Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah coordinated with and supported the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group’s war efforts during the recent round of fighting with Israel, the editor-in-chief of a Lebanese daily paper has said.
Ibrahim Al-Amine, editor of the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar network that personnel from the IRGC, Hezbollah and Hamas established a joint military operations room in Beirut for the duration of the conflict.
The war room was allegedly visited twice by Esmail Ghaani, commander of the IRGC’s overseas Quds Force. The report also states that Hezbollah resupplied Hamas with weapons and ammunition, provided it with intelligence on Israeli movements, and moved Palestinian fighters out of the Gaza Strip during the hostilities.
This revelation comes as Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, asserted that his organization coordinated with the IRGC and Hezbollah during the conflict.
Relatedly, Hamas has recently threatened to renew violence against Israel if the Jewish state “violates” the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi arrived in Cairo for talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. It is the first time in almost 13 years that an Israeli foreign minister has visited Egypt, with Tzipi Livni being the last to do so in December 2008.
Ashkenazi said that during the trip he would reiterate the Jewish state’s commitment to having Israelis held captive by Hamas returned.
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תודה על הזמנתך, סאמח שוכרי,
שה”ח של מצרים, לביקור רשמי ראשון של שר חוץ ישראלי מזה 13 שנים. pic.twitter.com/i3zIiUJavg— גבי אשכנזי – Gabi Ashkenazi (@Gabi_Ashkenazi) May 30, 2021
The talks will reportedly deal with strengthening bilateral ties, as well as efforts to bolster the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas following an 11-day round of intense fighting.
Also on Sunday, the head of the Egyptian intelligence service, Abbas Kamel, will reportedly arrive in Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, as well as other senior security officials. Kamel will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, before traveling to Gaza for further talks on stabilizing the ceasefire.
The first group of tourists in over a year landed at Ben Gurion Airport, after the government began opening the country’s borders in response to a steep drop in coronavirus morbidity. The COVID-19 pandemic led Israel to close its skies to foreign tourists on March 21, 2020. Since then, only foreign students and some individual travelers have been admitted.
The first arrival was a Birthright Israel educational tour group, comprised of 14 vaccinated participants from Florida, Boston, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Everyone was required to provide a negative PCR test before boarding and take an antibody test upon arrival. They will also be tested at the end of their 10-day stay, as is required for re-entry into the United States.
Small groups of vaccinated foreign tourists – up to 30 people – have been allowed to enter as of last Sunday, and the Tourism Ministry expects 20 more groups to come from countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany. The ministry then hopes to expand the number of groups and, in July, allow individual tourists to fly to Israel.
More than 600 musicians have signed a petition calling for artists to avoid playing concerts in Israel. “We call on you to join us with your name in refusing to perform at Israel’s complicit cultural institutions,” the letter says.
It claims Israel committed war crimes during the recent fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and that the “Israeli government operates a settler-colonial project committed to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.”
Roger Waters, the former frontman of Pink Floyd and a longtime activist in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, is among the signers. Other big-name musicians who signed include the band Rage Against the Machine, rap group Run the Jewels, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, and the DJ and drummer Questlove.
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Recommended Reading
- Launching Gaza War Probe Is Proof of UN Bias Against Israel – Editorial (Jerusalem Post)
- To Confront Antisemitism, Advocates Say It’s Time for Jews to Unite, Mobilize and Take Action (Faygie Holt, Jewish News Syndicate)
- With Popular Instagram Account, Europe’s Abandoned Jewish Sites Aren’t Forgotten (Yaakov Schwartz, Times of Israel)
- No Computer? No Problem. Classi Brings Remote School to TV (Brian Blum, Israel21C)
