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| DAILY ALERT |
Monday, June 22, 2020 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Three people were killed and three more were injured in a stabbing attack in Reading, west of London, in what police described as a "terrorist incident." Security sources said the stabber, 25, was thought to be Libyan. (BBC News) See also Libyan Held over Stabbings "Known to Security Services" - Jamie Grierson (Guardian-UK) German federal prosecutors arrested a Syrian doctor, identified only as Alaa M., for suspected crimes against humanity, they announced on Monday. The man was a suspected member of the Syrian military intelligence agency who worked in a regime prison. (Deutsche Welle-Germany) Turkish defense contractor STM is preparing to deliver over 500 Kargu kamikaze drones for use by security forces. Kargu has been used by the Turkish Armed Forces for a year. It has benefited greatly from field use, both as a single platform and as part of a swarm of up to 20 platforms. (Anadolu-Turkey) See also Turkey Now Has Swarming Suicide Drones It Could Export - Joseph Trevithick (The Drive) The Iranian rial fell to its lowest ever rate against the U.S. dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday. The dollar was offered for as much as 193,300 rials, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. (Reuters) See also Iran's Economy in Desperate Need of Solutions - Ali Dadpay As Iran's government oil revenues declined, it continued to pay subsidies, directly and indirectly, accepting a widening budget deficit that stood at 2/3 of Iran's annual budget - and this was before the coronavirus spread to Iran. According to the Central Bank of Iran, Iran's economy is experiencing an average inflation rate of 41%. The consumer price index for meat products has risen by 116%. Iran's major crude oil clients - India and China - have already found new suppliers. The writer is an associate professor of finance at Gupta College of Business, University of Dallas. (Al-Monitor) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday explained his plan to apply Israeli law in parts of the West Bank in a memo to Knesset members from his Likud party. "There can be no realistic Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in which the Judea and Samaria Jewish communities are evacuated. These are established communities in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis live. Relinquishing these territories would not only constitute a historic injustice; such a move would create an immediate existential threat to the Jewish state since Judea and Samaria border central Israeli cities." The planned measure would replace the current military government "with Israeli law and civil administration in already existing Israeli communities in the territories so that those living there can be treated equally under the law like all Israelis." The move should not be called an annexation, as this word "connotes the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state. Israel is doing no such thing. Israel has valid legal claims to the territories while no other state claims the area." Applying Israeli law would not change the status of the Palestinian Authority "in a single Palestinian neighborhood." (Times of Israel) Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Sunday said, "Iran has become the most dangerous country in the Middle East....It has made considerable progress in its nuclear program, but the nuclear is no longer the only threat. Iran also holds conventional weapons. It is supporting and financing our enemies...chiefly Hizbullah, it influences and supports Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, and it is behind attempts at terror actions against Israel in a variety of dimensions and arenas, near and far." (Times of Israel) The Israel Health Ministry reported Sunday evening that 145 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours. 294 were diagnosed with coronavirus over the previous 24 hours, the ministry said Saturday. The number of active patients has risen to 4,848, of whom 29 are on ventilators. The overall death toll is 307. (Ynet News-Jerusalem Post) See also Palestinians Place Major West Bank Cities on Lockdown over Virus Surge The Palestinian Authority has placed major West Bank cities on lockdown following a dramatic increase in new coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh confirmed on Saturday. Health officials in Ramallah said they recorded 108 new cases in 24 hours. (Ynet News) Forty Israel Air Force cadets from the three-year, intensive flight course, including three women, will get their wings on Thursday. Of the 600 cadets who pass the preliminary tests, only 30-40 will successfully complete the course. Course graduates receive a Bachelor's degree from Ben-Gurion University and the rank of lieutenant. The graduation ceremony will take place on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Jewish Defense Organizations - armed militia groups that included the Haganah, Palmach, Lehi, Etzel [Irgun] and others which protected Jews before the establishment of the State of Israel. The course graduates invited Mordechai Raflowitz, an Etzel fighter and grandfather of one of the graduates, to visit the flight school. "When I fought in the Irgun ranks as a Holocaust survivor, the rosiest future I dreamed of was the establishment of the state. Now, my granddaughter will receive her pilots' wings, and I feel that my heart cannot contain my joy and pride," Raflowitz said of his granddaughter, Lt. Y. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Israel's ambassador to the UK Mark Regev is completing his five-year term. During a webinar on Thursday he urged Britain and all countries to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the U.S. embassy's move in May 2018. A country not relocating its embassy to Jerusalem is "discrimination against Israel." He gave examples of countries that changed capital cities in the past (such as Turkey moving its capital from Istanbul to Ankara), and in each case, the international community responded by relocating embassies to the new capitals. "Only in the case of Israel do people say we don't respect your right as a sovereign independent country to choose your own capital city. And in the case of Jerusalem, it's particularly egregious because Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people not since the founding of the State of Israel, but this goes back 3,000 years to the time of the Bible. To ignore the Jewish connection to Jerusalem over so many centuries is to ignore reality." (JNS) The Palestinian Authority and the ruling Fatah faction are hoping that widespread protests will start this week against Israeli intentions to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank. So far, however, the Palestinians have failed to heed the call to demonstrate. Palestinian political analysts said the apathy could be attributed to a number of factors. Many Palestinians are more worried about the growing number of coronavirus infections and the bad economy. Many remain skeptical about the PA leadership's motives and intentions, and its ability to confront Israel and the U.S. Many do not feel that most Arab states now fully support them. Palestinians also feel less motivated to take to the streets as Fatah and Hamas leaders continue to engage in an incomprehensible struggle over money and power, which recently entered its 13th year. (Jerusalem Post) It is refreshing to learn that the largest social-media companies have policies against hate speech on their popular platforms, and have taken it upon themselves to remove anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black and Islamophobic content when they become aware of it. Will they remove discriminatory and hateful anti-Semitic speech as well? As the frequency and levels of violence of anti-Semitic acts soar in the U.S. and throughout the world, we expect that social-media companies will do their part to remove this dangerous content from their platforms of their own volition. The writer is the COO of Zachor Legal Institute, using the law to combat anti-Semitism. (JNS) Observations: Stop Pursuing a Two-State Illusion and Commit to a Realistic Two-State Solution - Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer (Washington Post)
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