The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) arrived in Israel on Tuesday for his first official visit since assuming the role. William Burns is set to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Mossad Director David Barnea and other defense and intelligence officials.
The talks will reportedly focus on Iran’s nuclear program and increasingly aggressive actions in the region.
Tensions between Jerusalem and Tehran spilled over this week along the Jewish state’s northern border, with Lebanon-based Iranian proxy Hezbollah having taken responsibility for firing 19 rockets towards Israel. It came on the heels of a deadly drone attack on an Israeli-owned oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that Washington blamed on the Islamic Republic.
Israeli officials are reportedly keen to hear from Burns about whether US policy regarding Iran has changed following the recent swearing-in of Ebrahim Raisi as president.
Nine members of the European Parliament (MEP) sent a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressing strong disapproval over Brussels’ decision to send a top official to Tehran last week to attend the inauguration of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
The letter raised concerns that the presence of senior diplomat Enrique Mora could have been interpreted as the EU “ignoring Iran’s violent and destabilizing regional policies.”
The MEPs said Raisi won a “sham election” and pointed to his “appalling record of personal responsibility for the most heinous of human rights abuses.”
Known as the ‘butcher of Tehran,’ Raisi is accused of green-lighting extrajudicial executions of political prisoners and is on a blacklist of Iranian officials subject to US sanctions.
Mora was seated immediately behind senior leaders of the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups at the inauguration ceremony.
A march to protest Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling its products in Jewish communities in the West Bank is scheduled to take place in New York City on Thursday.
Participants, who will gather at the New York Public Library and proceed to a Ben & Jerry’s store in Times Square, wil march against racism “in corporate policies,” according to the End Jew Hatred grassroots movement that is organizing the event.
During the Aug. 12 demonstration, particpants will hand out educational materials about the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel while calling for a “week of action” at Ben & Jerry’s locations around the world.
Elected officials and religious leaders plan to attend.
Israel registered over 6,000 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily number since the peak of the pandemic in January and February. According to Health Ministry data 6,275 cases were registered, with almost 5 percent of the people screened testing positive – also the highest percentage in some six months. The number of active cases rose to over 34,000, which includes nearly 400 hospitalized in serious condition.
The jump in the number of cases came as the head of the Health Ministry said more restrictions were being weighed, a day after new rules went into effect aimed at limiting participation of unvaccinated individuals at certain events and venues. On Tuesday, police began stepping up enforcement of the indoor mask mandate.
Israel’s coronavirus czar, Salman Zarka, on Tuesday warned that “we’re at a critical point… for our health, for our lives and for the economy.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett authorized additional assistance to wildfire-ravaged Greece, telling his counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a phone call that the Jewish state will do everything possible to help.
Two firefighting planes and an Israeli Air Force cargo plane loaded with aid valued just over $1 million were expected to arrive to Greece on Tuesday.
Last week, 15 Israeli firefighters were dispatched to bolster the Greek Fire Service’s efforts to battle blazes fueled by an intense heat wave and strong winds.
Recommended Reading
- Mossad, CIA Chiefs’ 1st Israel Meeting Is Critical – Analysis (Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post)
- Why Did So Many World Leaders Attend the Inauguration of Iran’s Murderous President? (Tabby Refael, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Will an Israeli Vaccine Be the Solution to New Variants? (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21C)
- For Anti-Zionists, ‘Palestine’ Does Not Stop at the Green Line (Rabbi Dov Fischer, Israel Hayom)
