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According to a recently published report, a secret meeting was held in March between the United States and senior military officials from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan.
The talks, which allegedy took place in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, reportedly focused on regional cooperation in the face of threats from Iran.
One of the major concerns discussed at the meeting was the aerial threat posed by Iran and its regional proxies. In 2019, oil facilities in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia were damaged during drone attacks by Iranian allies, exposing these countries’ inability to effectively defend against such threats.
In addition, it was reported that the participating states had agreed in principle to create a mechanism to immediately communicate to one another should any of them be threatened.
This meeting was part of the ongoing regional cooperation between Israel and neighboring Arab states that began with the Abraham Accords in 2020.
In related news, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it had conducted a second test launch of the Zoljanah rocket.
According to Iranian officials, the Zoljanah is capable of launching satellites into a 310-mile altitude orbit and has the ability to carry a 1,100 pound payload.
The previous test of the Zoljanah rocket was carried out in early 2021.
Even though Tehran claims that its space program is solely for civilian and defense purposes, Western governments worry that the technologies tested on satellite launch systems could then be used to make it possible for rockets to carry nuclear warheads.
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The Knesset legal adviser chastised renegade Yamina MK Nir Orbach for delaying legislation needed to dissolve the Israeli legislature and call elections for this coming fall.
Orbach announced last Thursday that he would introduce the bill to his Knesset House Committee on Monday, with the first of three full votes on the legislation to take place later the same day.
The delay is seen to be a way of allowing the opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to attempt to cobble together a government without the need for new elections.
This latest political skirmish comes in the wake of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s announcement last week that he would disband the Knesset due to his fragile coalition’s inability to effectively govern the country.
According to the coalition agreement, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is set to become the caretaker prime minister until after the prospective fifth round of national elections in less than four years.
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Senior foreign officials from Israel, the United States, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt and Morocco are set to meet on Monday in Bahrain as a follow-up to last March’s Negev Summit.
Held over two days in Israel’s Negev Desert, the Negev Summit was a “first of its kind” conference between the foreign ministers of Israel and its regional allies as a way of bolstering cooperation on a variety of shared interests.
Monday’s meeting of the Summit Steering Committee will solidify the commitments that were made in March and, in the words of one official, will help put “meat on the bone.”
At the meeting, officials will decide on the rules of operation for each of the Summit’s six working groups: regional security, food and water security, energy, health, education & tolerance and tourism.
Each participating country will head a working group, which will reportedly meet two or three times a year.
These talks are taking place ahead of US President Joe Biden’s July visit to the Middle East, where he hopes to focus on increasing regional cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
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Italy and Hungary are the two best European countries for Jews to live in, claims a new report published by the European Jewish Association.
The report, which is based on an index of polling data and policy analysis, gave a score to each of the 12 European countries with sizable Jewish populations. The metrics for the study included the Jewish sense of security, the number of Jews who said that they had experienced antisemitism and public attitudes towards Jews in each country.
Despite rising antisemitism in both countries, Italy and Hungary topped the list while Germany, which received an exceptional score on government performance related to Jewish issues, received a lower mark overall due to a decreased sense of security felt by Jews living in that country.
According to Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the European Jewish Association, the index is a tool to “demand concrete action from European leaders.” Margolin continued: “We welcome statements against antisemitism by European leaders. But more than statements is needed.”
Margolin added that the European Jewish Association will make individual recommendations to each of the surveyed countries.
The ranking of the 12 European countries is as follows: Italy (79), Hungary (76), Denmark (75), the United Kingdom (75), Austria (75), the Netherlands (74), Sweden (73), Germany (72), Spain (70), France (68), Poland (66) and Belgium (60).
Recommended Reading
- Connecting Strategic Dots on Biden’s Middle East Visit (Eytan Gilboa, Israel Hayom)
- Tel Aviv University Researchers Develop Experimental Drug for Autism and Other Syndromes (Diana Bletter, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Google Engineer Identifies Anonymous Faces in Wwii Photos With AI Facial Recognition (Yaakov Schwartz, Times of Israel)
- A Soldier’s Journey From Paratrooper to Painter (Marcela Homsany, Jerusalem Post)
- The Place Where Hope and Livelihoods Grow in the Galilee (Diana Bletter, Israel21C)
