Citing intelligence sources, The Jewish Chronicle on Wednesday reported that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the nuclear scientist assassinated near Tehran in November, was killed by a one-ton gun smuggled into Iran in pieces by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Fakhrizadeh, 59, was long suspected by the West of having masterminded a secret nuclear bomb program.
The 20-plus spy team, comprised of both Israeli and Iranian nationals, carried out the high-tech hit after eight months of painstaking surveillance, intelligence sources disclosed. The weapon, operated remotely by agents on the ground as they observed the target, was so heavy because it included a bomb that destroyed any evidence after the killing.
Since Fakhrizadeh’s death, speculation has been rife about his killers, with no intelligence agency claiming responsibility for the murder.
This development comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, announced on Wednesday that Iran had started producing uranium metal, in clear violation of the 2015 nuclear deal. The IAEA said that it “verified 3.6 grams of uranium metal at Iran’s Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant in Isfahan.” There are very few non-military applications for the production of uranium metal.
Evidence of this latest breach comes as Tehran is attempting to ratchet up the pressure on US President Joe Biden’s administration. It seeks either a return to the 2015 Iran Deal and/or the lifting of punishing sanctions that Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, imposed as punishment for previous violations, as well as the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program.
The Biden Administration has said that it would not lift sanctions until Iran ceased uranium enrichment.
Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, the highest legal authority in the government, criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its decision to investigate the Jewish state for alleged war crimes. Calling the ruling “very odd,” Mandelblit said the court does not have jurisdiction over Israel.
“The International Criminal Court was formed to fight atrocities worldwide. The State of Israel does not commit atrocities. We have rules of war, and our exemplary judiciary is world-renowned,” he noted. “Issuing this ruling in regards to Israel of all countries – it’s very odd.”
In a 2-1 ruling delivered last Friday, ICC judges wrote that “the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine… extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” It now falls to the ICC’s prosecutor to decide whether to launch an investigation. She indicated in 2019 that she intends to do so.
Mandelblit, however, objects to the very foundation of the ICC ruling, pointing out that international law does not recognize a ‘State of Palestine.’ He called it “regrettable” that the majority of the judges concluded otherwise, “especially since the president of the partial chamber, who was in the minority opinion, sees things as we do […]”
And since there is no such thing as the ‘State of Palestine,’ the decision “…poses no immediate threat to any Israeli,” he said. Nevertheless, the attorney general stressed that the Jewish state is preparing for the eventuality of an investigation.
With tensions on Israel’s northern front on the rise, the IDF completed the ‘Lightning Storm’ drill on Wednesday, which focused on coordinating efforts between different army units near the Lebanese border.
Troops from the Northern Command took part in the exercise, along with soldiers from the Air Force, Navy, Computer Service and Cyber Defense Directorate, Intelligence Directorate, and the Israel Police.
The Israeli military said that “part of the exercise featured the application of the lessons learned from the recent operational events on the Lebanese border; and the battle procedures and operational plans were sharpened against the backdrop of possible escalation.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi visited the drill and examined the readiness of the forces on the ground for defense and attack scenarios. Brig.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, commanding officer of the 91st Division, said that “the exercise we conducted improved our preparedness against Hezbollah.”
Israel plans to open up some hotels, gyms, and other leisure facilities in two weeks to those documented as being immune to COVID-19, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced on Wednesday, in a possible harbinger of a wider emergence from the pandemic.
Israel has said it would issue an official app allowing users to link up to their Health Ministry files and prove that they have been vaccinated against or recovered from the contagion, with presumed immunity, in order to gain entry to leisure facilities.
Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen added that the app will be ready next week and predicted that 60 percent of adult Israelis would be eligible for the so-called Green Pass by February 23.
More than half of eligible Israelis – about 3.5 million people – have been fully or partially vaccinated. The especially encouraging news is that the authorities are seeing a dramatic drop in infection rates amongst older and at-risk groups, the first to be inoculated.
Among the first fully-vaccinated group, there was a 53 percent reduction in new cases, a 39 percent decline in hospitalizations, and a 31 percent drop in severe illnesses from mid-January until February 6. Moreover, a growing body of research is suggesting that even if vaccinated people get infected, they are less likely to infect others.
Film director Steven Spielberg was awarded Israel’s prestigious 2021 Genesis Prize on Wednesday, honoring his contribution to cinema, philanthropy, and efforts to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
The Genesis Prize, dubbed the ‘Jewish Nobel’ by some, is a $1 million award bestowed annually on individuals for their “outstanding professional achievements, contribution to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values and Israel.”
Previous recipients have donated their award to charity. Spielberg, who was only notified of the honor late Wednesday, did not immediately comment as to what he plans to do with the prize money.
In 2020, Refusenik and human rights activist Natan Sharansky won the Genesis Prize. Sharansky donated his winnings to organizations fighting the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world.
Earlier recipients of the award have included Robert Kraft, Natalie Portman, Michael Bloomberg, and Michael Douglas.
- How the Palestinian Authority Weaponizes Children (Donna R. Edmunds and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Israel Hayom, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Tel Aviv Gives Foreign Nationals, Asylum Seekers COVID Shots (Alon Bernstein and Ariel Schalit, Associated Press)
- Israel-Saudi Arabia Peace: What Would the Benefits Be? (Adam Hoffman, Jerusalem Post)
- In ‘First,’ Delivery Drone Gets to Destination in Israel Without GPS Signal (Shoshanna Solomon, Times of Israel)
- Former NBA Star Amare Stoudemire Talks to Yeshiva University Students About Judaism and Playing in Israel (Shiryn Ghermezian, Algemeiner)
