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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Wednesday that Tehran is continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5%, higher than the 3.67% allowed under the Iran nuclear deal. The report confirmed that the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium is now more than 12 times the limit set in 2015.
The IAEA said that the Islamic Republic’s explanations over the presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site were “not credible.”
The UN’s atomic watchdog agency also reported that Iran as of November 2 had a stockpile of 2,442.9 kilograms (5385.7 pounds) of low-enriched uranium, up from 2,105.4 kilograms (4,641.6 pounds) reported on August 25.
The nuclear deal signed in 2015 with the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia allows the Islamic Republic to only keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds).
The agreement promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for it curbing its nuclear program. Since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the imposition of new sanctions, Tehran has been putting pressure on the remaining parties to come up with new ways to offset the economy-crippling actions by Washington.
Hezbollah’s presence in southern Syria is much larger than previously revealed to the public, a new report by the Alma Research and Education Center has found.
The report lists 58 locations belonging to the terrorist organization in the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra and Dera’a.
After losing the area to rebel groups seven years ago, Syrian forces have returned to southern Syria – along with Hezbollah operatives and Iranian-backed troops.
Hezbollah in southern Syria poses an ongoing operational and intelligence challenge for the State of Israel and stability in the region,” the report said.
Israel has stated that it will not allow Hezbollah to entrench itself in the Golan Heights and has allegedly carried out several strikes against the militia’s fighters.
The Israel Defense Forces were put on heightened alert ahead of the one-year anniversary of the targeted assassination of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Baha Abu al-Ata, with the IDF fearing the terrorist group might mark the occasion with an attack.
Southern Israel’s air defense was beefed up considerably, with additional Iron Dome Missile Defense System batteries being deployed to the area. Israel also directed flights in and out of the country to use Ben Gurion International Airport’s northern routes, thus keeping planes away from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Abu al-Ata was a commander in the Iranian-backed PIJ, specifically the Al-Quds Brigades’ units in the northern Strip. The military assessed that he was personally responsible for several attacks on Israel in the months leading up to the mission to kill him, which was achieved in a precision strike on the apartment in which he was staying.
While both Israel and Hamas assert that they do not want an escalation of violence, there has been an increase in activity along the border. In early November, a drone was downed on its flight from the Strip to Israel. And last month, a Hamas attack tunnel dug from Gaza to Israel was discovered.
Israel and Sudan will begin to cooperate on ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on issues related to water and agriculture, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said on Wednesday after meeting with his Sudanese counterpart in New York.
The meeting comes in advance of an anticipated though unconfirmed visit by an Israeli delegation to Sudan on Sunday.
Sudan is the third Arab country to agree to normalize ties with Israel under the rubric of the Trump Administration’s Abraham Accords. The Jewish state has already signed deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Jerusalem has thus far ratified its treaty with Abu Dhabi, while the Knesset is set to approve the establishment of relations with Manama next week.
The agreement with Sudan, which was reached on October 23, has yet to be formalized.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Levi Salem Musa Marhabi, a Yemeni Jew who is being held by Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. Pompeo said that the United States “stands with the Yemeni Jewish community” in calling for Marhabi’s release.
Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to persecute religious minorities. Levi Salem Musa?Marhabi, a member of Yemen’s Jewish community, has endured four?years?of wrongful?detention. We?call for?his immediate release.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) November 11, 2020
Marhabi was reportedly arrested for aiding a Yemeni Jewish family to make aliyah. The family brought with them a very rare deerskin Torah scroll, claimed by some to be 800 years old and considered by the Yemeni authorities to be a national treasure.
The rebels have waged a civil war in Yemen since 2015. The Houthi movement’s official slogan reads, “Allah is Greater, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
The National Library of Israel’s sixth annual Docu.Text Film Festival is going digital, with a special track for English-speaking international audiences.
The festival, running from November 15-25, features award-winning documentary films, Q&A sessions, and an array of special events. All film screenings are available for streaming by purchase only, while the events are free of charge and open to the public with only Zoom registration required.
- Introducing Muslim Zionism (Einat Wilf, Ibrahim Al Rashidi and Maryam AlZaabi, The Forward)
- Time to Turn Over a New Leaf (Sarah N. Stern, Israel Hayom)
- 16 Hospitals Across Israel to Switch Over to Natural Gas (Jerusalem Post)
- King David-era Fort Found in Israel’s Golan (Hannah Brown, Jerusalem Post)
- 16 Stunning Pictures From the Cockpit of an El Al Jet (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21C)
