Submitted by: M Mullikin
Israel Fears ‘Explosion of Violence’ as US Prepares to Open Embassy in Jerusalem…
The Israeli army fires tear-gas at Palestinian
protesters during clashes on Friday 4 May.
Decision to relocate into the disputed city in the same week as Israel’s 70th anniversary raises concerns of increased tension…………….
Police in Israel have started patrols and security sweeps of a southern Jerusalem neighbourhood, anxiously preparing for a US embassy inauguration that Israelis and Arab Palestinians fear may launch a week of violence.
The move on 14 May will mark the start of a potentially volatile week when Israel will celebrate its 70th anniversary and Palestinians mark the“catastrophe”, or Nakba, of their displacement on the 15th.
Nakba day has previously seen violence as the Israeli army responds to demonstrations in the West bank.
This year, tensions are far higher than usual.
Six weeks of protests along the Gaza border, during which Israeli soldiers have shot dead nearly 40 people and wounded hundreds, will culminate that week.
There are fears that those attending the rallies may attempt to breach the perimeter, a move that could lead to mass casualties as Israeli snipers are operating under rules of engagement that permit live fire.
“The situation between Israelis and Palestinians could not be more delicate,” wrote Ilan Goldenberg, who served as part of the US team during the 2013-14 Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, in an opinion piece for the Israeli paper Haaretz.
Only a week to go!!!
Netanyahu says Better to Face Iran Sooner Rather than Later…..
06 May 2018
06 May 2018
Israel will do what’s needed to block Iranian aggression, sooner rather than later, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
“Nations that didn’t act in time against murderous aggression against them paid a much higher price later on,” said Netanyahu, who often invokes the European powers’ 1938 agreement to let Nazi Germany annex portions of Czechoslovakia. “We don’t seek escalation, but are prepared for any scenario.”
As European signatories scramble to try to salvage the nuclear agreement, Israel has been urging Trump to jettison it unless it can be amended.
Netanyahu, speaking Sunday, characterised the agreement as fatally flawed because it fails to address potential weaponisation of Iran’s nuclear knowledge, imposing only temporary limits on uranium enrichment.
“I say that a deal that enables Iran to keep and hide all its nuclear weapons know-how is a terrible deal,” Netanyahu told reporters. “It has to be either fully fixed or fully nixed.”
Otherwise, he said, “you will end up with Iran with a nuclear arsenal in a very short time.”
The Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, [pictured above] on Sundaydenounced “Zionist propaganda” and the “vicious Zionist regime” in an angry speech warning the US that it would “soon regret” any decision by Trump later this month to terminate the sanctions waivers on Iran enabled by the July 2015 nuclear deal.
Israel on Peak Alert for Iranian Missile Strike as Lebanese Voting Ends…..
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
Israel’s three-week long high military alert along its northern borders with Syria and Lebanon peaked Sunday night, May 6, as polling stations closed in Lebanon’s first election in nine years.
Israeli political and military strategists calculate that, now the election is over, Iran will make good on its vow of vengeance at any time between now and the May 14 inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Naqba Day on May 15 is another date to watch.
All the signs, including intelligence input, indicate that Iranian and Hizballah units have completed their preparations for a missile attack andare standing ready in their positions.
Israel estimates that Iran will go for military targets mainly in northern Israel, although civilian locations may also be threatened.
Its air force and the entire range of air defence weaponry is on the highest alert.
Its air force and the entire range of air defence weaponry is on the highest alert.
Iran’s leaders are clearly determined to punish Israel for three attacks on Iranian Revolutionary Guards targets in Syria on February 10, and on April 9 and 29, in one of which, at Syria’s T-4 air base, seven Iranian servicemen were killed.
Reliable military sources note that no Israeli officials or military chiefs have given out any details on how the IDF will respond to an Iranian or Hizballah attack.
However, there can be no doubt that the presumed missile offensive can be cut short only by destroying the launchers deep inside Syria and possibly in Lebanon too.
This sort of operation may spread over several days with no certainty about how it may develop. But you can guarantee that Damascus will atarget?
The Israeli security cabinet was convened Sunday for briefings on the forecast and preparations.
U.S. Navy to Resurrect Fleet to Protect the East Coast and North Atlantic from Russia…
06 May 2018
06 May 2018
The U.S. Navy has reactivated a fleet responsible for overseeing the East Coast and North Atlantic - an escalation of the Pentagon's focus on a resurgent Russia and its expanding military presence.
The 2nd Fleet, deactivated in 2011 to preserve funds for new ships, will resume operations in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 1, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson [pictured below] told reportersFriday.
"This is a dynamic response to the dynamic security environment,"Richardson said onboard the carrier George H.W. Bush.
"So as we've seen this great power competition emerge, the Atlantic Ocean is as dynamic a theatre as any, and particular the North Atlantic, so as we consider high-end naval warfare, fighting in the Atlantic, that will be the 2nd Fleet's responsibility."
Navy officials had previously recommended reactivating the fleet as part of broader force structure reviews following last year's deadly row of collisions among ships at the Japan-based 7th Fleet.
In a separate statement, Richardson invoked Defence Secretary Jim Mattis' national defence strategy as key guidance to re-establish the fleet, which will extend halfway across the Atlantic until it meets the area of responsibility for the Italy-based 7th Fleet.
Mattis' framework, released in January, said "long-term strategic competitions" with Russia and China are the top Defence Department priorities as the Pentagon seeks to close the technological gap between Russia and China with newer and deadlier weaponry.
The march to war seems to have taken on a life of its own now?
Israel Report
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