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US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will host his Israeli counterpart Eyal Hulata at the White House on Tuesday for talks on the Iranian nuclear program. Sullivan and Hulata will chair a meeting of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SRG), an inter-agency bilateral forum established in March for discussing Iran and other regional security issues.
While Washington is still pursuing diplomatic efforts — namely a reentry into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — senior Biden Administration officials are reportedly meeting with the Israeli delegation to discuss “other avenues” should nuclear talks fail.
The SRG meeting will build on the White House sit-down between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in late August. Biden assured Bennett that he would never allow the Islamic Republic to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Though Tehran has expressed interest in returning to talks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently cautioned that the time to recommence discussions is running out.
On Monday, Bennett’s spokesman Matan Sidi accused the Islamic Republic of being behind the attempt on Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi’s life last week. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the attempted murder was “another act of aggression by Iran aimed at Israeli targets.”
According to local media, the attempted killing was a revenge operation, following the alleged Mossad assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last year.
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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) delayed a vote on Monday to fast-track a bill that would provide Israel with $1 billion to replenish its stockpile of Iron Dome anti-rocket interceptor missiles.
The delay came ten days after the House of Representatives passed a suspension bill to fund the Jewish state’s defense system. Paul is the only senator who refused to “hotline” the legislation even after it had been approved by the House. “Hotlining” is when all 100 senators agree to allow a bill to go straight to the floor for a vote, substantially accelerating the approval process.
Today, @RandPaul joined @AOC, @Ilhan, @RashidaTlaib, @RepThomasMassie in not supporting emergency funding for Iron Dome.
Their objections to funding Iron Dome undermine Israel’s security, cost innocent lives, make war more likely, and embolden Iran-backed terrorists.
— AIPAC (@AIPAC) October 4, 2021
A spokesperson for the Republican senator said that Paul will drop his objection to the Iron Dome hotlining if the $1 billion comes from proposed assistance to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
It is still not clear when the Senate will vote on the initiative.
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Israeli researchers have discovered a mechanism of immune system cells that may help improve the therapy for one of the most common and deadly types of brain cancer.
Scientists at Tel Aviv University found that certain immune system cells, also known as neutrophils, act as “double agents” — in their primary function they attack and kill cancer cells, but over time it was found that they “change sides” and begin to support and intensify the aggressiveness and developmental threat of the tumor.
Dr. Dinorah Friedmann-Morvinski, who led the study at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, said: “One of the major problems today is that these cells that have been sent to heal are suppressed and their actions stifled…. If we know how to change the interaction between neutrophils and T cells so that they are not suppressed, this will have implications for the effectiveness of immunotherapy.”
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Officials at the Population and Immigration Authority have recently had to deal with a somewhat unusual asylum request: A woman from an African nation said that she had to flee her home because local authorities were about to crown her as queen against her will.
The individual in question is reportedly a 43-year-old Christian woman who is married without children and whose mother used to be the queen of the country, but after she died her sister took over. Unfortunately, the sister recently passed away, passing the royal title to the asylum-seeker.
The woman decided that the royal way of life did not suit her, and fled to another city, eventually boarding a flight to Israel.
The application will most likely be denied as the Population and Immigration Authority has since learned that there is a procedure in place for rejecting the royal title in the African country, and it does not carry any penalties.
Recommended Reading
- BDS Comes to Campus Amid Afghanistan Withdrawal and 9/11 Anniversary (Alexander Joffe, Algemeiner)
- A Silent Arab Spring Is Sprouting … in Israel (David Suissa, Jewish News Syndicate)
- The ‘Spanish Schindler’ Saved 5,200 Jews During the Holocaust. Now Spain Wants to Find Their Descendants. (Orge Castellano, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
- Mossad Op to Find Info on Missing Soldier Ron Arad Was a Failure – Reports (Times of Israel)
- 10 Reasons Your Next Trip Should Be to the Negev (Naama Barak, Israel21C)
