WarSclerotic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwCFI463UsU

Ha ha ha, losers.

Iran Faked the Satellite Images They Released

The Islamic Republic of Iran has just added satellite images to its latest portfolio of fake news.

In a message to the United States, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released the first images of the NOOR-1 satellite launched into space last April.

Tehran claimed the photos were pictures of an American base in Qatar. As with most good lies, they had a grain of truth.

Two of the images were faked: one was from the US Maxar satellite company and another was from Google Earth. Both were from 2018, according to Israeli UAV and space expert Tal Inbar.

So they were satellite images of the US airbase in Qatar, just not an Iranian satellite’s images, as the regime claimed, nor were they recent images either.

In the stolen Maxar image, the recently built hanger bases are missing. In the appropriated Google Earth images, the aircraft are in the exact same place they were two years ago.

Take a look.

 

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/palestinians-idf-strikes-gaza-in-response-to-tonights-rocket-launch-637258

Rocket fire came as city of Sderot inaugurated drive-in movie theater and shortly after change of command of the Gaza Divison.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM   AUGUST 3, 2020 07:50

Flame and smoke are seen during an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

Israel Air Force jets struck several Hamas sites in the central and southern Gaza Strip early Monday morning after a rocket was fired from the coastal enclave towards southern Israel, as residents of the town of Sderot took in a Drive-Through movie.The military said warplanes hit a cement factory used in the construction of tunnels as well as “underground facilities” used by Hamas.Palestinian media said jets struck “resistance sites” near Khan Younis and Rafah.The retaliatory strikes came several hours after a rocket was fired from northern Gaza and was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. It was the first in almost a month.“One [rocket] launch was detected from the territory of the Gaza Strip toward Israel, which was intercepted by aerial defense soldiers,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.Sirens were activated in Sderot and surrounding communities of Ibim, Erez, Or Haner and Nir Am that border the northern Gaza Strip in the Sha’ar Hanegev region around 9PM, sending thousands of Israelis to bomb shelters.The city of Sderot said that the sirens sounded during the inauguration of the city’s Drive-In Theater complex where dozens of cars were parked as residents took in a movie.

While there were no physical injuries, several vehicles were damaged from shrapnel from the Iron Dome interceptor which fell on the city’s streets.The rocket also came shortly after the change of command of the Gaza Division where Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano was replaced by Brig.-Gen. Nimrod Aloni after two years in the position.“During my tenure as commander of the Gaza Division, the leaders of the terrorist organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, pursued a strategy of intimidation and panic, firing rockets and mortar shells aimed at Israeli citizens,” Toledano said at the ceremony. “Hamas does not care about the children of the Gaza Strip. They must stop digging tunnels like wild animals and invest the concrete in building infrastructure for the homeless. They must stop manufacturing rockets and use pipes to build proper water and sewage infrastructure for their children. They must stop sowing launchers and harvest rockets and sow wheat and harvest grain,” he added.The head of the Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Hertz Halevy warned that the IDF cannot guarantee peace in the area but that it will do everything it can to protect the quality of life of the residents of southern Israel.“We do not guarantee peace in an area where there are reasons to fight, we know what is on the other side, we promise to do everything to protect and to always be ready for any action that may be required against the Gaza Strip,” he said. “It is our duty, together with the civilian leadership, to allow the Gaza Envelope area to continue to prosper and flourish regardless of the situation in Gaza itself.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-cell-entered-israeli-territory-in-bid-to-attack-unmanned-army-post-idf/


Army confirms all four people would-be bombers killed, but says not yet clear who they were working for; spokesman indicates Israel may retaliate against Damascus

By JUDAH ARI GROSSToday, 8:24 am  0Volume 90%

Four militants crossed into Israeli territory from Syria and planted improvised explosive devices inside an unmanned Israel Defense Forces outpost along the Syrian border late Sunday night, the military said, as it revealed new details about the overnight incident.

Soldiers from the Maglan special forces unit and unspecified aircraft opened fire at the four suspects, some of whom were armed, killing them all, IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters Monday morning. The army also released video of the incident, showing figures approaching a fence near the border and being hit with a missile.

No Israeli soldiers were injured.

The spokesman said the military did not yet know which military or terrorist organization the men belonged to, but that the IDF was looking into the matter.

He said it was not immediately clear if this was an isolated incident or if it was tied to the ongoing tensions with Hezbollah, which has vowed to carry out some kind of attack on Israel in retaliation for the death of one of its fighters in an airstrike in Syria last month that it attributed to the Jewish state. There has been no comment from the Lebanon-based group.

“I believe in the coming days we’ll know better about what organization they were a part of,” Zilberman said.

The spokesman said the military was working on “neutralizing” the area where the four militants were operating — disarming the bombs they planted — so that the explosives could be studied in order to determine to  what organization the men belonged.

Israeli army forces seen stationed near the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Golan Heights on July 27, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Zilberman said regardless of which group was behind the attempted attack the military ultimately holds the Syrian government responsible for the incident and indicated it was considering retaliating against Damascus in some way, as it has in the case of previous attacks that came from Syria, irrespective of which group carried them out.

The spokesman said the military was not changing its level of alertness in light of the attempted attack and would remain with reinforcements along the Syrian and Lebanese borders for the time being.

“We will continue to be on alert for many more days. We have a lot of patience,” he said.

The four suspects were under IDF surveillance over the course of several hours before the troops opened fire, being monitored by female soldiers operating powerful security cameras, known in Hebrew as Tatzpitaniyot.

The men were first seen approaching the area at around 8 p.m., and they crossed the official Israel-Syria border — but not the security fence separating the two countries, which lies a few meters west — some three hours later.

“They crossed the ‘alpha line’ so they were totally within Israeli territory,” Zilberman said, referring to the technical term for the line marking the Israel-Syria border

.

Israeli army forces seen stationed near the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Golan Heights on July 27, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Seeing that the men were armed, the lookouts directed a group of Maglan soldiers, who had been lying in wait, to the location.

The special forces troops opened fire with machine guns and other weapons, while an aircraft overhead also fired at the suspects. “I can say with high certainty that they were killed,” Zilberman said.

The spokesman said the lookouts had noted a number of cases of people approaching the border “pretending to be innocent shepherds” in recent days, which the military believed to in fact be reconnaissance operations ahead of an attack. In light of these concerns, the IDF sent a Maglan team to the area to act as an “ambush” if such an attack should occur, Zilberman said.

The IDF spokesman said that while the outpost where the men planted the bomb was unmanned, the military still considered the attempted attack to be serious matter as the area is often patrolled by Israeli troops.

The military on Monday morning released the footage of the men entering Israeli territory (above). The weapons that the IDF said were in their possession are not clearly visible in the grainy footage filmed with a night-vision camera.

In the video, the men can be seen stalking through a field and approaching the security fence. The suspects could then be seen standing behind a mound of dirt before they were apparently hit with a missile, which causes an explosion where they were standing.

Asked why the IDF was prepared to release the footage from Sunday night, but not from an incident last Monday in which the military said a group of Hezbollah operatives attempted to carry out an attack on Mount Dov along the Israel-Lebanon border, Zilberman said the decision was made out of “operational” considerations.

The military believes that releasing the footage of the failed Hezbollah attack from July would embarrass the group and perhaps increase the chances of some kind of retaliation.A picture taken from the Israeli side of the Blue Line that separates Israel and Lebanon shows smoke billowing above Mount Dov on the Israeli-Lebanese border, after reports of clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah in the area, on July 27, 2020. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

According to Zilberman, the outpost where the men placed the explosive was located in an enclave in the area of Tel Fares along the border that previously housed a clinic operated by a Christian charity, under the auspices of the IDF, to treat Syrian civilians who were affected by the country’s civil war. It was closed when Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s forces retook the Syrian Golan in 2018.

Over the past weeks, Hezbollah has threatened some form of retaliation for the death of one of its fighters last week in Syria in an airstrike that it attributed to Israel, but which the Jewish state has not officially acknowledged conducting.

Israeli soldiers work on tanks near the Lebanon border on July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Bracing for the attack, the IDF sent an infantry battalion to the Northern Command as reinforcements, along with additional “advanced” firepower in the form of precision-guided surface-to-surface missiles, combat intelligence units and special forces. The military has also ordered its troops and vehicles to keep away from areas along the border that are vulnerable to attack.

Last Monday, the IDF said it thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to send a team of fighters into the Israeli-controlled territory of Mount Dov, also known as Shebaa Farms, to carry out an attack. According to the military, the Hezbollah cell made it a few meters across the border before IDF troops opened fire at the operatives — apparently not hitting them, but driving them back into Lebanon.

Hezbollah officially denied that an attack had taken place, but did not explicitly dispute that its members had crossed into the Israeli-controlled enclave.

The terror group said a reprisal for its fallen operative in Syria was still to come.

In the past, Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate for losses of its fighters in Syria with attacks on Israel. This was the case in September, when the terror group fired three anti-tank guided missiles at Israeli military targets along the Lebanese border, narrowly missing an IDF armored ambulance with five soldiers inside, after the IDF killed two of its fighters in Syria the month before.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozg6HIjYjaQ

i24News was brought aboard the Israeli missile boat, the INS Hetz, and given a rare glimpse at the workings and firepower of one of the vessels that make up the core of the Israeli Navy.

A report by Shai Ben-ari. Israel is using one of its three Sa’ar-5 Corvette-class ships as a test bed for future capabilities (including sea-based Iron Dome) that it wants for the four new Sa’ar-6 ships on order with TKMS shipyard in Germany

 Jul 29, 2020 @ 17:42Iranian underground missile launch., US Gulf forces on alerthttps://www.debka.com/iran-launches-first-underground-ballistic-missiles-in-a-drill/

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Wednesday, July 29, launched underground ballistic missiles in a military drill in which a mock US aircraft carrier was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Drone footage showed two missiles blasting out from covered positions in what appeared to be a desert plateau in central Iran. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace division said this was the first underground launch of a ballistic missile. Most of this arsenal is believed to be hidden in underground silos.
A day earlier, footage of the first day of exercise, dubbed Payambar-e Azam 14 (The Great Prophet), broadcast on state television showed a missile fired from a helicopter leaving a trail of smoke before appearing to smash into the side of the fake warship, a rough replica of the USS Nimitz. Other footage from the exercise showed speedboats encircling the replica, commandos rappelling onto the deck of the vessel, and scuba forces underwater. Antiaircraft batteries were seen firing from a location that the report described as being near the port city of Bandar Abbas.

The missiles used in Iran’s military exercise were not identified.

The US Navy condemned the “irresponsible and reckless behavior by Iran,” calling it an attempt “to intimidate and coerce.”

The firings prompted a military alert at two US CENTCOM Gulf headquarters – the Al-Dhafra Air Base at Abu Dhabi in the UAE and the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Troops were told to seek cover. “The incident lasted for a matter of minutes and an all clear was declared after the threat … had passed,” said Central Command spokeswoman Beth Riordan.

A semiofficial Iranian news agency published a graphic showing an American carrier into the shape of a casket with a set of crosshairs painted on it and a caption quoting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as pledging to avenge the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-post

Press secretary pans social media company’s reluctance to label Iranian leader’s calls for Jewish state’s destruction, while it repeatedly applies warnings to Trump tweets

By TOI STAFF1 August 2020, 2:32 am  1White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks to the press on June 10, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

The White House on Friday blasted Twitter for allowing tweets by Iran’s supreme leader calling for Israel’s destruction to be posted without censorship, with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying the social media company’s police was “appalling.”

A Twitter official on Wednesday told the Israeli Knesset that such tweets by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei do not violate the company’s rules against hate speech, and indicated that they are considered mere “foreign policy saber-rattling.”

Asked about Twitter’s statement on the matter, McEnany drew a comparison between the company’s stance toward Iran and the position it has taken toward controversial tweets by US President Donald Trump, some of which which have recently received warning labels and other restrictions from the company for violating its rules.

“I thought it was very eye opening and it tells you where these social media companies stand, where they’re not willing to assess the Ayatollah Khomeini’s tweets but they are willing to assess President Trump’s tweets,” McEnany said.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a televised speech, April 9, 2020. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

“It’s really appalling and it just speaks to their overwhelming, blinding bias against conservatives and against this president,” she added.

McEnany noted that the administration was seeking to take action, submitting a petition to the Federal Communications Commission “to hold social media companies accountable for their censorship” by making them liable to “civil lawsuits for their own speech, fact checks and de-platforming.”

Ylwa Pettersson, Twitter’s head policy for the Nordic countries and Israel, told the Knesset’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, via video-conference Wednesday: “We have an approach toward leaders that says that direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy saber-rattling on military-economic issues are generally not in violation of our rules.”

She was responding to a question by pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky, who had asked why Twitter attached a special label to a recent tweet by  Trump noting that it violated the company’s rules, while the Iranian leaders’ many tweets about his wish for Israel to be destroyed are left untouched.

On May 29, Twitter for the first time attached a warning label to Trump’s tweet about the riots that broke out in the US following the killing of George Floyd.

“I just want to fine-tune [Ostrovsky’s] question: Calling for genocide on Twitter is okay, but commenting on the political situation in certain countries is not okay?” asked MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, who was leading the discussion.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1288453247775256576&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fwhite-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-posts%2F&siteScreenName=timesofisrael&theme=light&widgetsVersion=223fc1c4%3A1596143124634&width=550px

“If a world leader violates our rules but there is a clear interest in keeping that up on the service we may place it behind a notice that provides some more context about the violation and allows people to click through if they wish to see that type of content,” Pettersson replied.Twitter’s Ylwa Pettersson addressing a Knesset committee, July 29, 2020 (screenshot)

“That’s what happened for the Trump tweet: that tweet was violating our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line of that tweet and the risk that it could possibly inspire harm and similar actions.”

Trump’s May 29 tweet ended with the words: “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”

In addition to the warning label, Twitter disabled the public’s ability to “like” the post, but decided not to remove it “so the citizens can see what their political figures are commenting [on] and hold them accountable for it online,” said Pettersson, who spoke to the Knesset meeting via Zoom.

Pettersson did not comment specifically about the incendiary tweets by the Iranian leader.

“Wow. Twitter just admitted that tweets calling for genocide against Jews by Iranian leaders DON’T violate its policy!” Cotler-Wunsh tweeted after the session ended. “This is a double standard. This is anti-Semitism.”

Last month, The Times of Israel provided Twitter with several examples of Khamenei urging Israel’s elimination, including an explicit call for “armed resistance” — terrorism — against Israel, asking why these tweets do not violate the company’s official guidelines on world leaders, which include a ban on the promotion of terrorism.

According to Twitter’s rules on terrorism and violent extremism, “there is no place on Twitter for… individuals who affiliate with and promote [terrorist group’s] illicit activities… Our assessments in this context are informed by national and international terrorism designations.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1263551872872386562&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fwhite-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-posts%2F&siteScreenName=timesofisrael&theme=light&widgetsVersion=223fc1c4%3A1596143124634&width=550pxhttps://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-2&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1263181288338587649&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fwhite-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-posts%2F&siteScreenName=timesofisrael&theme=light&widgetsVersion=223fc1c4%3A1596143124634&width=550pxhttps://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-3&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1262513122532896771&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fwhite-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-posts%2F&siteScreenName=timesofisrael&theme=light&widgetsVersion=223fc1c4%3A1596143124634&width=550px

A spokesperson for Twitter replied to The Times of Israel by saying these tweets “are not in violation of our policies at this time,” pointing to the company’s policy according to which “foreign policy saber-rattling on economic or military issues are generally not in violation of the Twitter Rules.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran, whose leadership routinely advocates the elimination of Israel, is considered a leading state sponsor of terror, which openly and proudly supports groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, all of which seek to eradicate Israel via terrorist means. In April 2019, the US designated Iran’s own Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-4&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=531366667377717248&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fwhite-house-blasts-appalling-twitter-policy-on-khameneis-anti-israel-posts%2F&siteScreenName=timesofisrael&theme=light&widgetsVersion=223fc1c4%3A1596143124634&width=550px

In 2014, Khamenei posted on his twitter account a nine-point plan explicitly proposing the elimination of Israel.

At Wednesday’s Knesset debate, Cotler-Wunsh, MKs and pro-Israel advocates urged Twitter to do more to protect Israelis and Jews worldwide from anti-Semitic hate speech.

Yogev Karasenty, who is responsible for the fight against anti-Semitism at the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, said some 200,000 anti-Semitic tweets were found on Twitter in the past two months.

There has recently been significant improvement in how social networks deal with the anti-Jewish material, “but it’s not enough,” lamented Yaakov Hagoel, the vice chair of the World Zionist Organization. Posts that target Muslims or the LGBT community are removed promptly, but when it comes to anti-Semitic posts, “they dodge, ignore and drag their feet,” he said.

Cotler-Wunsh, a freshman lawmaker from the Blue and White party, said that Israel does not necessarily expect Twitter to delete anti-Semitic posts but rather to attach labels to them explaining to users why they are problematic.Blue and White MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh (Avishai Finkelstein)

“I’m not making the case for removing all content. I would suggest flagging the context as anti-Semitic. I believe there is a lot more learning that can be done this way,” she said.

She also called on Twitter to implement the working definition of anti-Semitism formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has recently been adapted by many countries, and which considers certain forms of anti-Israel agitation to be anti-Semitic.

“We are already using the IHRA working definition when we do develop our policies and internal documents we train our content operators with. So we’re aware of it and are using it,” Twitter’s Pettersson replied.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.