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I've Been Thinking:
Mohamad Dahlan has secured 1 million COVID shots and delivered them to Gaza through Egypt.
Dahlan is from Gaza - but he now lives in Abu Dhabi, in UAE. He moved there because his life was in jeopardy within the Palestinian Authority for challenging President Abbas.
And now Mohammed Dahlan is the major challenger to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Procuring these vaccines was an important humanitarian move by Dahlan. It showed that he cares about the lives of Palestinians. So far, 1744 Palestinians have died from COVID.
The vaccine is the Russian version called Sputnik V and this is the single largest shipment of COVID vaccine to date.
Dahlan may be very popular with Palestinians, but he is persona non grata in the PA. He was tried in absentia and found guilty of challenging Abbas publicly.
This humanitarian act of obtaining vaccines for the people of Gaza seems to be a strategic power play by Dahlan. Abbas is 86 years old – no matter how hard he tries, he will not be able to remain PA president forever.
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I've Been Thinking:
Alon Helfgott, an 11 year old boy from Kfar Saba, Israel has had COVID-19 three times. He has had three different variants of the corona virus.
Alon contracted the Alpha variant, then the Delta variant and now he has Omicron.
And despite it all, he is maintaining a positive attitude.
According to this upbeat 11 year old: “I’m fine, feeling pretty healthy, without so many symptoms … During the Alpha [infection], I suffered from a high fever … My mother bought me some sweets at the supermarket and I hope I get more things,”
Helfgott reports that around 10 out of his 27 classmates are also currently ill with COVID-19. He acknowledged that: “I miss being with friends, because the truth is there is nothing to do. You’re shuttered at home and do nothing.”
Like most children with COVID, Alon’s biggest hurdle is boredom. He’s in isolation and alone - except for his phone.
Having COVID-19 three times is truly a unique experience.
I wish Elon Helfgott a speedy and complete recovery.
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I've Been Thinking:
An Israeli comedienne wrote a song called “Dubai Dubai” and the song is going viral in the Arabic world.
“Dubai Dubai” is a lampoon on the Abraham accords.
The name of the songwriter / comedienne is Noam Shuster-Eliassi. Singing her song in perfect, unaccented, Arabic, she pokes fun at Israel and at the Arab world.
Here are some of the lines from this song/satire.
“Israel goes to make peace with a country 1,500 miles away and forgets the Palestinians next door.”
“In Dubai, they forgot the siege on Gaza.”
“How nice would it be if only all the Arabs were from Dubai.”
Humor is such a wonderful vehicle for dealing with tensions and problems.
The Arabic world is not free to create their own humor. Monarchies are autocratic and even those states which have elections and presidents are not really totally free democracies. Humor about and criticism of the government is punished.
The comedienne, Noam Shuster-Eliassi is an Israeli woman singing in the style of Eurovision to Israelis and Arabs. Her audiences relate to her observations. Her video viewers even laugh out loud.
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I've Been Thinking:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that he will host Israeli President Isaac Herzog for an official visit to Turkey as early as next month.
Details, including the final date for the visit and its duration, were still being discussed between the two countries.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have not been good since 2010 when the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship filled with activists, attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos boarded the ship.
Six years later, in 2016, Israel decided to pay $21 million to all the Turkish citizens killed in the Israeli raid.
Things got even worse in 2018 after riots on the Gaza border. Israel responded to the rioting and the violence. And at that point, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel and Israel’s ambassador was asked to leave Turkey.
More recently, when an Israeli couple was arrested for spying in Turkey, the two presidents – Erdogan and Bennett, spoke and working together, they helped free the couple.
And even more recently than that, the Turkish president called Herzog to offer condolences on the death of his mother.
The biggest bone of contention between Israel and Turkey is that Turkey has given refuge to Hamas leadership. The latest word on the street is that Erdogan has asked Hamas leadership to leave, that they have short visas and that some Hamas leaders have been detained and even deported.
Israel is not certain that all that is verifiable. They do not trust Erdogan. Regardless of what Turkey says, the Turks are still major supporters of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Will the visit actually happen? Time will tell.
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I've Been Thinking:
South Korea paid $18 million to the United Nations. The $18 million was to cover the cost of Iran’s dues. Iran was $18 million in arrears.
Being in arrears is nothing new for Iran. They are annually delinquent in paying their membership dues.
Sanctions that have been placed on Iran make it very difficult for them to meet their international commitments. To accommodate, the United States relaxed restrictions and permitted the release of $7 billion dollars from Iranian accounts that were in South Korean banks. The money was released specifically in order for Iran to pay debts - like the dues owed to the UN.
The South Korean Ministry of Finance confirmed the payment to the UN in Iran’s name. The statement from South Korea read: “Iran’s right to vote at the General Assembly is expected to be restored immediately with the payment”.
It’s all part of a game called international diplomacy.
Iran really needed their status restored in the UN.
Iran really wants to be a world leader and you cannot be a world leader if you are locked out of the United Nations.
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I've Been Thinking:
ISIS is having a resurgence.
There was a prison break in Northeast Syria.
100 ISIS terrorist in heavily equipped vehicles blew up the gates of Gweiran Prison in the city of Hasakeh. The prison housed 1,000 ISIS prisoners, many of them leaders of the ISIS movement.
This prison break was not just about freeing ISIS leaders. Its purpose was to let it be known and clearly understood that ISIS is still around.
As a result of the break, a massive battle ensued. Numbers are unclear but there were many dead and many left wounded. The ISIS claim is that 800 prisoners escaped.
This prison is one of about 10 prisons that the United States runs together with the Syrian Kurdish forces known as the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF).
ISIS is making a real play for power. This is just step one. Stay tuned for step two.
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I've Been Thinking:
Israeli experts say that Iran is only weeks away from having nuclear weapons.
The Institute for National Security Studies of Israel prepares an annual survey to be delivered to Israel’s president and prime minister. It is a survey of events from the past year and a set of predictions for the future.
The most important take away from this year’s report is that Iran has reached the status of having the ability to put a nuclear bomb together in just two weeks.
The report also draws attention to Iran’s proxies on Israel’s borders. Iran is sponsoring Hezbollah in Lebanon and Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza, increasing tensions on Israel’s borders.
Finally, the survey predicted that as Palestinians get more and more frustrated by the lack of movement in the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians, there will be increased anger and terror directed at Israelis by Palestinians.
The report speaks of a stalemate in the peace process. That stalemate might even challenge the democratic nature of Israel.
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I've Been Thinking:
Islamic Jihad organized a rally in Gaza. It was a combination pro-Iran rally and anti-Saudi Arabia protest.
Protesters shouted “Death to the House of Saud!” They carried posters with pictures of the head of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the group that is fighting against the Yemeni establishment supported by the Saudis.
Hamas controls Gaza, but this time they neither participated nor did they prevent this protest and rally from taking place.
Hamas is worried.
They want Saudi support to help build Gaza’s infrastructure. They need Saudi Arabia to contribute to Gaza.
Hamas made a mistake.
The rally in support of the Houthis was plastered all over the press. It was covered in Arabic media and English-language media throughout the Middle East and Europe. Gaza was portrayed as supporting the Houthis and condemning Saudi Arabia.
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I've Been Thinking:
Russia wants to be the leader of the world. And part of the Russian plan is to be power broker to the Middle East.
The Russians want to outplay the United States and the West in every way – most particularly, when it comes to Iran.
So how does Russia plan on executing their plan?
The Russians proposed an interim agreement with Iran.
According to their agreement, sanctions relief will be instituted in exchange for the reimposition of some restrictions on the Iranian nuke program.
Both Russia and Iran have been mum on the exact details of the agreement. US officials are either totally in the dark or not divulging any knowledge of the details.
Truthfully, I can’t imagine that this interim proposal is any different from the proposals that the P5+1 have already proposed.
The one difference is that this proposal came from Russia and not from the West.
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I've Been Thinking:
Turkey and Israel have had a very cold relationship over the past few years.
Lately, however, that relationship is beginning to slowly thaw.
But how do you judge how well the relationship is progressing?
Foreign ministers spoke for the first time in years.
Trade is picking up.
And – and this is very interesting, Turkish President Erdogan has hired an Israeli doctor to treat him.
Professor Itzhak Shapira, a cardiologist and the deputy general of Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv was hired by the Turkish president. In addition to President Erdogan, Shapira also advises other world leaders.
When media outlets got the news that Erdogan had hired an Israeli doctor, his PR spin doctors sent the Turkish president out to the basketball court as a whole team of journalists watched him shoot hoops.
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I've Been Thinking:
Israel has changed their policy on COVID and schooling.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that students who come in contact with confirmed COVID positive patients, will NOT need to isolate.
He also said that every student must test twice a week. And the government will send antigen tests to the families of every school age child.
The message Bennet was sending is that parents need to be responsible and not send sick students to school.
The prime minister said that school children must stay in school.
Studies clearly say that children who are double vaccinated are, depending in the study, either two or four times more protected than unvaccinated youth. One study reported that children vaccinated within the past two months are better protected against the Omicron variant than unvaccinated children or children who received the shot more than two months ago.
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I've Been Thinking:
Wednesday January 19, 2022
I’ve Been Thinking:
I pay attention to the travel plans of world leaders.
And it was very telling to learn that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was visiting Moscow and meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Iran and Russia are working together in several areas - the most obvious of all is Syria.
Both Russia and Iran have propped up Syrian President Assad. They have secured his political position and they are helping him retake most of the country.
But - and this is a serious “but” - Russia is not happy with some of what Iran is doing in Syria and the Russians want to reel Iran in.
You can be certain that Raisi and Putin also spoke about the nuke talks in Vienna and the development of Iran’s nuke plan.
They also spoke about Israel.
Putin spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Bennett only a few days before meeting with Raisi. Putin, without a doubt, updated Raisi on Israel’s position on Iran and gave him his thoughts on whether Israel is truly prepared to attack Iran and how powerful that strike would be.
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I've Been Thinking:
A drone attack by the Houthi, Yemen’s rebels, in Abu Dhabi - the heart of the UAE, might be the shot heard round the world in 2022.
For years there has been a move to build bridges in the Middle East. This drone attack, which killed three people, hit fuel trucks near the Aby Dhabi airport and caused multiple explosions, has everyone in the Middle East talking and asking questions.
In order to get from Yemen to the UAE, the drone had to lift off from Yemen, enter the Gulf of Aden and then the Arabian Sea. At this point the drone needed to turn in to the Gulf of Oman, round the corner and enter the Persian Gulf, pass Dubai and then, finally, arrive at Abu Dhabi.
This was a very well-planned attack with a very sophisticated weapon.
In response to the drone attack, the UAE and Saudi Arabia sent a counterattack against Sana’a the capital of Yemen. That attack killed at least 12 people. It was the deadliest bombardment in the city since 2019.
The Houthis have promised to continue to attack with their drones.
The back story in this whole episode is that the Houthis are sponsored by - Iran.
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I've Been Thinking:
For the second year in a row Iran, was unable to pay their dues at the United Nations.
That means that, once again, Iran will not be able to participate in any of the votes on UN committees or in the General Assembly.
The minimum Iran needs to pay the UN is $18 million.
US sanctions have made it difficult - if not impossible, for Iran to get the money they need. Although the United States did free up $7 billion for Iran from a South Korean bank, it was too late.
Under the UN charter, if a member country’s arrears are equal to or exceed the amount of dues it should have paid over the preceding two years, that country’s voting rights are suspended until payment is made.
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I've Been Thinking:
Muslims in America have started to respond to the Muslim who took four Jews hostage in their synagogue in Texas.
The most significant of the responses came from a Muslim professor who teaches at the Divinity School at Duke University in North Carolina.
Abdullah T. Antepli said the time has come for Muslims to stand up and realize that this culture of hatred must be addressed. He saw this act of terror as a “moral call for action for the soul of Islam and Muslim” to address senseless, blind, hatred towards Jews.
For too long there has been a deafening silence after the many acts of violence against Jews in the United States and around the world.
The time has come for Muslim leadership to step up and condemn the evil of these acts.
Thank you Professor Antepli for taking the leadership helm.
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I've Been Thinking:
David Bateman, a major Republican donor form Utah, claimed that Pope Francis was a secret Jewish agent. Bateman qualified his statement saying the Pope has “love for the Jewish people.”
That wasn’t all he had to say about Jews.
On Instagram, David Bateman wrote: "heart breaks for [the Jews'] multi-millennial plight wherein they were driven from country to country. Robbed. Beaten. Denied voting rights, and exterminated over and over again."
He continued: "My beef is with the Khabbalist [sic] central banking, secret society Jews. Not the amazing, humble, and industrious Jewish people."
The qualification to his statements just makes Bateman’s comments worse. According to his statements, he has a problem with Jewish bankers, meaning wealthy secret society Jews. But no problem with humble working - class Jews.
I find that hard to believe.
Either way - Shame on you David Bateman.
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I've Been Thinking:
Hezbollah from Lebanon hosted a conference supporting the rebels in Saudi Arabia.
Challenge Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, when the majority of Lebanon supports Saudi Arabia and wants Saudi support to help rebuild Lebanon, seems rather counter intuitive. It takes gall.
Lebanon is in dire need of help from the Saudis. This move by Hezbollah speaks volumes.
A large part of internal Lebanese tension is due to the actions of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s support for the rebels in Saudi Arabia was the reason Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Lebanon and banned all imports from Lebanon.
Throughout the conference, Hezbollah officials repeatedly told Saudi Arabia to stop “bullying”.
Everyone in attendance at the conference was allied with Iran. Iranian support was their common denominator.
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I've Been Thinking:
Tensions are between the United States and Russia are increasing. There are several issues of contention.
Israel has entered into the dialogue of one of those issues – Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had a substantial phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They spoke about Iran, especially the Iranian nuclear program and the talks taking place in Vienna about Iran’s nuke plan.
Bennett and Putin also spoke about security in the Middle East, about Syria and about Lebanon. They spoke about continued cooperation between their countries.
Bennett made it very clear to Putin that Israel was carefully watching Iran. He made it clear that no matter what is decided in Vienna, it will not stop Israel from striking Iran if they cross the line.
At the end of the call, Putin invited Bennett and his wife to visit Russia.
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I've Been Thinking:
The foreign minister of Iran met with the Taliban foreign minister in Teheran.
After the meeting Iranian leadership announced that they are not yet ready to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan.
In the meantime, they decided to have future meetings and, Iran announced, they will continue to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
It is important to remember that Iran and Afghanistan share a border – a very long border – 921 miles. That is the distance between new York City and Minneapolis or NYC and Des Moines, Iowa. There have been border conflicts between the two since August, that is when the Taliban forced the United States to leave Afghanistan.
Iran has a long memory. They reminded the Taliban that in 1998 Taliban terrorists kidnapped and murdered Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan in the Iranian consulate.
Iran said that the Taliban has never taken responsibility for the murder and the terror.
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I've Been Thinking:
DeltaOcron was just discovered in Cyprus. The discovery was made by a professor of biology.
DeltaOcron, as the name implies, is the combination of two COVID-19 variants, Delta and Omicron.
This was the first discovery of this combination variant. The professor said that he found the combination variant in hospitalized patients.
He said: "We do not know if the combined strain will take over and be more common than Delta or Omicron, but for now, it seems that Omicron is the most contagious strain."
This new COVID discovery definitely needs to be watched.
Since the discovery this has been disporved as a lab mishap.
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I've Been Thinking:
This is funny, It is a game being played by Iran.
Iranian leadership has declared that they are imposing sanctions against 51 Americans. They claim that these 51 Americans were responsible for the assassination of Qassem Suleimani in 2020.
Iran is calling the assassination an act of terrorism and a violation of human rights.
Iran can now seize the assets of the 51 Americans – their assets in Iran. Of course, none of the 51 have any assets in Iran.
This entire episode is a symbolic attack against the United States. In reality, it means nothing.
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I've Been Thinking:
Ramy Shaath, son of Palestinian leader Nabil Shaath, was deported from Egypt.
Shaath the father is a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. That means that his son, Ramy, is from one of the most public and entitled families in the region.
Ramy Shaath has been in pretrial confinement in Egypt since 2019, accused of having ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. That could mean that he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or that he was a fixer for them - connecting and making contacts to help the Muslim Brotherhood fight Israel.
Egypt has designated the Muslim Brotherhood as illegal and as a terrorist group. Part of Ramy’s agreement and deportation was that he renounce his Egyptian citizenship.
In other words, this agreement means that there was a diplomatic agreement allowing him out of detention, stopping a prosecution and facilitating a deportation. Ramy Shaath should consider himself lucky – very lucky.
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I've Been Thinking:
The Netherlands has announced that they will no longer be funding the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a Palestinian NGO that has so far received approximately $25 million of Dutch taxpayer money. They announced that UAWC will not be receiving the next installment of Dutch aid.
The decision was made by both the Dutch minister of foreign development and the Dutch minister of foreign affairs. In a statement made to the Dutch parliament the ministers revealed that their audit “has made it sufficiently plausible that there have been ties at the individual level between employees and board members of UAWC and the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) for some time.”
“The large number of UAWC board members with a dual mandate is particularly worrisome … For the Cabinet, the findings about individual ties between UAWC and the PFLP and the lack of openness about this from UAWC, also during the investigation, are sufficient reason to no longer fund UAWC’s activities.”
They made it clear that there was no official link between the UAWC and the PFLP. But what concerned them was that 34 UAWC employees were members of PFLP and 12 hold leadership positions.
This was all proven through internet research investigations. It was all right there for the public to see.
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I've Been Thinking:
Iran recently failed to put three payloads into orbit.
I watched several videos of the launch.
Official Iranian media did not mention the failure.
Iran has failed numerous times before. To their credit, on the other hand, they have successfully launched a few satellites into orbit. But they have failed more than they have succeeded.
This time the problem was that the rocket just did not make it up to the speed necessary to push the payloads into orbit. “For a payload to enter orbit, it needs to reach speeds above 7,600 [metres per second]. We reached 7,350,” spokesman, Ahmad Hosseini, said in a documentary about the launch vehicle broadcast on state TV and posted online on Friday.
It is very important to note that Iran has both a space program and a ballistic missile/rocket program. In order to launch any part of the space program they use rockets. The programs are linked.
Iran will continue to develop their space program. The space program is not against any international agreements. It is the ballistic missile program which is not permitted.
But Iran is doing it anyway.
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I've Been Thinking:
It is the end of the year 2021, an appropriate and natural time to take a look at end of year business numbers.
Despite COVID, Israel’s exports hit a record of $140 billion worth of exports in 2021. That is an increase of 18% over last year 2020.
To understand the enormity of the number - in the year 2019, Israeli exports were a comparatively mere $117.5 billion.
Also this year - for the first time – services exceeded goods in exports… meaning 51% of Israel’s exports were services, including startups, while goods and products produced in Israel composed 49% of their exports.
Another business highlight for Israel in 2021 was the entry of the Israeli unit of Teva Pharmaceutical into the medical cannabis market. Teva Israel signed an agreement with Tikun Olam Cannbit, an Israeli cannabis company.
Under the agreement Tikun Olam will produce cannabis oil and Teva will market it.
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I've Been Thinking:
It is the end of the year 2021, an appropriate and natural time to take a look at end of year business numbers.
Despite COVID, Israel’s exports hit a record of $140 billion worth of exports in 2021. That is an increase of 18% over last year 2020.
To understand the enormity of the number - in the year 2019, Israeli exports were a comparatively mere $117.5 billion.
Also this year - for the first time – services exceeded goods in exports… meaning 51% of Israel’s exports were services, including startups, while goods and products produced in Israel composed 49% of their exports.
Another business highlight for Israel in 2021 was the entry of the Israeli unit of Teva Pharmaceutical into the medical cannabis market. Teva Israel signed an agreement with Tikun Olam Cannbit, an Israeli cannabis company.
Under the agreement Tikun Olam will produce cannabis oil and Teva will market it.
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I've Been Thinking:
Alibaba, the very large and very popular Chinese e-commerce site, announced that they will no longer deliver to The Palestinian Authority. The announcement came in the form of a message sent by aliexpress.com.
The decision is not political - it is purely business. It is logistical and is based on a jumbling of packages.
Due to a PA policy, many Alibaba packages have not reached their destinations in the Palestinian Authority.
That’s because the PA postal service will not deliver a package that has Israel as part of the address. It is a matter of policy. But many Palestinians who order from Alibaba put Israel as part of their address.
Alibaba decided that the problems this causes and the damage to their reputation and the inefficiency of non-delivered packages outweighs their gains and their profits.
So they simply cut off the Palestinians.
Since their original announcement, Alibaba has resuming deliveries to the PA.
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I've Been Thinking:
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.
The meeting took place at Gantz’ home in Rosh Haayin.
This is the first time since 2010 that Abbas was in Israel - with the sole exception of Shimon Peres’ funeral in 2016.
The meeting lasted for two and a half hours. Also present were Israeli Major General Rassan Aliyan, Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein a Sheik and Palestinian Chief of Intelligence Majed Faraj.
Following the meeting Defense Minister Gantz’s office released this statement:
"The two discussed various security and civilian issues … The defense minister emphasized the shared interest in strengthening security coordination and maintaining stability, and preventing terrorism and violence."
The statement also revealed that Gantz told Abbas that he intends to "further promote bond-building steps in the economic and civilian spheres, as the two agreed on during their last meeting."
This was the second meeting between Benny Gantz and Mahmoud Abbas. Their first took place in August in Ramallah.
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I've Been Thinking:
A poster condemning anti-vaxxers with a Star of David on it appeared in two different locations in the Los Angeles area.
One of the posters was displayed outside the Baba Sali Synagogue. The second poster was at Cedar Sinai Medical Center
On these posters, the Star of David, also known as the Magen David, is composed of the letter A and, on top of the letter A, the letter V. It is clearly identifiable as a Star of David.
The posters’ caption reads “Report Anti-Vaxxers, because you care and they don’t,” and includes a telephone number that, according to a local media outlet, went to a restaurant in Hollywood.
Police are investigating.
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I've Been Thinking:
Israel has begun “Operation Shield the North”.
The purpose of this operation is to provide the residents who live in the northern part of Israel with bomb shelters to protect them from rockets and missiles that may be shot into Israel from Lebanon or from Syria.
All total, 21 communities that are situated on the border will have their existing shelters reinforced and new shelters built.
Operation Shield the North came about as a direct result of the 2020 comptrollers report which revealed that 30% of Israelis do not have access to functioning shelters in the event of a bombing.
Israel needs to prepare for an onslaught of rockets from the north. Until now, they have relied on interceptors like the Iron Dome. But interceptors can only shoot down so many rockets and missiles.
Citizens of Israel need to have safe, well built, well protected bomb shelters in which they can – when necessary, hunker down and wait out the storm.
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