Expecting Unrest, IDF Drops Leaflets Warning Gazans Not To Approach Border Fence
IDF aircraft dropped leaflets, ahead of Friday’s (8th) planned protests, warning Gaza residents against approaching the border fence and attempts at sabotage and terrorism, according to the IDF spokesperson’s unit.
In the leaflets, distributed Thursday (7th), the IDF called on Gazans to abstain from being pawns at the hands of Hamas. “For your own benefit, you are better off not taking part in the violent riots on the fence and not crossing the border.”
This week marks the 51st anniversary of Israel’s victory in the Six Day War, but to the Palestinians it is a day of mourning. Nakba Day (the catastrophe) is usually marked by rallies, protests and often confrontations between Palestinians and IDF troops in Judea Samaria and Gaza.
Both ‘The March of Return and Nakba Day will be held Friday (8th) at the border fence – all Gazans are urged to attend.
(worldisraelnews.com)
IAF Completes Multi-drill As Gaza Tensions Surge
The Israel Air Force completed Thursday (7th) a week-long military exercise simulating a two-front aerial campaign on the southern and northern borders, with Israeli jets battering hundreds of simulated targets.
Taking place against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Israel and the Hamas terror organization along the Gaza border, the drill was intended to sharpen the IAF’s preparedness for war scenarios on more than one front.
Hundreds of fighter jets and helicopters participated in the drill, taking to the skies day and night for seven days.
(ynetnews.com)
IDF: Killed Palestinian Medic Was ‘No Angel Of Mercy’
The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson commented on the death of a female Palestinian medic shot last Friday (1st) during the Hamas-led riots near the security fence at the Israel-Gaza border, saying she was “no angel of mercy.”
The IDF released a video showing her throwing a grenade toward Israeli troops securing the border while wearing her medic uniform.
In one segment, she is seen giving a media interview in which she explicitly states her commitment to serve as “a human shield” for the Palestinian rioters.
“By her own admission, she was a human shield for the rioters and saboteurs, demonstrating how Hamas exploits all of Gazan society for its own purposes as well as Iran’s,” the IDF’s Avichay Adraee tweeted Thursday (7th).
(worldisraelnews.com)
Hamas Leader Says Gaza Protests Will Continue Until Jerusalem Is Liberated
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday evening (7th) that the weekly “March of Return” protests in Gaza “will continue until Jerusalem is liberated and the Gaza blockade ends.
“The march must also expand into the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Haniyeh said. “We are ready to cooperate in any serious initiative that will bring about a complete end to the blockade, but not at the expense of the Palestinian issue.”
(ynetnews.com)
Argentina Press Lambastes National Team On Israel Game
Argentina’s Clarin newspaper on Wednesday (7th) printed rebukes of the national team’s decision to cancel its friendly game with Israel. Miguel Winazki wrote that the national team should also “not play in Russia, because the Kremlin was behind the decision to launch military incursions in Syria.” It should also “not play against Spain, for its colonial enclaves” on the Moroccan coast.
Daniel Lagares noted that the team had “been warned that Jerusalem is dangerous.” Yet Argentina’s superstar striker, Lionel Messi, lives in Barcelona, where only last year 13 people were murdered in a terror attack. Other Argentine team members play in England, “where just a year ago a bomb exploded on the London Bridge,” and in Paris, where the Stade de France soccer stadium was targeted in November 2015.
(timesofisrael.com)
Israel Will Not Leave The Golan Heights – Yair Lapid
Anyone with an understanding of reality can see that Israel will never return the Golan Heights to Assad, a psychopath who has murdered half a million of his own people and whose partners are Iran and Hizbullah. Both the opposition and the coalition in Israel agree on this issue.
The argument that the Golan Heights historically belongs to Syria is absurd. Syria ruled over the Golan Heights for only 21 years, from 1946 to 1967. Israel’s connection is traced back to the Bible. The Golan is the Biblical Bashan.
Israel will not leave the Golan Heights and no one who cares about Israel’s security should ever expect it to.
(timesofisrael.com)
Assad ‘No Longer Immune’ From IDF Attack Netanyahu Warns
Addressing the Policy Exchange think tank in London Thursday (7th), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the Assad regime is no longer immune from Israeli retaliation.
“He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, we will destroy his forces,” Netanyahu stated.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has refrained from becoming involved.
“There is a new calculus that has to take place now, and Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel,” Netanyahu asserted.
(worldisraelnews.com)
European Leaders Agree Iranian Forces Must Leave Syria – Noa Landau
Sources in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage on his trip to Europe said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May all agreed that Iranian forces should be removed from Syria and that the goal “had been significantly advanced.” The three leaders also agreed to ask the International Atomic Energy Agency to examine the Iranian nuclear archive documents obtained by Israel.
(haaretz.com)
Iran Opens New Nuclear Facility For Centrifuge Production
Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday (6th) inaugurated the Islamic Republic’s new nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, geared toward producing centrifuges that will operate within the limits of the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers. Earlier Wednesday (6th), Reza Najafi, Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, said that Iran had given European nations “a few weeks” to come up with ways to protect the deal from America’s pullout.
(ap.com; usatoday.com)
Boeing Says It Will Not Deliver Aircraft To Iran
Boeing will not deliver aircraft to Iran in light of U.S. sanctions, effectively aborting a pair of large contracts with Iranian carriers, a Boeing spokesman said Wednesday (7th). Boeing had announced an agreement to sell 80 aircraft valued at $16.6 billion to Iran Air and 30 aircraft valued at $3 billion to Iran Aseman Airlines.
(afp.com)