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Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was slated to arrive in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday for a three-day trip that is expected to include meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United Arab Emirates’ top diplomat and Jewish leaders.
The centerpiece of the trip is a trilateral meeting between Lapid, his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Blinken.
“They will discuss progress made since the signing of the Abraham Accords last year, future opportunities for collaboration, and bilateral issues, including regional security and stability,” the State Department previously announced in a statement.
The rendezvous takes place as US officials said that they anticipate that nuclear talks with the Iranian regime will resume “soon.” Washington says that the new government in Tehran conveyed, through intermediaries, its interest in returning to negotiations regarding the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Deal.
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An Iran-linked hacker cell identified as DEV-0343 has attacked numerous companies in the defense and shipping sectors that work with the governments of Israel, the United States and countries in the European Union, Microsoft revealed in a blog post.
According to the software giant, the spying efforts over the last four months targeted manufacturers of “military-grade radars, drone technology, satellite systems, and emergency response communication systems.”
Tehran reportedly sought to hack some 250 businesses using a technique known as “password spraying,” in which attackers test large volumes of the most popular passwords on user accounts. However, Microsoft said that only 20 were actually breached.
“Given Iran’s past cyber and military attacks against shipping and maritime targets, Microsoft believes this activity increases the risk to companies in these sectors, and we encourage our customers in these industries and geographic regions to review the information shared in this blog to defend themselves from this threat,” Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center concluded.
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Israel’s parliament has inaugurated a new caucus dedicated to promoting the Abraham Accords, the Trump administration-brokered normalization deals between the Jewish state and, to date, four Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Jared Kushner, who played an instrumental role in crafting the agreements, and Ivanka Trump attended the ceremony alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, who was Israel’s prime minister when the Abraham Accords were forged.
During the event, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that the current Israeli government was pursuing normalization with additional Arab states.
“I call upon the Palestinians and every Arab nation that is listening: We seek peace. Peace is not a compromise or a weakness but rather an embodiment of the human spirit,” Lapid asserted. “Those living in the Middle East are welcome to look around and see which countries are in a better position: those who seek peace, or those who seek war?”
For his part, Netanyahu, who is now opposition leader, added: “As long as people said peace can’t be made with the Arab world without peace with the Palestinians, we couldn’t have achieved peace. We broke the Palestinian veto and brought four historic peace deals.”
Meanwhile, David Friedman, who served as US ambassador to Israel during former president Donald Trump’s term, hosted a gala to mark the opening of his think tank, The Friedman Center for Peace through Strength.
“We are on the cusp of ending the Israeli-Arab conflict and changing the Middle East,” he said to applause.
The shindig was attended by Trump administration officials such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and previous treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin. International guests also included Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who noted that the Abraham Accords could eventually lead to Israel co-hosting the soccer World Cup with Arab countries.
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Israel’s cabinet has approved the appointment of Ronen Bar as the new head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the rough equivalent to the United States’ FBI.
“Ronen is a brave fighter and a daring commander who, throughout his life, has dealt with the highest mission of all – protecting the security of Israel,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, adding that Bar had “risked his life more than once for the homeland.”
Bar, 55, will replace Nadav Argaman, who has held the Shin Bet’s top position for more than five years. In the 1980s, Bar was a fighter in Israel Defense Forces’ elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit. He joined the Shin Bet in 1993 and moved up the ranks from a field agent to head of the operations unit, before being promoted to deputy chief in 2018.
“I thank the Prime Minister for the trust and backing, and I am just waiting to start working with our excellent employees,” Bar said.
Recommended Reading
- Don’t Believe the Rhetoric on Terrorism and Radical Islam (Yoram Ettinger, Algemeiner)
- A Common Battle Against the Poison of Antisemitism (Ambassador Erik Ullenhag, Israel Hayom)
- ‘Astronauts’ Begin Mars Simulation in Planetary Dome in Negev (Yafit Ovadia, Calcalist)
- Ice Cream, Sushi Fly Across Tel Aviv Skies in Latest Test of Israeli Drone Program (Rebecca Klapper, Newsweek)
- First Jewish Wedding Held in Bahrain in 52 Years (Shira Hanau, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
