Israel’s security forces were on high alert Sunday, following a weekend of violent Palestinian riots in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The developments come on the backdrop of this week’s planned celebrations for Jerusalem Day, a national holiday beginning Sunday night that commemorates the unification of the Israeli capital. As such, security officials fear a further escalation in the city potentially leading to a broader conflict.
In this respect, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai has ordered officers, in particular in the Jerusalem area, to “significantly” boost the presence of security forces ahead of “another series of expected events over the coming days.”
On Friday, 200 Palestinians and 17 Israeli police officers were wounded during clashes started by Muslim worshippers atop the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. On Saturday night, hundreds of Palestinians rioted along the Gaza border, burning tires and throwing explosives at Israeli troops.
Also on Saturday, a rocket was fired toward the Jewish state from the coastal enclave, landing in an open field. The Israel Defense Forces responded by striking a Hamas target in southern Gaza. The terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip has reportedly rejected an Israeli offer, conveyed through Egyptian intermediaries, to reduce tensions and thus limit the prospects of a wide-ranging conflict.
Meanwhile, the Central Committee of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah political party on Saturday night warned of “an all-out conflict in all the Palestinian territories.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed optimism with the ongoing negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, going so far as to claim that his country and six world powers, including the United States, were on the cusp of an agreement that would lift primary economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“We’ve reached a point where the Americans and the Europeans are saying openly they have no choice but to lift sanctions and return to the [nuclear deal], and that almost all main sanctions have been lifted and talks continue on some details,” Rouhani was quoted as saying.
Biden Administration officials have repeatedly said that Washington would not lift sanctions on Iran unless it began complying with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Former US president Donald Trump reinstated the financial penalties after exiting the pact in 2018.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adamantly opposes the US’ possible return to the nuclear deal, which he — along with a sizeable segment of the Israeli political echelon — believes will provide Iran with an open path to obtaining atomic bombs once the JCPOA’s so-called sunset clauses expire by the end of the decade.
Jerusalem is therefore attempting to at the very least convince Washington to negotiate an improved deal.
Israel reportedly provided the US with multiple cellphone numbers of former Iranian Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani, intelligence that allowed him to be tracked and ultimately assassinated. According to foreign media, Israel was instrumental in keeping the option of eliminating Soleimani on the table despite resistance by members of the US defense establishment.
Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020 when a US drone struck his car as he was leaving Baghdad International Airport after flying from Damascus to Iraq.
The foreign report noted that “in the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a US military official…. In Tel Aviv, US Joint Special Operations Command liaisons worked with their Israeli counterparts to help track Soleimani’s cellphone patterns. The Israelis, who had access to Soleimani’s numbers, passed them off to the Americans, who traced Soleimani and his current phone to Baghdad.”
Among other revelations is that several US and Kurdish agents stationed on the ground reportedly played an instrumental role in the targeted killing.
In July, Iran executed a man convicted of providing information to the United States and Israel about Soleimani. According to Iran’s judiciary, Mahmoud Mousavi Majd worked for both the CIA and Mossad.
Eytan Stibbe is slated in February 2022 to become the second Israeli to travel to space. Stibbe, who is paying for his trip to the International Space Station (ISS), served in the Israeli Air Force and thereafter founded Vital Capital, which is involved in building infrastructure in impoverished communities in Africa.
A former colleague of Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first-ever astronaut who was killed in the tragic Columbia shuttle explosion, Stibbe will be dedicating his time in space to advancing scientific discovery and education.
“I think the advantage of being a private astronaut is that it can open the door to others who aren’t in obvious scientific sectors. When you look at the ISS, you see a big laboratory where you can conduct many experiments, but psychologists, philosophers, artists, and others aren’t invited to this exclusive club. I want that to change. Space is for everyone,” Stibbe recently said.
“This will be a great experience, and my intention is to involve as many people as possible, whether those be Israelis, North American Jews, kids around the world, and even people in Africa,” he added.
Recommended Reading
- Sensing Victory, Jerusalem ‘Shabab’ Turn Sheikh Jarrah Into Major Crisis (Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post)
- Mahmoud Abbas’ Old, Embittered Leadership (Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, Israel Hayom)
- What the Recently Leaked Recordings Reveal About Iran (Yaakov Lappin, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies)
- European Parliament Raps UNRWA (Shany Mor, Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
- Israel and Korea to Sign Free Trade Agreement This Week (Dubi Ben-Gedalyahu, Globes)
