IDF chief Gantz set to make historic visit to China
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz will make a historic visit to Beijing next week for high-level talks with the Chinese defense establishment. Gantz will leave Israel on Saturday night. He will be the guest of Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, who visited Israel last August. It was the first time that a Chinese military chief visited the country. During the trip, Gantz will meet with senior Chinese military officers and visit a number of bases. The visit was approved by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel has also updated the United States. Last June, Barak visited China in what was the first visit of an Israeli defense minister to the country in a decade. Since 2010, Israel has significantly upgraded its attacked. It was known but it did not turn into a public discussion and that should be the case here as well,” he said. During the interview, Nehushtan warned that Israel’s air superiority was increasingly undermined by the proliferation of sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems throughout the region – in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. “The IAF needs to be ready to fly in places where there is a threat to its superiority,” he said “This is the case already now and therefore when we approach a front like Lebanon or Gaza we will first look at the intelligence, then study the threats and then think about the best way to carry out our missions.”
Nehushtan to JPost: IAF ready for threats, including Iran
The Israel Air Force is prepared for the many missions and threats it faces in the Middle East, including a possible operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities, outgoing OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan has told The Jerusalem Post. The exclusive interview, which will appear in Friday’s Magazine, was conducted with Nehushtan – who has led the IAF for the past four years – just days before he handed over command to Maj.- Gen. Amir Eshel. “I understand the missions that stand before the IAF, and we have done everything we can during this period to create capabilities so we can fulfill these missions,” he said in response to a question of whether the air force was capable of dealing with the Iranian threat. “In general, the IAF is prepared for all of these missions.” Nehushtan came out strongly during the interview against the ongoing public discussion regarding a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying it lacked “basic facts.” The Israeli media has been flooded with interviews and reports in recent months regarding a possible strike. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, for example, said in a series of interviews published on Independence Day that Israel had prepared a viable military option to attack the Islamic Republic. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has spoken many times about the need for the right timing for such a strike, while former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin have warned of the consequences of such an operation. “I think that in this specific issue [Iran] we should not talk,” Nehushtan said. “I say this with all of the responsibility it entails. I think that a public discourse on this issue is lacking the basic facts needed to hold it and I think that it should not be held in this way.” As an example, he brought Israel’s bombing of the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981. “The Iraqi thing was known for years before the reactor was attacked. It was known but it did not turn into a public discussion and that should be the case here as well,” he said. During the interview, Nehushtan warned that Israel’s air superiority was increasingly undermined by the proliferation of sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems throughout the region – in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. “The IAF needs to be ready to fly in places where there is a threat to its superiority,” he said “This is the case already now and therefore when we approach a front like Lebanon or Gaza we will first look at the intelligence, then study the threats and then think about the best way to carry out our missions.”
Illegal structures evacuated in W. Bank outposts
Security forces evacuated an illegal structure in the West Bank outpost of Ramat Migron in the Binyamin region overnight Wednesday. Police said that the structure did not have the proper permits. Structures in Ramat Migron have been destroyed by authorities and later rebuilt several times. Authorities also evacuated an illegal structure in the nearby outpost of Oz Zion. Six suspects were detained for allegedly disturbing the peace, interfering with a public employee and trespassing in a closed military zone during the evacuations.
New IAF chief warns enemies not to test Israel
Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel took command of the Israel Air Force on Monday, warning Israel’s enemies not to test the IDF and its capabilities. Eshel, who previously headed the IDF Planning Directorate, took command of the IAF from Maj.- Gen. Ido Nehushtan, who had served four years in the post. “We do not rejoice in battle but if Israel will need to draw its sword, the IAF will be the sharpest of blades,” Eshel said. The appointment of a new air force chief traditionally makes headlines, but this time it is particularly intriguing due to the possibility that the government will order the next commander to oversee a strike on Iran’s well-protected and distant nuclear infrastructure. Speaking during a ceremony at the Hatzor Air Force Base, Eshel said that the IAF would do everything possible to provide the government with the ability to exhaust diplomatic opportunities but would also be ready for conflict if needed. “There is no room in the Middle East for the weak,” he said. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz also spoke at the ceremony, saying: “Looking to the future at the threats that are forming all around us from near and far, it is incumbent upon the IDF and the IAF to be able to respond with strength to any possible scenario.” Eshel served as deputy commander of the IAF from 2006 to 2008 under Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Shkedy. Before that, he was head of the IAF’s Air Wing, commander of the Tel Nof Air Base and head of the IAF Operations Division. The father of three and graduate of Auburn University in Alabama and the Israeli National Defense College, Eshel volunteered for flight training in 1977. After graduating from the prestigious and arduous course, he quickly climbed the ranks. He flew A-4 Skyhawks during the first Lebanon War and later became commander of an F-4 Phantom squadron. Eshel became renowned for the IAF’s 2003 Auschwitz flyover. Within the IDF, he has enjoyed the respect of his counterparts for his close-to three decades of service, during which he spearheaded a revolutionary improvement in the level of inter-operability between the IAF and ground forces. Eshel recently voiced concern over the possible consequences of Iran’s success in obtaining a nuclear weapon, claiming it would severely impair Israel’s operational freedom. He also warned of the possibility that Syria’s chemical weapons would be obtained by terrorist groups like Hezbollah.
Danino lauds Border Police for foiling terror
Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino presented seven Border Police officers and their commander with awards Monday for recently preventing a series of terrorist attacks in the West Bank. The officers, who serve under Border Police company commander Dep.-Cmdr. Avi Biton, foiled no fewer than four attacks in the Tapuah Junction area of the West Bank in under a month. “At a time when police are under intense public scrutiny, officers are continuing their difficult, uncompromising, challenging work, including the field... of counterterrorism,” Danino said during the awards ceremony. He also praised the officers for stopping terrorism “with courage and determination.” The officers took part in the following lifesaving missions: • On April 21, Border Police became suspicious of two Palestinians and carried out a search, finding four pipe bombs, a handgun and other ammunition. • On May 3, the officers intercepted two pipe bombs and knives being ferried by two Palestinians. • On May 6, a Palestinian suspect was caught with three pipe bombs. Police believe he was going to pass the pipe bombs to a second suspect on the other side of the checkpoint. Both were arrested. • On May 10, two suspects carrying three pipe bombs and large knives were arrested. In each incident, bomb squad officers arrived at the scene and made the devices safe. “There is undoubtedly a rise in the number of incidents in this area,” a Border Police source told The Jerusalem Post. “But the awareness of our officers is stopping the attacks.”
IAEA urges Iran to grant access to military site as Vienna talks begin over Islamic Republic's nuclear program
A senior UN nuclear watchdog official said Iran needed to give his inspectors access to information, people and sites as he began a two-day meeting with Iranian officials on the Islamic state's disputed atomic activities on Monday. Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters as he arrived at an Iranian diplomatic mission in Vienna that Iran should now engage on issues of substance with the UN agency, which is investigating suspicions that Tehran may be seeking nuclear weapons capability. "The aim of our two days is to reach agreement on (an) approach to resolve all outstanding issues with Iran, in particular clarification of the possible military dimensions remains our priority," Nackaerts said. On Sunday, an image was revealed by The Associated Press which was said to come from inside an Iranian military site and shows an explosive containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that UN inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted at the site. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber. The image was provided by an official of a country tracking Iran's nuclear program who said the drawing proves the structure exists, despite Tehran's refusal to acknowledge it. The official said he could not discuss the drawing's origins beyond that it was based on information from a person who had seen the chamber at the Parchin military site, adding that going into detail would endanger the life of that informant. After months of being rebuffed, IAEA and Iranian officials meet starting Monday in Vienna, and the IAEA will renew its attempt to gain access to the chamber, allegedly hidden in a building. Any evidence that Iran is hiding such an explosives containment tank, and details on how it functions, is significant for IAEA investigations. Beyond IAEA hopes of progress, that two-day meeting is being closely watched by six powers trying to persuade Iran to make nuclear concessions aimed at reducing fears that it may want to develop atomic arms as a mood-setter for May 23 talks between the six and Tehran in Baghdad. Warnings by Israel that it may attack Iran's nuclear facilities eased after Iran and the six - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - met last month and agreed there was enough common will for the Baghdad round. But with the Jewish state saying it is determined to stop Iran before it develops the capacity to build nuclear weapons, failure at the Iraq talks could turn such threats into reality. The IAEA has been stonewalled by Iran for more than four years in attempts to probe what it says is intelligence from member states strongly suggesting that Iran secretly worked on developing nuclear weapons.
Deal to end hunger strike
Israel and Palestinian security prisoners signed a deal to end a 28-day hunger strike by the inmates on Monday. The Palestinian Authority and Egypt both played a role in helping broker the deal. According to the terms of the agreement, Palestinian prisoners committed to refrain from dealing with "activities against security" within prison confines. In exchange, they will receive benefits from the Prisons Service, including the end of separation from the general prison population, and family visits. Leaders of the prisoners who are are outside the prisons issued instructions to the inmates to prevent such terror activities, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said in a rare statement. The Shin Bet did not name the leaders of the prisoners who ordered an end to the hunger strike. However, Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials travelled to Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian government and PA representatives about ways of ending the hunger strike. The agreement calls for security prisoners to refrain from any activity in support of terrorism, including issuing instructions, financing, coordinating between terrorists and aiding them. Leaders of the inmates signed the agreement on behalf of all the security prisoners belonging to all groups and who are being held in all Israeli prisons. The agreement is binding for prisoners who are rearrested in the future. The pledge that was signed by the leaders of the prisoners states that "activities against security that are carried out from inside the prisons or renewing the hunger strike will lead to the cancellation of Israel's commitment to ease restrictions." Before reaching the agreement, a committee made up of representatives from the Prisons Service, Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and Health Ministry, as well as the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and National Security Council examined the prisoner's request, and passed on its recommendations. Prisoners who were on hunger strike will remain under medical supervision to ensure that a return to eating food will not result in medical complications, authorities said. They added that prisoners received their full legal rights throughout the hunger strike. Speaking ahead of the deal's signing, the Palestinian Authority's prisoners minister, Issa Qaraqe, said the deal included ending solitary confinement, not renewing administrative detention, releasing all prisoners who have completed their sentences, and allowing family visits and phone calls, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. In addition to the prisoners on hunger strike since mid-April, two other prisoners have refused food for 77 days. It was unclear at the time of this report if those prisoners were also included in the deal.
U.S. ambassador to Israel: U.S. plans to strike Iran ready/Haaretz
U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is "fully available", the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms. "It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force," Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel's Army Radio on Thursday. "But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available - not just available, but it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," said Shapiro, who the radio station said had spoken on Tuesday. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been using sanctions and negotiations to try to persuade Iran to curb its uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for reactors, medical isotopes, and, at higher levels of purification, fissile material for warheads. New talks opened in Istanbul last month and resume on May 23 in Baghdad. Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, feels threatened by the prospect of its arch-foe Iran going nuclear and has hinted it could launch preemptive war. But many analysts believe the United States alone has the military clout to do lasting damage to Iran's nuclear program. In January, Shapiro told an Israeli newspaper the United States was "guaranteeing that the military option is ready and available to the president at the moment he decides to use it". U.S. lawmakers are considering additional legislation that would increase pressure on Iran, with further measures to punish foreign companies for dealing with Iran in any capacity.
Al-Qaida-linked group says it was behind Damascus bombings
A militant group with suspected links to al-Qaida on Saturday claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that killed at least 55 people, and wounded 372 in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The group, which called itself Al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant People, said in an online statement that the bombings on Thursday, which targeted a security building, were in retaliation for the regime's bombardment of residential areas in the country. "We tell this regime to stop its massacres of the Sunni (Muslim) people or face the consequences," said the statement on the independent website Syria Politic. The video's authenticity could not be independently verified. The Al-Nusra Front has claimed past attacks through statements posted on militant websites. Little is known about the group, although Western intelligence officials say it could be a front for al-Qaida. Meanwhile, Turkey's state news agency Anatolian reported on Saturday that two Turkish journalists, who were detained in Syria for the past two months, have been released and were being flown to Tehran, Turkey's state news agency Anatolian reported Saturday. It said that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had received the news of the release from his Iranian counterpart, but gave no information on how the release had been arranged. Turkish media reports Friday claimed that the imminent release of the two journalists had been negotiated by Iran. However, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials were unable to confirm this to dpa. The two journalists - Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun - who were working for a small-circulation Islamist newspaper, Milat, were captured inside Syria by government forces in early March. They were believed to have entered the country illegally in order to film clashes between the Syrian army and rebels fighting in the north-western city of Idlib. Violence continued in Syria on Saturday as at least two people were wounded when Syrian troops bombarded areas in the dissident province of Homs, opposition activists said, in the latest violation of a month-old United Nations-brokered ceasefire. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrianopposition rebels killed four soldiers and wounded nine in an attack in the northern province of Idlib on Saturday. The attack targeted two army personnel carriers during clashes between rebels and the military in a village in Idlib, the London-based observatory said in a statement. Omar Homsi, an activist based in Homs, said: "Heavy shelling targeted the district of Al Koussor." He told dpa that troops also stormed suburban areas in the central province of Hama, another focal point in the anti-regime revolt. Homs has been a key stronghold of rebels demanding the ouster of President Bashasr Assad since a pro-democracy uprising erupted in March 2011. The military on Saturday set up more checkpoints across the northern city of Aleppo after an overnight bombing targeted the offices of the ruling Baath Party, killing at least one person, according to the opposition. The blast came hours after the authorities claimed to have foiled a suicide attack in Aleppo. The ceasefire that went into effect on April 12 was a key element of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan. Its near-daily violations and the persistent violence has raised doubts about the viability of the plan.
Netanyahu: Iran must commit to halt all enrichment in upcoming nuclear talks
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finished celebrating the aftermath of the political bombshell that he had dropped on Israel by bringing in Kadima into the government, he freed up Wednesday to deal with a different bomb. On Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister met with European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton, who arrived in Israel to brief Netanyahu on the preparations for the second round of nuclear talks with Iran, which are set to take place on May 23 in Baghdad. Ashton's visit was first reported in Haaretz last week. In an unusual move, Netanyahu invited Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to join the meeting with Ashton, along with the newcomer, Kadima head Shaul Mofaz. Mofaz, who will be sworn in Wednesday as a minister in the government, will join Netanyahu's security cabinet, which will now be called the forum of nine senior ministers. During the meeting, the Israelis presented a rigid set of demands for the Iranians, a senior Israeli official said. Netanyahu and the three ministers told Ashton that Israel's position leading up to the Baghdad talks is that the talks will be considered as progress only if they would yield an Iranian guarantee – with a clear timetable – to halt uranium enrichment, to remove all enriched uranium out of Iranian soil, and to dismantle the underground enrichment facility in Fordo, which is near Qom. "Iran is trying to gain time through talks with the West, and has no intention of halting its nuclear program," Netanyahu told Ashton at the meeting. According to a report published by Israeli newspaper Maariv on Wednesday, several officials who took part in the coalitional negotiations between Mofaz and Netanyahu said the two are "coordinated" over the issue of Iran and are "of one mind" when it comes to stopping Iran's nuclear program. Despite the fact that the report did not explain the significance of that coordination, it was hinted that, ostensibly, Mofaz changed his mind once more and now supports an attack on Iran. In recent weeks, and even more forcefully since he won the elections to become head of Kadima, Mofaz vigorously attacked Netanyahu over the issue of Iran, claiming he was "frightening the public." What likely stands behind the invitation of Barak, Lieberman and Mofaz to the meeting with Ashton is Netanyahu's desire to present a united front to Ashton, who is charged with handling the negotiations with Iran on behalf of the six major powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
