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Israel Update 21.11.19

ISRAEL UNDER FIRE FROM SYRIA

 

Four rockets fired from Syria were intercepted over the Golan Heights on Tuesday by the Iron Dome missile defence system. Israeli defence sources said the rockets were fired at the command of Iran. Read more here

 

In response, The IDF attacked dozens of targets in Syria belonging to Iran’s Quds Force and Bashar Assad’s army on Wednesday. About 20 targets were hit, more than half being Iranian headquarters and camps. A strike targeted a building at Damascus Airport, which houses the Iranian Quds Force headquarters. Read more here

 

A senior Israeli defence official said that Israel destroyed six Syrian air defence batteries, as well as multiple buildings on Syrian military bases that are controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force…Video footage from Syria appeared to show a Syrian air defence missile crashing to the ground in a heavily populated area shortly after launching, which could account for some of the casualties. Read more here

 

POST-SCRIPT TO LAST WEEK’S FLARE-UP  – ISRAEL UNDER FIRE FROM GAZA BY PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD (PIJ)

 

PIJ fired a new rocket at Israel with a 300 kg. (660 lb.) warhead that left a huge crater, diameter 16 metres (52 feet) and 2 metres (6 feet) deep where it exploded. The rocket, developed with the assistance of Iranian engineers, and which carried significantly more explosives than usual, landed in an open area in an Israeli community. Read more here

 

There was a significant rise in the rate of new births at an Ashkelon hospital over the 36-hour period of fighting, with 21 new babies (usually 12 -14 is the norm) being born between Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening last week. The increase was due to tension the pregnant mothers suffered while hearing incoming rocket sirens and rushing to shelters many times. Read more here

 

The Israeli Deputy Defence Minister said: “We had to make sure PIJ would understand that they can’t shoot at Israel whenever they want.”  Read more here

 

PIJ fired four volleys of rockets at Israel from Gaza on Thursday, after the “ceasefire”. In response, Israel struck PIJ targets in Gaza early Friday. Palestinian sources said 34 Gazans were killed last week, many from Islamic Jihad.  58 Israelis were injured.              Read more here

 

Reportedly, Hamas’ failure to join the fighting with Israel was one of the main reasons why PIJ agreed to the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. The heavy casualties PIJ suffered also contributed to the decision. Read more here

 

U.S. firefighters who are part of the Emergency Volunteer Project to deploy in Israel in times of need were in the country when the recent hostilities broke out. As rockets fell on Israel, a team of U.S. firefighters worked side-by-side with their Israeli counterparts to extinguish brush and building fires and deal with other emergencies, responding to 10 or more emergency calls each day.               Read more here

 

Hamas launched two rockets at Beersheba at 2 a.m. on Saturday. Both rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome. In response, Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza…However the Israeli assessment was that the launch was without the Hamas leaders’ authorisation. Read more here  

Read more here

 

IRON DOME

 

Israel’s Iron Dome has successfully destroyed more than 1,500 incoming rockets since April 2011, saving Israeli lives and protecting homes and core national infrastructure. While the cost of each interceptor is approximately $100,000, the cost of interception pales in comparison to the cost of damage wrought by an exploding rocket. The system’s reported success rate is around 90%.                 Read more here

 

OTHER NEWS FROM GAZA

 

The Palestinian Authority has approved a proposal to operate Gaza’s power plant using Israeli natural gas and Qatari funding.      Read more here

 

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has said that Hamas is using metal irrigation pipes – left behind by Israel when it withdrew in 2005 – to produce rockets. Read more here

 

A $90 million U.S. lawsuit filed in Washington charges the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) with financing hundreds of acts of environmental terrorism along Israel’s border with Gaza. Read more here

 

THE USA

 

U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said Monday “U.S. public statements on [Israeli] settlement activities in the West Bank have been inconsistent over decades…After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with President Reagan. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.” Read more here

 

FAROE ISLANDS

 

The Faroe Islands reportedly plans to open an office for diplomatic representation in Jerusalem and intends to recognize the city as the capital of Israel. The Faroe Islands is a self-governing archipelago of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, but is a part of Denmark.    Read more here

 

THE E.U.

 

The Dutch parliament voted 82-68 to call on the government to object to a European Court of Justice decision that ordered the labelling of Israeli goods made in West Bank settlements unless similar standards are applied to all disputed territories around the world, deeming the singling out of Israel… as unfair and discriminatory. Israel has noted that there are more than 200 territorial disputes in the world, but that the European court had never ruled on any of them. Read more here

 

A former U.S. Ambassador to the EU, Stuart Eizenstat, has said that the EU rules (on country-of-origin labelling) violate World Trade Organization regulations: “It’s not an appropriate use of regulations which were designed for safety and health of food products, not for political purposes.”  Read more here

 

OTHER NEWS FROM THE NETHERLANDS

 

The Dutch parliament has voted to curb the county’s aid to the Palestinian Authority, citing the PA’s policy of paying convicted terrorists and their families. The Netherlands provides the PA with $1.6 million in monthly aid, allowing the PA to spend it at its discretion. Now any aid funds will be given only to specific projects. Read more here

 

BLUE FLAG AERIAL EXERCISE

 

The fourth bi-annual Blue Flag aerial exercise hosted by the Israeli Air Force completed two weeks of advanced drills on Nov. 14. Aircraft from the U.S., Greece, Germany, and Italy took part alongside Israeli aircraft. Read more here

 

ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT

 

Israeli electric-plane startup Eviation Aircraft Ltd. has signed up two more American customers for its pioneering commuter aircraft, taking its orders to more than 150 planes. The company hopes that itsall-electric, 9-passenger Alice, with a 650-mile range, will attract buyers in a commuter market served by light aircraft. Read more here

 

and see video: Eviation’s All-Electric Alice Regional Airliner.View here

 

 

MEDICAL INNOVATION

 

Israeli surgeons have successfully performed a new “artificial meniscus” transplant, a world first, using the NUsurface implant. This knee surgery could replace previous treatments such as physiotherapy for damaged or torn menisci. Read more here

 

At a British government initiative UK Israel Tech Hub event, the British Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan said the U.K. could benefit from Israel’s medical technology capabilities.  The British-Israel research organization BIRAX is granting funds of £2.8 million to seven, new, three-year bilateral scientific research projects in the field of ageing, focussing on vascular, brain and eye diseases, plus diabetes and involving precision medicine and AI. Read more here   Read more here

 

 

SPORT: MESSI & SUAREZ PLAY IN TEL AVIV

 

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez appeared in an international friendly match (drawn 2-2) between Argentina and Uruguay in Tel Aviv on Monday. Read more here

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Amos Harel: The Israeli attacks Wednesday on Iranian targets in Syria send the message, first of all, that Israel is not Saudi Arabia and will not shrug off aggression against it. Secondly, Iranian General Soleimani should reconsider his project to build up and establish a presence on the Israel-Syria border because Israel sees that as crossing a line in the sand and will continue to react strongly against it. Read more here

 

Adam Levick: The Financial Times has corrected a Nov. 20 editorial that claimed Secretary of State Pompeo had “overturned 40 years of U.S. policy” with his announcement on the legality of Israeli settlements. Between the late 1970s and 2016, there was not one U.S. president or secretary of state who labelled the settlements “illegal.” Read more here

 

Stephen Daisley: The assertion that Israeli settlements “violate international law” – when the same legal instruments are not applied to other territorial disputes – is an attempt to judicialize political preference. Rather than assert a new principle of international law, the U.S. has restored a lifeline to a rigorous interpretation…Israel already considered settlements legal. The Israeli Supreme Court will continue determining which settlements are consistent with Israeli law and which are not. The absence of a Palestinian state remains a matter of the Palestinian leadership refusing to accept one. Read more here