruffle the feathers of the US military, which sees itself as the principal protector of “security and stability” in the Gulf. The US and its Arab allies “stand ready to ensure the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce wherever international law allows,” Lieutenant Chloe Morgan, spokesperson for the US Naval Forces Central Command, told Fox News on Monday.
The already uneasy relations between Washington and Tehran have plummeted since May, when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Though European powers, Russia and China have not repudiated the deal, the US has already reimposed some of the sanctions that were suspended and is threatening to punish anyone doing business with Iran.
Tehran has responded by unveiling new homemade weapons, including a fighter jet and a short-range ballistic missile, as well as conducting naval drills with small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier this month, Obama’s former national security adviser General James Jones described Iran as an “existential threat” to the region, in an interview with the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.
“I personally would like to see, if they ever did something in the Strait of Hormuz, I would like to see their navy disappear,” said Jones, who now serves as the interim chairman of the Atlantic Council think tank.
Terror group’s foreign relations chief Osama Hamdan says Gaza rulers have ‘no faith in the Zionist entity,’ warns Israel would be making ‘grave mistake’ if talks fail
The Hamas terror group will continue arming itself even if a truce agreement is signed with Israel, a senior official in Gaza said Monday.
Hamas foreign relations chief Osama Hamdan said that even if a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel is reached, the terror group avowed to the Jewish state’s destruction would continue to “build its capabilities because it has no faith in the Zionist entity.”
Hamdan was quoted in Palestinian media as saying that the ceasefire deal currently being negotiated with the help of Cairo does not include the building of a seaport or a airport serving the Hamas-run enclave.
“Everything that has been published about this so far is a lie,” he asserted.
“The Zionist enemy has reached the conclusion that it’s impossible to thwart the Palestinian resistance,” Hamdan said, adding that Israel “will see that it made a grave mistake if the truce with Hamas fails.”
Hamdan also said Hamas was interested in a prisoner swap deal “more than previously.” He said that deal was separate from the ceasefire talks, although Israel insists no formal truce will be reached without the release of Israeli civilians and bodies of IDF soldiers believed to be held in Gaza.
Left to right: Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin and Avraham Mengistu. (Flash90/The Times of Israel)
Hamas is believed to be holding the remains of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whose bodies were captured by the terror group after they were killed in Gaza during the 2014 war. It is also assumed to be holding Israeli citizens Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who each entered Gaza of their own accord.
Numerous reports have said Israel is in advanced talks with Hamas, via UN, Egyptian and Qatari mediation, for a long-term truce in the Strip.
On Sunday, Hamas official Husam Badran said Palestinian factions had postponed talks in Cairo on a long-term ceasefire with Israel as well as on inter-Palestinian reconciliation.
Gaza has seen a surge of violence since the start of the “March of Return” protests along the border in March. The clashes, which Gaza’s Hamas rulers have orchestrated, have included rock and Molotov cocktail attacks on troops, as well as attempts to breach the border fence and attack Israeli soldiers.
Smoke from a tire fire rises as Palestinians protest near the border with Israel east Gaza City on August 17, 2018 (AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Palestinians in Gaza have also launched incendiary airborne devices toward Israel, burning thousands of acres of forest and farmland resulting in millions of shekels of estimated damages.
At least 171 Gazans have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the clashes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. An Israeli soldier was shot to death by a Palestinian sniper. Hamas has acknowledged that dozens of the Palestinian fatalities were members of terror groups.
Additionally, Israel and Hamas have engaged in a number of brief exchanges of fire in recent months that have seen terror groups in Gaza launch hundreds of rockets and mortars toward Israeli territory, including one earlier this month that was the largest flareup in violence since the 2014 war.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov and Egyptian officials have been seeking to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. The two sides have fought three wars since 2008.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza since Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized the territory from the Palestinian Authority. It says the blockade is in place in order to prevent weapons and other military equipment from entering the Strip.
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