Israel Update 29.6.23

TERROR ATTACKS

 

 

Two Palestinian terrorists killed four Israelis and wounded four others at a petrol station on 20/6. Those murdered were Elisha Antman, 17, Harel Masoud, 21, who recently completed combat service in the IDF, Nachman Mordof, 17; and Ofer Fayerman, 63. Read more here (paywall)

 

Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank on 19/6. They responded by shooting at the car, injuring two terrorists. Read more here

 

 

Since the beginning of 2023, the terror wave has claimed the lives of 28 victims. Here are their stories. Read here

 

 

Sad post-script to May’s Gazan rocket attacks: Sergei Avramyan, whose wife was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza hit their home in Rehovot last month has died aged 86. Family members said that while Sergei was only lightly hurt in the rocket attack, his physical and mental condition deteriorated quickly in the weeks following his wife’s death. Read more here

 

 

Terrorists launched two rockets toward Israel from the Jenin area on Monday, the first such launch from the West Bank in 18 years. Both fell inside P.A. territory; one rocket fell five metres from the launch area and the other landed 80 metres away. Read more here

 

 

 

COUNTER TERRORISM

 

 

Cyprus security services on Sunday foiled attempted terror attacks against Israelis and Jews by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The attacks were thwarted by “coordination between Cypriot intelligence services and U.S. and Israeli intelligence services.” While they were unable to arrest the main suspect, they located the equipment that was meant to be used in the attacks. The assailants belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s branch in northern Cyprus, which is under Turkish control.Read more here (paywall)

 

 

The targets in Iranian-planned attacks in Cyprus reportedly included an Israeli real estate businessman and a Chabad House, as well as hotels and entertainment venues frequented by Israeli tourists. Recently, Greek intelligence services arrested seven Pakistan nationals who were recruited by Iran to carry out attacks in Greece. Read more here

 

 

 

FOOTBALL (Soccer)

 

 

A late goal brought Israel’s Under-21 team a highly improbable win over the Czech Republic, sending the Israelis to the European Championship quarter-finals. Read more here

 

 

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC welcomes Robbie Keane as the new Head Coach for the 2023/24 season. Keane and his team join Maccabi Tel Aviv on a 2-year-deal. Read more here

 

 

Israel’s hopes for a spot in the Euro 2024 football tournament were given a boost when the squad beat Andorra 2-1 on 19/6. Their next match is in September. Read more here

 

 

 

OTHER SPORT

 

 

The Falfala beach soccer club from the Israeli Arab town of Kfar Qassem recently became the first Israeli team to win the Euro Winners Cup.  Falfala’s captain and defender Amer Yatim said: “We’re very proud to represent Israel and the Arab community. We made history …” Read more here

 

 

 

Israel’s artistic swimmers won a gold medal in the Team Free Routine Combination last week at the European Games held in Poland, in a victory hailed as being even more poignant, occurring “just 10 minutes from Auschwitz.” Germany came second. Read more here

 

 

 

35 athletes representing Israel in the Special Olympics (held in Berlin) competed in judo, swimming, athletics, tennis, table tennis, cycling, bowling and football and won 9 gold medals, 8 silver and 8 bronze. Read more here

 

 

 THE UK

 

 

Pro-Palestinian protesters who caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage to an electronics plant they believed was making circuit boards for Israeli drones have been jailed. Teledyne Labtech, in Presteigne, Powys, was targeted in December 2022. Four people were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage and sentenced to 23 to 27 months in prison.
The combined cost of the damage and consequential costs for security measures totalled 1.2 million pounds, said the prosecutor. The factory, which employed 64 people, was closed for three weeks for the clean-up and repairs. It makes circuit boards for MRI scanners in hospitals, radars in planes and satellite antennae. Read more here

 

 

 

THE EU

 

 

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the financial arm of the EU, announced that it will invest 150 million euros in Israel’s seventh desalination facility, planned for the Western Galilee. EIB is also looking to invest 250 million euros in the Tel Aviv light rail project.
EIB has co-financed 28 projects in Israel since 1981, investing 2.3 billion euros. Read more here

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

 

 

12 Georgia (USA) police chiefs and command staff, 3 Georgia sheriffs, and 5 other law enforcement officials completed a two-week public safety leadership training programme in Israel as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange’s (GILEE) 30th annual peer-to-peer executive training programme. Read more here

 

 

 

 

The Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training brings students from developing countries to learn practical agriculture with Israeli farmers living in the Arava, an area known for its hot weather and sparse rainfall.  Since 1994, 20,000 students, mostly from Africa and Asia, have graduated from the programme.Read more here

 

 

 

Since 2006, the Israeli embassy in Dakar, Senegal, whose population is 95% Muslim, has provided families with sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday.  Before each school year, the embassy also distributes school supplies and IT equipment to schools in Dakar as well as more remote communities. Read more here

 

 

 

The Canadian government is providing funding to Tel Aviv University with the goal of improving Canada’s Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems. SeismicAI, an Israeli high-tech company, collaborated with Tel Aviv University to develop an EEW system that’s been utilized around the world. Read more here

 

 

 

DEFENCE

 

 

Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems’ Drone Dome has been deployed in Dubai, and is also protecting airports, military targets, and borders in a number of NATO states, as well as in Asian countries. The British military has purchased several systems. Drone Dome deals with both swarm attacks and single threats.Read more here

 

 

The Norwegian army’s 54 state-of-the-art Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks come fully equipped with the Israeli cutting-edge Trophy active defence system manufactured by Rafael.Read more here

 

 

The Israeli Air Force and Israel Aerospace Industries presented the new Israeli stealth jet, “MARS2 ELI-3150” at the Paris  Air Show Read more here

 

 

 

Israeli defence electronics company Elbit Systems will supply tactical unmanned aerial systems to the Romanian Armed Forces.Read more here

 

 

Israel’s Elbit Systems was awarded a contract to supply Airborne Electronic Warfare (EW) self-protection systems for helicopters of the German Air Force. Read more here

 

 

Israel Aerospace Industries has announced a new agreement with NATO member Estonia to supply it with drones. Read more here

 

 

 

TECH ECOSYSTEMS

 

 

Tel Aviv moved up two spots to 5th place in an annual survey ranking the world’s most attractive ecosystems for startups and innovation by US research firm Startup Genome after Silicon Valley, NYC & London (tied 2^nd) and L.A. Read more here

 

 

MEDICAL INNOVATION

 

 

The world’s only proton-beam machine for irradiating cancers that puts patients in a chair that moves as the beam stays stationary, an Israeli invention that is cheaper, smaller, safer, and more efficient than other devices that force the patient to remain still while the beam moves around,  was opened at P-Cure Ltd’s Shilat facility near Modi’in. Read more here

 

 

 

ICELAND

 

 

Icelandic flag carrier Icelandair has launched Tel Aviv – Reykjavik flights. The new seasonal service is operating with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, three times a week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday until 29 October 2023. The estimated flight time from Israel to Iceland is 7 hours. Read more here

 

 

EVENTS IN TEL AVIV

 

 

 

“White Night” tonight (June 29) celebrates 20 years since the city’s UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site with all-night parties, performances and art shows. Read more here

 

 

 

Details of the Tel Aviv Summer Opera programme, featuring some 60 young opera singers from Israel and abroad giving free outdoor performances as well as ticketed programmes:Read more here

 

 

 

 

“Disturbed” with lead singer David Draiman gave a two-hour, 21-song performance at the Tel Aviv Expo.Read more here

 

 

 

VIDEO

 

 

 

Israel’s Public Diplomacy Ministry has put out a 2 minute English-language video on social media offering “a quick guide in reading the news about Israel.” View here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

JPost Editorial: UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland says we are seeing a “continuing cycle of violence.” In this worldview, both sides are committing acts of violence, both sides are suffering casualties, and both sides are equally responsible, disregarding what came before.
The IDF entered Jenin on Monday to arrest terrorists. If the Palestinian Authority was doing its job, the IDF would not have to do so. If terrorism was not a real peril, the IDF would not have to do so. This is not a “both sides are to blame” situation. Without terror, there would be no reason for IDF operations inside Palestinian areas. Because there is terror, those actions are essential to safeguard Israeli lives.
Some will try to link Tuesday’s murders of four innocent Israelis with this or that Israeli policy. That is false. Ideological hatred of Jews and Israel fuelled the terrorists who needed no excuse to seek out victims to murder. There can be no equivalence between terrorists and their victims. Read more here

 

 

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser EXTRACT: “The Palestinian Authority is either totally uninvolved in what’s happening and just watching from afar, or encouraging the terror attacks by paying salaries to the terrorists and joining in with their incitement….One of the reasons why they don’t do anything to stop it is that the vast majority of the Palestinian population doesn’t feel that they pay any price for what’s going on.” Read article here

 

 

Anne Bayefsky: Miloon Kothari, a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry, announced  that Palestinians can “resist” Israelis just as Ukrainians are resisting Russia. Greenlighting Palestinian violence and analogizing Israeli self-defence to Russian aggression was a new low. Read more here