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A Twitter account run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened to blow up the city of Dimona in the Negev desert, where Israel’s presumed nuclear facility is located. The IRGC account posted a video showing multiple explosions in a desert. “Then on the day, we [God] will deal you the fiercest blow. We will surely inflict punishment,” the IRGC wrote in Arabic, citing a quote from the Koran, adding the hashtag “Dimona.” The video is post-dated to Friday.
— IMA Media • ایما مدیا (@imamedia_org) December 25, 2021
A December 13 tweet from the IRGC account reads: “In the event of foolishness on the part of the Zionist regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran is no longer ready to destroy [just] Tel Aviv and Haifa, but to liberate holy Quds. If the security of the holy land of Iran is compromised, no one will taste the moment of security, whether those who are at 1,000 km or at 10,000 km.” Quds is the Arabic name for the capital of Israel, Jerusalem.
Why should the IRGC publish its statements mostly in Arabic, while the official language of Iran is Persian? According to Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled the Islamic Republic due to repression and who closely tracks the Iranian regime’s social media content, it’s because the IRGC is communicating with Iranian proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the other entities under its command, not the Iranian people.
In 2019, the US designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The US State Department — under both Democrat and Republican administrations — has classified the Iranian regime as the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism. The IRGC is estimated to have murdered over 600 US military personnel in the Middle East.
On December 15, the Tehran Times wrote on its front page “One wrong move,” with military targets listed within Israel.
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The United Nations General Assembly has approved an open-ended international investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, which was first set up following the 11-day conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Gaza-based terrorist groups earlier this year.
In May, the UN’s Human Rights Council voted to launch the investigation after the UN rights chief said that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes.
The resolution called for the creation of a permanent “Commission of Inquiry” — the most potent tool at the council’s disposal — to monitor and report on rights violations in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It would be the first such commission of inquiry with an “ongoing” mandate.
On Thursday, the commission came up before the UN General Assembly for budgetary approval. It passed with 125 countries supporting it, eight opposing and 34 abstentions.
Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan said in a statement: “The UN fell to a new low and approved a budget for a despicable and biased commission that has no right to exist.” He said the commission of inquiry ignores Hamas war crimes, including the 4,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilians.
May’s Hamas-initiated hostilities, called “Operation Guardian of the Walls” by Israel, began when the terrorist outfit began launching rockets at Jerusalem, then at towns in the south of Israel and the Tel Aviv area. The Jewish state asserts that the majority of those killed were terror operatives, and insists that it did everything to avoid civilian casualties while fighting armed groups deeply and deliberately embedded in populated areas.
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Confirmed cases of Omicron in Israel reached 1,118 as of Saturday, more than triple the 341 known infections from Tuesday, when the Health Ministry last released specific figures on the variant. The ministry said on Saturday that another 861 infections were “highly suspected” to be Omicron cases, pending test results.
There are currently 90 people hospitalized in serious condition with virus complications, including 34 on artificial lung ventilation.
Israel registered 1,175 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday out of 99,032 tests conducted, indicating a 1.82 percent positivity rate and a further rise in pandemic morbidity. Daily cases have steadily risen from around 400-500 a month ago. Friday’s numbers were the highest daily caseload in over two months when 1,816 new infections were reported on October 12.
Nearly 4.2 million Israelis received the booster dose of the vaccine, while over 6.5 Israelis received at least one dose.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla over the weekend, local media reported on Saturday. The two reportedly finalized an agreement for Israel to purchase about 100,000 of the company’s new antiviral COVID pill that is said to decrease the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk groups by 90 percent.
The first shipment is reportedly set to arrive in about a week.
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The Israeli cabinet is set to approve a $317 million development plan for the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is expected to announce the investment alongside cabinet ministers at Kibbutz Mevo Hama on Sunday. The plan seeks to double the population of the far northeastern part of the country to 100,000, with infrastructure and transportation upgrades, as well as the construction of new communities and housing units.
The development initiative also aims to create 2,000 jobs and turn the Golan Heights into Israel’s renewable energy capital.
A team led by the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yair Pines, formulated the plan, with the goal of increasing the population of the Golan Regional Council and Katzrin Local Council between 2022 and 2025. Katzrin, known as the unofficial capital of the Golan, will see 3,300 new housing units built within five years as part of $183 million allotted toward planning and housing.
In addition, the government intends to establish two new communities in the Golan: Assif and Matar.
In 2019, former US president Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel conquered during 1967’s Six Day War. A new community, named Trump Heights, was subsequently established in the Golan to honor the American president.
Recommended Reading
- Israelis Flood Nazareth for Christmas Celebrations, While Bethlehem Subdued (Claire Gounon, Times of Israel)
- Israel’s Iran Question: To Strike or Not to Strike? (Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli Right and Left Are in Consensus About the Golan (Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Israel Hayom)
- Is Bangladesh Poised to Normalize Ties With Israel? (Jewish News Syndicate and Israel Hayom)
- Peak Conditions: Mount Hermon Celebrates 50 Years of Activity (Shmuel Gordon and Viva Sarah Press, NoCamels)
