Jonathan Cook | Israel’s undoing will not be an attack from Arab states or international sanctions. Rather, its leaders have created a monster they can no longer tame | As Israel celebrates its 75th anniversary, the state-building project it cemented into place in 1948 by expelling 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland is showing the first signs of unraveling. ● The surprise is that Israel’s woes spring not, as generations of its leaders feared, from outside forces – a combined attack from Arab states or pressure from the international community – but from Israel’s own internal contradictions. ● Israeli leaders created the very problems they all too obviously lack the tools to now solve. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bombardment of Gaza in recent days, killing dozens of Palestinians, should be understood in that light. It is one more indication of Israel’s internal crisis. Once again, the Palestinians are being used in a frantic bid to shore up an increasingly fragile “Jewish” unity.

■ 15 May – Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba at UN Headquarters in New York (05/15/23)

Israel & Palestine: The Maps Tell The True Story

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians known as “the Nakba” or “the Catastrophe”. The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba at UN Headquarters in New York. | For the first time in the history of the UN, this anniversary will be commemorated pursuant to the mandate by the General Assembly (A/RES/77/23 of 30 November 2022). ● The CEIRPP will organize a High-Level Special Meeting on 15 May 2023, from 10 am to 12.30 pm (NY Time) in Conference Room 4. The High-Level event will be conducted in the six official languages. The High-Level event will be presided over by the Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Cheikh Niang. It will include a keynote address by the President of the State of Palestine, H.E. Mahmoud Abbas, and statements by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, representatives of Regional Groups and civil society. The High-Level event will be conducted in the six official languages. A Special Commemorative Event will be held in the General Assembly Hall in the evening from 6 pm to 8 pm (NY Time). ● Palestine refugees have been on an epic journey since their catastrophic displacement in 1948 and remain, today, a scattered people, further displaced by conflict, blockaded and living under occupation, marginalized by national legislations, deprived of rights and fervently longing for a resolution of their exile and dispossession. UNRWA, the UN Agency created to bring human development and emergency assistance to Palestine refugees, has been with these Palestinians every step of the way. UNRWA photographers have chronicled the Palestine refugee experience since it started operations in 1950. This photo essay is a snapshot of the extensive UNRWA exhibition of archival photographs inaugurated in November 2013 in Jerusalem entitled, ‘The Long Journey of Palestine Refugees’. The images are drawn from the magnificent and extensive UNRWA archive which was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009, recognizing its historical value.

■ For first time in its history, UN commemorates Palestinian Nakba Day (PressTV)
■ The Nakba at 75 – Palestinians’ struggle to get recognition for their ‘catastrophe’ (The Conversation)
■ The Nakba: All you need to know explained in five maps and charts (Middle East Eye)
■ What is the Nakba? Day of catastrophe for Palestinians, explained (Middle East Eye)
■ ISRAEL & PALESTINE: The Maps Tell The True Story (What Really Happened)

Air strikes target Islamic Jihad leaders, leaving three commanders killed, along with four children, five women and a dentist | The Israeli military killed 15 Palestinians, including three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commanders along with their wives and children, in a fresh attack on the Gaza Strip. ● A total of 40 fighter jets participated in bombing different locations in the besieged enclave just after 2am local time on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military. Another air strike in the afternoon targeted a vehicle in Qarara town in Khan Yunis. ● The Palestinian health ministry said at least four children, five women, a dentist and his family were among those killed. Another 22 people were wounded, including three children and seven women, some of whom are in a serious and critical condition. ● Three commanders in the al-Quds Brigades (Saraya al-Quds), the military branch of the Islamic Jihad, were killed along with their families in the initial raids.

■ Sadness, anger in Palestine: Gaza mourns 13 killed in Israel raid (Al Jazeera)
■ Israel has opened up gates of hell to itself with Gaza assassinations: Lions’ Den (PressTV)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has strongly denounced “as a crime against humanity” the Israeli regime’s detention and ill-treatment of Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan, who ultimately lost his life in jail, saying the international community's silence will further embolden the occupying regime. Nasser Kan'ani made the remarks in a statement released on Tuesday, following the murder of a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, Khader Adnan, at an Israeli jail following an 87-day hunger strike. “The way the Israeli regime detained and its inhumane treatment of this Palestinian hunger striker are a clear example of the inhumane and violent behavior the Israeli regime has, in an organized and extensive manner, shown against the Palestinian nation and fighters over the past seven decades,” he said. The Iranian diplomat also noted the martyrdom of this fighter in an Israeli jail displayed the righteousness of the Palestinian nation’s resistance, and how it is being oppressed by the Israeli regime.

■ Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan dies in prison (If Americans Knew)
■ PCHR: “Leaving Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan in his Cell Without Healthcare is a Decision to Kill him”

■ Profile: Khader Adnan, iconic Palestinian resistance leader, murdered at 44 (PressTV) | By Syed Zafar Mehdi | Khader Adnan, a senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Islamic Jihad, breathed his last in an Israeli jail in the wee hours of Tuesday morning after nearly three months of hunger strike. Adnan, who had emerged as a powerful symbol of the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli regime’s policy of arbitrary detentions and custodial torture of resistance fighters, was “found unconscious” in his prison cell, according to his jailers, confirming the custodial murder. The 44-year-old resistance commander and a father of nine from the town of Arraba near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin spent several years in different Israeli prisons and went on hunger strike many times in protest against the regime’s so-called “administrative detention”. This arbitrary detention policy, inherited from British colonizers, allows the occupying regime to indefinitely hold Palestinian "suspects" without charge or trial.

Zionists brutally attack worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

If any country that the West doesn't like did this in a holy site, we wouldn't stop hearing about it in western media for days. But since the Zionists are doing it... silence. Hypocrites.pic.twitter.com/KN2dc2THN2

— Hassan Mafi ‏ (@thatdayin1992) April 5, 2023

Marwa Osman | This is what Zionist occupation soldiers were doing last night inside #AlAqsaMosque against people worshipping Allah sw during the holy month of #Ramadan. If you are a Muslim and you see this and your blood doesn't boil, then you are a hypocrite. If you are a non-Muslim free man/woman who advocate for freedom of speech,expression and practicing religion & you see this and your blood does not boil then you are hypocrite. If this were a Church, the NON-PRACTICING Christian western world would have had a nervous breakdown. If this were GOD FORBID a synogogue, WWIII would have started. But it is only a "mosque" and these people getting beaten up are only Palestinians. The only way to make this vile enemy stop is THROUGH WAR.

IMAGES
Cardiologist Asef Mahmoud, murdered by apartheid Israel last night in Damascus
Damage to the Technical Institute of Applied Arts and Mediterranean Archaeology Institute and museums
Syrian cardiologist, Syrian pharmacist, Syrian engineer murdered by #Israel.
Syrian pharmacist Lilian Aoudi, murdered by apartheid Israel last night in Damascus

Israel bombed Damascus residential neighborhoods after midnight, the Syrian Arab Army’s air defense units managed to shoot down some incoming missiles, others caused damage to buildings, the story is developing. | Syrian Arab Army air defense units addressed an Israeli bombing targeting the upscale Kafr Soussah, Mazraah, and Baghdad Street neighborhoods in Damascus, with reports of several casualties among the civilians in the targeted neighborhoods. At least one of the missiles struck a residential building, eyewitnesses confirm, and columns of fire and fumes of smoke could be seen from kilometers away, I was still working on an update to yesterday’s horrific massacre committed by the US-sponsored ISIS terrorists in the central Syrian desert killing 53 farmers and at least 5 policemen who came to the rescue. Eyewitnesses from the site targeted by the Israeli bombing say there were casualties, dead and injured, from this aggression.

■ Five people martyred, 15 wounded in Israeli aggression on Damascus and its vicinity (SANA)
■ Breaking News: US’s ISIS Massacre 53 Syrians in Eastern Homs (Syria News)

■ Russia Slams IDF Airstrike Against Damascus as Violation of International Law by Israel (Sputnik News) | The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the deadly airstrike Israel launched at Damascus and its suburbs on Sunday as a gross violation of international law. 💬 "We strongly condemn the use of brute force by Israel, which is a gross violation of international laws. We urge Israel to stop armed provocations against Syria and refrain from action that may have dangerous implications for the entire region," the Ministry said in a statement.

Bennett says the US and its Western allies decided to 'keep striking Putin' and not negotiate | Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in an interview posted to his YouTube channel on Saturday that the US and its Western allies “blocked” his efforts of mediating between Russia and Ukraine to bring an end to the war in its early days. ● On March 4, 2022, Bennett traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin. In the interview, he detailed his mediation at the time between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he said he coordinated with the US, France, Germany, and the UK. ● Explaining his decision to mediate, Bennett said that it was in Israel’s national interest not to pick a side in the war, citing Israel’s frequent airstrikes in Syria. Bennett said Russia has S-300 air defenses in Syria and that if “they press the button, Israeli pilots will fall.”

■ Kremlin Won't Disclose Details of Putin-Bennett Talks After Ex-Israeli PM's Bombshell Interview (RT.com)
■ More Evidence That The West Sabotaged Peace In Ukraine (Caitlin Johnstone)
■ The Missed Opportunities of the War in Ukraine (Ted Snider)
■ Les négociations Russie-Ukraine interrompues par les Occidentaux, selon l'ex-médiateur Bennett (RT France)
■ Bennett: Putin assured me at Moscow meeting he wouldn’t kill Zelensky (02/05/23)

Ex-PM says Russian president also agreed not to push for Kyiv’s disarmament; former premier says everything he did was in coordination with US | Former prime minister Naftali Bennett said in a video published Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him, in the early days of the war, that he wouldn’t kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 💬 “He gave me two great concessions,” Bennett said of his March 5, 2022, meeting with Putin, when he flew to Moscow in an effort to mediate shortly after Russia began its invasion. “I knew Zelensky was under threat, in a bunker… I said to [Putin], ‘Do you intend to kill Zelensky?’ He said, ‘I won’t kill Zelensky,’” Bennett recalled in the interview, which was published on his own YouTube channel. “I need to understand. Are you giving me your word that you won’t kill Zelensky?” Bennett said he asked Putin. Bennett said the Russian president repeated: “I won’t kill Zelensky.” ● Bennett said he called the Ukrainian president immediately after the three-hour encounter with Putin, and told him, “I’ve just come out of a meeting — [Putin] is not going to kill you. 💬 “[Zelensky] asked me, ‘Are you sure?’ I said 100 percent. [Putin’s] not going to kill you.”

West Jerusalem’s new national security chief has ordered the removal of “terror flags” from public places [From the loony bin:] 💬 “It is inconceivable that lawbreakers will wave terror flags, incite and encourage terrorism,” Ben-Gvir said on Sunday night in a statement cited by the Jerusalem Post. “I have issued instructions for the removal of the flags, which support terrorism, from the public space and to stop incitement against the state of Israel.” ● The nationalist official, who already stirred controversy shortly after taking office by visiting the Temple Mount compound last week, dismissed concern that his flag order would infringe on civil liberties, arguing that freedom of expression “does not extend to identifying with a terrorist” and those who seek to harm Israeli soldiers. ● The move came after Palestinian flags were flown at an anti-government protest on Saturday night in Tel Aviv. Concerns also were raised after the release of Israel’s longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Karim Younis, who was convicted in 1983 of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier. Younis waved a Palestinian flag as he returned home to a celebration in northern Israel’s Ara village. ● Netanyahu’s government also has announced a series of punishments of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for seeking a legal opinion from the UN’s International Court of Justice on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki discovered on Sunday that those sanctions apparently included rescinding his travel pass.

■ Israel: MP says time to 'subdue Palestinians once and for all' in the 'last war' (01/05/23)
■ Operation Cast Lead and the Dismembering of a People (Vincent Di Stefano)(12/29/10)

■ Slouching Towards Gaza. Operation Cast Lead and the Dismembering of a People WEBAMP Sound: Two days after Christmas in 2008, the isolated and densely populated city of Gaza was visited by volley upon volley of deadly missile and mortar fire. The intense bombardment of what has been described by the United Nations Development Programme as "one of the most densely populated places on earth" continued unabated for a period of three weeks. By the end of the assault, over 1,400 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,000 wounded, many seriously. Between three and four hundred of the dead were children. A total of 13 Israelis were killed during the same time, four of them by the action of their own troops. This post offers a fifth anniversary commemoration of this tragic and highly destructive assault which commenced on the 27th December 2008 and ended on the 18th January 2009. It offers an account of pivotal events in the history of Israel/Palestine from 1947 to the present through the reflections of a number of informed and articulate commentators.

[He intends to exterminate the Palestinians. He wants a "Final Solution" to the Palestinian "problem." (RE: "Endlösung der Judenfrage") - Ed.] Lawmaker Zvika Fogel told Channel 12 that going to war with Gaza every two or three years was not enough | An Israeli MP in the governing coalition has called for a "final war" against the Palestinians to "subdue them once and for all", following international condemnation of security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Zvika Fogel - an MP with Ben-Gvir's ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party - hit out at Hamas, saying in an interview on Channel 12 that 💬 Israel's policy of going to war with Palestinians "every two or three years" was not enough and that it should "subdue them once and for all". "It would be worth it because this will be the final war, and after that we can sit and raise doves and all the other beautiful birds that exist," he said, according to Haaretz. In December, Fogel told the UK's Channel 4 News that he wants to end any form of proportionality when dealing with Palestinians, whom he claimed Israel has been "too merciful" towards. ● Thousands of Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli assaults on Gaza since the strip was put under siege in 2007.

Ukraine has a new Western backer. It’s not a nation-state, or a military contractor. It’s the financial firm BlackRock. BlackRock will be creating a roadmap for reconstruction for Ukraine. | Ukraine announced Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a video teleconference with BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink. The pair apparently struck a deal to coordinate investment efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation. ● A readout of the meeting on the Ukrainian president’s website boasted BlackRock’s involvement, calling the firm 💬 “one of the world's leading investment managers” and noted that it “manages client assets worth about 8 trillion dollars.” “Zelenskyy and Larry Fink agreed to focus in the near term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channelling investment into the most relevant and impactful sectors of the Ukrainian economy,” the readout claimed. ● The release also stated that some BlackRock executives would visit Ukraine in 2023 to fulfill their advisorial duties. “In accordance with the preliminary agreements struck earlier this year between the Head of State and Larry Fink, the BlackRock team has been working for several months on a project to advise the Ukrainian government on how to structure the country’s reconstruction funds,” according to the Ukrainian government. ● It is all rather infuriating: one can almost guarantee BlackRock is getting paid handsomely by the Ukrainian government for advising on this reconstruction roadmap. And where is the Ukrainian government currently getting its funding, given its economy is in shambles and war is an expensive undertaking? The United States government, of course. By the end of the calendar year, the U.S. will have provided $13 billion in direct budgetary support for Ukraine’s government to avoid shortfalls and outright bankruptcy, and President Joe Biden has promised to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” So, BlackRock gets paid by U.S. taxpayers via the Ukrainian government to devise a plan that ensures the success of their future investments in Ukraine, made from money gained by making American housing unaffordable. With a deal like that for our financial and political elite, why would they ever want peace?

Two people were killed in the attack, according to the Syrian military | Damascus International Airport was forced to suspend operations early on Monday after an Israeli missile strike left two soldiers dead and damaged the facilities, the Syrian Defense Ministry has said. ● Israeli planes struck the airfield and surrounding areas at around 2:00 am local time, the ministry wrote in a post on Facebook. ● The missiles came from the direction of the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Tiberias, located in Israeli territory, around 100 km southwest of Syria’s capital. 💬 “The aggression left two military personnel killed and two others wounded, causing material damage and putting the airport out of service,” the post read. ● The Israel Defense Forces have not confirmed the strike, in line with their long-standing policy of not discussing operations outside the country.

■ Damascus airport resumes operations following Israeli strikes – Transport Ministry
■ Israeli Strikes Cause Damascus Airport to Suspend Service, At Least 2 Killed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call late Friday asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vote against a UN General Assembly resolution that calls on the International Court of Justice to issue a legal opinion on the consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, Ukrainian and Israeli officials told Axios. | The big picture: Ukraine had voted in favor of the resolution during a UN committee vote but did not attend Friday's General Assembly vote "in order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu," the Ukrainian official said. Catch up quick: The UN General Assembly approved the resolution late Friday, with 87 countries voting in favor, 24 countries voting against and 53 countries abstaining.

● According to the resolution, the ICJ will draft an advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank — a process that could take between one to two years.
● The opinion should address the legal consequences of Israel's "occupation, settlement and annexation ... including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem," the resolution reads.
● The opinion should also address the question of “how the policies and practices of Israel affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status."
● Ukraine defied Israeli requests to vote against the resolution during the UN committee vote several weeks ago because of Israel's refusal to provide military assistance to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials had said.
● Israeli foreign ministry officials were furious at the time and summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a tough conversation.

Объясняет Readovka | Clown offended - Zelensky has ignored Netanyahu's request to vote against Palestine | Ukrainian President Zelensky, according to the US publication Axios, did not vote against the Palestinian resolution proposed by the UN General Assembly on the occupation of Palestinian territories, despite a request from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. The reason is very simple - the supreme 404 was offended that he was not given a weapon.: ● Shortly before the vote on the resolution, Netanyahu held talks with a host of world leaders, only a conversation with Zelensky reportedly went nowhere. The president literally blackmailed the Israeli prime minister, trying once again to get his arms and Israel's much-coveted Iron Dome air defence system. Netanyahu, for his part, did not promise Zelensky anything and only agreed to continue contacts in the future. ● The relations between Ukraine and Israel are not at their height and regular importunate begging for weapons from Ukraine clearly does not enhance Zelensky's score in the eyes of Tel Aviv. Moreover, the personal factor is also important - it will be recalled that once the Ukrainians rejoiced at Netanyahu's defeat in the elections, while communication between Vladimir Putin and the current Israeli prime minister, has always been rather smooth. Let us not forget Zelensky's idiotic and insulting statement about comparing today's events to the Holocaust. ● Israel currently refuses to transfer lethal weapons to Ukraine, and the provision of air defence systems is out of the question, according to officials. Can the situation change? Anything is possible, but so far Mr Zelensky is only getting further and further away from his wishes. However, this is only to our advantage. (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

Several U.S. Jewish leaders during a meeting with Israeli officials earlier this month warned that racist and extremist moves by the new Israeli government could seriously hamper support for Israel among Jews in the U.S., six sources who either attended the meeting at the Israeli embassy in Washington or were briefed on it told Axios. | Why it matters: The incoming Israeli government is expected to be the country's most right-wing ever. A senior Israeli official said the meeting at the embassy represented the anxiety the organized U.S. Jewish community has about the incoming Israeli government over its expected policies towards Jews in the diaspora and against democratic values. ● The Dec. 7 meeting was attended by representatives of several mainstream U.S. Jewish organizations that are the backbone of the pro-Israel community in the U.S. They are all regular interlocutors of the Israeli embassy. ● Driving the news: The representatives of the Jewish organizations were invited for a meeting with Shuli Davidovich, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry bureau for the diaspora, who asked to hear their thoughts about the political situation in Israel, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about what was discussed in the meeting. The meeting took place against the backdrop of the negotiations between Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the radical right-wing and ultra-orthodox parties. According to sources who attended the meeting, the atmosphere was very difficult and almost all of the attendees raised concerns about the policies of the incoming Israeli government.

Out of more than a thousand cases of alleged offences by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, only 11 have yielded an indictment, according to the rights group Yesh Din. | Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1 percent of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported. The watchdog argued that Israel's military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of itself. ● Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli military received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, including 409 cases involving the killing of Palestinians, according to military data obtained by the group Yesh Din and released Wednesday after a freedom of information request. ● The Israeli military opened 248 criminal investigations into instances of possible misconduct in response to those complaints — just 21.4 percent of the total, Yesh Din said. Only 11 investigations during that five-year period have yielded indictments. In those cases, Israel’s military prosecutors acted with leniency toward convicted soldiers, the group added, with those sentenced for killing Palestinians serving only short-term military community service.

■ Norway to review Israel investments to ensure they do not fund illegal settlements: report (The New Arab)

The military said the overnight calls and texts were an “accident” | Tens of thousands of Israeli army reservists received obscure phone calls and messages via an automated emergency call-up system early Thursday morning, in what the Israel Defense Forces called a technical “malfunction” during a planned maintenance. 💬 “Tonight, a planned maintenance operation was carried out on the IDF dialer system, as part of which a malfunction occurred and as a result an error message was sent in English,” the IDF said in a tweet. ● According to Israeli media reports, the robocalls did not actually call up any reservists for duty, but only issued an “Error” message before hanging up. The military also reassured the public that there was no emergency, issuing an apology and wishing everyone a happy Hanukkah. ● A similar accident happened in 2018, during the country’s independence day celebrations amid heightened tensions following the shooting of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border. Back then thousands of Israelis received more specific messages that read: “You are to report immediately to the meeting place. Reminder, you are to bring your protection kit and your military kit.” Once the error was realized, a message canceling the original order was issued.

Israeli attacks continue against Palestinians, some of whom are exercising their internationally recognized right to resist occupation, others are ‘collateral damage.’ A 46-year-old laborer was killed while he was heading to work. | Palestinian non-combatants and minors who are killed during Israel’s allegedly “precise” targeted killings during undercover Israeli operations comprise the majority of those killed this year. An eyewitness described one Israeli raid on Thursday as “a true massacre.”

PHILIP GIRALDI | How to Trash a Movie in Support of a Lie | Israel’s new government is planning to give de facto operational control of the national police and heavily armed border police to Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of a party of right wing, racist extremists. It can perhaps be regarded as the prelude to the last phase in the uprooting and displacement of the Palestinian people. Those who resist will be killed and not a single Israeli soldier or policeman will be punished for carrying out what the Benjamin Netanyahu government will frame as a war against terrorists blessed by Yahweh in support of his “Chosen” people.

Media coverage: "20 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank were shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces in the last three weeks." pic.twitter.com/xna3IBrce0

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 10, 2022

Lebanese security forces have arrested 185 people suspected of spying for Israel since the start of the country’s economic crisis three years ago, the AFP reported on December 7, citing two security officials. | One of the unnamed officials told the news agency that the number is up from a previous average of four or five arrests per year. Between April 2009 and 2014, around 100 people were arrested on charges of spying for Israel. At the time, most of the suspects were either military personnel or employees of the telecommunications sector. ● Lebanon economic crisis started in 2019. Since then, the national currency has plummeted in value, banks have frozen accounts and most people have struggled to make ends meet amid never-ending shortages.

Israel’s Elbit Systems was among the world’s top arms manufacturers last year, leading a Middle Eastern region that saw weapons sales grow more than anywhere else in the world, according to research published Monday. | Globally, sales of arms and military services among the world’s top 100 arms companies grew to $592 billion in 2021, according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). ● The 1.9 percent rise came even as the industry was limited by worldwide supply issues related to the pandemic, with the war in Ukraine increasing demand while worsening supply difficulties. ● Meanwhile, sales from the eight largest Chinese arms companies rose 6.3% to $109 billion in 2021. European companies took 27 of the spots on the top 100, with combined sales of $123 billion, up 4.2% compared to 2020. The report also noted a trend of private equity firms buying up arms companies, something the authors said had become increasingly apparent over the last three or four years. This trend threatens to make the arms industry more opaque and therefore harder to track.

■ Israel lobby moves to label NGOs exposing Zionist crimes as "terrorists" (Vanessa Beeley)
■ Drones and Death: The Israeli Connection (Ed Kinane)(02/06/10)
■ For Israel, a reckoning (John Pilger)(01/17/10)

Kiev has reportedly received mysterious “strategic materials” | Citing three “senior European diplomatic officials,” Haaretz reported that Washington approached the Israeli government several weeks ago, "pressing it" to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft batteries. While Israel refused, it agreed to fund the “strategic materials” instead. Several million dollars were transferred to “a NATO member state that is deeply involved in supplying military equipment to Ukraine,” the report explained. This state then purchased the materials and sent them to Ukraine. Haaretz’ sources demanded that the nature of these materials be kept a secret, while Tel Aviv asked all parties involved in the deal not to publicly reveal it, “in order not to anger [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” ● The Haaretz report did not name the NATO member involved in the deal. However, it resembles an earlier gray-market deal involving Poland. Back in September, Hebrew news site Zman Yisrael reported that at least one Israeli defense contractor was shipping anti-drone systems to Poland, with Warsaw then sending them on to Ukraine. The Israeli government reportedly turned a blind eye to this arrangement, despite its official refusal to supply any offensive weapons to Kiev. ● With a change in government set to bring Benjamin Netanyahu back into power in Israel, Haaretz’ sources said that it would be up to the veteran right-winger whether to repeat the “strategic materials” deal.