Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces over plans for a new Israeli settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron.

On December 9, 1987, the first intifada began in illegally occupied Palestine in response to the assassination of four Palestinians outside the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. This fight for freedom has been going on for decades and will not end until Palestine is free. The indignation of the young Palestinians about their hopeless situation has consequently dammed – even after they had long ago noticed that their political leaders did nothing for them, but only appeased and arranged with the occupiers, and more or less under the occupation left their country to their fate. Thus, the desperate Palestinians saw no other possibility than in the refugee camps, in the occupied West Bank and in the annexed East Jerusalem to stand up and fight back.

Syria Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, is a non-governmental organisation registered in the United Kingdom. The group and its activities are widely endorsed by Western governments. Damascus, however, accuses the organisation of extremism and propaganda dissemination.

The White Helmets are ramping up their presence in Syria's Idlib, potentially readying a provocation, Russian President's Special Envoy Aleksandr Lavrentyev, said on Wednesday at a press conference following talks in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Lavrentyev added that Moscow is calling on all its partners to carefully assess the information about the potential provocation.

Proposed destruction of Hebron’s market to make way for a new settlement is Israeli government’s route to refashion its apartheid system as the rule of law

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to interpret Judaism as a nationality and not just a religion, a move that the Trump administration believes will fight what they perceive as anti-Semitism on college campuses, a White House official said.

President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable on school choice in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

The impending order was first reported by The New York Times.

It’s an order that would allow Trump to take further steps to combat anti-Israel sentiments and divestment movements on college campuses by requiring colleges and universities to treat those movements as discriminatory in order to keep their funding.

As should be expected, the government is attempting to stage-manage the shooting at the Pensacola Naval Base. The Pentagon said sailors killed by a Saudi student reportedly angry over the serial murder of Muslims by the US government “showed exceptional heroism and bravery in the face of evil.”

The alleged shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, shot dead by police, was a Saudi national said to be enrolled in pilot training the Florida naval base. It is the same naval base linked to the supposed 9/11 hijackers.

Sources told ABC News that investigators are working to determine if the shooter was acting out because of religious or ideological reasons or if there was some sort of problem or hostility that developed in the course of the training at Pensacola.

Of the 180 countries classified by Reporters Without Borders’ annual report on press freedom, seven Middle Eastern countries are listed at the bottom 10% category of the world’s worst violators.

In 2018, Israel, which often prides itself on being "the only democracy in the Middle East", ranked 88th, a hardly shocking realization, considering its constant targeting, killing, wounding and arresting of Palestinian journalists. The Palestinian Authority achieved an even worse rank, at 137th place. It is telling that not a single Middle Eastern country has made it to the top 30% rank.

In countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, where independent monitoring of government behavior is almost entirely absent, hundreds of journalists simply disappear in the black hole of brutal prison systems – malnourished, medically neglected, and routinely tortured.

The embattled Prime Minister wants Washington to approve of Israel's further expansion into the Jordan Valley, just days after he urged Donald Trump not to miss a rare chance to back Tel Aviv's territorial.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who fiercely fights for re-election, believes that "the time has come to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley," a swath of land spanning between the occupied West Bank and neighboring Kingdom of Jordan. On their part, Israel's closest ally should give a final nod to the move.

"I want American recognition of our sovereignty in the Jordan Valley. This is important," he bluntly told an event set up on Sunday by Israel's Makor Rishon newspaper. As part of the proposed annexation, all Jewish settlements in the area would become part of Israel, he insisted.

News / Syria
Russia warplanes intercept Israeli jets over southern Syria: Report
Monday, 09 December 2019 9:29 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 09 December 2019 10:19 AM ]
US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (L) talks with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a rally with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on the East Steps of the US Capitol on March 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)
A picture taken on October 3, 2015 shows a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber taking off from the Hmeimim airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia. (Photo by AFP)
Russian fighter jets have intercepted Israeli warplanes that were flying over southern Syria, media reports say.

According to Russian publication Avia.Pro, Russia’s warplanes intercepted the Israeli warplanes that had been seeking to attack the T-4 Airbase in Syria's western province of Homs last week.

Donald Trump’s speech to the Israeli American Council on Saturday night in the presence of his biggest donors, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, has caused some shock waves. Largely because he referred to Jewish wealth. Here are some surprises from the speech.

The biggest thing Trump did for Israel was breaking the Iran deal, per Sheldon Adelson:

I said to Sheldon, “What do you think was bigger? … Israel and the embassy going in, and it became Jerusalem, the capital of Israel? Or the Golan Heights [recognition as Israeli territory]?” He said, “Neither.” I said, “What do you mean ‘neither,’ Sheldon?” He said, “The biggest thing you did for Israel was breaking up and terminating the horrible, one-sided, catastrophic deal that was made by President Obama.” (Applause.) Right?

Five Palestinian workers have been injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on them in the early hours of this morning near the separation wall in the occupied northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint shot tear gas into the large crowd who were attempting to get to work, causing dozens of others to suffocate from excessive tear gas inhalation.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the five wounded victims were rushed to the Thabet Government Hospital in Tulkarem. Medics confirmed the casualties were shot towards their lower extremities and described their situation as “moderate.”

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers situated near the gate through the Israeli Annexation Wall at Dahr Al-Abed, southwest of Jenin, shot and wounded a young man from the Palestinian village of Arabeh.

The Palestinian was identified as Saif Iyad Wajih Al-Ardah.

Last week, a Guardian investigation traced a network of Facebook accounts fuelling far-right Islamophobic pages around the world to Israel. Journalists at the UK daily uncovered a plot to take over some of Facebook’s largest far-right pages in an attempt to foment hatred towards Islam and Muslims while fostering support for Israel, in a report titled Inside the hate factory.

As many as 21 of the of the biggest far-right Facebook pages churning out hatred of Muslims at an industrial scale were tracked to “a mysterious Israeli-based group.” Thousands of coordinated fake news posts per week were being produced and circulated to millions of followers around the world.

Major concerns over foreign interference were highlighted in the report published as part of the Guardian’s “transparency project.” It found that messages that were being spread as part of a covert plot included those linked to right-wing terror groups.

The embattled Prime Minister wants Washington to approve of Israel's further expansion into the Jordan Valley, just days after he urged Donald Trump not to miss a rare chance to back Tel Aviv's territorial appetites.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who fiercely fights for re-election, believes that "the time has come to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley," a swath of land spanning between the occupied West Bank and neighboring Kingdom of Jordan. On their part, Israel's closest ally should give a final nod to the move.

On November 20, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had carried out “wide-scale strikes” on the “Iranian Quds Force” and the Syrian Armed Forces in Syria. The IDF claimed that the strikes were carried out in response to 4 rockets, which were reportedly launched from Syria at targets in northern Israel on November 19. The IDF’s Iron Dome intercepted these rockets over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Commenting on the November 20 attack, the IDF claimed that it destroyed “a number” of Syrian air defense batteries because they did not refrain from responding to Israeli strikes. The IDF provided almost no details regarding the impact of its attack. However, photos and videos of the ground show that it successfully hit civilian buildings in southwest and west of Damascus. At least 2 civilians were killed and several others were injured.

The Israeli Air Force has carried out a new round of strikes on Iranian-linked targets near the Syrian-Iraqi border. The airstrikes reportedly hit at the al-Hamadan airport north of the town of al-Bukamal.

Pro-Israeli sources claimed that the strike destroyed a HQ of Iranian-backed militias, as well as ammunition and weapon depots. The U News agency, which is known for its close ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria, also shared reports on Israeli airstrikes, but did not confirm them.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT UK
Israel’s state prosecutor has plans to indict prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cousin and personal lawyer, alongside six other people, on charges related to a possible conflict of interest over a $2bn purchase of German submarines.

Shai Nitzan said in a statement on Thursday the seven would be charged on various corruption offences, including money laundering, bribery and fraud – pending a hearing.

Among them is Mr Netanyahu’s attorney, David Shimron, who represented the German firm involved and was suspected of using his influence over the prime minister in return for a hefty cut of the deal.

Israeli occupation has denied permission for British lawmaker, Philippa Whitford, who is a doctor, from entering Gaza to offer help for patients of breast cancer.

Over the past two and half years[1], I have been working with Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) to improve the provision of services and treatment for breast cancer patients in Palestine.

Last year, I travelled out with the specific aim of setting up a project to enable experienced professionals in breast cancer care to provide teaching and training to local Palestinian clinicians working with breast cancer patients.

Since my last visit, I have managed to recruit a team of specialists from all over Scotland to join the project, which will help improve breast cancer care – prevention, diagnosis and treatment – for women in Gaza and the West Bank.

The resolution was intended both to contradict President Trump, whose recent positions have been pro-occupation and pro-annexation, as well as to potentially warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against any hasty annexations, something he’s been advocating recently.

The bill was hardly perfect, which meant a lot of the voting on the margins defied conventional wisdom. Some traditional critics of Israel voted against the bill over language, and still others rejected the bill because it proscribed a US-imposed solution.

The “gang of four” stood as four Democrats opposing the resolution, and did so because the bill’s final version removed any mention of settlements, of Israel being an occupying power, and watered down language about the two-state solution at the behest of more centrist Democrats.

The Israeli Air Force has carried out a new round of strikes on Iranian-linked targets near the Syrian-Iraqi border. The airstrikes reportedly hit at the al-Hamadan airport north of the town of al-Bukamal.

Pro-Israeli sources claimed that the strike destroyed a HQ of Iranian-backed militias, as well as ammunition and weapon depots. The U News agency, which is known for its close ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria, also shared reports on Israeli airstrikes, but did not confirm them.

Since the start of 2019, the Israel Air Force had conducted over a dozen of strikes on supposed Iranian targets near al-Bukamal. Despite this, the town and facilities around it remain a stronghold of Iranian-backed forces in the border area.

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) is the target of a $90 million lawsuit that accuses the group of engaging in environmental terrorism.

The legal action was brought forward by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and 12 Americans citizens who live in Israel last month. Although they’re identified as the KKL-JNF in Hebrew, the group is widely known as the Jewish National Fund. The complaint alleges that USCPR has funneled money to the Boycott National Committee (BNC) to be used for terrorist activities and that BNC is directly connected to HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front-General Command and the Palestinian Liberation Front. The group’s press release on the action asserts that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement itself is a “campaign of terror against Israel.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reported to be planning a run for Senate in Kansas next year and quietly recruiting funders for that race. And surprise– Pompeo has already reached out to Sheldon Adelson, the biggest Republican donor around, and to other pro-Israel donors– at the very time that he was announcing that the U.S. no longer considers Israeli settlements illegal.

The report by Michael Wilner of McClatchy and Bryan Lowry of the Kansas City Star is frank about the crazy timing here.

The timing of Pompeo’s exchange with Adelson coincided with the secretary’s on-camera announcement on November 18 that the Trump administration would revoke its longstanding legal determination on the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Adelson supports the settler enterprise.

Last month, over 100 Democratic House members signed a letter that decried the Trump administration’s policy shift on West Bank settlements. The letter was initiated by Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI and was sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On November 18, Pompeo announced that the U.S. government was abandoning a 1978 State Department legal opinion which determined that settlement expansion in the occupied territories were in violation of international law. Just a day after Pompeo’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advanced a bill that would annex the Jordan Valley.

“If the U.S. unilaterally abandons international and human rights law, we can only expect a more chaotic and brutal twenty-first century for Americans and our allies, including the Israeli people,” reads Levin’s letter, “Given these serious implications, we strongly urge you to reverse this policy decision immediately.”

Israel is holding a prominent Palestinian scientist without charge or trial.

Ubai Aboudi, an American citizen, was due to travel to the United States in January for a conference on science and Palestinian rights.

Prominent scholars, including Nobel Prize winner George P. Smith and Noam Chomsky signed a petition demanding Aboudi’s release.

The petition calls on the European Union in particular to demand that Israel free Aboudi. The EU grants Israel huge amounts of money under the guise of research and science partnerships despite Israel’s constant violations of the human rights condition in its agreement with the EU.

European Union (EU) countries’ are taking steps towards boycotting the Israeli apartheid system, using its legal, legislative and parliamentary institutions to oppose the occupation, Palestine News Network reported.

The EU condemned the Trump administration’s positions and policies carried out in the Palestinian Territories, occupied by Israel since 1967, especially in Jerusalem regarding the Israeli settlements, and the two-state solution.

Within this context, the EU’s Supreme Court has approved labeling Israeli goods produced in settlements built in the Palestinian territories, and exported to the EU. It should also be noted that the EU always asserts that settlements are “illegal, and are an obstacle for achieving peace.”

On March 20th 1991, the United States Congress passed H.J Res 104, which was then signed into law by President George H. W. Bush and became Public Law No. 102-14. The language of the law asserts that the "Seven Noahide Laws" are the ethical values of civilized society and are the basis on which the American nation was founded and that without these Seven Noahide Laws society stands in peril. It is also stated that it is our nation's "responsibility" to transmit these "ethical values" to the generations of the future and that in the future the President of the United States will sign an "international scroll" pledging to return the world to the Seven Noahide Laws through education and charity. The law also celebrates the birthday of one Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, who along with this organization has been dedicated to spreading and fostering the Seven Noahide Laws in society.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met for an hour and 45 minutes on the specifics of a proposed US-Israel defense pact. The pact amounts to a more or less direct US intervention in Israeli politics, after two elections failed to end with a government formed.

The Trump Administration had made no bones about preferring Netanyahu over his primary political rival Benny Gantz, and the pact seems to be pandering to that fact, since Gantz is opposed to the deal.

Netanyahu looks to be steering heavily into this US lifeline, arguing that the deal proves he needs to stay in power, and that in the event of a rotation government with Gantz, he’d have to be first because of his “unique” ties with the US.

US and Western European officials are continuing a strategy of making dubious allegations against Iran in an effort to try to justify continued military hostility, which is expected to involve a large US military buildup in the region.

In Europe, this is centering on claims about Iran’s conventional missile systems, arguing that they are in violation of a UN ban on nuclear-capable missiles even though Iran doesn’t have any nuclear warheads. Iran has pointed out this is a lie, saying they have a right to missile systems under international law.

This allegation, pushed by Britain, France, and Germany, is likely to be a red herring that will be used in upcoming talks with Iran about their civilian nuclear program to distract from relatively straightforward matters of sanctions relief and enrichment limits.

Israel and the Czech Republic has signed a $125 million government-to-government contract for advanced radar systems from Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta Systems.

The deal, signed by Israeli Ministry of Defense officials and their Czech counterparts during a ceremony Thursday, is for eight ELM-2084 multimission radars, a technology used for Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defense systems as well as the Barak missile system.

The radars are for the Czech Mobile Air Defense Radar program. The program includes Czech businesses, whose work will make up for about 30 percent of the contract’s value.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met for an hour and 45 minutes on the specifics of a proposed US-Israel defense pact. The pact amounts to a more or less direct US intervention in Israeli politics, after two elections failed to end with a government formed.

The Trump Administration had made no bones about preferring Netanyahu over his primary political rival Benny Gantz, and the pact seems to be pandering to that fact, since Gantz is opposed to the deal.

Netanyahu looks to be steering heavily into this US lifeline, arguing that the deal proves he needs to stay in power, and that in the event of a rotation government with Gantz, he’d have to be first because of his “unique” ties with the US.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is keen to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, on the grounds that the US is going to let him do so. Israeli officials, particularly military officials, are warning against one of the primary targets, the Jordan Valley.

The Jordan Valley, which connects the West Bank to Jordan, is something the Israeli right has long wanted to annex, as it would mean the rest of the Palestinian West Bank would never have a border with any nation other than Israel.

Military officials are warning that the big problem would be with Jordan itself, and that this move would further damage Israel-Jordan ties, and might force the Jordanian government to take drastic steps.

Netanyahu adds that during his meeting with Secretary of State Pompeo in Lisbon, the two agreed to move forward with plans for a joint defense treaty; PM also denies reports of him agreeing to serve only 6 months as premier as part of the rotation agreement with Blue and White

The International Criminal Court prosecutor is again giving Israel a pass for its deadly raid on a flotilla to Gaza a decade ago.

Israeli soldiers fatally wounded 10 people aboard the Mavi Marmara after raiding the ship, which was part of a civilian flotilla.

On Monday, Fatou Bensouda declared she is standing by her 2015 decision not to open an investigation into the attack – despite the court’s judges telling her twice to reconsider.

In September, ICC appeals judges called Bensouda “disrespectful” and said she had treated an earlier order to reconsider the case in a “perfunctory manner.”

What do Paul Wolfowitz, Dan Kurtzer, Aaron Miller, and Prince Andrew have in common?

These four privileged older white guys have all sought (and been granted) exposure in the corporate media recently. Paul Wolfowitz, one of the prime architects and advocates of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was given this fine platform on the NYT’s opinion page in order to criticize Pres. Trump’s recent decision to withdraw (or later, reduce/redeploy) the U.S. troop presence in Syria. Dan Kurtzer and Aaron Miller, two of the leading “peace processors” guiding U.S. policy on Palestine and other Middle Eastern issues for 24 years, 1992-2016, were given this platform on the Washington Post, to comment on Trump’s policy on Israel’s illegal settlement. As for Prince Andrew, you may have heard he gave this disastrous interview to the BBC, discussing his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein.

A new Israeli settlement will be built in the heart of the flashpoint city of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, joining a long list of notoriously violent settlements in the area.

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennet, of the ultra nationalist “New Right” party, said on Sunday that a new settlement would be built on top of Hebron’s once bustling fruit and vegetable market, now referred to by locals as a “ghost town.”

According to Bennet, the existing buildings, which belong to the Hebron municipality, will be razed to the ground to make way for new shops and buildings for the settlers.

The new settlement will create a contiguous settlement bloc in the middle of Hebron’s Old City, extending from the Ibrahimi Mosque to the Avraham Avinu settlement, and according to Bennet, will double the Jewish population of the city.

The UN General Assembly yesterday officially asked Israel to leave the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The request was made after the resolution was adopted after 91 UN member states voted in favour, nine rejected and 65 abstained.

The resolution stipulates that Israel leaves all the Syrian Golan Heights occupied in June 1967, stating this is an implementation of the UN Security Council’s resolution.

Backed by the Democrats, the US House of Representatives is planning to vote on a resolution reaffirming the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tomorrow.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

Originally, this was introduced in April and referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee advocates for a negotiated, long-term solution that ensures Israel’s security as a democratic, Jewish nation while also establishing a Palestinian state.

The Israeli government has increased discretionary spending on settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory by 50 per cent over the last two years, reported the Jerusalem Post.

According to data published by settlement watchdog Peace Now, so-called “discretionary spending” “is expenditure by various ministries outside the general budget, including from the Interior, Housing, Education, and Energy and Water ministries, as well as the National Roads Authority”.

These funds are directed towards the construction of settlement housing units, as well as for roads inside the settlements, “buildings for educational, social and religious purposes, commercial centres and industrial parks”, the report added.

France’s National Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution conflating support for Palestinian equality with hatred of Jews – an initiative supported by the country’s Israel lobby.

But most lawmakers did not take part in the vote.

Last September, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that they were working on a mutual defense pact. Such a treaty, if signed, would officially and permanently mandate an American military intervention if Israel were to ever start a conflict with its neighbors.

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison are among 333 potential witnesses in the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s attorney general announced Monday.

On 1 June 2018, 21-year-old Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar was shot and killed by Israeli forces while tending to casualties during the Great March of Return - the unarmed protests that had begun two months earlier along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel and that continue to this day.

In predictable fashion, Israeli officials have cast the protesters - from children to elderly women to disabled persons - as diabolical minions sent by Hamas to lay waste to Israel via “kite and balloon terrorism” and other Scary Stuff.

As with every other manifestation of the Palestinian demand for dignity, Israel has used the Great March of Return as an opportunity to engage in mass slaughter: on a single day in May 2018, some 59 protesters were killed, including children.

Having slipped through Israel's security fence, Emad Khalil Ibrahim Shahin and his friends sneaked into an abandoned barracks and lit a fire. Anxious they were about to be discovered, they fled the scene.

“We ran until we found a sand dune to hide behind on the other side of the fence, but then noticed Emad was not with us. He ran slower because he was on crutches,” one of his companions, who wished to remain anonymous, told Middle East Eye.

“We saw him on the ground and told him to crawl. But then a military vehicle raced up and a soldier fired at him, shooting him in the right leg. Soon a helicopter came and took him away.”

It would be 355 days until Shahin returned to Gaza. He arrived on 23 October in a body bag.

The Israeli millitary has sparked outrage among the secular core of society, after a media report revealed the numbers of Ultra-Orthodox enlisted had been inflated.

Already a sensitive political subject, public radio broadcaster Kan on Wednesday claimed that the military had "doubled or even tripled" the numbers of Ultra-Orthodox drafted in recent years.

The Israeli army has since launched an investigation into how the numbers collected.

Providing additional information on the fresh tussle between the United States (US) and Iran, after the US navy spotted missile parts linked to Iran, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) came out with the story that says the Trump administration is looking to deploy around 14,000 more troops in the Middle East. The news relies on anonymous US officials.

Key quotes
The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, including dozens of more ships, other military hardware and as many as 14,000 additional troops to counter Iran.

Israeli Minister of Defense, Naftali Bennett, on Tuesday, issued a written order imposing international economic sanctions on Palestinian militants abroad, The Palestinian News and Info Agency reported.

A new investigative report by Al Jazeera revealed, on Sunday, that an international humanitarian aid agency helped the Israeli army in a failed spy mission in the Gaza strip, Quds News Network reported

Humedica International Aid is a non-governmental organization based in Germany, providing humanitarian and medical aid for Palestinians in Gaza. The organization backed a failed Israeli spy operation in 2018, hiding Israeli military equipment together with medical aid, in warehouses, Al Jazeera’s “What is Hidden is Worse” revealed.

“I spoke yesterday with President Trump, a very important conversation for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Monday that he talked with United States President Donald Trump about the possible annexation of the Jordan Valley, suggesting that Washington was open to the move.

“Historic opportunities” must be seized Netanyahu said and called on rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to work together and form a government of national unity that would put the bid forward and at the same time avoid a possible third general election.

GHISLAINE Maxwell and her paedophile lover Jeffrey Epstein were both Israeli spies who took pictures of powerful men having sex with underage girls to blackmail them, their alleged Mossad handler has sensationally claimed.

The pair allegedly ran a "honey-trap" operation where they would provide young girls to politicians in order to squeeze them for information for the Israelis.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were Mossad spies according to explosive new claimsCredit: Getty - Contributor
The unsubstantiated claims have been made by Ari Ben-Menashe who claims he is a former Israeli spy.

Ben-Menashe claims that he was the “handler” of Ghislaine's dad Robert Maxwell, who was also a spy, and that it was the former newspaper baron who introduced Epstein and his daughter to the Israeli intelligence agency.

How does Chancellor Merkel intend to explain it during her first visit to Auschwitz on December 6, 2019, that she and her government – given the historical responsibility for the Holocaust and 74 years after the liberation of Auschwitz from the National Socialist concentration and extermination camp by the soldiers of the Red Army – miss any respect when it comes to the permanent break of international law in the “Jewish state”. Does not it respect the respect for international law, as a compelling doctrine from German history, to finally take back the raison d’etat for the security of the “Jewish state”? How can a German government ignore the constant violations of international law simply because they are committed by a Jewish regime, descendants of the victims of the Holocaust? The clear rules, which international law has, Merkel can not simply sweep her “Christian Zionism” under the table.

Jordanian army units have carried out military exercises during the past few days simulating the response to an Israeli invasion. They took place in the presence of King Abdullah II and the Prime Minister amid wide official interest, which suggests that the general mood in the Kingdom is to prepare for different scenarios, including those which are much worse than the “deal of the century” given what has been leaked about it so far.

In recent months, it has become clear that there is a deep crisis between Jordan and Israel. This was evident by Jordan’s refusal to renew the lease for Israel to use Baqoura and Ghumar, and instead insist on restoring its own sovereignty over the two areas. The King then visited them wearing his military uniform, viewing them as liberated. The most recent evidence of this is putting on trial an Israeli citizen who entered Jordan illegally, making him the first Israeli to be tried in the history of the Jordanian judiciary.

Military training exercise conducted by the Jordanian Armed Forces on Monday, named “Swords of Karama,” received wide attention from Israel. The training was held near the Western border region.

The training that King Abdullah II and senior Jordanian officials attended was named after the “Battle of Karama” that took place in 1968 and ended with Jordan’s victory against the occupation army. The King of Jordan has described relations with Israel as “going through its worst stage ever,” while expressing outrage at Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu since the latter announced his intention to annex the Jordan Valley and the northern basin of the Dead Sea to Israel.

The training involved carrying out a defensive battle of artillery, fighter jets and helicopters, aiming to destroy enemy premises and bridges that could be used as crossing points, in addition to holding archery exercises using various weapons.

An advisory committee set up to monitor and recommend the investment policies of Brown University in Rhode Island has voted to divest from companies participating in the continued subjugation of Palestinians.

The successful passing of the resolution by the university’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP) on Monday paves the way for activists to pressure the university to withdraw support for companies "facilitating the [Israeli] occupation and its human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza".

In a statement released by Brown Divest, a coalition of undergraduate students that has been at the forefront of the call to divest from companies operating in the occupied territories, the group said they were "elated that the university committee responsible for divestment has finally joined the calls for divestment from human rights violations in Palestine".

New details have emerged about a botched Israeli intelligence operation in the Gaza Strip in November 2018 that sparked deadly Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket fire.

Eight undercover Israeli agents - who were disguised as Palestinians and had taken the aliases of a real family in Gaza - entered the coastal enclave on November 11 last year with the objective of planting listening devices on Hamas's private communications system, an investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic's Ma Khafia Aazam (Tip of the Iceberg) programme revealed.

However, the Israelis were stopped and questioned by a Hamas patrol unit in Khan Younis for 40 minutes and became suspicious of their answers. A firefight broke out and the Israeli operatives used guns with silencers, immediately killing Hamas commander Nour Baraka and one of his aides, Mohammed al-Qarra.

Forty-seven incidents of violence toward Palestinians and their property took place over the past tree months ? Israel Police closed most cases because perpetrators were not identified

"This is going to sound insane," Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett introduces during a social media message on Iran published Saturday. He explains that Iran blocked internet access after mass anti-government and economic grievance-driven protests spread to some 100 cities over the past weeks.

"Most social media sites in Iran are still banned as we speak," he notes, while also describing a typical young Iranian's frustration at being prevented from logging in. He then calls for a all programmers and techies to unite for a “worldwide hackathon” to free the Iranians from their regime-imposed internet ban.

“So, here is a crazy idea. How about every techie in the world — Israelis, Arabs, Iranians, Americans, Europeans and everyone else unite for one purpose: to help the long-suffering Iranian people gain open access to all social media. A worldwide hackathon for freedom,” Bennet says.

But while it’s fair to say Iran is involved in the Iran protests, if not the way Pompeo presents it, and tangentially involved in Iraq, opposing the protesters, Pompeo’s attempt to tie Iran to the Lebanon protests is plainly untrue.

Lebanon’s protest of the past month has seen protesters faulting the government for its inability to handle economic struggles, and chiefly the government’s inability to reliably provide electricity across the country.

Pompeo said Lebanese protesters “want Hezbollah and Iran out of their country,” which is simply not true. Indeed, the only politician that suffered from the protest movement was Prime Minister Hariri, a long-time political rival of Hezbollah.

In all three countries, the protests have been non-sectarian in nature, and despite Pompeo’s claims to the contrary, none of them have presented their protests are at all about removing the Ayatollahs from power.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip held a funeral for 16-year-old Fahd al-Astal, who was shot dead by Israeli snipers on Friday.

During the procession? mourners roamed the streets shouting slogans against the Israeli regime. A mixture of grief and anger was the mood among Gazans over Israel’s killing of a young protester.

Fahd al-Astal was taking part in a peaceful demonstration marking International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in the east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younes. Fahd‘s distraught family says the teenager was an active supporter of the Palestinian cause.

Palestinians organized the Great March of Return to call for the legitimate right of Palestinian refugees to return to the historic land of Palestine, as enshrined in United Nations Resolution 194, and the lifting of the illegal blockade. Their peaceful action was met with excessive and lethal of force by the Israeli regime.

The main reasons why US allies are declining the invitation to join the US-led naval coalition and are choosing to distance themselves from the super-power are because they do not want to be dragged into a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran, some such as Germany prefer diplomacy, while others such as Japan want to preserve economic and political relations with Iran. In France’s case they still hold out hope for saving the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]," says Sarah Abed, and independent journalist and analyst.
In addition, the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal a year ago leaving Europe's major states, the signatories to the accords, struggling with the consequences of Washington's move.

"A concern that European nations have is that Washington will exploit the IMSC to carry out their sanctions campaign by interfering with legitimate Iranian commercial shipping vessel missions," he says.

Along with missile manufacturing, the country's Navy has also disclosed five other military projects it is currently involved in, including the sea-launched Pelikan drone, the Sadaf-2 naval mine, the Soren positioning system, the Balaban guided bomb, and the Loqman training vessel.

The Iranian Navy has initiated the mass production of submarine-launched Jask cruise missiles, the chief of the naval warfare service Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said on Saturday.

According to Khanzadi the domestically-developed missile will be fitted onto all of Iran's submarines, adding that the current range of the projectile will be significantly improved further on, allowing it to hit targets across long distances.

t is hardly shocking that the United States government has finally decreed that illegal Jewish settlements which have been built in defiance of international law, are, somehow, "consistent" with international law.

US foreign policy has been edging closer towards this conclusion for some time. Since his advent to the White House in January 2017, President Donald Trump has unleashed a total and complete reversal of his country’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel.

Let us not have any illusion regarding the American approach to the so-called ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict’ prior to Trump’s Presidency. The US has never, not even once, stood up for Palestinians or Arabs since the establishment of the State of Israel over the ruins of historic Palestine in 1948. Moreover, Washington has bankrolled the Israeli occupation of Palestine in every possible way, including the subsidizing of the illegal Jewish settlements.

Two weeks since the air force attack in Deir el-Balah that killed nine members of the Sawarkah family, who were living in a structure that the army had defined as an Islamic Jihad “terror infrastructure,” the Israel Defense Forces are still investigating why the green light to bomb the building wasn’t based on updated information.

But an inquiry conducted by Haaretz shows that this conduct isn’t unusual. According to sources in the defense establishment, the IDF often bombs terror targets in Gaza that were included in its target bank long before the strike without checking in real time whether there are civilians at the site or whether the site has been converted into residences.

Discussions are underway with new NATO ally Bulgaria to create a Black Sea Coordination Center in Varna. The United States is considering a ten-year roadmap for defense cooperation with Bulgaria and is eager to provide Sofia broader access to its high-end military technologies. The advanced technologies would include surveillance capabilities specifically targeting Russia.
There is also a fundamental second level of stupidity in basing such an effort in Bulgaria as the Turks, also frequently at odds with Washington, control the door to the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles. If relations really do go sour and if demands to kick Turkey out of NATO ever do bear fruit, Ankara can make it very difficult for NATO warships transiting into the Black Sea.

Children being made to endure lengthy medical treatments alone is a particularly cruel feature of Israel’s permit regime imposed on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It is a shameful reality that COGAT, the Israeli military body that handles such permits, tries to obscure with liberal use of emojis on its social media pages.

I have previously written about how COGAT tries to present itself as a humanitarian body in its social media propaganda while it plays a central role in Israel’s complete and unjust system of control over Palestinian movement.

For example, COGAT describes its restrictions on the movement of millions of Palestinians, such as military checkpoints, as projects which “improve the quality of life of the region’s population.”

It even put out a video last week boasting of a “service revolution” following the launch of “an advanced call center” through which its Civil Administration “provides clear responses on all topics, to everyone”:

The head of the Palestinian Commission of Detainees' Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, confirmed to The New Arab’s Arabic-language service that Abu Diyak died at dawn on Tuesday, in the hospital of Israel’s Ramla prison.

Abu Diyak had been diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2015. His condition subsequently deteriorated, which Palestinian media say is in part due to medical mistakes at the hospital in southern Israel where he had surgery to remove part of his large intestine.

"The death of Abu Diyak comes after months of warning [the Israeli authorities] about the seriousness of his condition, that he could die at any moment because of the medical negligence he was subjected to," said Abu Bakr.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, issued a searing condemnation of Abu Diyak's death, calling on Israel to take responsibility for its actions.

According to Pentagon officials, the US has begun negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the question of cost-sharing for the ever-growing US military presence in the Saudi kingdom. Talks began with the arrival of US radar and air defense systems.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley met with the Saudi crown prince this week and brought up this matter. Milley was presenting the US presence as aimed squarely at Iran, and deterring Iran from attacking the Saudis.

Gen. Milley also intended to give the impression that this was not a short-term mission, either, saying the US wants to maintain this presence in the region as part of America’s overall regional footprint.

SOURCE: MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
The Israeli government is aiming to increase the volume of Israel’s defence exports, reported Globes, which has revealed the main points of the plan for the first time.

The project, being overseen by the Defence Ministry’s International Defence Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) led by Brigadier General (Res.) Yair Kulas, will begin to be rolled out in early 2020.

According to Globes, the plan is based on “focused seminars for senior commanders in foreign armies”, Israeli military “assistance for promoting sales of Israeli weapons”, and “subsidising small and medium-sized defence companies seeking to sell arms around the world”.

Speaking this week, Kulas said that SIBAT favours a major expansion of agreements between countries, resulting in significant deals for the large defence companies, especially Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft won the 2019 Genesis Prize at the beginning of the year, receiving a million-dollar award given annually to Jewish individuals “who have attained excellence and international renown in their chosen professional fields.” At the award ceremony in June, the prize was presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime friend of Kraft. In his acceptance speech, Kraft told the audience that he would use the prize money to combat antisemitism and BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. He also pledged $20 million towards the creation of a foundation that would do the same.

The good thing about the Secretary of State’s declaration that the U.S. does not regard settlements as illegal is that it is a naked expression of the power of the Israel lobby in U.S. policy making. Even the Associated Press chalked the decision up to Trump’s biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson.

For 20 years Sheldon Adelson has been pouring money into Republican politics to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and he has succeeded. Trump has proved to be Adelson’s “perfect little puppet” (to quote the president on Adelson’s former favorite in 2015), giving the casino mogul everything on his wish list, from recognition of Jerusalem as the capital to recognizing the Golan annexation to tearing up the Iran deal. “A huge check from Sheldon Adelson” and winning Jewish votes in Florida, is how Thomas Friedman explained Trump’s policy last summer. Adelson has more power than the secretary of State, writes Tim Egan of the Times.

Head of Yisrael Beiteinu party Avigdor Lieberman stressed on Monday that he would reject holding a Knesset committee meeting to discuss providing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity, Quds Press reported.

This came just one day after he said that he would support Netanyahu’s efforts to form the House Committee in the Knesset in order to discuss his claim for immunity regarding the corruption cases against him.

“The prime minister said he doesn’t need immunity,” Haaretz quoted Lieberman saying, arguing that a court decision would be “the only thing that would be accepted by all citizens”.

Israeli warplanes carried out fresh air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday following a rocket fire, according to the military, reports Anadolu Agency.

The army said fighter jets struck a number of targets belonging to Palestinian groups Hamas, which rules the seaside territory.

No injuries were reported.

The air strikes came shortly after the Israeli army attacked a number of Hamas sites in the southern Gaza Strip after two rockets were fired from the enclave into southern Israel.

I rarely have anything positive to say about Donald Trump's foreign policy, and his overall approach to the Middle East is damaging and potentially disastrous for the United States and Israel alike. America cannot turn its back on the region, as Trump would like to do, and imagine the Middle East will return the favor. And Israel will not be safe in an America First world in which allies like the Kurds are cavalierly betrayed and enemies like Iran are only haphazardly confronted.

Well then, I guess we have to stay there indefinitely!