Tag: israel

U.S. Expects Response to Israel to Be a ‘Mass Casualty Event’: Ominous Report

The United States is reportedly expecting a “mass casualty response” if Israel bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities.

On Wednesday, the State Department ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Further, it authorized nonessential personnel and family members to leave the Persian Gulf nations of Bahrain and Kuwait, which are also in the immediate vicinity of Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations” across the Persian Gulf region, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. The command “is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.”

President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if a strike by Israel against Iran is imminent.

“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” he responded. “Look, it’s very simple, not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Other than that, I want them to be successful.”

Trump noted he stopped a full-on war between India and Pakistan from breaking out, which he thought likely would have resulted in nuclear weapons being exchanged.

The implication seemed to be that there is still hope the Israeli strike against Iran may be averted.

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Israel strikes nuclear and missile sites across Iran

The Israeli Air Force conducted dozens of strikes in Iran on Thursday targeting nuclear and missile sites.

Why it matters: Israel is directly attacking its biggest and best-armed adversary, without clear backing from the U.S.

  • President Trump publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites on Thursday, saying he still believed a nuclear deal was possible.
  • Hours later, Israel began targeting nuclear sites as well military headquarters, military commanders, and other Iranian officials, Israeli officials said.

Driving the news: Sirens sounded across Israel on Thursday night. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a special state of emergency across the entire country.

  • “Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the state of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Katz said.
  • An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said only “necessary” activities should take place in Israel starting Friday morning local time. That includes a ban on “educational activities, gatherings and workplaces, with the exception of essential businesses.”
  • Israeli airspace was also closed.

The big picture: The Israeli strikes have launched a new military conflict that poses grave danger to both Israel and Iran.

  • An IDF official told reporters the operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities will take several days, and Israel expects Iran to retaliate with missile and drone attacks.
  • The IDF official claimed that in recent weeks Israel had indications that Iran was racing for a nuclear bomb and that with every day that passed Israel would have less visibility into Iran’s advancements. “We are now in a strategic window of opportunity and close to a point of no return, and we had no choice but to take action,” the official said.
  • Iran denies that it is pursuing a nuclear weapon, and the U.S. and other allies have made no such warning about Iran racing toward a bomb.

Behind the scenes: The U.S. notified several of its allies in private on Thursday that Israeli strikes were imminent and made clear it was not involved, one of the sources said.

  • The Trump administration told Israel it would not participate in any strikes on the nuclear program, Axios reported.
  • However, the U.S. has previously helped defend Israel from Iranian attacks and would likely do so again if this strike kicks off a retaliatory cycle.
  • Before the operation became public, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tweeted that he was at the embassy in Jerusalem and “will remain here all night,” adding: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

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Gaza Tribunal in Sarajevo Documents How Genocide Has Eroded International Law

Dozens of lawyers, academics, human rights advocates, and journalists from Palestine, Israel, and global civil society issued a call to conscience on May 29 from a gathering in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dubbed the Sarajevo Declaration, the 2,000-word document was the culmination of the three-day preliminary hearing of the Gaza Tribunal, a newly formed people’s justice initiative aiming to voice “collective moral outrage” over what it described as Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and the decades of impunity for atrocities leading to it.

Throughout three eight-hour days, the tribunal heard 45 back-to-back testimonies of research and analysis on the conditions of life and death in Gaza and across the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The entries — about obliteration of cultural heritage, violations of reproductive and disability rights, the weaponization of accusations of antisemitism, capital accumulation on Gaza’s rubble and in the West Bank, and otherwise — made a case beyond the charge of genocide, which members of the tribunal and a growing proportion of the global human rights community view as fact. Unbound by formal procedure and jurisdiction, tribunal members also brought in analysis of the context predating October 7, 2023. All together, they built an argument that the present stage of genocide in Palestine is the logical end point of a Zionism’s project of domination initiated before 1948 — and that the exceptions that have allowed it have also undermined international law, global cooperation and the United Nations system for all.

Israel and those enabling its actions “want Gaza to be the graveyard of international law,” said Raji Sourani, a Palestinian attorney from Gaza and founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza City, in his address at the close of the tribunal’s first day. “Not for Gazans, not for Palestinians, but for the whole world.”

The semi-closed session on the hushed campus of the International University of Sarajevo was the Gaza Tribunal’s first meeting, with the final verdict planned for a last session in October. The proceedings — in their quasi-academic format of panels, PowerPoints, and papers — were both desperate in their desire to impede atrocities and self-conscious of the impossibility to meet the present horror: Israel’s military has intensified its aerial bombardment and blockade of Gaza, in addition to opening fire on people queued for food, leading to some of the deadliest days since Israel broke the last ceasefire in March.

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US Anticipating Potential Israeli Attack on Iran

The US is on high alert in the Middle East and is anticipating a potential Israeli attack on Iran, The Washington Post has reported. Amid the anticipation, the US is reducing the presence of non-essential personnel in the region.

US officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the military has authorized the “voluntary departure” of the dependents of US troops from locations across the Middle East.

The US is also evacuating personnel from its embassy in Iraq. A State Department official told Al-Monitor that the US is “constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies. Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.”

The State Department has authorized the departure of non-essential personnel at its embassies in Kuwait and Bahrain, providing them with the option to leave rather than a mandatory evacuation.

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Leading rabbi accused of sexually assaulting young girls

Several young women accuse a leading rabbi of repeatedly sexually assaulting them and others in interviews with Channel 12.

The women describe how Rabbi Haim Yosef Abergel, A prominent Sephardic rabbi from the southern city of Netivot, repeatedly molested them in recent years, with some of them as young as 12 when the assaults started.

The young women describe how aides to the rabbi tried to silence them and their families with threats and bribes.

One of the women, who spoke on camera but was not identified, filed a complaint with police this morning. Channel 12 says police are likely to launch a formal investigation.

A lawyer for Abergel denied the accusations, calling them completely false and a blood libel.

Abergel made headlines recently with reports he was planning on establishing a new Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party to compete with Shas.

Abergel is the son of the late Rabbi Yoram Abergel, a popular rabbi who himself split with Shas in 2015. In 2013, the senior Abergel was arrested on suspicion of extortion in connection with threats against a mayoral candidate in Netivot, but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

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Israel confirms it is arming Hamas rivals in operation opposition calls ‘complete madness’

Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the covert enterprise on Thursday, calling it “a good thing.” In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said Israel had “activated clans in Gaza which oppose Hamas,” and that it was done “under the advice of security elements.”

Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Avigdor Liberman divulged the move on Israel’s Ch. 12 News on Wednesday, saying that Israel was distributing rifles to extremist groups in Gaza and describing the operation as “complete madness.”

“We’re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,” Liberman said one day later on Israel’s Army Radio, adding that Israel is providing weapons to “crime families in Gaza on Netanyahu’s orders.”

“No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed towards Israel,” he said, a warning echoed by one of the officials who spoke with CNN. After Liberman’s revelation, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying, “Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment.”

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Mike Huckabee: US No Longer Pursuing Goal of Palestinian State

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday that he believes the US is no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state.

“Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” the former Arkansas governor told the outlet, adding that he didn’t think those “changes” would happen “in our lifetime.”

When asked if the US was still pursuing the goal of a Palestinian state, he said, “I don’t think so.”

While the US has been working against a Palestinian state for decades by continuing to back Israel as it expands illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Huckabee’s comments mark one of the most explicit denials of the goal of a Palestinian state from a top US official.

Huckabee also suggested that a Palestinian state could be carved out of a Muslim country. “Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?” he said, using the Biblical name for the West Bank.

For Huckabee, his opposition to a Palestinian state is ideological and rooted in his religious beliefs. As a Christian Zionist, Huckabee believes that God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel.

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Iran Warns They’ll Strike Israel’s Nuclear Sites If Their Own Are Attacked

From The Straits Times, “Iran says has intel to strike Israel in response to ‘any’ attack on nuclear sites”:

An intelligence trove that Iran claimed it had obtained “would enable the fighters of Islam to immediately strike (Israel’s) hidden nuclear facilities in response to any possible attack by the Zionist regime on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” the Supreme National Security Council said in a statement.

It also said Iran would respond in a “precisely proportional” manner to any Israeli attack on its military or economic infrastructure.

On June 7, state media reported that Tehran had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence in a covert operation, including files related to Israel’s undeclared nuclear facilities and defence plans.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib later said that the seized documents included information related to Western countries including the United States, and “will be published soon”.

On June 9, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, said the intelligence would make “the impact of Iranian missiles more precise” in case of a confrontation.

Via Middle East Spectator:

Full statement by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council:

‘In the name of God Almighty.

The recent complex intelligence operation carried out by the anonymous soldiers of the ‘Imam of our Time’ (Imam Mahdi) are a great intelligence achievement and an important part of the intelligent design and covert and secret actions by the sacred Islamic system against the enemies’ schemes.

Another important part of this is the round-the-clock struggle of our armed forces to create operational capacity aligned with the weaknesses and strengths of the Zionist regime and its supporters.

Today, access to this newly revealed information and the completion of the intelligence and operational cycle have enabled the warriors of Islam to immediately counter any possible attack by the Zionist regime’s against our nuclear facilities.

To any such aggression we will respond instantly, by attacking their hidden nuclear facilities and their economic and military infrastructure, in proportion to the type of aggression carried out against us.

The US is still ridiculously demanding Iran end all enrichment of uranium, which Iran has already made clear is a non-starter.

“They [the Iranians] don’t want to give up what they have to give up,” Trump said on Monday. “You know what that is: They seek enrichment.”

“They have given us their thoughts on the deal, and I said, you know, it’s just not acceptable for it,” Trump continued.

“We can’t have enrichment. We want just the opposite, and so far, they’re not there. I hate to say that, because the alternative is a very, very dire one,” he added.

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State Department Weighing $500 Million Grant to Controversial Gaza Aid Group: Report

According to The New Arab, the State Department is considering a massive distribution to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The new Israeli and US-backed agency has been accused by human rights groups of being a tool of Tel Aviv to complete the ethnic cleansing of Gaza rather than an organization attempting to feed the starving people of the Strip.

Citing two current and two former officials, the outlet reported that the State Department is considering a $500 million transfer to the GHF. The money would fund the organization for about six months.

Responding to an inquiry by the Libertarian Institute, the State Department press office declined to confirm the report, only stating that the GHF is “an independent organization” that “currently does not receive [US government] funding.” It directed further questions to the organization itself, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some US officials have opposed the large grant, raising concerns related to incidents when Israeli forces killed scores of Palestinians near GHF aid sites.

The GHF has met intense criticism for being unprepared to provide food and other desperately needed supplies in Gaza. UN and other aid agencies previously used established distribution networks to feed the millions of people languishing under the Israeli blockade. However, since the GHF was established in February, Israel has refused to allow UN and international agencies to bring aid into Gaza in favor of the new organization.

In the first weeks of the GHF operations in Gaza, Israeli forces killed scores of Palestinians attempting to get food, prompting top officials and firms to cut ties with the agency. GHF’s previous executive director, Jake Wood, resigned just hours before the organization began operating in the Strip, arguing the group’s plans were not in line with “humanitarian principles.”

Reverend Johnnie Moore, an American evangelical Christian leader and staunch Zionist, took over Wood’s role last week.

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Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of ‘Several’ Patriot Missile Batteries

In early May it was first reported that a US-supplied Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel would be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. This was despite what the White House’s National Security Council said at the time in a statement: “President Trump has been clear: he wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop.”

But American and Western arms for Ukraine have continued flowing, with no end in sight, despite what was a very brief stoppage of maybe a couple days earlier in Trump’s term. Israel has just revealed that it wasn’t merely “one” Patriot battery transferred to Ukraine, but “several”.

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky unveiled in a Sunday interview with Pravda USA that Israel has delivered several MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Kiev, in a clear significant escalation in its military support to the Zelensky government.

During the opening years of the war Israel largely remained on the sidelines, for fear of damaging sensitive relations with Russia, which has maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria’s coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus.

Ambassador Brodsky told the Ukrainian media publication (according to machine translation):

The Patriot systems that we once received from the United States are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service with Israel in the early 90s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. And unfortunately, not much was said about this. But when they say that Israel did not help militarily, this is not true. This is not true,” Brodsky emphasized.

This appears to be confirmation of what Axios reported in late January:

The U.S. military transferred around 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from storage in Israel to Poland this week in order to deliver them to Ukraine, three sources with knowledge of the operation tell Axios.

These are apparently older US-supplied systems which remained in Israel’s stockpile. Still, the NY Times had presented that merely one Patriot battery was being prepped, in this May 4 report for example:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Israel is perhaps only making this public now in the context of Russia’s air war against Ukrainian cities, and the capital in particular, heating up.

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