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The al-Qaeda leader allegedly assassinated in Iran by Israeli agents at Washington’s request was purportedly planning attacks on Jewish and Israeli assets prior to his targeted killing.
The revelation comes after The New York Times on Friday reported that the terror group’s second-in-command, Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah, known by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was on August 7 taken out by two Israeli spies on a motorcycle.
Tehran has denied the NYT report, describing it as an attempt “to shift the responsibility for the criminal acts of al-Qaeda… and link Iran to such groups with lies and by leaking made-up information to the media.”
The US had introduced a $10 million bounty for information leading to the capture of Abdullah, who is accused of masterminding two deadly attacks on American embassies in Africa in the 1990s as well as the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya.
Observers have noted the similarities between the nature of the operation that killed Abdullah and a series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years attributed by foreign news outlets to Israel’s Mossad.
Abdullah was apparently assassinated on the anniversary of the 1998 attacks on the US missions in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that murdered 224 people.
Two rockets were apparently inadventently fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, with security officials telling HonestReporting that the IDF’s working assumption was that the launches were likely triggered by a lightning storm. One of the projectiles set off red alert sirens in the city of Ashdod, located approximately 40 kilometers from the Palestinian enclave, but it was believed to have been downed by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.
The other fell in an open area just south of Tel Aviv. No injuries or damages were reported in either case.
Nevertheless, the Israeli military responded by targeting military posts and underground infrastructure belonging to Hamas, which Jerusalem holds responsible for all hostilities emanating from Gaza.
Despite ongoing Qatar-mediated cease-fire talks, the IDF last week was placed on high alert and the border with was Gaza reinforced ahead of the one-year anniversary of the targeted assassination of Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata. Last month, the IDF uncovered a Hamas attack tunnel that crossed into Israeli territory.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a trip to Israel this week is expected to become the highest-ranking American official to ever visit a Jewish community located beyond the pre-1967 borders. He is also reportedly slated to tour the Golan Heights, which Israel acquired along with the West Bank during the Six Day War.
The decision to visit both territories is being construed as a last-ditch effort by the Trump Administration to solidify its recognition of the legitimacy of Israel’s civilian presence in the former and the Jewish state’s sovereignty over the latter.
The prospective move has drawn the ire of the Palestinians, who claim the West Bank in its entirety as part of a potential future state.
To this end, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh asserted: “We deplore US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo’s intent to visit the illegal settlement of Psagot, built on lands belonging to Palestinian owners in El-Bireh city.…This dangerous precedent [is] a blow to [international] legitimacy [and] UN [resolutions].”
Ramallah has been boycotting the White House since President Donald Trump in December 2017 recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and subsequently moved the US Embassy to the holy city.
Five American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash near Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort town located in the Sinai Peninsula. Although initial reports pointed to a mechanical malfunction, the US Army said that the incident is still under investigation.
The troopss were part of the US branch of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), which was created in the wake of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty. As part of that deal, the Jewish state returned Sinai, which had been acquired militarily during the Six Day War.
The peacekers were tasked with ensuring that the region remained demilitarized in accordance with the landmark agreement.
The US is the largest contributor of the thirteen countries that make up the MFO.
Israel has approved the creation of “tourism islands” in Eilat and at the Dead Sea, where hotels and some attractions are slated to reopen. Visitors will be required to be tested for COVID-19 before vacationing in the designated zones. The plan has already been approved by parliament as part of the government’s effort to revive the struggling tourism sector that has been decimated by the global pandemic.
Under the proposal, holiday goers must pass a coronavirus test 72 hours before arriving and must be tested every week thereafter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the initiative ass an “excellent solution… that will not only be welcomed by the residents of Eilat and the Dead Sea area but by all the citizens of Israel.”
Among the other measures to be discussed this week by the so-called coronavirus cabinet are restarting in-person learning for students in grades 5-6 and 11-12, allowing malls to reopen, and, to offset the possible resulting rise in infections, instituting a nationwide curfew.
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Are Israel and the US planning to attack Iran? (Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post)
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CNN Host Amanpour’s Comparison of ‘Kristallnacht’ to Trump Era Derided as ‘Despicable’ (Algemeiner)
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A German Man’s Nazi Grandfather Took Over a Jewish Man’s Store. He Tracked Down His Descendants to Apologize (Lianne Kolirin, CNN)
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An Open Letter to York and UBC: Promoting Hatred is Never Justified (Seth Petel and Jake Reznik, Jewish News Syndicate)
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Israel Aims to Boost Ties With Diaspora (Jewish News)
