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The Iranian Noor News agency claimed on Sunday that alleged Mossad agents were caught trying to blow up a “sensitive site” in Isfahan in central Iran.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on Saturday that it had captured a group linked to the Israeli spy agency that had entered Iran from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The ministry claimed that the agents were planning to carry out “unprecedented acts of sabotage and terrorist operations by using the most up-to-date operational and communication equipment and the most powerful explosives.”
The network was reportedly arrested after they had placed explosives at the site in Isfahan that they were targeting and just hours before they intended to implement the final stage of their operation.
While the report did not state which site was being targeted, the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center is one of the country’s largest nuclear facilities, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
Last month, some of the surveillance cameras used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were removed from the Isfahan site. Additionally, the IAEA reported that 90 percent of Iran’s uranium enriched to 60 percent fissile purity had been moved to Isfahan. In January, the IAEA reported that Iran had informed the nuclear watchdog that it would move the production of centrifuge parts to Isfahan.
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The Israeli military, the Shin Bet and the Border Police early Monday arrested seven wanted persons suspected of involvement in terror activities in the West Bank as part of the ongoing counterterrorism operation, the IDF said.
In a joint operation on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Security Agency and Israel Border Police conducted raids in Nablus to arrest armed terror suspects, seizing a cache of illegal weapons and handguns in the apartment of one suspect. Two Palestinians – Muhammad Al-Azizi, 25, and Aboud Al-Sabah, 28 – were killed and more than a dozen injured during violent clashes in the West Bank city. Al-Azizi and Al-Sabah were members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
“The policy of this government is clear: We will not sit and wait for Israeli citizens to be attacked,” said Prime Minister Yair Lapid during Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, adding: “We will go out and take the fight to the terrorists wherever they are.”
Meanwhile, during operations in the village of Qabatiya – around Jenin in the northern West Bank – Israeli forces arrested two terror suspects.
“During the activity, armed suspects shot at the soldiers, who responded with live fire,” the Israeli army said, adding: “No IDF injuries were reported.”
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After initially believing Russia’s moves against the Jewish Agency to be a relatively minor spat, Israeli officials now view them as the makings of a potentially major diplomatic rift.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned that the shuttering of the Jewish Agency’s offices in Russia could have “a serious impact” on diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Moscow.
An official with the Moscow District Court was quoted last Thursday as saying that its Justice Ministry aims to “shut down” the Jewish Agency’s Russian branch. A court hearing in the case has been scheduled for July 28.
While an Israeli delegation was set to head to Russia in the hopes of halting the order to cease the Jewish Agency’s operations in the country, the departure was postponed since Moscow has yet to give its approval to hold talks on the request to dissolve the Agency on Russian territory.
The Jewish Agency has been active in Russia since 1989, and has helped over 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union immigrate to Israel over the years. It is estimated that 150,000 Jews still live in Russia.
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Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) is under fire by Jewish and pro-Israel groups for accepting fundraising assistance from Neveen Ayesh, a woman with a history of making threats against Jews and Israel. The most recent of those instances was at a July 16 reception in support of Bush.
According to the watchdog group Canary Mission, Ayesh – a government relations coordinator for the St. Louis Chapter of American Muslims for Palestine – has in the past tweeted that she would like to “set Israel on fire with my own hand and watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it” and that “if you are a ‘yahoodi,’ a Jew, “please kill yourself cause you aren’t welcome anywhere.”
“What part of this antisemitic activist did Rep. Bush not know about? Her wish to see Israel and the world’s largest Jewish community burn and be reduced to ashes? Her support for Hamas terrorism?” asked Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, adding: “Do these sentiments reflect Cori Bush’s worldview? If not, say so and return the money!”
Bush previously described Israel’s relationship with Palestinians as an “apartheid system.”
Recommended Reading
- Israel Has Strengthened America Many Times Over the Years (Yoram Ettinger, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Report: Abbas Creating Dictatorship in Palestinian Authority (Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom)
- Israelis Continue High Voter Turnout Despite Election Fatigue (i24NEWS)
- Labradors With a Nose for Cancer Are Saving Lives (Isabel Engel, NoCamels)
- Hollywood and Israel, a Love Story: How the Jewish State Met the Silver Screen (Rich Tenorio, Times of Israel)
