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I've Been Thinking:
An Iranian Jew detained at Ben Gurion Airport on suspicion of espionage has been deported from Israel.
It is Israel’s Shin Bet that revealed both the arrest and the deportation. The agency stated that the suspect, who has family ties in Israel, confessed to receiving assignments from Iranian security officials and coming to Israel for the purpose of carrying out certain tasks.
Included in his tasks were covert information gathering and photography. During his interrogation, it was revealed that this Iranian Jew had met with Iranian security personnel and was briefed by them before his arrival in Israel.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leveled criticism at Washington amid reports on emerging understandings between the U.S. and Iran.
A statement released by the office of the prime minister reads: "Israel's position is clear: arrangements that do not dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure do not stop its nuclear ambitions and only provide funds that will reach Iranian-backed terror proxies."
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Israel has ruled out a diplomatic base in Jerusalem for the new Saudi envoy to the Palestinians. This new appointment comes as Washington tries to forge formal Israeli relations with Riyadh.
The Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, Nayef Al-Sudairi, expanded his credentials to include non-resident envoy to the Palestinians.
A social media post by his embassy in Amman said "consul-general in Jerusalem" was now among Al-Sudairi's duties.
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The all-time record for electricity consumption in Israel was broken this past Sunday at noon, and stood at 15,690 megawatts according to the Noga Electricity System Management Company. The previous record was set on July 25.
According to Shaul Goldstein, the CEO of Noga, "The demand records that have been broken several times this summer are the result of the heavy heat and its persistence, as well as the result of economic growth in recent years."
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An attack on a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Iran's central city of Shiraz killed at least four people. State media, which reported the attack, add that one person had been arrested.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine, which state news agency IRNA said had been carried out by terrorists. Tasnim, the semi-official news agency of Iran, reports that at least seven people were wounded and shops in the area had been closed. State TV said the shrine area had been cordoned off by security forces.
Last October, Islamic State announced that it had launched an attack against this same shrine – an attack in which 15 people were killed.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the ultra-Orthodox parties to compromise on a softened military conscription plan – a plan that was less than they were promised, out of fear that the reservist crisis in the military would also permeate the regular units.
Netanyahu hoped that this new plan would not inflame the protest against the judicial overhaul. The ultra-Orthodox parties, however, firmly refused the plan.
They are insisting that the law exempting yeshiva students from military service be promoted immediately with the beginning of the winter session, as part of an outline that will be immune from judicial review.
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Temperatures in Morocco have, for the first time on record, topped 50°C (120°F), that information has been obtained courtesy of the North African country’s meteorological service. Moroccans are suffering through a scorching heatwave.
According to the country’s General Directorate of Meteorology, the southern coastal city of Agadir recorded the new national record of 50.4°C.
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Britain warned their citizens travelling to Sweden of possible terrorist attacks by outraged Muslims following the burning of Korans by anti-Islam activists. In updated travel advice, Britain's foreign ministry said Swedish authorities had successfully disrupted some planned attacks and made arrests.
The statement read: "You should be vigilant at this time … terrorists are very likely to try and carry out attacks in Sweden." Obviously sites visited by foreigners are potential targets for terrorists. While Koran burnings are permitted in Sweden under free speech rules, Muslims view burning of their holy book as blasphemy.
The U.S. government has also warned of possible terrorist attacks in Sweden in its travel advice.
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A Russian government-linked hacking group took aim at dozens of global organizations with a campaign to steal login credentials by engaging users in Microsoft Teams chats pretending to be from technical support. This information was announced by Microsoft researchers and security experts.
Microsoft explains that these "highly targeted" social engineering attacks have affected "fewer than 40 unique global organizations" since late May.
By way of a blog, Microsoft researchers added that the company was investigating the breach. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the Microsoft researchers, the plan worked this way: Hackers set up domains and accounts that looked like technical support and tried to engage teams and users in chats and get them to approve multifactor authentication (MFA) prompts.
According to a statement released by Microsoft: "Microsoft has mitigated the actor from using the domains and continues to investigate this activity and work to remediate the impact of the attack."
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Kuwait announced that Iran's foreign minister has invited his Kuwaiti counterpart to Tehran. It will not be a friendly meeting. Tensions are simmering over the offshore Durra gas field.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait claim exclusive joint rights to the field while Iran also claims a stake in the gas field. Iranian leadership is claiming that a Saudi-Kuwaiti agreement to develop the field that was signed last year, is illegal.
I expect that tensions on this issue will continue to rise.
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Iranian news agencies reported that Iran has equipped its Revolutionary Guards' navy with drones and 1,000-km (600-mile) range missiles. Meanwhile, the U.S. is offering to put security guards on commercial ships going through the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz.
According to IRNA, the Iranian state news agency, "Various types of drones ... and several hundred cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 300 to 1,000 km are among the systems and equipment that were added to the capabilities of the Guards' navy".
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In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon called on its citizens to quickly leave Lebanese territory and to avoid approaching areas of armed conflicts.
The foreign ministry of Bahrain has also called on its citizens to leave Lebanon because of "armed conflict".
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Israel’s political-security cabinet was convened in response to a shooting attack in Tel Aviv that took place after a Palestinian was killed by settlers in an incident in Burqa.
All this as tensions with Hezbollah on the northern border continue to build. The cabinet meeting, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was originally supposed to vote on concessions for the Palestinians – a move they considered under pressure from the United States which is trying to shore up the Palestinian Authority.
Relevant military officials were informed that, while the discussion about the Palestinians is on the agenda, after a terror attack in downtown Tel Aviv, concessions that were supposed to be voted on would, instead, come up for another discussion at some later time.
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An Israeli tourist filed a complaint with local police in Berlin, the capital of Germany, claiming that he was attacked after speaking Hebrew on the street. In a statement released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry: "the issue is known and is being handled by the Israeli embassy in Germany. We are in contact with the citizen and are awaiting the results of the investigation by the German police.”
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Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a former Ambassador to the United States, expressed critique for the Biden White House.
In an interview with Fox News Dermer said that the judicial overhaul is, quote, "an internal matter in Israel, and it is something that other democratic leaders should not interfere with." end quote.
According to Dermer, I’m quoting again, "the prime minister is acting according to the policy he established as prime minister, and I will encourage all leaders around the world to respect the decisions of other democratic countries."
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Inbar Lanir, the world judo champion for women up to 78 kg, won a gold medal at the Hungarian Masters 2023 championship in Budapest. Fellow Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik won a silver medal at the tournament in the men’s up to 100-kilogram after losing in the final to his Uzbek rival.
Good going Israel which continues to excel in worldwide Judo competitions.
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The Shin Bet and the IDF have been investigating a weapons smuggling incident that occurred early last week in the northern part of the Jordan Valley. The investigation centers on an unusual smuggling operation that took place at night.
Specific details of the incident, which have been described as extraordinary compared to previous smuggling attempts, are not yet released, the details are currently under a gag order. We do, however, know that the crackdown on the smugglers involved members of the Israel Border Police intelligence unit, along with IDF forces from the Jordan Valley Brigade.
In recent years, Jordan Valley crossings have become a favored route for smuggling weapons, funds and resources by criminal and terrorist organizations attempting to infiltrate Israel and the West Bank. Since its establishment, the Jordan Valley Brigade has intercepted thousands of smuggled weapons.
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Islamic State, aka ISIS, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine which is located south of Damascus, the capital city of Syria.
ISIS attackers killed several people and wounded several others. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on its Telegram channel.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he hoped the Knesset's summer recess would be used as a time to find common ground on the judicial overhaul.
At the start of his weekly cabinet meeting Netanyahu said: "I hope that this time, the opposition would respond to our extended hand to reach agreement."
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A 13-year-old Jewish boy was attacked in France by three people because of his Jewish religious appearance. According to the police report, his attackers threatened to kill the 13-year-old and promised to take revenge on him if he filed a complaint with the police.
Theat very same day, a 65-year-old Jewish man was attacked in the United States after leaving a Chabad House in San Diego. As part of this attack, the attackers tore off the man’s tzitzit and shouted antisemitic and anti-Israel slurs. Local police have opened an investigation.
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Likud MK Yuli Edelstein said he won’t automatically support the government’s passing of additional legislation in the judicial overhaul without Israel reaching a wide consensus for further moves.
While being interviewed by Ynet, Member of Knesset Edelstein said: “I let everyone know that upcoming legislations on the judicial reform will have to be presented to me fully before I'll decide whether to support them or not.”
Edelstein also said that any forging of relations with Saudi Arabia did not appear imminent, disputing U.S. President Joe Biden's prediction last week of a possible rapprochement between the Middle East powers. Edelstein, who is head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and is a senior member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party told Israel’s Army Radio: "I think it's too early to talk about a deal being in the works."
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Before the start of the summer recess, the government of Israel approved the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee to build a plan to aid in the absorption of the Bnei Manashe community.
The Bnei Menashe community, a community of Indian Jews living on the border of India and Burma, is caught in a civil war between the local Meitei and Kuki tribes in northeastern India.
According to Minister of Immigration and Absorption Ofir Sofer, who initiated the establishment of the committee, the program is expected to help the absorption of the Bnei Menashe and bring them to Israel in the next four months.
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The Shin Bet announced that it has uncovered an Iranian phishing campaign, designed to gather information about Israelis. That’s phishing with a P H not fishing with an F.
It’s a fraudulent way of obtaining information from unsuspecting targets via computer.
In this case, Iranian representatives, posing as conference organizers contacted Israeli civil servants and researchers through fake profiles on the LinkedIn network to obtain their private information. These same officials took over the Israelis' computers through fake invitations to conferences. Once the Israeli targets clicked on the invitations, the Iranians were able to have total access to their computers through malicious spyware.
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