Displaying items by tag: israel

The Irish Senate has voted to approve a proposal to criminalise doing business with Jews in settlement areas, parts of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights - areas that came under Israel’s control after the 1967 Six-Day War. After the vote the Irish ambassador was summoned to a meeting at the Israeli foreign ministry’s office. If Eire officially approves the proposal, it will become the first country in the European Union to criminalise import of goods from Israel. The proposal’s initiator, Senator Frances Black, slammed Israeli settlements as ‘war crimes’ and compared her initiative to Ireland’s anti-apartheid actions against South Africa. Ireland’s government strongly opposes the initiative, which creates trade restrictions contrary to EU values and undermines Ireland’s influence in the region. EU law states that its members can only mark products coming from settlements - not boycott or impose sanctions on their imports.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) launched military exercises on 15 July, including one simulating conquering Gaza city. The IDF stressed that this exercise was part of its annual training programme and not connected to major exchanges of fire with Hamas two days earlier when 200 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel, threatening the lives of tens of thousands. Their defence system intercepted 20 rockets. Several Israelis were injured and many buildings were damaged, including a synagogue. While relative peace has returned, Israelis fear that soon civilians will again have to run for shelter from Hamas rockets. On 16 June 22 people, including 9 Iranians, were killed in an IDF attack on a Syrian base. On 18 July Gaza’s self-described ‘airborne firebomb squad’ accused Israel of spreading lies about a deal reached between Egypt and Hamas to phase out the launching of bomb-laden kites and balloons against Israel. See https://worldisraelnews.com/rebel-terror-group-in-gaza-rejects-egyptian-hamas-deal-to-stop-fire-kites/

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russia that Israel would not seek to topple its ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but Moscow should encourage Iranian forces to quit Syria. This happened just hours after Israel shot down the third Syrian drone that had penetrated its airspace recently, underscoring the frontier’s volatility. Israel is on high alert as Assad’s forces advance on rebels in the Golan Heights (land which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in a move not recognised internationally). Israel worries that Assad could let his Iranian and Hezbollah reinforcements entrench near Israeli lines or that Syrian forces may defy a 1974 Golan demilitarisation. Russia has an active interest in seeing a stable Assad regime, and Israel want the Iranians out. These aims can clash or align. Israel will not get involved in Syria’s civil war, but said they will ‘act against anyone who acts against us.’

In order to thwart attempts by terrorists to tunnel from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli government has an underground wall along the border. On 18 June, Gaza terrorists blew themselves up trying to destroy the underground barrier. The incident occurred after an escalation of rocket fire and firebomb-laden kites and balloons sent from Gaza into southern Israel. Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman warned that Israel would not allow Gazans to continue launching incendiary devices into Israeli territory, which have caused hundreds of brush fires and burned thousands of acres of land. ‘If anyone thinks it will be possible to continue with the daily kites and fires, they are wrong,’ Lieberman said. Meanwhile housing minister Yoav Galant said, ‘When an eight-year-old boy flies a kite strapped with a firebomb because someone told him to, it is problematic to send a drone to shoot him dead.’

Hamas said fifty of the people killed by Israeli forces on Gaza’s border recently were its fighters and named them online, including photographs and details of their ranks within the group. Yet the IDF’s response to the clashes was condemned worldwide. See If this was the first time the media caused Israel’s self-defence actions to kill civilians, they could be excused, but this is something that Hamas repeatedly does. Fathi Hamad of the Palestinian Legislative Council said, ‘For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry in which women stand out, and all the people who live in this land. Older people excel in this, as do mujahedeen and children. This is why we have made human shields for women, children, the elderly and mujahedeen, to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It's like telling the Zionist enemy, “We want death as much as you do life”.’

The USA wasn’t the only country to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem this week. Just days after the historic - and contentious - opening in the holy city, Guatemala did the same. President Jimmy Morales, a strong evangelical, said, ‘We have had an excellent relationship with Israel since it was founded. I believe we will be receiving a blessing for both peoples by doing the right thing.’ Citing prayer and prophecy as their motivation, Morales and vice president Jafeth Cabrera officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last year and pledged to return their embassy there. ‘People in Guatemala pray for peace in this region, pray for Jerusalem, and they are excited’, said Sarah Solis, the country’s ambassador to Israel.

On 10 May, Israel said it had struck almost all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria following an Iranian attack. After twenty rockets were fired at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, it responded by launching what a spokesman called ‘one of the broadest aerial operations in recent years’. There was no immediate comment from Iran, whose deployment of troops to Syria to back the government in the country's civil war has alarmed Israel. Iran has repeatedly called for an end to the existence of the Jewish state.

Please continue to pray over the Gaza border. In the third Friday of protests, 10,000-15,000 Palestinians took part in violent riots in different locations along the border, and again tried to cross the barrier; they intend to continue every Friday until 14 May. They threw Molotov cocktails and explosives at Israeli soldiers. Over 100 Palestinians were hurt and one man killed. They tried to use kites to fly Molotov cocktails toward Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops, and were photographed placing an explosive device on the fence. On one side of the border there are watchtowers and anti-terror barriers: on the other, a tent city of Palestinian protesters. Meanwhile the IDF exposed and neutralised a fifth underground Hamas tunnel running from northern Gaza into southern Israel. It was connected to an intricate network of tunnels running through Gaza. See

The ‘March of Return’ in the Gaza Strip began on Good Friday. 30,000 Gazans overwhelmed the border security fence, and the resultant clashes with Israeli forces resulted in 18 dead and 1,400 injured. Israel has been accused of using disproportionate force against what became a vast violent march. Hamas has called for mass demonstrations to continue for seven weeks. There are fears that this could turn into war on several fronts. Hamas is indebted to Iran. If major conflicts erupt in Gaza, Iran might order Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Syria to attack the Jewish State. The march goes beyond resistance. A situation is erupting, and political issues in the region have resurfaced. Violent Israel-Gaza border activity was described locally as ‘peaceful protests being infiltrated by terrorists’ and ‘Israel exercising its right to defend its sovereignty and protect citizens from terrorism’.

Historically, Saudi Arabia has a hatred for Israel and Jews. No Jew may live in the kingdom, which has never opened diplomatic relations with Israel. For 70 years no Israeli passenger planes have been allowed over Saudi airspace. But there are now signs that this hostile stance may be cautiously changing. The Saudis have a ‘peace plan’ related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and recently there have been rumours of secret communications between the two countries. When President Trump made his maiden trip abroad last May, his first stop was in Saudi Arabia. From there his plane made one of the few flights ever allowed from Arabia to Israel. Netanyahu recently spoke of Israeli relations with the Arab world (including Saudi Arabia) as ‘best ever.’ As of April 2018, flights from India over the Arabian Peninsula will take place three times a week.