Author: Gavriel Dan

Gavriel Dan spent a number of years covering social movements in Israel, the wider middle east and Europe. He is considered an expert in embedding himself with various groups and causes in order to get accurate and rich information.
Posted on

Bibi Warns Iran and Hamas Not to Mess With IAF’s ‘Tremendous Firepower’

“The air force is as its peak today, with the best tools, technologies, planes and pilots in the world. With defensive and offensive capabilities and tremendous firepower, the air force has the ability to reach short distances and faraway destinations as required,” the Prime Minister said at an Israel Air Force Flight Academy graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Air Base outside Beersheba.

Thirty-six officers, received their pilots wings after completing the three-year pilots course on Wednesday. The graduation ceremony was attended by Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin.

“We are an island in this stormy region… “

“We are meeting major challenges in the north, in the south and in the east. On all the fronts there are centers and branches of radical Islam that have already caused a heavy calamity in our region, but nowt to our country. We are an island in this stormy region and have a clear policy of protecting our security,” the prime minister said.

Israel has carried out at least 100 attacks targeting Hezbollah terrorists, weapons convoys and infrastructure in Syria since January 2013.  Tens of other strikes have not yet been confirmed by Israel, but include a recent strike on an Iranian base outside Syria’s capital Damascus.

 

Posted on

Is Saudi Arabia About to Abandon the Palestinians?

In the video below, two known Saudi writers appear to push for Saudi Arabia and the Palestinians to go their separate ways.  Ignoring for a moment, some of the mistated facts, like claiming there were only a handful of Jews in 1939 in what was known as Palestine or that the Jews only wanted to be members in a Palestinians parliament, the point the writers are driving home is that the Palestinians are to blame for their problems. This is an extreme about face for the Saudis and appears to be setting a stage for a serious detente between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Posted on

Guatemala to move embassy to Jerusalem

The fallout from President Trump’s Jerusalem announcement continues with Guatemalen President Jimmy Morales making the following statement on his official Facebook page two hours ago:

“Dear people of Guatemala, today I spoke with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. We are talking about the excellent relations that we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the state of Israel.

One of the most important topics was the return of the embassy of Guatemala to Jerusalem.

So I inform you that I have instructed the chancellor to initiate the respective coordination so that it may be.

God bless you.”

The leader of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has also appeared to take a positive view of moving the Romanian embassy to Jerusalem being quoted has saying his country should “seriously consider” moving the Romanian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem for practical reasons.

“All Israel’s central institutions are in Jerusalem, and ambassadors and embassy staff commute from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Dragnea said.

Posted on

Saudi Forces Advance on Iranian Backed Houthis in Yemen

Reports coming from Yemen show the capture of many formerly Houthi-held positions in Al-Zarfa and Asilan districts located in southeast Yemen.

The Saudis and their local allies had managed to turn the tide against the Yemeni Army and the Houthi militias by seizing the entirety of Asilan and Bijan districts.

While the Houthis had been holding off an unprecedented combined assault by Saudi and allied forces, the current shift in the conflict in Yemen appears to be connected to infighting between the Houthis and the General People’s Congress (GPC) formed by deceased Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh was killed by the Houthis on Dec. 4th.

Meanwhile the Saudi Press Agency reports that the Houthis rebels suffered another blow as the Yemeni army who is working closely with Saudi Arabia said that its forces captured Abdul Malik Al Houthi a field commander closely allied with the Houthi militia.




In 2012 Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi came to power after Arab Spring protests pushed Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.  In 2014, a Houthi coup backed by Iran placed Hadi under house arrest. Haidi escaed and shifted his base of power to Aden where he has led an offensive against the Houthis with the help of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni allies. Haid has since liberated 85% of Yemeni territory.  Despite this, the Houthis with the backing of Iran have been able to hold onto the capital of Sana’a.

Due to the humanitarian situation in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has  agreed to open the Red Sea port city of Hodeida for 30 days to let in humanitarian supplies.

Israel Connection

The Saudi push against Iranian backed forces in Yemen comes at an important time as Hezbollah moves closer to Israel.  Although Israel and Saudi Arabia have no overt relationship, they often share intelligence and coordinate against their shared enemy of Iran.

Posted on

Trump on Jerusalem Resolution in the UN: “Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot.”

President Trump threatend to cut off American aid to any country that votes in favor of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly denouncing his recent decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.




Speaking at his last Cabinet meeting of the year, Trump said:

“All these nations that take our money and then vote against us at the Security Council or the assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and billions of dollars and they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us, we’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”

President Trump added that “people are tired of the United States — people that live here, our great citizens that love this country — they’re tired of this country being taken advantage of and we’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer.”