The State of Israel does not exactly respect the airspace of others. Already for decades, the Israel Air Force has taken the liberty of regularly flying in the skies of Lebanon. With the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, this liberty was extended to the Syrian skies as well. There, Israeli planes began to carry out attacks and bombings "preventing the creation of an Iranian presence.” At first, Israel denied any involvement. But later the pretence was dropped. Recently the Israeli Air Force announced – openly and rather proudly - that it had carried out no less than 200 attacks in Syria.
But the bromance was short lived. This week, Assad's army, having only an obsolete and ineffective air defense system, tried in vain to block an Israeli attack on the post of Latakia - but accidentally hit a Russian plane and shot it down, with all its 15 crew members killed. Suddenly, Netanyahu discovered, instead of the friendly and affable President Putin, an angry Russian bear. Unwilling to listen to Israeli explanations and apologies, the Russians placed the full blame on Israel and announced that they would provide the Syrian army with an updated air defense system. In vain did Netanyahu cry out to Putin that "placing the S-300 ground to air missiles in irresponsible hands would exacerbate the situation." Commentators tend to say that the downing of the Russian plane was but an excuse for an already planned Russian volte face in Syria. The restoration of Syria as a sovereign state, under Russian patronage, is nearing completion. And a sovereign state is supposed to be able to protect its airspace ...
Netanyahu does not give up easily. He declared that Israel would keep at all costs the freedom of flying in the skies of Syria, and in his speech at the UN General Assembly added casually that this Israeli freedom is soon going to be extended to the skies of Iraq as well.
Our Prime Minister might not be aware of the definition of anti-Semitism widely accepted in Europe – and which he himself recently pressured the British Labor Party to adopt. It includes in its definition “those who practice double standards” regarding the policies of the State of Israel and who set for Israel different rules of conduct than those prevailing in other countries. Anyone who acts in such a manner is liable to be denounced as an anti-Semite - so maybe our PM should be a bit more careful.
Israeli intelligence did an excellent professional job and located in the Iranian capital Tehran a secret warehouse housing radioactive materials. Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed the exact address on the podium of the UN General Assembly platform and invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out forthwith an inspection there. A good idea, without a doubt.
No complicated intelligence operation is needed in order to know where the Dimona nuclear reactor is located. It's no secret, the reactor’s location has been well known for decades. But in all these years, no IAEA inspector has ever set foot there. Not even after a former employee of this reactor, named Mordechai Vanunu, published detailed testimony indicating that nuclear bombs are produced there by the hundred - even then, the Atomic Energy Agency was not invited to make an inspection. But maybe, even if it's a few decades late, the time has come at last? After all, no double standards, Mr. Netanyahu!
Biderman/Haaretz
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“Friction” is something of an understatement to describe the daily relations between the fishermen of Gaza and the navy of the State of Israel. In fact, very little is published about the subject in the Israeli media. In order to learn a bit more, one needs to turn to the Palestinian news outlets and to international human rights organizations. For example, the testimony of Rajab Khaled Abu Riela, 30 years old, who at midnight on June 8, 2016 let the port of Gaza together with his brother and two cousins. “We were out at sea, fishing, until 1:30 am. When we started our way back to the port, an Israeli warship approached. The soldiers started insulting us through the megaphone, and soon opened up with live ammunition at our two small boats. Then the warship directly rammed us. I tried to escape, but was shot in the leg. They took me and my brother to Ashdod port, where they wouldn’t give me any medicine or treatment for the injury I sustained. I was left bleeding until 9:30. Finally they sent me back to Gaza. An ambulance took me directly from Erez Checkpoint to the Shifa Hospital and there immediately into surgery. The doctors managed to remove the bigger pieces of the bullet – but many small fragments still remain in my leg, and probably I will have to live with them for the rest of my life”.
