Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly assembling a team to prepare for talks on Iran’s nuclear program with members of the incoming US administration. According to local media, the group will include officials from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, IDF, Mossad spy agency and Atomic Energy Commission.
Netanyahu is considering appointing someone to head the team and serve as an Iran-related envoy to Washington.
Joe Biden, who is set to be inaugurated as president on January 20, has insinuated that the US could re-enter the 2015 nuclear accord — from which current leader Donald Trump withdrew America in May 2018 – if Tehran recommits to the terms of the deal.
Iran, in turn, has conditioned such an eventuality on the lifting of US economic sanctions that have since been re-imposed.
Last week, Netanyahu warned against breathing new life into the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): “If we just go back to the JCPOA, what will happen and may already be happening is that many other countries in the Middle East will rush to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. That is a nightmare and that is folly. It should not happen,” he said.
Relatedly, Israeli Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, widely considered a Netanyahu ally, on Wednesday threatened that Jerusalem could green light an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the US rejoined the multilateral agreement.
A senior US intelligence official claimed that this week’s large scale aerial bombing campaign targeting Iran-linked military sites in eastern Syria was carried out by Israel on the basis of intelligence provided by Washington.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was cited as saying that the strikes targeted numerous warehouses used to store Iranian weapons near the Syria-Iraq border. The source further revealed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed the operation in advance with Mossad chief Yossi Cohen at a public meeting on Monday at a popular eatery in Washington, D.C.
The assault, which reportedly targeted more than 15 facilities, was the fourth alleged Israeli attack in Syria over the past two-plus weeks. It comes on the backdrop of ongoing Iranian threats to avenge the January 2020 killing of Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq.
A new study has found that educational materials produced by the West Bank and Gaza Strip offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) support terrorism, glorify violence and promote conspiracy theories demonizing Jews and Israelis.
In addition, UNRWA’s curriculum reportedly declares all of Jerusalem to be the Palestinian capital and fails “to acknowledge the existence of the State of Israel, a UN member state.”
HonestReporting has launched an initiative to expose the truth about UNRWA, which has reinvented the concept of refugee as an inherited characteristic.
Please sign our petition encouraging the White House to release a classified State Department report detailing the true number of Palestinian refugees, a development that could revive the peace process based on principles of transparency, truth and real justice.
Sunday, January 17
Live Webinar and Q&A – ‘Palestinians Exposed: Hate in the Classroom’
Join us for an eye-opening webinar in which Itamar Marcus, Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, analyzes “The World of the Palestinian Child” including, sports, culture, music and education, and how it all contributes to anti-Israel hate and terror.
US Accuses Iran of Harboring Al-Qaeda Leadership (VIDEO)
- Why Were There Massive Airstrikes Against Syria? (Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post)
- How Close is Iran to a Nuclear Bomb? (Amos Yadlin and Ephraim Asculai, Institute for National Security Studies)
- What Will 2021 Bring Israel and Its New Arab Peace Partners? (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21C)
- Mobileye to Test Autonomous Vehicles in Four More Cities in 2021 (NoCamels)
