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Israel Update 8.6.23

EGYPTIAN BORDER ATTACK

 

Combat soldiers Staff Sgt. Ori Yitzhak Iluz, Staff Sgt. Ohad Dahan, and Sgt. Lia Ben Nun, tasked with guarding Israel’s border with Egypt, were killed early Saturday by an Egyptian policeman who had infiltrated into Israel. The gunman walked 5 km. from his guard post in Egypt and climbed up a cliff to reach an emergency gate used by the IDF to cross the border when necessary, in coordination with the Egyptian army, which indicated his knowledge of the area. Read more here

 

 

OTHER ATTACKS

 

Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank town of Huwara on Monday evening. The Palestinian driver initially fled the scene but was later caught.Read more here

 

An Israeli motorist came under fire while driving near the West Bank town of Huwara on Tuesday night. The car was hit with 12 bullets, shattering its windows.  Read more here

 

 

IRANIAN THREAT

 

Iran claimed on Tuesday that it had created a hypersonic missile capable of traveling at 15 times the speed of sound with a range up to 1400 km which could evade all air defences.Read more here

 

 

Israeli Defence Minister Gallant played down Iran’s claim. Iran said that the new weapon could overcome Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system. But Iron Dome was not designed to intercept long-range missiles. Israel has tools in its air defence arsenal to counter long-range missiles, in the David’s Sling and Arrow defence systems. Read more here

 

 

Israel’s defence minister warned on Thursday of dangers coming from Iran’s nuclear programme saying “we may be required to fulfill our duty,” while Israel’s Foreign Ministry criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency’s decision to close their investigations into the remains of enriched uranium at Iranian nuclear facilities.   (paywall) Read more here

 

 

Iran was elected by acclamation to the UN General Assembly’s Committee on Disarmament and International Security on June 1. “The criminals who trample their own people, violate UN Security Council resolutions, arm Russia with 400 UAVs to bomb Ukrainian civilians, fail to cooperate with IAEA and foment terrorism at home and abroad are unfit to serve on a committee dealing with disarmament and international security,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.Read more here

 

 

THE US & ISRAEL

 

Dana Stroul, the Pentagon’s top Middle East policymaker said that the decision to transfer Israel from the U.S. military’s European Command to its Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East, was “a strategic game changer for how the United States can partner with Israel and our Arab partners in the region to advance security and stability.”…”We see Israel and the IDF as the most combat credible and capable military partner for CENTCOM.”…”The United States learns as much from Israel as Israel learns from the United States, and it’s not just Iron Dome. It’s what Israel has achieved with a multi-layered air defence system, and the expertise which it brings to bear every day to protect civilian lives.” Read more here

 

 

DEFENCE

 

The IDF’s electromagnetic spectrum warfare unit can disable the enemy forces’ ability to function,carrying out a variety of activities that include direct jamming and disruption of an enemy’s communications.  The unit’s capabilities were used during the May 2021 conflict in Gaza when in a variety of situations, Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives in the field inexplicably lost touch with their commanders.Read more here

 

 

MOROCCO

 

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana visited Morocco this week at the invitation of his Moroccan counterpart. The trip, which began on Wednesday, will be the first official visit by a Knesset speaker to the parliament of a Muslim country.   Read more here

 

AI

 

 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visiting Israel this week as part of a worldwide tour to meet with AI users and developers as well as policymakers said “There are two things I have observed that are particular about Israel: the first is talent density and the second is the relentlessness, drive, and ambition of Israeli entrepreneurs,” Altman and Ilya Sutskever, the creators behind ChatGPT, the viral chatbot released late last year that mimics human writing, were hosted by Tel Aviv University’s School of Computer Science. Read more here

 

 

 

UKRAINE

 

 

The Ukrainian and Israeli militaries are working together in Poland to implement an early-warning radar system in Ukraine to detect missiles and drones. One of the significant advantages of the Israeli system is its ability to calculate a relatively precise time and place of impact for launched missiles. The Israeli system will allow air warning sirens to be activated more quickly, but only in those places where there is a real danger.  Read more here

 

 

 

U20 FIFA WORLD CUP IN ARGENTINA

 

The  goalscorers for Israel in its stunning 3-2 quarter-final victory over Brazil in the U’20 football World Cup on 3rd June , were:

Anan Khalaili (Arab Israeli)

Hamza Shibli (Bedouin Israeli)

Dor Turgeman (Jewish Israeli)

See more here

 

 

Israel will face Uruguay in the Under-20 soccer World Cup semifinal in Argentina today Thursday 8 June. Read more here

 

DRONE TECHNOLOGY

 

11 drone operating and delivery companies were involved in tests and experimental flights throughout Israel last week. For the first time, test flights of an autonomous flying vehicle, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with long distance capabilities were conducted in a managed urban airspace carrying heavy cargo loads, which in the future could transport people. Read more here

 

 

WATER TECHNOLOGY

 

 

In 2012, Israeli startup Watergen revealed its first atmospheric water generator to the world. Now, H2oll another Israeli startup, says it can also produce drinking water from the atmosphere, but more cheaply, more efficiently and more sustainably. And in any climate. Read more here

 

 

 

ROAD SAFETY

 

 

Technology to prevent drivers from using apps on their phones while driving will be implemented in dozens of Isuzu trucks in Israel. Read more here

 

 

 

BUTTERFLIES

 

 

A box of butterflies collected in the Land of Israel 160 years ago has been donated by the University of Oxford’s Natural History Museum to the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Read more here

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

Legendary hard rock band Guns N’ Roses performed on Monday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park. It was their fourth show in Israel over the past 20 years. Read more here

 

Review of Robbie Williams’ recent concert.

“I love you, Tel Aviv!” yelled out Williams, who repeatedly mentioned how happy he was to be back in Israel.

Short video of RW’s words to the audience: View here

Read more here

 

 

TEL AVIV’S 25th PRIDE PARADE

 

At the time of writing the parade is passing along the Tel Aviv seafront. Read more here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Stephen M Flatow: (Excerpts)The confrontation between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian Arab terrorists (when a terrorist named Ashraf Mohammad Ibrahim was killed) in Jenin on May 29th might seem to have been a routine incident…

But a closer look at the details – and their implications – shatters four of the most important myths about the Middle East.

 

Myth #1: If you let the Palestinian Authority have a police force, it will use it to fight terrorism.

This was one of the major premises of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Israel agreed to permit the creation of a 10,000-man Palestinian security force. The Clinton administration offered to train and arm them. The PA gradually expanded it to 30,000 men, making it one of the largest per capita security forces in the world.

Yet instead of arresting terrorists and shutting down their safe houses and arms depots, the PA has sheltered the terrorists, protected them from Israeli capture, and enabled them to operate freely.

Even worse, many of these PA “policemen” double as terrorists. Ashraf Mohammad Ibrahim, this week’s Jenin terrorist, was an officer in the PA General Intelligence Service, according to the official PA news service.

 

Myth #2: Fatah has given up terrorism

Another of the foundational precepts of the Oslo agreement was that Fatah – the largest faction of the PLO and PA – had sincerely forsaken terrorism.

In reality, Fatah simply formed a new terrorist unit, the “al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade,” and continued its murderous activities under that name. Fatah’s own Facebook page openly describes the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as Fatah’s “military arm.”

 

Myth #3: Poverty causes terrorism

The experts claim that Palestinian Arab terrorists typically are young, unemployed men, who resort to terrorism because of their personal financial distress.

Ashraf Mohammed Ibrahim was neither young nor unemployed. He was 38, and had a steady, well-paying job as a PA General Intelligence officer…(because) the main cause of terrorism is not poverty – it’s ideology. Extreme Arab nationalism, Muslim fundamentalism and old-fashioned antisemitism.

Myth #4: The Israeli occupation is the source of the conflict.

… in 1995  Israel withdrew its troops and military administration from the PA-controlled areas, where 98% of Palestinian Arabs reside. Over the next 28 years, an entire generation of Palestinian Arabs grew up under PA rule. They attended PA schools, listened to PA Radio, and watched PA Television. Did the PA educate them to embrace peace and nonviolence?

No; exactly the opposite. As a resident of PA-governed Jenin, Ashraf Mohammed Ibrahim was a product of the PA school system. The PA could have taught him to be a peaceful citizen. Instead, he spent his school years learning that Jews are evil and deserve to be murdered. And so, he acted on what his PA teachers taught him. Read complete article here

 

 

Lior El Hai: The unique combination of Jewish and Arab players on the soccer field in Israel is best demonstrated on its national team. They stand united, showcasing pride in their teamwork.

The residents of the Bedouin village of Shibli–Umm al-Ghanam in northern Israel are also very proud…Hamza Shibli, who lives in the village and is one of the stars of the national team in the FIFA U20 World Cup, scored a towering header to level against Brazil and pave the way to a sensational upset victory against one of the best teams in the world. Read more here