The Israel Security Agency (ISA), in conjunction with the Israel Police, has, in January-February 2018, arrested the following three Israeli Arab residents of Um al-Fahm, some of whom support the Islamic State terrorist organization, on suspicion of planning a shooting attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:
Muhammad Masoud Jabarin, 20;
Amad Lutfy Jabarin, 20; and
a minor (at the time the offenses were committed)
Muhammad Jabarin (ISA)
The ISA investigation shows that the three planned to carry out a shooting attack at the Al Aqsa Mosque similar to the 14 July 2017 attack in which two Israel Police officers – Kamil Shanan and Hail Stawi – were murdered.
The attack was thwarted thanks to precise intelligence information that led to the timely arrest of the cell members even before they managed to procure weapons.
It was also learned that some cell members also considered attacking sacred buildings (synagogues and churches) and security forces, carrying out vehicular attacks, and carrying out attacks over the Christmas holiday.
The ISA investigation revealed that two cell members support the murderous ideology of the Islamic State terrorist organization and sought to perpetrate attacks in the context of this support.
The ISA views Israelis that support Islamic State as a grave threat especially those who are in contact with the organization and operate on its behalf inside the State of Israel.
The ISA will continue to monitor suspects and take the necessary enforcement measures to thwart both the spread of Islamic State ideology in Israel and the carrying out of any actions whatsoever that harm the security of the state.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has now entered the Afrin conflict by threatening to push Turkey and Turkish aligned militants out. In return, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) have threatened to attack the SAA if it enters Afrin. As of yesterday, the SAA was seen entrering the Afrin area. In response the TAF had already begun bombing the approach to Afrin City.
According to Turkish sources the SAA has now halted deployment in the district.
“Pro-regime groups, who tried to enter Syria’s Afrin to support YPG/PKK-Daesh against Turkey’s ongoing operation in the region, have withdrawn Tuesday before reaching the city following warning shots, according to reliable sources on the ground.
The pro-regime groups departed in the Nubl-al-Zahraa region, in southern Afrin, at around 5.00 p.m. (1400GMT) with the aim of supporting YPG/PKK-Daesh terror groups against Operation Olive Branch, said the source on condition of anonymity due to speaking to the media.
The militias tried to advance into the city with a convoy of 20 vehicles including armored vehicles with DShK heavy machine guns
The withdrawal of the pro-Bashar al-Assad terror groups came when they were about 10 km (about 6 miles) away from Afrin, in northwestern Syria.”
In direct contradiction to Turksh claims the SAA has already entered Afrin City over night and are still there. Sputnik News reports the following:
“We maintain contact with the Syrian army, authorities in Afrin and the Kurdish self-defense units (YPG). The forces sent [to Afrin] are directed from the Syrian government, from the command of the Syrian army. Erdogan turned out to be a bad road policeman today, saying that he stopped the movement of Syrian forces that were heading to Afrin. These words are wrong, the forces are is already in Afrin,” YPG spokesman Reizan Hedu said.
Afrin remains tense and appears the main trigger point to a wider war involving Turkey, Russia/Syria/Iran, and the USA. Accordign to many observers Afrin seems to be the sacrificial lamb to Turkey in order to keep them out of eastern Rojava (northeastern Syria). It is in that area where the majority of US bases exist.
The Syrian regime and the Syrian Kurds have never been allies and in fact have been violently opposed to one another. Yet, with Afrin isolated and Turkey posing a far bigger threat to both, the Kurdish leadership in Afrin has decided to tactically allow the Syrian regime to push back on Turkey.
Is This a Trigger Event?
My analysis says that this very well could be the trigger event we have been anticipating. Remember Erdogan wants to reestablish the Ottoman Empire in which his conquering of Damascus plays into an important mythos concerning the rise of the neo-Ottoman empire at the End of Days. The SAA’s entry into Afrin ups the ante and sets up a Turkish-Syrian conflict that has the ability to bring in Russia and the USA.
(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)
Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks, today (Tuesday, 20 February 2018), in Ashkelon, at the opening of Barzilai Medical Center‘s fortified emergency room:
“We are fortifying the hospital because this is our basic obligation – to ensure the security of our citizens. While this is the first obligation of any government, defensive actions do not obviate the need for offensive action when it is necessary.
When we left the Gaza Strip some people still had an iota of hope that the other side would choose to rise to the path of tranquil life; however, it became clear very quickly that the concerns were based in reality. The Hamas regime and the other terrorist organizations turned the Gaza Strip into a powder-keg. We build hospitals while they build terrorist tunnels and missiles.
We have no desire to harm the daily routine of the residents of Gaza but they must know that it is not Israel which is responsible for their plight. It is the extremists leading Gaza that are completely responsible.
We do not intend to ignore the attempts to violate our sovereignty or harm our soldiers and residents and we have proven this time and again. Any act of aggression by the terrorist elements will meet with a strong and determined response on our part, by the IDF and the security sources. We will not accept trickles or bombs on the fence such as we saw last weekend. Whoever hurts us – will himself be hurt. Whoever does not act to calm the situation but instead chooses to fan the flames – will bear full responsibility.
For our part, we will continue to defend the south and strengthen Ashkelon.”
In a live broadcast Hezbollah’s leader Hasan Nasrallah warned Israel to back off its claims over disputed oil and gas field just off the southern Lebanese coast, threatening that Hezbollah could “disable [Israel’s offshore oil installations] within hours.”
The dispute is over the Block 9 which is near Lebanon’s maritime boundaries, but not within. in January, Lebanon put up bids for developing Block 9. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in late January, “They [Lebanon] are announcing a tender on the gas field, including Block 9, which is ours by any definition,” and Lebanese actions “very, very challenging and provocative conduct here.”
So whose right?
Given all international agreements, Israel has sole control over Block 9. Even Hezbollah would be foolish to openly declare war against Israel’s gas installations. With this in mind, it is worth connecting the dots between Russia’s goal of controlling Middle Eastern energy choke points as well as valuable assets.
“Gazprom negotiated for several months to buy up to 30% of the Leviathan reservoir. The initiative to recruit a strategic partner in the rights to the reservoir originated in the realization by the current partners that they lacked the financial capability, know-how, and connections needed to realize the huge reservoir’s potential as soon as possible. According to reports, other companies that expressed interest in a partnership in Leviathan included South Korean company Kogas, Chinese company CNOOC, and Australian company Woodside. Gazprom has apparently submitted the highest bid.”
Putin even insinuated that if Israel agreed to the deal then he would be able to protect it from Hezbollah.
The deal eventually went south after Noble energy (the other investor) of the USA struck it down due to Russia’s involvment. With Putin’s goal of control over the Leviathan gas reservoir stymied, Hezbollah is free to force Israel into a potentially far worse deal. Of course, Noble Energy, being a US company should be able to pressure the Trump administration to help Israel to defend its holdings. Yet, after taking a look at the tightening noose around Israel, it won’t be a surprise if the US drops the ball on this too.
(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Sunday, 18 February 2018), addresses the Munich Security Conference and a showed a piece of the wreckage of the Iranian UAV that was shot down by Israel on 10 February. (Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif was present.) Following are his remarks:
“This is a beautiful city. It’s filled with impressive monuments, richly endowed museums, beautiful architecture. And due to this conference, over the past four decades, Mr. Chairman, Munich has become synonymous with security. That’s important, because, as I said last night, without security, nothing is really possible—not freedom, not prosperity, not the peace we cherish and crave.
But for the Jewish people, two infamous things occurred in this city. In 1972, 11 of our Olympicf athletes were massacred at the Munich airport. In many ways, this act of savagery heralded the rise of international terrorism, and we’ve all been battling it ever since.
And 80 years ago, another event took place here, with far ranging consequences. A disastrous agreement was signed here that set the world on a course towards history’s most horrific war. Two decades after World War I, two decades after a war that claimed 60 million lives, the leaders who met in Munich chose to appease Hitler’s regime rather than confront it. Those leaders were noble men. They thought they were fulfilling their highest responsibility to keep the peace. But the price of their action would soon become apparent.
The concessions to Hitler only emboldened the Nazi regime and facilitated its conquest of Europe. Rather than choosing a path that might have prevented war, or at the very least limited its scope and its scale, those well-intentioned leaders made a wider war inevitable and far more costly. Sometime after the war Roosevelt asked Churchill, how would he call this war? And he answered immediately without hesitation, the Unnecessary War. He said there was never a war more easy to stop.
In the wake of the Munich agreement, 60 million people would die in World War II, including a third of my own people, six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis and their collaborators. We will never forget and we will never allow the rewriting of the historical truth.
[Hebrew] We will not forget; we will not forgive; we will always fight for the truth.
Today we gather two-and-a-half years after another agreement was signed in another city in the heart of Europe. There too, noble men and women, high-minded leaders hoping to avoid war, signed an agreement that brutalizes its own people and terrorizes its neighbors. Let me be clear. Iran is not Nazi Germany. There are many differences between the two. Well, for one, one advocated a master race, the other advocates a master faith. Jews in Iran are not sent to the gas chambers, although religious and ethnic minorities are denied basic freedoms. And there are obviously many other differences. But there are also some striking similarities. Iran openly declares its intention to annihilate Israel with its six million Jews. It makes absolutely no bones about it. Iran seeks to dominate our region, the Middle East, and seeks to dominate the world through aggression and terror. It’s developing ballistic missiles to reach deep into Europe and to the United States as well.
Henry Kissinger said that Iran must choose between being a country or a cause. Well, the regime in Iran has chosen to be a cause. The commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Ali Jafari, said, we’re on the path to the rule of Islam worldwide. That means right here too. This is, in my judgement, the greatest threat to our world. Not just to Israel, not just to our Arab neighbors, not just to Muslims far and wide, but to you as well. Because once armed with nuclear weapons, Iran’s aggression will be unchecked and it will encompass the entire world. Look at what they are doing now, before they have nuclear weapons. Imagine what they will do later if G-d forbid they’ll have them.
Just as was true 80 years ago, an agreement that was seen as appeasement has only emboldened the regime and brought war closer. The nuclear agreement with Iran has begun the countdown to an Iranian nuclear arsenal in little more than a decade. And the sanction relief that the deal provided has not moderated Iran. It’s not made them more moderate internally and it’s not made them more moderate externally. In fact, it’s unleashed a dangerous Iranian tiger in our region and beyond.
Through its proxies, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthies in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Iran is devouring huge swaths of the Middle East. Now, there has been one positive consequence of Iran’s growing aggression in the region. It’s brought Arabs and Israelis closer together as never before. In a paradoxical way, this may pave the way for a broader peace and ultimately also for a Palestinian-Israeli peace. This could happen. But it will not happen if Iran’s aggression continues to grow, and nowhere are Iran’s belligerent ambitions clearer than in Syria. There Iran hopes to complete a contiguous empire, linking Tehran to Tartus, the Caspian to the Mediterranean. For some time I’ve been warning about this development. I’ve made clear in word and deed that Israel has red lines it will enforce. Israel will continue to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. Israel will continue to act to prevent Iran from establishing another terror base from which to threaten Israel. But Iran continues to try to cross those red lines. Last week its brazenness reached new heights, literally new heights. It sent a drone into Israeli territory, violating Israel’s sovereignty, threatening our security. We destroyed that drone and the control center that operated it from Syria, and when our places were fired upon, Israel destroyed Syrian anti-aircraft batteries. Israel will not allow Iran’s regime to put a noose of terror around our neck. We will act without hesitation to defend ourselves. And we will act, if necessary, not just against Iran’s proxies that are attacking us, but against Iran itself.
Later today you will hear from Mr. Zarif. He’s the smooth-talking mouthpiece of Iran’s regime. I give Mr. Zarif credit. He lies with eloquence. Last year at this conference, Zarif said that, I’m quoting: “Extremism is driven by lack of hope and respect.”
Well, if that’s true, why does the Iranian regime deny its people hope and respect by jailing journalists and activists? Zarif said, it was erroneous to label Iran radical. If that’s true, what do you call a regime that hangs gays from cranes in town squares? Zarif said that conflicts in Syria and Yemen do not have a military solution. If that’s true, why does Iran send fighters and arms to fuel violence precisely in those places? No doubt, Mr. Zarif will brazenly deny Iran’s nefarious involvement in Syria.
Iran also denies that it committed an act of aggression against Israel last week, that it sent a drone into our airspace to threaten our people. Well, here’s a piece of that Iranian drone, or what’s left of it after we shot it down. I brought it here so you can see for yourself. Mr. Zarif, do you recognize this? You should. It’s yours. You can take back with you a message to the tyrants of Tehran: Do not test Israel’s resolve.
And I have a message for everyone gathered here today too. I want you to support the people of Iran. I want you to support those in the region who want peace by confronting an Iranian regime that threatens peace.
I’ve been speaking to the people of Iran with video messages. The response is amazing. I saw this before the recent demonstrations. I asked our intelligence people to explain to me how it is that we were getting names of people supporting what I said, from Iran, risking their lives, their families. I said something is happening there. Those people want freedom. They want a different life. They want economic prosperity. They want peace. They don’t want this far-flung Iranian aggression. And I’ve explained we have no quarrel with the people of Iran, only with the regime that torments them. And I take this opportunity to send our condolences of the families of the 66 Iranian civilians that lost their lives in the plane accident today. We have no quarrel with the people of Iran, but we are absolutely resolute in our determination to stop and roll back the aggression of Iran’s regime.
Let us pledge today, Ladies and Gentlemen, here in Munich, not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Appeasement never works. The hour to prevent war is getting late, but it is not too late. I am convinced that one day this regime will fall, and when it does, the great peace between the ancient Jewish people and the ancient Persian people will flourish once again. When that happens, the people of Iran will breathe free, and the people in the region will breathe a sigh of relief. But today we must speak clearly, we must act boldly. We can stop this dangerous regime. We can roll back its aggression and by doing so, create a more peaceful, a more prosperous and a more secure world for our region and for our future.”
