The Israeli government warned US officials that Iran is closer than ever to attaining nuclear weapons. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and other Israeli officials recently addressed the issue with their American counterparts, issuing an “unusual warning.”
“Something has to happen with the negotiations with Iran,” a senior Israeli diplomat told local media. “This ‘limbo’ cannot be a time when Iran is quickly advancing toward becoming a nuclear threshold state.”
This comes on the heels of King Abdullah II’s revelation that Jordan has been attacked by Iranian-made drones and missiles that were aimed at Israel but fell short of the Jewish state.
The monarch then listed a number of concerns related to Tehran, including its nuclear program, ballistic missile advancements, cyberattacks and fighting along Jordan’s borders with Syria and Iraq.
Nuclear talks between world powers and Iran, with which the US is negotiating indirectly, have been taking place for months in Vienna. The goal is to pave the way for Washington’s return to the accord from which former president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. His administration subsequently reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Palestinian factions and human rights organizations have called on Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups to stop storing weapons in residential areas following another explosion, which killed one person and injured 14 others late last week.
The Palestinian NGO Network, an umbrella organization comprising 133 member organizations, also called for a “serious and transparent” investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, the IDF on Monday struck several Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip in response to the launch of incendiary balloons that set off at least three blazes in southern Israel. Photos and video posted on social media showed Hamas-affiliated terrorists sending the objects into the Jewish state. On one of them was written the message: “Time is running out.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has compared the incendiary balloons to rocket fire, and has ordered airstrikes following previous instances as well.
On the backdrop of growing tensions between Israel and Iranian terrorist proxies that operate primarily along the Jewish state’s northern borders, the IDF reportedly conducted air strikes in Syria that killed a Hezbollah military commander and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) senior official.
Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out missions in Syria targeting Iranian-backed fighters, Hezbollah forces and weapons depots and convoys.
The escalation is in response to fears inside Jerusalem that its arch-foe Tehran seeks to gain a permanent military foothold on the Jewish state’s doorstep.
The first direct commercial flights between Israel and Morocco landed in Marrakesh on Sunday, more than seven months after the countries normalized diplomatic relations in a US-brokered deal.
Passengers from Tel Aviv arrived on an Israir flight and were met with dates, cakes, and mint tea at a welcoming ceremony organized in their honor.
A second flight, by the Israeli national carrier El Al, landed in Marrakesh later in the day. El Al said it plans five flights per week to Marrakesh and Casablanca.
Morocco was one of four regional states to agree to normalize ties with Israel last year, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan. It is home to North Africa’s largest Jewish community, which numbers around 3,000. Some 700,000 Jews of Moroccan origin live in Israel.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said last week that he would visit Morocco once direct flights commenced.
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Recommended Reading
- Will Russia Try to Close Syrian Airspace to Further Israeli Airstrikes? (Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post)
- A Palestinian State Would Cripple US Interests in the Region (Yoram Ettinger, Jewish News Syndicate)
- At Home in the Arabian Gulf, I’ve Never Felt Unsafe as a Jew (Houda Nonoo, Times of Israel)
- The Inspirational Life of Menachem Begin (Joseph I. Lieberman, Israel Hayom)
- Avishag Semberg Takes Bronze in Israel’s First-Ever Olympic Medal in Taekwondo (Algemeiner)
