Israel Thanks Nikki Haley

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum, thanked outgoing US Ambassador to the UN NIkki Haley for her support following her surprise resignation Tuesday (9th).

“I thank Ambassador Nikki Haley, who led an uncompromising struggle against the hypocrisy of the United Nations, and spoke forth the truth and justice of our country.  Best of luck!” Netanyahu said.

President Reuven Rivlin said: “I would like to thank Nikki Haley, a true ambassador, from the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of all the citizens of Israel.  Haley presented an uncompromising stance on US positions on the Middle East and Israel, and defended our clear right to protect the security of our citizens. Haley, in her direct statements, often led to the removal of the cynical mask from processes led by the United Nations and international organizations.”

“I thank Mrs. Haley for her courage and for her tenure as a turning point in the US attitude toward the international organizations and for the discriminatory treatment that these organizations often take against the State of Israel,” the president added.

“We will continue to see Nikki as a true friend and we will be happy to receive her at the President’s Residence on her next visit,” Rivlin concluded.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on Twitter: “Dear Ambassador Nikki Haley, on behalf of the Israeli people…Thank you for what you have done for Israel.  We will not forget.”

Haley’s Israeli counterpart, Ambassador Danny Danon, earlier thanked her for “standing with the truth without fear, and for representing the values common to Israel and the United States.”

“Thank you for your support for the State of Israel, which helped lead to a change in Israel’s status in the UN.  Thank you for your close friendship and common paths. Wherever you are, you will continue to be a true friend of the State of Israel,” Danon said.

Ambassador Haley announced her resignation during a press conference with US President Donald Trump earlier Tuesday (9th).  The ambassador said it was time for her to step down and look back with pride at her accomplishments over the last two years.

She drew attention to the relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  

“I think you must look at the anti-Israel bias and the strength and courage that the president showed in moving the embassy.  He showed the rest of the world that ‘we will put our embassy where we want our embassy,’” said Haley.

(israelnn.com; jta.org)

 

Without PA Consent, Israel Began Transfer Of Gas To Gaza

Amid the crisis between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank, Israel began transferring diesel fuel Tuesday morning (9th) from Israel into power plants in Gaza without PA coordination or approval, Army Radio reported Tuesday (9th).

Two trucks entered Gaza initially and four more made their way into the Strip throughout the day, enough to provide fuel for eight hours of electricity to the Gaza Strip over a 24 hour period.

The Israeli fuel oil is currently funded by Qatar, who agreed to provide the fuel to Gaza for six months.

The provision of the fuel oil is perhaps the most crucial clause agreed upon in the truce talks with Hamas.  The PA last week tried to prevent this measure.

According to a Palestinian official talking to Kan News, Abbas on Friday (5th) told the Hamas leadership that he is giving them an ultimatum:  “Hand over the Gaza Strip by the end of the month, or suffer a complete cut-off of funding.”

(gglz.net; jpost.com)

 

World Jewish Congress Petitions UN Against Hamas

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has submitted a petition to the United Nations with over 22,000 signatures condemning Hamas’ environmental crimes – the fires caused by incendiary kites and balloons flown from Gaza into Israel over the past five months.

Hamas’ kite and balloon terrorism caused the deaths of hundreds of animals and the destruction of over 8,000 acres of farmland and woodland.

The petition was submitted by the CEO and Executive Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, Robert Singer, to the Deputy Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), Jamil Ahmad.

Singer praised the UNEP for its work to protect the environment.  However, he called on Ahmad and the organizations he heads to join the World Jewish Congress and the other signatories in condemning the terror organization’s environment warfare.

“Hamas is committing consistent environmental crimes, burning thousands of tires and launching thousands of incendiary devices into Israeli territory in a deliberate and inexcusable act of environmental warfare,” Singer said.  “Attacks against innocent beings is never acceptable, and today we are seeing both animals and nature being targeted as victims of war.”

Singer stressed that according to the International Humanitarian Law, which is protected by the UN, causing natural environmental destruction amid violent conflicts is prohibited.

“However,” Singer pointed out that the “international community remains silent while Hamas practices environmental warfare, which jeopardizes Israeli citizens and wild animals.”

(ynetnews.com; jpost.com)

 

Israel Memorializes Barkan Terror Victims At UN

The UN delegation headed by Ambassador Danny Danon decided to present pictures of Kim Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi at the UN headquarters in New York and to light memorial candles in memory of the victims of the terror attack in the Barkan industrial zone.

Ambassador Danon said that “The United Nations has not spoken out against the cruel murders, but we will continue to remember and remind the world of the lives taken, the hatred and the incitement.”

Following the attack on Sunday morning (7th), Danon had called on the UN Security Council to condemn the attack.

“The members of the Security Council must come out with a clear condemnation of the murderous attack.  It is your responsibility and your commitment to the Middle East and the world, and more importantly, for the children of Kim and Ziv who are now orphans,” he said.

He called on PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to “sound a clear and firm voice” against terror, and he condemned the PA’s continued financing of terror.

“Instead of preaching to Israel and stopping proposals for calming the region, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas must sound a clear and firm voice against the instigators and terrorists coming out of the Palestinian Authority,” Danon wrote.

(embassies.gov.il; israelnn.com)

 

Iranian Official: Israel Can’t Take ‘Serious Steps’ In Syria Because Of S-300

A senior Iranian official on Monday (8th) said Israel would be hard-pressed to conduct airstrikes in Syria after Russia provided the country with the advanced S-300 air defense system.

“I do not believe the Israelis are able to undertake any serious steps.  It is Russia’s right to deploy the S-300 system in Syria and defend its interests, especially after the Israeli attack on the Russian plane,” Ali Larijani, Iranian speaker of the parliament, told the Kremlin-controlled Russia Today TV station.

“This is a legitimate right of Russia,” he said, speaking to the outlet’s Arabic channel, on the sidelines of the Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments conference in Turkey.

The Russian spy plane was shot down on September 17th, after Israeli fighter jets conducted an airstrike on a weapons facility in the coastal city of Latakia, which Israel said was going to provide weapons to the Hizbullah terror group and other Iranian proxies.  The II-20 reconnaissance plane was shot down during a counter attack by Syrian air defenses and its 15 crew members were killed.

Israel blamed Syria for the downing of the aircraft, accusing the country’s air defenses of firing “indiscriminately” into the sky and continuing to do so long after the Israeli fighter jets returned to Israeli airspace.

On Monday (8th), Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Moscow had provided the advanced S-300 air defense system to Syria’s military free of charge, transferring three battalions with eight launchers each to the Assad regime.

(timesofisrael.com)