Israel Stock Ideas

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>>> Much of Iran’s Nuclear Program Remains After Israel’s Strikes. At Least for Now.

The first phase of the attack did not hit the most likely repository of Iran’s near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel.


The New York Times

by David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger has covered Iran’s nuclear program, and the efforts to prevent it from obtaining an atomic weapon, for more than two decades

June 13, 2025


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/us/politics/iran-nuclear-program-israel-strike-damage.html


Israel badly damaged one of Iran’s key nuclear sites and killed a startling array of top military and nuclear officials in the attacks that started on Friday morning. But when the sun rose after that devastating assault, it was also clear how much of Iran’s nuclear program remained, at least for now.

The Israeli strikes appear to have destroyed an aboveground nuclear fuel production site and electrical supply centers at Iran’s largest uranium enrichment center, at Natanz. The killing of some of Iran’s top nuclear scientists continues a long-running Israeli campaign targeting the expertise needed to build a bomb. But the first phase of the Israeli attacks did not hit the most likely repository of Iran’s near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel — and that may have been deliberate.

That stockpile is stored at a vast complex outside the ancient former capital of Isfahan, according to international inspectors who are charged with measuring and monitoring it. Israel’s 100 fighters and swarms of missiles and drones stayed away from Isfahan in their first wave, even though it is one of the largest nuclear sites in the country and, according to Western intelligence services, one of the centers of Iran’s secret weapons research programs.

The Israel Defense Forces issued a news release on Friday afternoon saying that in a second wave of attacks, it had hit Isfahan, but not the fuel stockpile. Instead, it focused on laboratories that worked on converting uranium gas back into a metal — one of the last stages of building a weapon. But it said nothing about hitting the area where the fuel itself is stored.

“We saw the fuel there just recently,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations organization that tracks fuel to make sure it is not diverted to weapons projects, said on Friday, a few hours after the attacks began. Inspectors were inside the Isfahan facilities over the past few weeks, conducting the final inventories for the quarterly report on Iran’s capabilities that was distributed to the agency’s board this month, as it focused on Iran’s compliance with inspectors’ demands.

The mystery is why Israel avoided hitting the stockpile, which gives Iran its fastest pathway to producing a small nuclear arsenal. And it was the core of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s justifications early Friday for ordering the strike, after two decades in which Israel has always stopped short of pulling the trigger.

“Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium for nine atom bombs — nine,” he said. (Other experts put the figure slightly higher, at 10, but the actual number would depend on how efficiently the Iranians prove to be at producing a warhead or a bomb.)

Mr. Netanyahu went on to discuss the danger he believed the stockpile’s existence posed: “In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponize this enriched uranium.” He argued that if Iran was not stopped, it “could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.”

“It could be in a year,” he said, “it could be within a few months — it could be less than a year.”

Nuclear and missile facilities in Iran -



Israeli officials did not respond to queries about why they spared the stockpile, at least for now. It is possible that the Isfahan complex could be targeted in a next wave. President Trump said on Friday that “there’s more to come, a lot more,” adding that the next attacks would be “brutal.”

But outside experts believe avoiding Isfahan was a deliberate choice.

“The fact that Israel did not bomb a known uranium production facility at Isfahan,” said Jon Wolfsthal of the Federation of American Scientists, which tracks Iran’s nuclear progress closely, “suggests either that Bibi was worried the bombing might cause a radiological incident or that they actually think this will lead Iran to surrender its uranium stocks voluntarily.”

The concern about a “radiological incident” is a real one. Bombing the fuel storage site in its current form would not trigger a nuclear explosion. But it could release the fuel into the environment, creating a radiation hazard, essentially turning the Isfahan plant into a dirty bomb.

Israel expands attack to include Iran’s oil and gas industry.

Iran’s vital oil industry is vulnerable in the escalating conflict.

(Mr. Grossi said late Friday that there was some chemical and radiological contamination at the heavily hit Natanz plant, but that the underground halls that hold some of Iran’s most modern and powerful centrifuges did not appear to have been pierced.)

History suggests Israel is highly sensitive to the risk of triggering the release of radioactive material. When it bombed Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, an effort to keep Iraq from gaining a nuclear weapon, it struck before fuel was put into the plant. And it did the same when it hit a plant in Syria that was being built by the North Koreans, though in that case Israel tried for months to hide its responsibility for the bombing campaign. In the strike on Iran on Friday morning, it boasted about the details.

Another possible explanation is that Israeli officials believe they can block the Iranians from further enriching the stockpile to bomb-grade levels — 90 percent — a process that would take only days or weeks, in the public estimation of American intelligence agencies. (It is possible to make a weapon with lower-purity fuel, but it creates new challenges.)

Iran’s choices are limited. The country’s largest enrichment plant at Natanz was the primary target in the early hours of Friday, and cellphone videos showed it was still smoking. “We believe it is heavily damaged,” said Mr. Grossi, who has visited Natanz often.

If Natanz is out of operation, Iran’s best bet would be to get the fuel to the smaller enrichment plant at Fordow, buried deep under a mountain on an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base. Mr. Grossi estimates it is half a mile deep, most likely making it impervious to Israel’s bunker-busting weapons. So far the Trump administration has made clear it will not join in the attacks, which would include making use of the giant bunker buster the United States developed to take out such deeply buried sites in Iran and North Korea.

According to some reports, Israel may be trying anyway; there were indications of bombing in the area of the mountainous facility on Friday evening. Even if that is unsuccessful, Iran would almost certainly not want to take the risk of transporting its 60 percent enriched fuel to the Natanz site. It would be “a sitting duck for their drones,” one former American intelligence official who worked extensively on Iran said on Friday.

In selecting its targets, Israel also bet that it could set back the effort by killing key scientists. On Friday, the deaths of two of them were widely reported in Iran. One was Mohammad Mehdi Tehranji, a physicist and the president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, which has long been associated with work on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

The other was a man Israel has tried, and failed, to kill before. Fereydoun Abbasi was the tough-talking former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. In November 2010, at the height of Israel’s “sticky bomb” attacks in which explosives were slapped on the drivers’ doors of scientists caught in Tehran traffic, Mr. Abbasi was badly wounded. Perhaps because of his military training, he reacted instantly to the click of the magnetic bomb on his door and pulled himself and his wife out of the car before it was consumed in a fireball.

He emerged from that attack more determined than ever to pursue Iran’s program, and for several years became its public face as the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. He offered the world assurances that his country’s interest in nuclear technology was entirely peaceful.

He argued that all the evidence provided by international inspectors that an active warhead project existed in Iran dating back 20 years or more — including drawings of the weapons and calculations about the best heights to detonate a weapon — was part of an Israeli fabrication effort to justify a future attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

He was among the first to die when those strikes began.

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>>> Israel Conducts Strikes in Iran in Major Escalation


Bloomberg

by Patrick Sykes and Marissa Newman

June 12, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israel-conducts-strikes-iran-major-002304149.html


(Bloomberg) -- Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, in a major escalation in the standoff over Tehran’s atomic program that risks sparking a new war in the Middle East.

Explosions were heard in Tehran, according to local media. Iran had previously vowed to respond to any attack.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement he’s declaring a special state of emergency due to Israel’s “preemptive strike against Iran.” Israel is anticipating a retaliatory drone and missile attack, Katz said in a statement.

The attack came amid renewed questions about diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions over Iran’s atomic work. US and Iranian negotiators are scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in Oman on Sunday, but President Donald Trump said this week he’s less confident about the chances of a deal.

Oil surged following reports of the strike. Brent rose as much as 5.7%, jumping above $73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate also rallied.

Israel is already involved in a major military operation in Gaza where it’s been bombarding and blockading the civilian population for the past 20 months as it tries to destroy Hamas following the group’s deadly attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.

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>>> Rift between Israel and France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Israel

When Charles de Gaulle became French President in late 1958 he wanted to end French–Israeli nuclear cooperation and said that he would not supply Israel with uranium unless the plant was opened to international inspectors, declared peaceful, and no plutonium was reprocessed.[56] Through an extended series of negotiations, Shimon Peres finally reached a compromise with Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville over two years later, in which French companies would be able to continue to fulfill their contract obligations and Israel would declare the project peaceful.[57] Due to this, French assistance did not end until 1966.[58] However, the supply of uranium fuel was stopped earlier, in 1963.[59] Despite this, a French uranium company based in Gabon may have sold Israel uranium in 1965. The US government launched an investigation but was unable to determine if such a sale had taken place.[60]

1963 standoff between Israel and United States

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in 2019 that, throughout the spring and summer of 1963, the leaders of the United States and Israel – President John F. Kennedy and prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol – were engaged in a high-stakes battle of wills over Israel's nuclear program. The tensions were invisible to the publics of both countries, and only a few senior officials, on both sides, were aware of the severity of the situation. According to Yuval Ne'eman, Eshkol, Ben-Gurion's successor, and his associates saw Kennedy as presenting Israel with a real ultimatum. According to Ne'eman, the former Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky, seriously entertained the fear that Kennedy might send U.S. airborne troops to Dimona, the home of Israel's nuclear complex.[61]

On March 25, 1963, President Kennedy and CIA Director John A. McCone discussed the Israeli nuclear program. According to McCone, Kennedy raised the "question of Israel acquiring nuclear capability," and McCone provided Kennedy with Kent's estimate of the anticipated negative consequences of Israeli nuclearization. According to McCone, Kennedy then instructed National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy to guide Secretary of State Dean Rusk, in collaboration with the CIA director and the AEC chairman, to submit a proposal "as to how some form of international or bilateral U.S. safeguards could be instituted to protect against the contingency mentioned." That also meant that the "next informal inspection of the Israeli reactor complex [must] …be undertaken promptly and... be as thorough as possible."[61]

On April 2, 1963, Ambassador Barbour met Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and presented the American request for his "assent to semi-annual visits to Dimona perhaps in May and November, with full access to all parts and instruments in the facility, by qualified U.S. scientists." Ben-Gurion, apparently taken by surprise, responded by saying the issue would have to be postponed until after Passover, which that year ended on April 15. To highlight the point further, two days later, Assistant Secretary Talbot summoned Israeli Ambassador Harman to the State Department and presented him with a diplomatic démarche on the inspections. This message to Ben-Gurion was the first salvo in what would become "the toughest American-Israeli confrontation over the Israeli nuclear program".[61]

On April 26, 1963, more than three weeks after the original U.S. demand concerning Dimona, Ben-Gurion responded to Kennedy with a seven-page letter that focused on broad issues of Israeli security and regional stability. Claiming that Israel faced an unprecedented threat, Ben-Gurion invoked the specter of "another Holocaust," and insisted that Israel's security should be protected by joint external security guarantees, to be extended by the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Kennedy, however, was determined not to let Ben-Gurion change the subject. On May 4, 1963, he replied to the prime minister, assuring him that while "we are watching closely current developments in the Arab world," as to Ben-Gurion's proposal for a joint superpower declaration, Kennedy dismissed both its practicality and its political wisdom. Kennedy was much less worried about an "early Arab attack" than he was by "a successful development of advanced offensive systems which, as you say, could not be dealt with by presently available means."[61]

Kennedy would not budge on Dimona, and the disagreements became a "pain in the neck" for him, as Robert Komer later wrote. The confrontation with Israel escalated when the State Department transmitted Kennedy's latest letter to the Tel Aviv embassy on June 15 for immediate delivery to Ben-Gurion by Ambassador Barbour. In the letter Kennedy fleshed out his insistence on biannual visits with a set of detailed technical conditions. The letter was akin to an ultimatum: If the U.S. government could not obtain "reliable information" on the state of the Dimona project, Washington's "commitment to and support of Israel" could be "seriously jeopardized." But the letter was never presented to Ben-Gurion. The telegram with Kennedy's letter arrived in Tel Aviv on Saturday, June 15, the day before Ben-Gurion's announcement of his resignation, a decision that stunned his country and the world. Ben-Gurion never explained, in writing or orally, what led him to resign, beyond citing "personal reasons." He denied that his move was related to any specific policy issues, but the question of the extent to which Kennedy's Dimona pressure played a role remains open to discussion to the present day.[61]

On July 5, less than 10 days after Levi Eshkol succeeded Ben-Gurion as prime minister, Ambassador Barbour delivered to him a first letter from President Kennedy. The letter was virtually a copy of the undelivered letter of June 15 to Ben-Gurion.[62] As Yuval Ne'eman stated, it was immediately apparent to Eshkol and his advisers that Kennedy's demands were akin to an ultimatum, and thus constituted a crisis in the making. A stunned Eshkol, in his first and interim response, on July 17, requested more time to study the subject and for consultations. The premier noted that while he hoped that U.S-Israeli friendship would grow under his watch, "Israel would do what it had to do for its national security and to safeguard its sovereign rights." Barbour, apparently wanting to mitigate the bluntness of the letter, assured Eshkol that Kennedy's statement was "factual": Critics of strong U.S.-Israel relations might complicate the diplomatic relationship if Dimona was left uninspected.[61]

On August 19, after six weeks of consultations that generated at least eight different drafts, Eshkol handed Barbour his written reply to Kennedy's demands. It began by reiterating Ben-Gurion's past assurances that Dimona's purpose was peaceful. As to Kennedy's request, Eshkol wrote that given the special relationship between the two countries, he had decided to allow regular visits of U.S. representatives to the Dimona site. On the specific issue of the schedule, Eshkol suggested – as Ben-Gurion had in his last letter to Kennedy – that late 1963 would be the time for the first visit: By then, he wrote, "the French group will have handed the reactor over to us and it will be undertaking general tests and measurements of its physical parameters at zero power."[61]

Eshkol was vague on the proposed frequency of visits. Eshkol disregarded Kennedy's demand for biannual tours, while avoiding a frontal challenge to Kennedy's request. "Having considered this request, I believe we shall be able to reach agreement on the future schedule of visits," Eshkol wrote. In sum, the prime minister split the difference: To end the confrontation, he assented to "regular visits" by U.S. scientists, but he did not accept the idea of the prompt visit that Kennedy wanted and avoided making an explicit commitment to biannual inspections. Kennedy's appreciative reply did not mention these divergences but assumed a basic agreement on "regular visits."[61]

In the wake of Eshkol's letter, the first of the long-sought regular inspection visits to Dimona took place in mid-January 1964, two months after Kennedy's assassination. The Israelis told the American visitors that the reactor had gone critical only a few weeks earlier, but that claim was not accurate. Israel acknowledged years later that the Dimona reactor became operational in mid-1963, as the Kennedy administration had originally assumed.[61]

It turned out that Kennedy's insistence on biannual visits to Dimona was not implemented after his death. U.S. government officials remained interested in such a schedule, and President Lyndon B. Johnson did raise the issue with Eshkol, but he never pressed hard on the subject the way that Kennedy had.[61]

In the end, the confrontation between President Kennedy and two Israeli prime ministers resulted in a series of six American inspections of the Dimona nuclear complex, once a year between 1964 and 1969. They were never conducted under the strict conditions Kennedy laid out in his letters. While Kennedy's successor remained committed to the cause of nuclear nonproliferation and supported American inspection visits at Dimona, he was much less concerned about holding the Israelis to Kennedy's terms. In retrospect, this change of attitude may have saved the Israeli nuclear program.[61]

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>>> Oil Climbs on Report That Israel Is Preparing to Strike Iran


Bloomberg

by Rob Verdonck and Yongchang Chin

May 20, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-surges-report-israel-preparing-225142307.html


(Bloomberg) -- Oil jumped following a CNN report that new US intelligence suggests Israel is preparing for a potential strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Brent crude rose above $66 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate surged as much as 3.5% before paring gains. It wasn’t clear that Israeli leaders have made a final decision on whether to carry out the strikes, CNN said, citing unnamed officials.

Oil has been volatile since last week on mixed headlines about the fate of Iran-US nuclear talks, which could pave the way for more barrels to return to a market that’s expected to be oversupplied later in the year. An attack by Israel would hinder any progress in those negotiations and add to unrest in the Middle East, which supplies about a third of the world’s crude.

“This is the clearest sign yet of how high the stakes are in the US-Iran nuclear talks and the lengths Israel may go to if Iran insists on maintaining its commercial nuclear capabilities,” said Robert Rennie, head of commodity and carbon research for Westpac Banking Corp. “Crude will maintain a risk premium as long as the current talks appear to be going nowhere.”

The CNN report also briefly pushed traditional currency havens including the Swiss franc and Japanese yen higher, before the move pared. The US Department of Defense and National Security Council didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Israel has long weighed targeting Iran’s nuclear program. A big question, however, is just how many of the atomic sites are insulated against anything but the most extreme attack. Earlier, those plans were also believed to have been deterred by comments from then-President Joe Biden following attacks between the nations last year.

Geopolitical concerns have for now overshadowed expectations of looser balances heading into the second half of the year, as OPEC and its allies bring back barrels to the market. US shale oil output hasn’t peaked and can still expand, but not if prices are near $50 a barrel, ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer said Tuesday.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said he didn’t think the latest effort to negotiate with the US would lead to a result. WTI prices could tumble as low as $40 a barrel if sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s oil exports are lifted, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Iran has been able to keep exporting crude in spite of increasing sanctions by the US and allies including the UK and Europe. Tehran has even managed to boost supply recently, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

“Iran has increased its supply by about a million barrels a day over the last couple of years,” Samantha Dart, Goldman’s co-head of global commodities research, said on Bloomberg Television. “If you remove a million barrels a day from Iran, this could represent an upside of about $8 a barrel to the crude oil price.”

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>>> Israel steps up Syria strikes, says Turkey aims for 'protectorate'


Reuters

April 3, 2025


https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-airstrike-targets-barzeh-neighborhood-syrias-damascus-state-news-agency-2025-04-02/


Summary

Israeli military strikes target Syrian air bases and Damascus site

Syrian state media reports nine killed by Israel in south

Israeli defence minister warns Syria against allowing hostile forces


DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM, April 2 (Reuters) - Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey on Thursday of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.

Later on Thursday, Turkey said Israel must withdraw from Syria and stop harming stabilization efforts there.

"Israel has become the greatest threat to regional security" and is a "strategic destabilizer, causing chaos and feeding terrorism," the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said.

"Therefore, in order to establish security throughout the region, Israel must first abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from the territories it occupies, and stop undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria," it said.

The strikes, targeting a site near Damascus and air bases, put renewed focus on Israeli concerns about the Islamists who deposed Bashar al-Assad in December, with Israeli officials viewing them as a rising threat at their border.

Also suspicious of Ankara's sway over Damascus, Israel has been working to advance its goals in Syria since Assad was toppled, seizing ground in the southwest, declaring a willingness to protect the Druze minority, lobbying Washington for a weak state, and blowing up much of the Syrian military's heavy weapons and equipment in the days after Assad fell.

The Israeli army said its forces operating in the southwest overnight killed several militants who opened fire on them. They were on a targeted mission at the time beyond the separation zone where they are deployed inside Syria, it said.

Syria's state news agency SANA said Israeli shelling had killed nine people in the area, during what it described as the deepest incursion yet by Israeli troops in the area.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the airstrikes late on Wednesday evening were "a clear message and a warning for the future - we will not allow the security of the State of Israel to be harmed.

Katz said in a statement that Israel's armed forces would remain in buffer zones within Syria and act against threats to its security, warning Syria's government it would pay a heavy price if it allowed forces hostile to Israel to enter.

Reflecting Israeli concerns about Turkish influence in the new Syria, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Ankara of playing a "negative role" there, in Lebanon and other regions.

"They are doing their utmost to have Syria as a Turkish protectorate. It's clear that is their intention," he told a press conference in Paris.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli strikes were an unjustified escalation aimed at destabilising the country, calling on the international community to put pressure on Israel to "stop its aggression."

Later on Thursday, Israeli strikes targeted the town of Kiswah, south of Damascus, according to Syria's state news agency. There were no immediate reports of casualties and no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel bombed Syria frequently when the country was governed by Assad, targeting the foothold established by his ally Iran during the civil war.

AIR BASE DESTROYED

The latest strikes were some of the most intense Israeli attacks in Syria since Assad was toppled.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israel struck five separate areas within a 30-minute window, resulting in the near-complete destruction of the Hama air base and wounding dozens of civilians and soldiers.

The Israeli military said it had struck remaining military capabilities at air bases in Hama and Homs provinces, in addition to remaining military infrastructure in the Damascus area, where Syrian media and officials said the vicinity of a scientific research facility was hit.

In Hama, a Syrian military source told Reuters a dozen strikes demolished the runways, tower, arms depots and hangars at the military airport. "Israel has completely destroyed Hama air base to ensure it is not used," the source said.

Israel also said on Wednesday it targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, which it has repeatedly hit over the past week.

In the incident in southwestern Syria, the Israeli military said its forces were operating in the Tasil area, "confiscating weapons and destroying terrorist infrastructure" when several militants fired on them.

Residents of the Tasil area reached by phone said a group of armed locals were killed after confronting an Israeli army contingent that had arrived in the area to destroy a former Syrian army encampment.

The Israeli military said there were no casualties among its forces who "responded with fire and eliminated several armed terrorists from the ground and air."

"The presence of weapons in southern Syria constitutes a threat to the State of Israel," it said. "The IDF will not allow a military threat to exist in Syria and will act against it."

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>>> The Israeli Startup That Just Inked the Largest Cybersecurity Deal Ever


MSN

by Lauren Thomas

3-18-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-israeli-startup-that-just-inked-the-largest-cybersecurity-deal-ever/ar-AA1BaQ6D?cvid=3c51ef70123e4fee89f875460e97d71c&ei=40


When Google’s talks to buy cybersecurity company Wiz fell apart last summer, the startup’s founder told staff he was aiming for an initial public offering. Less than a year later, the company inked the largest cybersecurity deal ever.

Wiz struck a $32 billion deal to sell the company to Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday, reviving a marriage that could bolster the tech giant’s cyber muscle. The highly competitive business of selling cloud services has grown in complexity—particularly as generative AI advances—prompting companies like Google to beef up their security to defend against hacks and other threats.

Assaf Rappaport and his co-founders now stand to make more than $3 billion each from the sale, according to people familiar with the matter. It is the biggest sale for a private venture-backed company on record, displacing Meta Platforms’ $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014.

They are among the alumni of Unit 8200, part of the Israel Defense Forces known for its cybersecurity savvy and intensity. Former Unit 8200 members have been able to attract clients and investment money from Silicon Valley in spades, and the Wiz team is now among the ranks of unit veterans that have founded highly valued cybersecurity companies, such as Palo Alto Networks and Fireblocks.

Rappaport, a 41-year-old Tel Aviv native, often dons a hoodie with Wiz’s logo on it, in keeping with the tech aesthetic, or a white T-shirt, joggers and sneakers. His shoes, from the luxury Italian brand Golden Goose, typically cost more than $500.

He often brought his border collie Mika, dubbed Wiz’s chief dog officer, to work at the company’s offices in New York and Tel Aviv and encouraged other employees to bring their dogs as well. Mika, who died late last year, had her own LinkedIn page. Rappaport wrote when the dog died that they were “a power couple” and called the dog the love of his life.

Restarting talks

After the talks between Google and Wiz fizzled last summer, Wiz started talking to bankers again in the fall about a fresh deal. A paucity of initial public offerings this year prompted Rappaport and co-founders Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik to explore deal conversations with several other parties, according to people familiar with the matter.

None was willing to pay up as much as Google. The companies were ultimately able to improve the terms of the deal—including a more than $3 billion termination fee for Wiz, should the agreement fall apart—and gain confidence that the Google transaction could overcome regulatory hurdles, the people familiar with the deal said.

Google also views the Wiz deal as something that is in the best interest of America’s national security. “The increased role of AI, and adoption of cloud services, have dramatically changed the security landscape for customers,” the companies said Tuesday.

The acquisition is likely to test the Trump administration’s antitrust appetite, but if it clears, Wiz’s security features could help Google attract more cloud customers. Competition is stiff, particularly as generative AI fuels corporate America’s need for computing power.

The all-cash deal would be Google’s largest ever. Google has beefed up its cybersecurity muscle through acquisitions in recent years, buying Mandiant for $5.4 billion in 2022.

Big-name backers

The four co-founders met while working together in the IDF unit, where advanced cybersecurity meets cyberwarfare.

The quartet sold their first venture, cloud cybersecurity company Adallom, to Microsoft in 2015. Rappaport said in an interview last year with one of Wiz’s board members that he knew their second would be a roller coaster.

Wiz was initially called Beyond Networks and focused on network security. Rappaport and his co-founders pivoted to software that offers customers more cyber protection than their tech-giant cloud providers might.

It is backed by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Advent and Greenoaks.

“They took a bold approach,” said Gili Raanan, Wiz board chair and founder of the VC firm Cyberstarts. Their technology could “identify vulnerabilities and identity issues faster and more effectively than anything else on the market,” he said. Today, Wiz’s customers include several Fortune 100 customers.

The startup’s valuation swelled to $16 billion in an employee tender offer in late 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Bank of America advised Alphabet on the deal, and Goldman Sachs was Wiz’s financial adviser.

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>>> Iran boosts stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium, nuclear watchdog says


The Washington Post

by Susannah George, Karen DeYoung, Warren Strobel

2-26-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/international-relations/iran-boosts-stockpile-of-near-weapons-grade-uranium-nuclear-watchdog-says/ar-AA1zQKud?ocid=TobArticle


PARIS — Iran has substantially expanded production of highly enriched uranium since December, further increasing its stockpile of near-weapons-grade material, according to a person familiar with a report prepared for next week’s meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors.

According to the IAEA report, the stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent, just short of the level needed to produce a weapon, has grown by 92.5 kilograms, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the still-confidential report.

The report comes amid growing concerns that Iran may pursue a nuclear weapon in response to the cascade of setbacks Tehran has suffered across the region in recent months. Iran is also under increasing pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week promised to “finish the job” against Iran with U.S. support.

President Donald Trump has promised a return to “maximum pressure” against Iran, and this week announced two new rounds of sanctions designed to increase pressure on Iran’s oil industry and exports connected to its unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missile programs.

The IAEA findings, first reported by the Associated Press and Reuters, were distributed to member states Wednesday.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes. But in recent months, Iranian officials have begun discussing changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine in public. A U.S. intelligence report released in December referenced the debate, saying that the country’s position “risks emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus.”

In Israel, some reporting has suggested that Netanyahu is considering an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Sixty percent enrichment is considered just a short step from the 90 percent needed to fuel a nuclear device. Last month, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that the window for a diplomatic resolution to the West’s standoff with Iran may be closing. He said Iran already has enough nuclear material to make “several” bombs.

“The amount is there,” Grossi warned while responding to questions from European lawmakers on Iran’s nuclear program. “One thing is true: They have amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one at this point.”

In an analysis of a 2024 IAEA report on Iran, researchers at the Institute for Science and International Security concluded that Iran would need roughly one month to further refine its stockpile into weapons-grade fuel.

The IAEA defines 25 kilograms of 90 percent enriched uranium as the threshold amount needed for a weapon. Depending on the bomb design, it can be much less than that.

Documents stolen from Iran by the Israeli government in 2018 revealed that Iran had, by 2003, mastered nearly all the technologies needed to make a simple nuclear weapon. It is believed that Iran has not yet acquired all the skills needed to design a small warhead that could be carried inside a missile.

U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report in November that they assess that Iran is not building an actual nuclear weapon. “Tehran has, however, undertaken activities that better position it to produce one, if it so chooses.”

Robert Einhorn, a former State Department official who worked on Iran nonproliferation policy, said that by surging uranium enrichment, Tehran was giving itself the capability to move more quickly to construct a nuclear weapon, and simultaneously positioning itself for eventual arms negotiations with Western powers.

“Iran believes strongly, for strategic and other reasons, it needs to have a near-weapons capability,” said Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It wants to project the image of a country that could decide at any time to move very quickly to nuclear weapons.”

While there has been growing debate within Iran over becoming a nuclear power, “for now, I think they’re probably content to stay on the other side of the line,” he said.

One thing that could change Iran’s calculus is the possibility of an Israeli strike, potentially with U.S. support, on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Washington Post reported this month that multiple U.S. intelligence assessments warned that Israel is likely to strike Iran’s nuclear program in the coming months.

The intelligence warned that a preemptive attack would set back Tehran’s program by weeks or perhaps months, but also that it would escalate tensions across the Middle East and renew the prospect of a wider regional conflagration. A U.S. military intelligence report outlined two potential strike options, both of which would probably require U.S. assistance in terms of aerial refueling, and intelligence and surveillance support.

During a visit to Israel last week by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Netanyahu said that “Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a might blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President Trump … I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job.”

The “job” Netanyahu referred to was Israel’s ongoing attacks and significant weakening of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq in the wake of Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel. U.S. and Israeli strikes have also targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have launched several missile attacks against Israel.

Iran struck out for the first time directly against Israel with drone and missile attacks in April and October last year. The attacks were repelled by Israeli and U.S. countermeasures and were largely unsuccessful. Israel responded to the October event with 20 strikes inside Iran, targeting its drone and missile program and air defense network.

During his first term, Trump terminated U.S. participation in a nuclear deal with Iran that had imposed strict limits on its uranium enrichment, although his promise to negotiate a “better” deal came to nothing. President Joe Biden’s attempt to negotiate a new nuclear agreement also failed. Trump, who has stepped up U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel, has now said he is willing to negotiate but is ready to use force to prevent Iran from constructing a nuclear weapon if necessary.

“There’s two ways to stopping them,” he said this month, “with bombs or a written piece of paper. I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also early this month, said that talks with the United States were “not smart, wise or honorable.”

In a Tehran news conference Tuesday with his visiting Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: “We will not negotiate under pressure, threats or sanctions. Therefore, as long as maximum pressure continues in its current form, there will be no possibility of direct negotiations between us and the United States on the nuclear issue.”

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Wiz - >>> Sensitive DeepSeek data exposed to web, Israeli cyber firm says


Reuters

January 29, 2025

By Raphael Satter


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sensitive-deepseek-data-exposed-israeli-231854698.html


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz says it has found a trove of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek inadvertently exposed to the open internet.

In a blog post published Wednesday, Wiz said that scans of DeepSeek's infrastructure showed that the company had accidentally left more than a million lines of data available unsecured. Those included digital software keys and chat logs that appeared to capture prompts being sent from users to the company's free AI assistant.

Wiz's chief technology officer said DeepSeek quickly secured the data after his firm alerted them.

"They took it down in less than an hour," Ami Luttwak, Wiz's co-founder, said. "But this was so simple to find we believe we're not the only ones who found it."

DeepSeek did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

DeepSeek's practically overnight success following the launch of its AI assistant has thrilled China and sparked anxiety in America. The Chinese company's apparent ability to match OpenAI's capabilities at a much lower cost has posed questions over the sustainability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI giants such as Nvidia and Microsoft.

By Monday, it had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares.

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>>> SuperCom Ltd (SPCB) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Highlights: Strategic Wins and Revenue Surge Amid ...


GuruFocus News

November 15, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/supercom-ltd-spcb-q3-2024-071128626.html


For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

SuperCom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB) reported a significant increase in revenue to $21.3 million for the first nine months of 2024, showcasing successful execution of strategic initiatives.

The company achieved a dramatic improvement in gross profit margin to 50.1% from 30.7% in the prior year period.

SuperCom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB) secured a prestigious contract for the National Israeli Electronic Monitoring Project, enhancing its leadership position.

The company expanded its footprint in the US market by entering new regions such as New York, West Virginia, and Maryland.

SuperCom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB) reported positive free cash flow of $1.2 million, a significant improvement from a negative number in the previous year.

Negative Points

The company's quarterly gross profit margin decreased to 46% from 59% in the same quarter last year, primarily due to project mix and timing.

SuperCom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB) faces macroeconomic uncertainties and ongoing global challenges, including those in Israel.

The company has experienced continual dilutions over the last couple of years, which has been a concern for long-term shareholders.

The US market remains largely untapped for SuperCom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB), requiring more resources and strategic efforts to accelerate growth.

The deployment of new systems incurs high initial costs, impacting margins until additional units are added.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you touch on what the pipeline looks like for Europe in 2025? Are there any large national projects that you're pursuing now that could close in 2025? A: Our entry into the European market started with small projects and has grown to larger ones, such as the $33 million project in Romania. We are now well-positioned to compete for any RFP in Europe. There are many countries we haven't entered yet, like England, France, and Germany, which present opportunities of various sizes. We continue to monitor and bid on projects across Europe.

Q: When you bid on new projects in Europe, are you usually displacing legacy systems, or are they looking for additional functionality? A: National programs often encompass all electronic monitoring programs, including house arrest, GPS monitoring, and domestic violence. We often displace incumbents by offering significant improvements and new solutions like domestic violence monitoring. Our technology offers longer battery life and other capabilities, which are compelling for governments to switch vendors.

Q: Regarding the US market, do you need to add resources to accelerate your expansion, or do you expect to add more boots on the ground? A: The US market moves faster than Europe, often involving counties and resellers rather than national projects. This requires more feet on the ground due to the fragmented market. We are focused on maintaining profitability while optimizing our cash use and sales efforts. We have seen growth even as we work efficiently with our capital.

Q: How many new shares were issued as part of the debt-to-equity conversion this quarter? A: No new shares were issued in the third quarter. Over the year, we've done several conversions at a premium, reducing our long-term liability by $4.5 million, which benefits shareholders by reducing debt while using a significant premium to the market price.

Q: Can you expand on the deal in Israel, particularly the structure and opportunities for expansion? A: The project in Israel is a five-year contract with options for four one-year extensions, totaling nine years. It starts with house arrest and is expected to cover 1,500 offenders. It's a lease model, and as the government decides to deploy more programs, we will be the vendor. There is potential for additional programs to be added, which would be valuable.

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>>> SuperCom Ltd. (SPCB) provides traditional and digital identity, Internet of Things (IoT) and connectivity, and cyber security products and solutions to governments and private and public organizations worldwide. The company operates through three segments: e-Gov, IoT and Connectivity, and Cyber Security. It offers national ID registries, e-passports, biometric visas, automated fingerprint identification systems, digitized driver's licenses, and electronic voter registration and election management using MAGNA platform. The company also provides PureRF, a solution based on RFID tag technology to identify, locate, track, monitor, count, and protect people and objects. Its PureRF suite includes PureRF Tags, Hands-Free Long-Range RFID Asset and Vehicle Tags, PureRF Readers, PureRF Activators, PureRF Initializer, House Arrest Monitoring System, PureTag RF Bracelet, PureCom RF Base Station, GPS Offender Tracking System, PureTrack, PureBeacon, PureMonitor Offender Electronic Monitoring Software, Inmate Monitoring System, DoorGuard, and Personnel Tag.

In addition, the company offers domestic violence victim protection systems and PureProtect smartphone app. Further, it provides connectivity products and solutions comprising AVIDITY WBSac, BOLSTER WBSn, BreezeULTRA P6000, Arena controller, and BreezeNET B; cyber security strategic business unit products and solutions, including Safend Encryptor, Safend Protector, Safend Inspector, Safend Discoverer, and SafeMobile; and wireless and RFID products, such as solutions for carrier Wi-Fi, enterprise connectivity, smart city, smart hospitality, connected campuses, and connected events. It sells its systems and products through local representatives, subsidiaries, and distribution channels, as well as independent representatives, resellers, and distributors.

The company was formerly known as Vuance Ltd. and changed its name to SuperCom Ltd. in January 2013. SuperCom Ltd. was incorporated in 1988 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SPCB/profile/


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Adam Sandler - SNL -

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Latest Israeli submarine -

>>> INS Drakon


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Drakon


Ordered 2012
Cost €650m

Launched 2017 (initial launch, prior to re-concepualization of the project)[1]

Commissioned Expected in 2025[2]

Homeport TBD
General characteristics

Class and type Dolphin-class submarine
Type Diesel-electric submarine
Displacement 2,050 tons surfaced, 2,400 tons submerged[3]
Length 68.6 m (225 ft)[3]
Beam 6.8 m (22 ft)
Draught 6.2 m (20 ft)

Propulsion Diesel-electric, 3 diesels, 1 shaft, 4,243 shp (3,164 kW)

Speed excess of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)[4]

Test depth At least 350 m (1,150 ft)

Complement 35 + 10 additional

Sensors and
processing systems

Atlas Elektronik ISUS 90-1 Tactical Control System (TCS) for multiple operations including sensor management, weapon control and navigation.[5]

Armament

6 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes
4 × 650 mm (26 in) diameter torpedo tubes
Potential VLS system for Popeye Turbo SLCM (unconfirmed)[5]
DM-2A4 Seehake wire-guided torpedoes
UGM-84C Harpoon anti-ship missiles
Triton anti-helicopter missiles

INS Drakon, or Dragon, is an Israeli Dolphin 2-class submarine. The submarine was built in Kiel, Germany, and was reported to be on sea trials in early 2022. Although unconfirmed by either the German or Israeli government, rumor has it that the Drakon will be longer than previous boats of its class and may have new weapon capabilities, including a vertical launch system (VLS).[6] Illustrations released by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the prime contractor, show an enlarged sail and distinctly changed hullform. TKMS went on to describe the Drakon as "a completely new design, which is to be specifically engineered to fulfill the operational requirements of the Israeli Navy."[7]

In 2018 the Israeli Navy reportedly decided to pursue a major strategic change to the project which added significant delays and costs.[8]

The boat was reported to have been taken out of the water but re-launched again in August 2023. With the re-launch, photographs confirm a much larger sail which may accommodate its vertical launch missile silos, if these are indeed fit to the vessel.[9] According to analysis conducted by Matus Smutny, the sail "could also contain a special release compartment for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), aerial drones, and/or other special operations and intelligence-gathering equipment. The revised sail could also be related to some kind of proof-of-concept for technology to be used in the upcoming Dakar class".[5]

The boat was originally planned to be named Dakar, after a vessel that mysteriously sank in 1968 with all of its crew on board.[10]

The INS Drakon was christened in Kiel on 12 November 2024. It is scheduled to be delivered in the course of 2025 and will contain new technical systems. In addition to the christening, the start of construction of the future Dakar class was also celebrated with this ceremony.[2]



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>>> Israel’s Netanyahu Fires Defense Minister Gallant


The Wall Street Journal

by Carrie Keller-Lynn

11-5-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-s-netanyahu-fires-defense-minister-gallant/ar-AA1tyHVG?cvid=8c13bb51e83a4ef6bcc6f47fe8211a6b&ei=13


TEL AVIV—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, at a time when the country continues to fight wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and is increasingly in direct confrontation with Iran.

The move on Tuesday came after months of public disagreement between the two over the course of the wars. Netanyahu said he was firing Gallant due to a breakdown in trust and gaps in positions between them.

Gallant has publicly challenged Netanyahu’s failure to decide on a plan for the Gaza Strip’s long-term governance and for not prioritizing a deal to release Israeli and other hostages held in the Palestinian enclave.

“During the past several months this trust between myself and the Defense Minister has begun to crack,” Netanyahu said Tuesday in a statement released by his office.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz will replace Gallant as defense minister within the next 48 hours, Netanyahu said in a terse, three-line letter to Gallant released by the prime minister’s office. Gideon Sa’ar, a former Netanyahu ally-turned-rival who rejoined the coalition in recent weeks, was offered the foreign minister role.

“The security of Israel has and will always be my life’s mission,“ Gallant posted on X shortly after the announcement.

Thousands of protesters flooded into streets in response to the news, gathering outside Tel Aviv’s military headquarters, which was engulfed in smoke as demonstrators burned fires on an adjacent highway, and in other cities across the country.

Gallant’s ouster could have wide-ranging impacts on Israel’s multifront war and U.S. efforts to end it. He has been the anchor of the relationship with the U.S. and the most vocal advocate of the Biden administration’s efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza.

“The surprising decision to fire Defense Minister Gallant is concerning, especially in the middle of two wars and as Israel prepares to defend against a potential attack from Iran,” said a U.S. official. “We have real questions about the reasons for Gallant’s firing and about what is driving the decision,” he said.

Tension between the U.S. administration and Netanyahu has grown in recent months over the prime minister’s hard-line position in the talks and for a series of provocative military actions undertaken with little notice to the U.S.

Gallant has been a shock absorber in the relationship, speaking more than 80 times with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over the duration of the wars.

“Gallant was the minister who the U.S. trusted the most,” said Michael Koplow, chief policy officer for the Israel Policy Forum, a Washington think tank. “When it comes to core defense issues, things like U.S.-Israel coordination against Iran, humanitarian issues in Gaza, Netanyahu just got rid of the main point person for that and replaced him with someone who doesn’t have that kind of relationship with the U.S.”

Until his dismissal, Gallant also was the only cabinet member apart from Netanyahu with serious decision-making authority over the war’s conduct.

Since the Gaza war began, he has worn an all black uniform and often slept in his office, his staff has said. He kept a chart of senior Hamas figures and crossed them out as they were killed.

Gallant and Netanyahu are both members of Israel’s conservative Likud party. But relations between them have been poor for months, with the men barely on speaking terms, people familiar with the matter have said. Gallant has criticized the prime minister in meetings, parliamentary appearances and even news conferences.

Domestic politics played a role in Gallant’s firing. Netanyahu’s governing coalition needs the support of its ultraorthodox political allies, who are bent on reversing moves to draft religious scholars by getting the coalition to pass sweeping military service exemptions for them. Gallant has refused to budge on the issue at a time when Israel’s military faces manpower shortages while fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank.

The issue is coming to a head with Netanyahu’s need for ultraorthodox votes to clear Israel’s 2025 budget, which by law must pass in the coming months, or Netanyahu could face snap elections.

In a press conference after his ouster, Gallant said he believed he was fired for his opposition to a law to exempt ultraorthodox from military service.

“Everyone needs to serve in the IDF,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. Gallant said Netanyahu informed him of his decision to fire him just a few minutes before he announced it publicly.

Two other factors were his demand for the highest form of inquiry into Israel’s security failure on Oct. 7, 2023, and his openly pushing for a hostage deal, he said.

“It’s possible to return the hostages, it will require compromises, some of them painful,” but Israel can manage them, Gallant said.

Netanyahu’s political allies publicly made the case for firing Gallant in September, but the defense minister survived as Israel embarked on an aggressive new campaign in Lebanon that wiped out militant group Hezbollah’s top leadership and much of its armaments.

Katz will be a key decision maker in how far to take the fight in Lebanon now that Hezbollah has been hobbled and much of its infrastructure near the border destroyed, but remains able to inflict pain should Israel’s troops move deeper into the country.

Similarly in Gaza, Israeli troops have badly damaged militant group Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the war in Gaza, but continue to fight reconstituted elements of the group in areas like northern Gaza.

The biggest challenge could come from Iran. The two longtime foes have exchanged fire directly in multiple rounds over the past seven months, most recently with a strike by Israel last month that did significant damage to Iran’s air defense capabilities and missile production capabilities. Iran has threatened a harsh response, and Israel has threatened to retaliate forcibly to any new attack.

The U.S. and Arab countries worry the fighting could escalate into a regional conflagration that draws them in.

Netanyahu fired Gallant once before, in 2023, back before the war in Gaza, when the prime minister’s new government tried to enact large-scale changes to Israel’s judicial system that sparked months of protests.

Gallant publicly urged Netanyahu to hold off for fear the crisis could damage national security. His dismissal led to strikes and unrest, and Netanyahu reinstated him two weeks later.

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>>> A US airstrike in the Middle East is meant to remind Iran that nothing is out of reach <<<


Business Insider

by Tom Porter

10-17-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-us-airstrike-in-the-middle-east-is-meant-to-remind-iran-that-nothing-is-out-of-reach/ar-AA1srGrG?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=418da89af1f04e0090af1890a937f04c&ei=28


The US struck Houthi militant weapons caches in Yemen on Wednesday.

It used B-2 stealth bombers to target the underground sites.

It sent a thinly veiled message to Iran amid escalating tensions.

The US on Wednesday targeted underground Houthi militia weapons stores in Yemen using long-range B-2 stealth bombers, damaging the group's capacity to attack international shipping lanes.

In announcing the strikes Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered what some observers saw as a warning to the group's chief backer, Iran.

"This was a unique demonstration of the United States' ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified," said Austin.

"The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere."

The strikes were conducted against a backdrop of escalating fears of an all-out war between US-ally Israel and Iran, its longtime regional foe.

On October 1 Iran fired almost 200 missiles at Israel in response to Israel's escalating war against the Islamic Republic's most powerful foreign militia, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

In the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas, Israel has launched a campaign to destroy the group in Gaza and exchanged blows with other Iran-backed organizations.

Meanwhile, in solidarity with Hamas, the Houthi have struck vessels on international shipping routes in the Red Sea, which the US and its allies have defended by deploying warships.

Israel is still mulling how to respond to Iran's attack, with some, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, advocating for strikes on nuclear sites.

The US attacks in Yemen and Austin's remarks could be seen as a signal to Iran that the US and Israel have the capability of targeting the heavily fortified underground bases where some of Iran's most sensitive nuclear sites are located.

The B-2, which was used in the strikes on Houthi targets, is the only aircraft capable of carrying the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the "bunker-buster" bomb that'd likely be used to target Iran's underground bases.

But critics have pointed to the difficulty of Israel striking Iran's nuclear program, pointing not just to the underground bunkers where key sites are located, but to the fact that the sites are widely spread out.

It'd need the US's 'bunker buster' weapons to effectively strike them, they say.

Iran has reportedly warned the US' Gulf state allies that if they enable an Israel attack on Iran, they'll be seen as complicit and targeted in response.

The Washington Post on Monday reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden Israel wouldn't target Iran's oil or nuclear facilities.

It led to a drop in oil prices, with Brent crude falling 4.6% on Tuesday to $73.91 per barrel. On Thursday, Brent crude futures were down 4 cents to $74.18 as investors waited to hear about developments in the Middle East.

The US, despite Wednesday's remarks by Austin, has indicated that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear sites at this point, fearing it could spark a much broader war and dragging the US in deeper.

Ahmet Kaya, a principal economist at the UK's National Institute of Economic and Social Research, previously told BI that the growing conflict could "exacerbate the instabilities in the global economy, further increase the uncertainties, harm disinflationary efforts, and eventually reduce the global GDP growth."

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>>> Netanyahu tells U.S. that Israel will strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets, officials say


The Washington Post

by Shira Rubin, Ellen Nakashima

10-14-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/netanyahu-tells-u-s-that-israel-will-strike-iranian-military-not-nuclear-or-oil-targets-officials-say/ar-AA1sgeUF?cvid=d475ee962a8f4168cf2627820480974e&ei=136


TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration he is willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, according to two officials familiar with the matter, suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war.

In the two weeks since Iran’s latest missile barrage on Israel, its second direct attack in six months, the Middle East has braced for Israel’s promised response, fearing the two countries’ decades-long shadow war could explode into a head-on military confrontation. It comes at a politically fraught time for Washington, less than a month before the election; President Joe Biden has said publicly he would not support an Israeli strike on nuclear-related sites.

When Biden and Netanyahu spoke Wednesday — their first call in more than seven weeks after months of rising tensions between the two men — the prime minister said he was planning to target military infrastructure in Iran, according to a U.S. official and an official familiar with the matter. Like others in this story, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.

The White House had no immediate comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that “we listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest.”

The retaliatory action would be calibrated to avoid the perception of “political interference in the U.S. elections,” the official familiar with the matter said, signaling Netanyahu’s understanding that the scope of the Israeli strike has the potential to reshape the presidential race.

An Israeli strike on Iranian oil facilities could send energy prices soaring, analysts say, while an attack on the country’s nuclear research program could erase any remaining red lines governing Israel’s conflict with Tehran, triggering further escalation and risking a more direct U.S. military role. Netanyahu’s stated plan to go after military sites instead, as Israel did after Iran’s attack in April, was met with relief in Washington.

Netanyahu was in a “more moderated place” in that discussion than he had previously been, said the U.S. official, describing the call between the two leaders. The apparent softening of the prime minister’s stance factored into Biden’s decision to send a powerful missile defense system to Israel, both officials said.

After that call, the president was more inclined to do it, the U.S. official said.

On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that it was deploying its anti-ballistic THAAD battery system to Israel, along with about 100 U.S. military personnel. The system, which officials say is expected to arrive in the coming days, “underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel,” the Pentagon statement said.

The Israeli strike on Iran would be carried out before the U.S. elections on Nov. 5, the official familiar with the matter said, because a lack of action could be interpreted by Iran as a sign of weakness. “It will be one in a series of responses,” she said.

Zohar Palti, a former intelligence director for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, said Netanyahu would need to balance Washington’s appeals for moderation with the public demand in Israel for an overwhelming response.

“The Iranians have lost every measure of restraint that they used to have,” he said. “Without the U.S. weapons, Israel cannot fight,” Palti acknowledged. “But it is Israel who takes the risks” and “knows how to do the job.”

On Thursday night, the official familiar with the matter said, Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for three hours to discuss the options on the table, but he did not seek official authorization for the attack from his cabinet — keeping the timing intentionally open-ended.

Within the Israeli defense establishment, there is concern that the strike will not be forceful enough — or public enough — to deter Iran from another direct attack on Israel, or from developing nuclear weapons.

“The Israeli military wants to hit Iran’s military leadership, because it doesn’t hurt the people and it doesn’t erupt the region into a larger war,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University who is in contact with senior members of Israel’s defense establishment. “But that is not how Netanyahu is thinking.”

In April, after a U.S.-led military coalition helped Israel intercept hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles — a large but well-choreographed attack — Israel responded with a pinpoint strike on an air base in Isfahan, in central Iran. Israeli officials mostly kept quiet after the attack, with the exception of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who posted on social media that the response was “lame!”

On Oct. 1, after successful Israeli operations against Iran and its proxies, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, Tehran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel — this time without warning — killing a Palestinian man in the West Bank and hitting at least two military installations. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the attack was meant to “restore balance and deterrence.”

“When we responded last time, they didn’t get the message,” Palti said. “So the alternative now is between restraint or retaliation, and the answer is obvious.”

But Israel is already fighting on multiple fronts. Late last month, thousands of Israeli troops invaded southern Lebanon for the first time in nearly two decades and, last week, the military unleashed yet another punishing offensive in northern Gaza. When it comes to Tehran, figures close to Netanyahu’s team have signaled strategic patience.

“Just as we waited with [Hezbollah in] Lebanon, and with [Hamas in Gaza] in the south, now I think we will have to wait with Iran,” Natan Eshel, an adviser to the Netanyahu family, said in a leaked message to Israeli media Sunday. “We will get to the same point in the north, we will finish it, and then get to Iran, which is not going anywhere.”

On timing, too, Netanyahu appeared to be taking cues from Washington: The United States is “giving Israel and the Netanyahu government a bear hug, but for Hezbollah,” said a former senior Israeli defense official who is familiar with current security discussions. “It is sending THAAD and promising all kinds of weapons that we need to finish off Hezbollah, saying that we can deal with Iran later.”

While the White House has pushed unsuccessfully for a cease-fire in Gaza for months, leading to mounting friction between Netanyahu and Biden, it has so far given full backing to Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon, even amid a growing international outcry over the civilian toll of the war and Israeli clashes with U.N. peacekeepers tasked with monitoring the border zone.

As part of consultations with the United States, the official familiar with the matter said, Israel has told Washington it intends to wrap up operations in Lebanon in the coming weeks.

Netanyahu’s increased coordination with Washington comes after high-profile strikes carried out without advance warning to Israel’s closest ally — including a strike on Iranian commanders near a diplomatic facility in Damascus, Syria, and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran — which surprised and angered U.S. officials.

While Netanyahu would continue to consult with U.S. officials on Israel’s looming strike against Iran, he would not wait for a green light from Washington, said an Israeli official close to the prime minister.

“The person who will decide on the Israeli response to Iran will be [Netanyahu],” he said.

Hovering over the final decision are the complex, and interrelated, political dynamics in Washington and Tehran. Talshir, the political analyst, said Netanyahu’s team was alarmed by the recent election of Iran’s reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian, who has signaled an openness to reviving nuclear talks with the West. If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected, Netanyahu thinks the nuclear deal will be back on the table, she said, “and so now is a strategic moment to undermine this.”

Prominent Israeli political figures, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett, continue to push for a direct attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Anything less, he said, risked sacrificing the momentum Israel has gained from its wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

“Iran’s proxies Hezbollah and Hamas both have drastically diminished capabilities,” he said. “Israel has all the justification it could ever have. We have the ability. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

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>>> Israel faces first-ever mass hypersonic missile attack, air defenses decimated


Interesting Engineering

by Kapil Kajal

10-2-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-faces-first-ever-mass-hypersonic-missile-attack-air-defenses-decimated/ar-AA1ry6Yu?cvid=f7bb0dc4448b4f45b928204ed9b1b167&ei=38


Iran has fired hundreds of missiles towards Israel, with several striking territories within Israel.

It is the second attack by Iran this year, as it fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in April.

Israeli army officials stated that the attacks seem to have ended and that there is currently no further threat from Iran.

It still needs to be determined how much damage has been done.

Hypersonic missiles fired

Iran launched approximately 180 missiles toward Israel, according to the Israeli military.

This constituted a slightly larger attack than the barrage in April, which involved about 110 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles fired toward Israel.

Footage broadcast on Israeli TV showed missiles flying over the Tel Aviv area shortly before 19:45 local time.

Military officials have confirmed that there were some hits during the attack.

A military spokesperson said Israel recorded “a few hits in the center and other areas in the south of the country.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that its forces utilized Fattah-1 and Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles for the first time, claiming a 90% success rate in hitting their targets.

IRGC sources in Tehran told state media that they had targeted three Israeli military bases in the attack.

But the Israeli military emphasized that “a large number” of the missiles fired by Iran were intercepted. Flashes in the sky above Tel Aviv appeared to show air defenses intercepting some incoming fire.

Israeli medical personnel reported no serious injuries, with only two people sustaining minor shrapnel wounds. The military confirmed this information.

Israel’s air defenses

Israel possesses a sophisticated air defense system, the most famous being the Iron Dome, which is designed to intercept short-range rockets typically fired by Hamas and Hezbollah.

While it was used to defend against certain elements of Iran’s previous attack in April, other components of the country’s “layered” defense systems likely handled most of the work on Tuesday.

David’s Sling, a jointly manufactured US-Israeli system, is utilized to intercept medium to long-range rockets, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles.

Israel possesses the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors for long-range ballistic missiles that fly outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

However, Israel currently does not have any hypersonic missile interceptor. The IRGC even claimed that its hypersonic strike hit several of Israel’s Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors.

The White House stated that President Joe Biden had ordered US forces in the region to assist Israel’s defense and intercept Iranian missiles.

A Pentagon spokesperson stated that US Navy destroyers had launched approximately a dozen interceptors to counter Iranian missiles en route to Israel.

The Israeli military is already warning of severe repercussions following the attack. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Haggari said the attack had been “serious,” and the country remained on high alert.

“This attack will have consequences,” Haggari said. “We have plans and will operate at the place and time we decide.”

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned of “severe consequences” for Iran in case of an attack on Israel, following a discussion with the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

In its statement, the IRGC said that Tehran’s response would be “more crushing and ruinous” if Israel retaliated.

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Rickards - >>> Mideast Tinderbox Set to Explode


by James Rickards

October 2, 2024


https://dailyreckoning.com/mideast-tinderbox-set-to-explode/


Mideast Tinderbox Set to Explode

There’s so much happening right now, including last night’s vice presidential debate, it’s hard to know where to begin.

But yesterday’s attack by Iran on Israel needs to be addressed because of its potentially massive implications.

Iran launched a major missile attack against Israel, in apparent retaliation for recent Israeli attacks upon Iranian proxy Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Details of the attack remain sketchy, and Israel is extremely secretive about whatever damage it sustained.

So I don’t want to speculate too much because I only have limited information. But based upon available information, Iran launched close to 200 ballistic missiles against Israel.

Targets were apparently limited to military and intelligence facilities, not civilian centers. So in that respect, you can say that the Iranian attack was restrained.

We’re Not Fooling Around This Time

But unlike the Iranian attack on Israel back in April that included slow-moving drones and cruise missiles, this attack appears to have been conducted exclusively with ballistic missiles.

Iran claims 80% or more of its missiles got through to their targets. On the other hand, Israel claims it shot down about 90% of the missiles (with U.S. and even Jordanian intelligence).

Both can’t be true obviously. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between. Some reports indicate that Iran gave the U.S. advanced notice of the attack, while others say that’s not true.

Incidentally, Washington did release warnings ahead of time that Iran was preparing a missile attack. But that could have been the result of intercepted communications, satellite imagery or other forms of technical intelligence.

Depending on the missiles involved, flight time from Iran to Israel is between five–12 minutes, so Israel would have had little time to prepare if it didn’t have notice.

Both the U.S. and Israel claim the attacks were defeated and should be considered a failure — again, Israel claims to have intercepted most of the missiles.

But video clips of the attack clearly reveal that many missiles penetrated Israeli defenses and impacted the ground. In one clip, no fewer than 12 missiles landed nearly instantaneously in a fairly tight grouping.

They most likely saturated and overwhelmed Israeli defenses.

Did Iran Take out a Major Israeli Air Base?

Now, we don’t know what exactly these or any other missiles hit, as I stated earlier. But unconfirmed reports claim this particular cluster of missiles struck Israel’s Nevatim Airbase, which is one of its largest and most important air bases.

The base is also protected by the densest air defenses in the world. So if the reports are accurate, Iran was able to defeat Israel’s vaunted air defenses and severely damage a key base.

It seems that the missiles that got through were hypersonic Fatteh-2 missiles, which Iran claims it used in the attack. There’s presently no defense for hypersonic missiles.

The hypersonic Fatteh-2s may have been only a limited portion of the strike passage. The rest were likely slower and more expendable missiles that are easier to shoot down.

These missiles probably account for Israel’s claimed high intercept rate. But given the relatively high number of hypersonic missiles that evidently breached Israeli defenses, Iran sent Israel a clear message:

“We can hit you whenever and wherever we want with our hypersonic missiles. And you can’t stop it. Don’t make us do it again because next time will be worse.”

Don’t think Israel hasn’t noticed.

Hundreds of Millions up in Smoke

Iran is also imposing a high cost on Israel. Israel’s primary anti-missile interceptors are named Arrow and David’s Sling. These are not to be confused with Israel’s Iron Dome, which is primarily designed to shoot down slower, unguided rockets.

An Arrow missile costs about $3.5 million, while the David’s Sling costs about $1 million.

If we assume Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel, yesterday’s attack cost hundreds of millions to defend against.

Even more importantly, these are highly sophisticated systems whose production is limited. How many more large-scale missile attacks can Israel withstand before running out of interceptors?

The big question is what happens next. The Iranian foreign minister has said Iran won’t conduct additional attacks if Israel doesn’t retaliate. But Israel has warned it will retaliate. Israel has indicated it could target Iran’s oil and gas facilities, even key Iranian leadership.

You can see how the entire thing can spiral out of control. How did we get to this point? And why did Iran attack yesterday?

This Was Supposed to Happen in August

In early August, I warned that Iran could attack Israel “any day now.” That’s because Israel had recently assassinated two key figures strongly linked to Iran.

The first assassination killed a leader of Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy. That occurred in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s base.

Less than 24 hours later, Israel assassinated the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh. That assassination actually occurred in Iran itself, as Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president.

Iran pledged “harsh” revenge for the two assassinations. But oddly, Iran did nothing. Why not? It’s possible that Russia pressured Iran to back off.

On Aug. 5, Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, was in Tehran to reportedly deliver a personal message from Vladimir Putin. The message urged Iranian leadership to refrain from retaliation.

It’s possible that Russia didn’t want a wider Middle East war to interrupt the upcoming BRICS meeting in Kazan, Russia later this month. That’s speculation of course, but Russia has no interest in a wider Middle East war.

I don’t know if China played a role in influencing Iran, but China needs Iranian oil and doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed in case of a broad Middle East war.

But now, in October, Iran decided to strike Israel, against Russian and Chinese interests. Again, why now?

Is Netanyahu Goading Iran Into Attacking?

Since August, Israel has continued to escalate its attacks on Iranian interests in Lebanon.

Last week, Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s political leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut. The attack also apparently killed a senior general from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It’s almost like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been goading Iran into attacking Israel so he can justify large-scale military action against Iran, with U.S. support.

Netanyahu has even recorded a video addressing the Iranian people, essentially calling on them to support regime change and telling them that “when Iran is finally free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think — everything will be different.”

What prompted him to say that?

Meanwhile, in recent days Israel has also launched “limited, localized and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” into southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. More provocation.

So why attack now? The answer is Iran may have felt it had no choice.

Iran Had to Save Face

After failing to retaliate against Israel in August, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the region have begun to question Iran’s power and reliability as an ally. They saw weakness as Israel constantly provoked Iran while it did nothing.

Iran may have therefore concluded that it couldn’t back down from Israel’s most recent provocations, no matter if its allies disapproved. It simply had to retaliate in order to save face.

Now the ball’s in Israel’s court, as it were. Depending on what happens next, we could be facing a wider Middle East war that could potentially involve the U.S. Beside the human cost, it would have serious economic implications.

If we’re not in a recession already, we’re clearly heading for one. A new Middle East war will drive up the price of oil, maybe dramatically depending on how the conflict unfolds.

We’d be staring in the face of a major recession that would crush average Americans. That could be the final nail in the coffin of the Biden/Harris economy.

My advice to you is to put on your crash helmet. You might need it very soon.

Be selective with stocks, keep plenty of cash on hand and get yourself some gold if you haven’t already.

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>>> Iran is preparing 'imminent' missile attack on Israel: White House official


by Tom Vanden Brook, Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

10-1-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-is-preparing-imminent-missile-attack-on-israel-white-house-official/ar-AA1rwMKp?ocid=BingNewsSerp


WASHINGTON — Iran is preparing to launch an "imminent" ballistic missile attack on Israel, according to a senior White House official.

The Pentagon is actively supporting Israel in its preparations to defend against the attack, according to the official who was not authorized to speak publicly. A direct attack on Israel will carry "severe consequences for Iran," the official said.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday directed government employees and their family members to "shelter in place until further notice."

The indications of an imminent attack follow Israel's aggressive airstrikes and covert attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli troops crossed into Lebanon for the first time since 2006. The Israeli military said it was conducting a "localized and targeted" ground operation on Hezbollah command posts and weapons storage sites.

Iran has also been threatening to attack Israel since August, when Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in a Tehran apartment building.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that the U.S. informed Israel of Iran's intention, although no aerial threats from Iran had been identified.

He said Israel has dealt with Iran's "threat" in the past, adding, "we'll deal with it now." Israel's military is "patrolling the skies" and, along with the U.S., is watching developments in Iran closely, he added.

“Iranian fire on the state of Israel will have consequences,” he said.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to follow military directives. Israel's restrictions on large gatherings would be tightened, he said.

Israel hammers Hezbollah, 1,000 dead

Israel killed Hezbollah's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Sept. 27.

Israel has pummeled Lebanon with airstrikes in the last two weeks, killing more than 1,000 people, according to the country's health ministry. The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the largest in nearly a year, was triggered by an Israeli operation that exploded thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies across the country.

In April, Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. With U.S. and western allies, Israel shot down almost all of them.

The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon warned on Sept. 22 of an "imminent catastrophe" in the Middle East amid spiking violence between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying a military solution was not the answer.

Supreme Leader Khamenei moved to secure location

Iran's Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei called for five days of mourning on Sept. 28 for his ally Nasrallah and was moved to a secure location, a second U.S. official said.

Tehran has in the past used mourning periods for operational planning, this person said.

Even as Israel, the U.S., and other allies prepared for a ballistic missile strike on Tuesday, an official noted Tehran could take longer to respond - opting to rebuild Hezbollah’s leadership before striking back.

Hezbollah has been firing missiles and rockets into Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis.

Hezbollah is financially backed by Iran and is part of its "axis of resistance," a network of groups across the region that it funds and provides with weapons, including the Houthis in Yeman and Hamas in Gaza.

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Ormat the next market darling? Geothermal - >>> Tech companies are making an incredible investment in a surprising source of energy: 'Enormous potential'


The Cool

by Kristen Lawrence

9-18-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/tech-companies-are-making-an-incredible-investment-in-a-surprising-source-of-energy-enormous-potential/ar-AA1qCejL?ocid=BingNewsSerp&cvid=006b22fe4f1b4738985f042a075e7f6d&ei=26


Meta and Google are digging deep to power their energy-hungry data centers, exploring new drilling techniques that will allow them to tap into vast amounts of geothermal power right beneath our feet.

As The New York Times reported, big tech companies are facing an energy crunch, as the AI boom is fueling skyrocketing demand for cheap, abundant electricity. While some tech giants have turned to wind and solar power to meet soaring energy needs, they can't generate electricity in certain weather conditions.

However, geothermal energy can essentially run 24/7 since heat from the Earth's core is always available, making it an ideal solution.

Meta is taking it one step further with a plan to harness up to 150 megawatts of heat energy — enough to power around 70,000 homes — using an innovative method to tap into this inexhaustible power source.

Per The Times, it has partnered with geothermal startup Sage Geosystems to harvest the heat to produce clean electricity, using fracking techniques similar to the oil and gas industries.

However, instead of extracting dirty, polluting fuels, Sage will be drilling for renewable thermal energy. As fractures are created deep below the Earth, water is pumped underground and heats up as it passes through small cracks. The hot water is then pumped back up to power turbines that produce pollution-free electricity.

According to a Sage press release, the project "would be the first use of next-generation geothermal power east of the Rocky Mountains" — although the company didn't disclose an exact location. Sage and Meta expect the first phase of the groundbreaking project to launch in 2027.

Google has also started tapping into geothermal power by teaming up with Fervo Energy, another geothermal startup, to construct Project Red — a 5 MW pilot project in northern Nevada helping to decarbonize Google's data centers.

Google recently announced it has expanded the partnership to bring an additional 115 MW of geothermal power to Nevada's grid, contributing to its goal of running its data centers and offices on 100% green energy by 2030.

While geothermal accounts for less than 1% of America's energy mix, that's expected to increase drastically as green technologies advance.

Iceland, which has capitalized on geothermal at a large scale for decades with its volcanic activity under large parts of the country, has continued to innovate in the area in recent years, but proximity to a volcano is not necessary to harness the Earth's power.

A Department of Energy report found that geothermal energy production could reach 90,000 gigawatts or more by 2050, unlocking plenty of cheap, clean energy for businesses and households.

"Geothermal has such enormous potential," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at an energy conference in March.

"We're going to need every tool in the arsenal," Michelle Solomon, a senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Energy Innovation, told The Times. "In the near term, enhanced geothermal might play a relatively small role, but I feel very optimistic about where the technology is going."

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>>> Hezbollah hit by a wave of exploding pagers and blames Israel. At least 9 dead, thousands injured


Associated Press

by BASSEM MROUE, ABBY SEWELL and KAREEM CHEHAYEB

September 17, 2024


https://www.yahoo.com/news/dozens-wounded-pagers-detonate-lebanon-135542720.html


BEIRUT (AP) — Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious explosions came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

The pagers that blew up had apparently been acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members in February to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if others also carried the pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

The Israeli military declined to comment. The explosions came hours after Israel’s internal security agency said it had foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official using a planted explosive device that could be remotely detonated.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States “was not aware of this incident in advance” and was not involved. “At this point, we’re gathering information,” he said.

Experts said the pager explosions pointed to a long-planned operation, possibly carried out by infiltrating the supply chain and rigging the devices with explosives before they were delivered to Lebanon.

Whatever the means, it targeted an extraordinary breadth of people with hundreds of small explosions — wherever the pager carrier happened to be — that left some maimed.

One online video showed a man picking through produce at a grocery store when the bag he was carrying at his hip explodes, sending him sprawling to the ground and bystanders running.

At overwhelmed hospitals, wounded were rushed in on stretchers, some with missing hands, faces partly blown away or gaping holes at their hips and legs, according to AP photographers. On a main road in central Beirut, a car door was splattered with blood and the windshield cracked.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, told Qatar's Al Jazeera network at least nine people were killed, including an 8-year-old girl, and some 2,750 were wounded — 200 of them critically — by the explosions. Most had injuries in the face, hand, or around the abdomen.

It appeared eight of the dead belonged to Hezbollah. The group issued a statement confirming at least two members were killed in the pager bombings. One of them was the son of a Hezbollah member in parliament, according to the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously. The group later issued announcements that six other members were killed Tuesday, though it did not specify how.

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will “for sure get its just punishment.”

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.

Previously, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track and target them.

Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordnance disposal expert, said videos of the blasts suggested a small explosive charge — as small as a pencil eraser — had been placed into the devices. They would have had to have been rigged prior to delivery, very likely by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, he said.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based senior political risk analyst, said he spoke with Hezbollah members who had examined pagers that failed to explode. What triggered the blasts, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices that caused them to vibrate, forcing the user to click on the buttons to stop the vibration. The combination detonated a small amount of explosives hidden inside and ensured that the user was present when the blast went off, he said.

Israel has a long history of carrying out deadly operations well beyond its borders. This year, separate Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed Saleh Arouri, a senior Hamas official, and a top Hezbollah commander. A mysterious explosion in Iran, also blamed on Israel, killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader.

Israel has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby-trapped cellphones and it’s widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran’s nuclear program in 2010.

The pager bombings also likely stoke Hezbollah's worries about vulnerabilities in security and communications, as Israeli officials are threatening to escalate their monthslong conflict. The near daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have killed hundreds in Lebanon and several dozen in Israel, and have displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, deplored the attack and warned that it marks “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”

On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal. Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said this week the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel’s north and that time is running out for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah, saying “the trajectory is clear.”

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>>> Israel Official Says Iran War 'Inevitable' and US Should Strike Now


Newsweek

by Tom O'Connor

8-15-24


https://www.newsweek.com/israel-official-iran-war-inevitable-1939556


An Israeli diplomat has told Newsweek that a large-scale confrontation with Iran was guaranteed to come and called on U.S. President Joe Biden to take direct action against the Islamic Republic sooner than later.

"It's inevitable," Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a special envoy of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told Newsweek in reference to the looming possibility of a war with Iran as regional tensions threatened to boil over into a serious escalation.

The ominous prediction comes as Iran threatens to exact vengeance against Israel over the unclaimed killing of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh two weeks ago in Tehran. The United States has since scrambled to avoid a major retaliation by pushing both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Haniyeh's successor, Yahya Sinwar, toward a ceasefire to their raging war in Gaza.

With a new round of long-deadlocked talks beginning Thursday, Hassan-Nahoum, former deputy mayor of the disputed holy city of Jerusalem that sits at the center of the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict now in the throes of its deadliest crisis, said that Iran's rhetoric has created a "very heavy atmosphere in Israel."

The anxiety has gotten to the point that she believes Iran and its allies "are winning the psychological warfare."

It's not just Israel, however. She said the specter of a major Iranian strike appears to be haunting much of the region, including Arab states that Hassan-Nahoum asserted are increasingly on board with a plan to take down the Islamic Republic, even if Israel's ally, the U.S., was not.

"I don't think America has understood that the ultimate goal here has to be regime change in Iran," Hassan-Nahoum said.

Israeli Plans for American War

It's a war that Hassan-Nahoum said the U.S. could win "in half a day."

"All America would have to do is target the nuclear infrastructure with hardware that only America has. We can't do this on our own," she said. "With bunker bombs, etc., they could destroy the nuclear infrastructure, then they could destroy four different infrastructure and energy points in Iran, and then the people would take over."

Iran has invested heavily in fortifying its military and nuclear infrastructure and has expanded both its offensive and defensive arsenal of missile and drone systems. Iran has also deepened its partnership with Russia in recent years, including in the field of defense, but Hassan-Nahoum argued that recent setbacks in the ongoing war in Ukraine would prove an obstacle for Moscow should it seek to shield the Islamic Republic from a U.S. attack.

"Russia is not in the position to help Iran right now. So, this would be the critical moment," Hassan-Nahoum said. "They've been put on the defense by Ukraine right now. This would be the best time."

At the same time, she was skeptical the White House would seek to engage in such action. Biden has ordered strikes against Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen throughout the conflict, but no U.S. administration has ever openly conducted a direct attack on Iranian soil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled a U.S.-backed monarchy and the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that erupted the following year.

Even former President Donald Trump, who ordered the killing of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani in a January 2020 airstrike in Iraq, ultimately opted not to pursue attack plans against the Islamic Republic during several moments of U.S.-Iran crisis throughout his term in office.

And even if successful, many have expressed concern over the potential consequences of an Iranian state collapse in a region where various militant groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) have sought to reassert their presence.

For Biden, however, Hassan-Nahoum argued that such a decision would put the outgoing U.S. leader on the level of former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who declared war on Nazi Germany after its invasion of Poland 85 years ago.

"If Biden wanted to be Churchill and leave with a legacy, I know it's crazy, but that's what he would do," Hassan-Nahoum. "But I doubt he will do it."

The Israeli diplomat also deployed a World War II-era analogy to describe Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and what she believed to be the need to overthrow the Islamic Republic by force.

"Eventually, just as the world had to deal with Hitler, the world will have to deal with Khamenei and the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hassan-Nahoum said. "All everybody's doing now is kicking the can down the road."

Newsweek reached out to the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and the White House for comment.

A Lack of Strategy

Iranian officials, including Khamenei, as well as leaders of allied groups have also repeatedly accused Netanyahu and his government of being engaged in Nazi-like tactics, particularly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last October.

The conflict began with a surprise attack by Hamas that Israeli officials estimate left about 1,200 people dead and around 240 more taken hostage, around half of whom are believed to remain in captivity. The Gaza Health Ministry has estimated that approximately 40,000 have been killed in the densely populated territory throughout the war that ensued.

The Israeli campaign has garnered growing international criticism over reports of mounting civilian casualties, including censures from some Arab states that have pursued stronger ties with Israel and a U.S. administration that recently approved a new $20 billion arms package for its ally. The war has also spurred widespread protests and has factored heavily into foreign policy debates in the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election in November.

Hassan-Nahoum suspected Iran had a hand in promoting critical narratives of Israel in the U.S. At the same time, she acknowledged that her government had failed to muster up the necessary strategy to compete in the information space.

"We have the communications warfare that every day gets harder," Hassan-Nahoum said. "And I'm very critical of the Israeli government because they don't have a strategy. We are losing the communications battle."

"You have to go into two select channels to be able to get any type of balanced coverage of what's going on any kind of content about the war," she added. "And my conclusion is that people just don't know what war is in America. Any war that America has ever fought has been overseas, it's never been here on the homefront."

A "Divine Wrath"

For Israel, the war has taken on an increasingly multi-front nature as well.

A number of other non-state actors aligned with the Iran-led Axis of Resistance coalition have also launched attacks on Israel throughout the conflict. These include the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which has also voiced threats of retaliation against Israel over the killing of a top military official in Beirut just hours before Haniyeh's death in Tehran.

As the White House urged both Israel and Hamas to achieve a long-sought ceasefire and the Pentagon moved additional assets to the region, National Security Council Communications Adviser John Kirby told Newsweek last week that the U.S. was "ready to defend Israel and our own interests," while at the same time was engaging "in some pretty intense diplomacy here across the region" to prevent a major escalation.

Days later, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek in a statement that Tehran would support a deal that was endorsed by Hamas but would simultaneously uphold its right to retaliate over Haniyeh's killing on Iranian soil.

"Our priority is to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza; any agreement accepted by Hamas will also be recognized by us," the Iranian Mission said at the time. "The Israeli regime has violated our national security and sovereignty through its recent act of terrorism."

"We have the legitimate right to self-defense—a matter totally unrelated to the Gaza ceasefire," the Iranian Mission added. "However, we hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire."

The Iranian statement also acknowledged that "direct and intermediary official channels to exchange messages have always existed between Iran and the United States, the details of which both parties prefer to remain untold."

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Kirby reiterated the Biden administration's commitment to support Israel's defense against an Iranian attack, which he said "could come with little or no warning and certainly could come in the coming days."

"We're still working very hard, diplomatically, to prevent that outcome, to prevent there being an attack, we also have to be ready for one," Kirby said. "And I would tell you that we are. We have devoted more capability to the region, air and sea, particularly."

Meanwhile, Khamenei doubled down on his warnings Wednesday, citing the Quran as stating, "a non-tactical retreat in any domain—whether military, political, or economic—will incur divine wrath."

The Nuclear Option

Last month, responding to Israeli threats of potential preemptive action two weeks before Haniyeh's assassination, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told Newsweek that his country "will make use of all our conventional capacities and potentials when it comes to facing and confronting the threats made by the Zionist regime."

Bagheri also asserted at the time that Iran remained "an accountable and responsible" member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Iran has always denied that its nuclear program was geared toward producing a nuclear weapon, a position officials attribute to a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, issued by Khamenei in the 1990s. Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons of its own, has long accused the Islamic Republic of secretly harboring plans to produce a weapon of mass destruction, however, and has engaged in covert campaigns of assassinations and sabotage targeting sites and personnel linked to Iran's nuclear activities.

Talk of potential shifts in Iran's nuclear posture emerged in the public domain in April, after Iran offered a preview of its conventional capabilities in an unprecedented direct strike on Israel in response to the killing of its senior military officials at a consular building in Syria. Israeli officials reported a 99 percent interception rate against the barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones, some of which were downed by U.S., U.K., French and even Jordanian systems.

Hassan-Nahoum called it a "statistical miracle" that only one person was reportedly wounded in the attack. But as the threat of another, potentially larger-scale and more diverse attack without the level of notice offered in the previous round hangs over Israel, she wondered, "Can we repeat that miracle?"

"Would the attack be as vicious? Will it be two days and not one night in seven hours? Would we be ready for it? Remember, the last time we pretty much knew the plan," she said. "That's all a part of it."

Now, she argued that a preemptive strike is only made all the more urgent by the possibility of Iran eventually passing the nuclear threshold, something the U.S. has repeatedly stated it would pursue "all options" to prevent.

If Iran did manage to acquire such a capability, she said, "We're all in trouble."

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NY Times - >>> Killing of Hamas Leader Fuels More Tension Between Biden and Netanyahu


The New York Times

by Peter Baker

August 4, 2024


https://news.yahoo.com/killing-hamas-leader-fuels-more-144237474.html


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is pushing back against President Joe Biden over U.S. concerns about the assassination of the political leader of Hamas and Israel’s approach to cease-fire talks in the latest rift between the two allies since the war in the Gaza Strip began 10 months ago.

In what a U.S. official described as a heated conversation Thursday, Netanyahu denied that Israel was an obstacle to a cease-fire agreement and rejected Biden’s contention that the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil could sabotage efforts to reach a deal halting hostilities and freeing hostages.

A senior Israeli government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive relations between the two countries, said in an interview that Netanyahu insisted he was not trying to block a cease-fire. While he acknowledged that the death of Haniyeh, the main negotiator in the cease-fire talks, would interrupt progress for a few days, Netanyahu argued that it would ultimately hasten the finalization of an agreement by putting more pressure on Hamas, according to the Israeli official.

Biden contended that the assassination of Haniyeh was poorly timed, coming at what the Americans hoped would be the endgame of the process, according to the U.S. official, who likewise did not want to be identified describing private talks. Moreover, Biden expressed concern that carrying out the operation in Tehran could trigger the wider regional war that he has been trying to avert.

According to both governments, the Israelis did not inform the Americans of the plan to kill Haniyeh even though Biden had hosted Netanyahu at the White House just days before. Netanyahu did not want to compromise the Americans by giving them a heads-up, the Israeli official said. For their part, U.S. officials have made no objections to being left in the dark.

Biden alluded to his worries about the combustible situation in the Middle East during a brief late-night conversation with reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday after welcoming home three Americans released by Russia in a prisoner swap.

“I’m very concerned about it,” the president said. “I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today — very direct. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.”

Asked if the Haniyeh killing made it harder to reach a deal, Biden said, “It’s not helped. That’s all I’m going to say right now.”

Even as Biden and Netanyahu quarreled, the two allies were working closely to thwart a threatened Iranian attack in retaliation for the Haniyeh killing. Biden ordered more warships and aircraft to the region, and U.S. military officers were collaborating with Israeli counterparts to counter such a strike, much as they did in April when they knocked down nearly all of 300 missiles and drones that Iran had launched at Israel.

The president’s frustration over the fitful cease-fire talks came as Israel’s Channel 12 reported Friday that Netanyahu had clashed with his own security chiefs, who accused him of changing the terms of the proposal to make it harder to reach a deal. The prime minister’s office denied the report.

Netanyahu ordered his negotiators to return to Cairo on Saturday to resume the talks, and U.S. officials said they were determined to keep pressing. The U.S. official said disagreements between U.S. and Israeli officials over the latest draft proposal had been resolved over the past week and that it was not fair for critics to accuse Netanyahu of changing the conditions. But reports from Cairo indicated that no breakthrough had been reached.

The senior Israeli government official described in detail how Israel sees the state of play at the moment. The official flatly denied that Israel had added new conditions, asserting that Hamas had made 29 changes to the document.

But either way, it was clear that significant points of dispute between the two sides remained unresolved. The first phase of the three-stage cease-fire plan calls for Hamas to turn over 33 hostages and for Israel to release a number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons during a 42-day break in military operations.

Netanyahu, however, is insisting that the remains of hostages who have died not be counted toward the total to be returned. Under the deal as currently written, Israel retains a veto of about 100 Palestinians serving life sentences who will not be eligible for release and can stipulate that about 50 others go into exile rather than return to Gaza.

The Israelis insist on preserving control of what is called the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt, to prevent weapons and militants from entering Gaza. The Israeli official strongly denied reports that the Israelis had agreed to leave that corridor. The Israelis also are demanding a mechanism to prevent Hamas fighters from traveling from south to north in Gaza, although it is not clear whether that would have to mean checkpoints.

While Israeli forces would pull back to the along the borders of Gaza under the cease-fire plan, the Israeli official said Israel considers Rafah, the major city in the south of Gaza, to be part of that perimeter, meaning its forces would remain there.

Israel also wants to make it clear that as the two sides negotiate during a final phase of the cease-fire, it can choose to withdraw from the talks if it does not think progress is being made toward a permanent resolution and resume the war. Otherwise, Hamas could simply stretch out the talks with no intention of actually coming to a final agreement while hostilities remain paused, the official said, calling that a huge deal-breaker.

The Israeli official complained that pressure from the Americans might encourage Hamas to assume that the United States does not fully support Israel and that the group therefore does not need to make a deal. Biden administration officials have rejected that logic, and some have questioned whether Netanyahu really wants a deal or simply wants to look like he does to deflect pressure from the families of hostages eager for the return of their loved ones.

The issue came up during the Oval Office meeting between Biden and Netanyahu on July 25. Biden pressed Netanyahu strongly during that conversation to make a cease-fire agreement, raising his voice and insisting that a deal be done in a week or two, according to the U.S. official, in details previously reported by Axios.

Biden had a document in his hand to discuss the Israeli position on the cease-fire. The U.S. official said the Israelis had amended their views of some parts of the proposal and brought those views to the meeting, but Biden and his advisers argued that some of those views were problematic and could prevent a deal. Netanyahu told Biden he had not added any conditions, the Israeli official said.

Biden and the Americans asked to have teams from the two sides get together to work out those points of dispute, which they did in the succeeding days, according to the U.S. official. The final result is now in good shape, added the official.

But an Israeli strike that killed a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon on Tuesday, just five days after the Oval Office meeting, and the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday caught the Americans off guard. While they said they did not mourn either man, the timing and venues of the operations stunned the Americans and raised questions in their minds about whether Netanyahu was as serious about the cease-fire as he had just told the president he was.

The subsequent phone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu on Thursday was a tough one. The president was extremely direct and forthright, according to the U.S. official, telling the prime minister that it was time to get the deal over the finish line.

In the interview, the senior Israeli official said it seemed like the American side wanted a deal immediately, regardless of what is in it, and complained about the pressure being put on Netanyahu.

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>>> Netanyahu, Defiant, Appears to Have Gone Rogue, Risking a Regional War


The New York Times

by Steven Erlanger

August 2, 2024


https://www.yahoo.com/news/netanyahu-defiant-appears-gone-rogue-181538517.html


As the Biden administration and its allies try to secure an elusive cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel appears to have gone rogue.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, came to Washington last week to give a defiant speech. Despite international condemnation, he vowed to continue the war against Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, where Israel is killing and imprisoning scores of Palestinians each week, without any clear idea of its endgame.

The assassinations of senior Hezbollah and Hamas figures abroad have now sharply raised the risks of a larger regional war as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah prepare retaliation, analysts say.

But the deaths of Fouad Shukur, a senior Hezbollah commander, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, will not change the strategic quandary Israel faces over how to end the war, govern Gaza or care for the civilians there. They are more likely to intensify the conflict than diminish it, making progress on a Gaza cease-fire even more difficult.

Israel says it does not want to occupy Gaza, but it has no other solution to provide order; Hamas refuses to surrender, despite the thousands of dead. While Washington sees a cease-fire followed by a regional deal as an answer, Netanyahu is contemptuous of the idea. He believes only force will compel Hamas to concede and restore Israel’s strategic deterrence toward Iran and its proxies, especially Hezbollah.

Absent a clear goal in the war, however, Netanyahu’s defiance is dividing Israel from its allies and the country itself. It has further shaken trust in his leadership. It is fueling suspicions that he is keeping the country at war to keep himself in power. It is intensifying a deep rift inside the society — about the fate of Israeli hostages, the conduct of the war and the rule of law — that is challenging the institutional bonds that hold Israel together.

“Israel’s international image continues to take hits since October — despite nine months of war, its military objectives are unmet, and its reputation socially and domestically is also damaged,” said Sanam Vakil, a Middle East analyst at Chatham House.

To form a government and stay in power, Netanyahu has empowered deeply religious, pro-settlement far-right politicians who oppose a Palestinian state of any kind. He has given powerful roles to Itamar Ben-Gvir, a convicted criminal, who now heads the police and is influential in how the West Bank is run, and to Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister.

Both men have moved to weaken the Palestinian Authority, support expanding settlements in the West and oppose any deal with Hamas — while putting their own followers into key positions in the Israeli bureaucracy.

They represent a populist revolt against the country’s traditional democratic ethos and institutions, including the army and the judiciary. Much like Donald Trump, Netanyahu, despite his long period in power, rides that anti-elitist wave, arguing that he is the only politician who can stand up to the United States and the United Nations and prevent a sovereign Palestine dominated by Hamas.

“We’re in a very dangerous process that can cast a shadow over the basic DNA of this country,” said Nahum Barnea, one of Israel’s most prominent journalists and commentators. “Cultural confrontation is fine, but not so fine with politicians who are messianic or radical populists and not only become part of the government but hold crucial posts there.”

The far-right politicians have an agenda, he said: “They want a real revolution in our regime and in our values.”

The most visible recent example came this week, when protesters massed outside two military bases to support soldiers who had been arrested on suspicion of torturing and sodomizing a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman, a military jail.

Hundreds of protesters, including at least three far-right legislators from the ruling coalition and soldiers in uniform, gathered outside that jail and a second base where the men had been brought for interrogation. Dozens of protesters surged into both bases, brushing aside guards, while Ben-Gvir’s police forces arrived late and in small numbers.

Hours later, Netanyahu criticized the protests, but he also seemed to justify them, comparing them to the months of anti-government demonstrations against his effort to diminish the power of the judiciary and the Supreme Court in favor of parliament.

“State institutions are being challenged even by people in uniform,” said Natan Sachs, the Israeli American director of the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, a centrist research institution. “It’s a symptom of something very worrying, a challenge not just to the institutions but to the connective tissue of a society that has always been closely knit despite its fissures.”

“People are very much on edge,” said Shalom Lipner, a former prime ministerial aide from 1990 to 2016 and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, also a centrist research institution. “And not just about how others look at Israel, but Israelis themselves are frightened about what this means for the country itself. If this is how we behave, how is this project sustainable?”

To be sure, while a sizable majority of Israelis want Netanyahu and his far-right coalition gone, a sizable majority also wants Hamas defeated and dismantled as the power in Gaza, to ensure that what happened on Oct. 7 can never happen again. There is widespread agreement that Israel must remain strong and has the right to attack its stated enemies.

But there is inevitable disagreement about the best way to attain a more lasting peace, with many fearing that an independent Palestinian state of the kind the Israeli elite had hoped to negotiate would be dominated by more extreme factions, like Hamas.

The revolt against the elites has been building for years. It was most visible in the proposed new law that would have diminished the power of the judiciary system and the Supreme Court in favor of parliament, which prompted nine months of street protests and highlighted the divisions in the country.

The Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 pulled the country together, even as they absorbed the shock of a massive failure of the intelligence services and the military, largely sacred institutions. But the long war has also pulled the country apart, with the far right trying to weaken key institutions and infiltrate them. Discipline in the army has also suffered.

And even as the army leadership tries to maintain its standards, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich label those who want to punish the abusers of Palestinian prisoners as traitors.

Although representing a minority, the two men have become the face of Israel to the world nearly as much as Netanyahu, his own image tainted by his political dependency on them and his toleration of their actions and excesses.

There has always been a tension between the rule of law and Israel’s security and counterterrorism operations, said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli pollster and analyst.

“Israelis have become habituated to the idea that law is selective,” she said. “There are too many who are above the law, like the settlers, who are beyond the law, like the ultra-Orthodox and the security forces, and who are pushed out of the law, like the Palestinians and many Arab citizens of Israel, who are often under martial law.”

The protests at the military bases were the “closest I’ve ever experienced to state breakdown,” Scheindlin said, calling the internal divisions on display a victory for Hamas and Hezbollah.

There are many Israelis “who have no belief in diplomacy but think of Israeli security only in terms of preemption, intimidation and deterrence, and who think that they must always have the back of the military in the face of an implacable cruel enemy you’re always confronting,” said Bernard Avishai, an Israeli American analyst. “So anything you do to the enemy is justified.”

There were violent protests by settlers and the right against the army in 2005 over the forced withdrawal of Israelis from settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. But many Israelis point to a later controversial episode as the real turning point for the country.

In 2016, an Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, killed an incapacitated Palestinian who had attacked an Israeli with a knife. Despite angry protests, he was convicted of manslaughter, but he served only half of his 18-month sentence. He was considered a hero by people on the right, while those on the left argued he deserved a harsher sentence.

Azaria has since supported soldiers accused of beating Palestinian prisoners and has been the target of sanctions imposed by the United States.

“After Azaria, the lines were drawn,” Avishai said. Settlers and those who favor force over diplomacy were mobilized against “the statists,” like the military chiefs and the current minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, “who feel that national morale is a function of the rule of law and that the army must observe international law,” he said.

The statist view is “disappearing under Netanyahu, and the cultural war is fundamental now,” he said. “A continuing war of attrition and preemption in Gaza and elsewhere is good for them politically.”

In the protests on Monday, he said, “for the first time you have violence between these two rival conceptions of Israel’s future.”

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>>> ‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled that a strong Hamas (but not too strong) would keep the peace and reduce pressure for a Palestinian state.


The New York Times

By Mark Mazzetti and Ronen Bergman

Dec. 10, 2023


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-qatar-money-prop-up-hamas.html


Just weeks before Hamas launched the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the head of Mossad arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a meeting with Qatari officials.

For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them.

During his meetings in September with the Qatari officials, according to several people familiar with the secret discussions, the Mossad chief, David Barnea, was asked a question that had not been on the agenda: Did Israel want the payments to continue?

Mr. Netanyahu’s government had recently decided to continue the policy, so Mr. Barnea said yes. The Israeli government still welcomed the money from Doha.

Allowing the payments — billions of dollars over roughly a decade — was a gamble by Mr. Netanyahu that a steady flow of money would maintain peace in Gaza, the eventual launching point of the Oct. 7 attacks, and keep Hamas focused on governing, not fighting.

The Qatari payments, while ostensibly a secret, have been widely known and discussed in the Israeli news media for years. Mr. Netanyahu’s critics disparage them as part of a strategy of “buying quiet,” and the policy is in the middle of a ruthless reassessment following the attacks. Mr. Netanyahu has lashed back at that criticism, calling the suggestion that he tried to empower Hamas “ridiculous.”

In interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli, American and Qatari officials, and officials from other Middle Eastern governments, The New York Times unearthed new details about the origins of the policy, the controversies that erupted inside the Israeli government and the lengths that Mr. Netanyahu went to in order to shield the Qataris from criticism and keep the money flowing.

The payments were part of a string of decisions by Israeli political leaders, military officers and intelligence officials — all based on the fundamentally flawed assessment that Hamas was neither interested in nor capable of a large-scale attack. The Times has previously reported on intelligence failures and other faulty assumptions that preceded the attacks.

Even as the Israeli military obtained battle plans for a Hamas invasion and analysts observed significant terrorism exercises just over the border in Gaza, the payments continued. For years, Israeli intelligence officers even escorted a Qatari official into Gaza, where he doled out money from suitcases filled with millions of dollars.

The money from Qatar had humanitarian goals like paying government salaries in Gaza and buying fuel to keep a power plant running. But Israeli intelligence officials now believe that the money had a role in the success of the Oct. 7 attacks, if only because the donations allowed Hamas to divert some of its own budget toward military operations. Separately, Israeli intelligence has long assessed that Qatar uses other channels to secretly fund Hamas’ military wing, an accusation that Qatar’s government has denied.

“Any attempt to cast a shadow of uncertainty about the civilian and humanitarian nature of Qatar’s contributions and their positive impact is baseless,” a Qatari official said in a statement.

Multiple Israeli governments enabled money to go to Gaza for humanitarian reasons, not to strengthen Hamas, an official in Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. He added: “Prime Minister Netanyahu acted to weaken Hamas significantly. He led three powerful military operations against Hamas which killed thousands of terrorists and senior Hamas commanders.”

Hamas has always publicly stated its commitment to eliminating the state of Israel. But each payout was a testament to the Israeli government’s view that Hamas was a low-level nuisance, and even a political asset.

As far back as December 2012, Mr. Netanyahu told the prominent Israeli journalist Dan Margalit that it was important to keep Hamas strong, as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Mr. Margalit, in an interview, said that Mr. Netanyahu told him that having two strong rivals, including Hamas, would lessen pressure on him to negotiate toward a Palestinian state.

The official in the prime minister’s office said Mr. Netanyahu never made this statement. But the prime minister would articulate this idea to others over the years.

While Israeli military and intelligence leaders have acknowledged failings leading up to the Hamas attack, Mr. Netanyahu has refused to address such questions. And with a war waging in Gaza, a political reckoning for the man who has served as prime minister for 13 of the last 15 years, is, for the moment, on hold.

But Mr. Netanyahu’s critics say that his approach to Hamas had, at its core, a cynical political agenda: to keep Gaza quiet as a means of staying in office without addressing the threat of Hamas or simmering Palestinian discontent.

“The conception of Netanyahu over a decade and a half was that if we buy quiet and pretend the problem isn’t there, we can wait it out and it will fade away,” said Eyal Hulata, Israel’s national security adviser from July 2021 until the beginning of this year.

Seeking Equilibrium

Mr. Netanyahu and his security aides slowly began reconsidering their strategy toward the Gaza Strip after several bloody and inconclusive military conflicts there against Hamas.

“Everyone was sick and tired of Gaza,” said Zohar Palti, a former director of intelligence for Mossad. “We all said, ‘Let’s forget about Gaza,’ because we knew it was a deadlock.”

After one of the conflicts, in 2014, Mr. Netanyahu charted a new course — emphasizing a strategy of trying to “contain” Hamas while Israel focused on Iran’s nuclear program and its proxy armies like Hezbollah.

This strategy was buttressed by repeated intelligence assessments that Hamas was neither interested in nor capable of launching a significant attack inside Israel.

Qatar, during this period, became a key financier for reconstruction and government operations in Gaza. One of the world’s wealthiest nations, Qatar has long championed the Palestinian cause and, of all its neighbors, has cultivated the closest ties to Hamas. These relationships have proved valuable in recent weeks as Qatari officials have helped negotiate for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Qatar’s work in Gaza during this period was blessed by the Israeli government. And Mr. Netanyahu even lobbied Washington on Qatar’s behalf. In 2017, as Republicans pushed to impose financial sanctions on Qatar over its support for Hamas, he dispatched senior defense officials to Washington. The Israelis told American lawmakers that Qatar had played a positive role in the Gaza Strip, according to three people familiar with the trip.

Yossi Kuperwasser, a former head of research for Israel’s military intelligence, said that some officials saw the benefits of maintaining an “equilibrium” in the Gaza Strip. “The logic of Israel was that Hamas should be strong enough to rule Gaza,” he said, “but weak enough to be deterred by Israel.”

The administrations of three American presidents — Barack Obama, Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. — broadly supported having the Qataris playing a direct role in funding Gaza operations.

But not everyone was on board.

Avigdor Lieberman, months after becoming defense minister in 2016, wrote a secret memo to Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli military chief of staff. He said Hamas was slowly building its military abilities to attack Israel, and he argued that Israel should strike first.

Israel’s goal is “to ensure that the next confrontation between Israel and Hamas will be the final showdown,” he wrote in the memo, dated Dec. 21, 2016, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times. A pre-emptive strike, he said, could remove most of the “leadership of the military wing of Hamas.”

Mr. Netanyahu rejected the plan, preferring containment to confrontation.

Hamas as ‘an Asset’

Among the team of Mossad agents that tracked terrorism financing, some came to believe that — even beyond the money from Qatar — Mr. Netanyahu was not very concerned about stopping money going to Hamas.

Uzi Shaya, for example, made several trips to China to try to shut down what Israeli intelligence had assessed was a money-laundering operation for Hamas run through the Bank of China.

After his retirement, he was called to testify against the Bank of China in an American lawsuit brought by the family of a victim of a Hamas terrorist attack.

At first, the head of Mossad encouraged him to testify, saying it could increase financial pressure on Hamas, Mr. Shaya recalled in a recent interview.

Then, the Chinese offered Mr. Netanyahu a state visit. Suddenly, Mr. Shaya recalled, he got different orders from his former bosses: He was not to testify.

Mr. Netanyahu visited Beijing in May 2013, part of an effort to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties between Israel and China. Mr. Shaya said he would have liked to have testified.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “there were other considerations.”

While the reasons for the decision were never confirmed, the change in tack left him suspicious. Especially because politicians at times talked openly about the value of a strong Hamas.

Shlomo Brom, a retired general and former deputy to Israel’s national security adviser, said an empowered Hamas helped Mr. Netanyahu avoid negotiating over a Palestinian state.

“One effective way to prevent a two-state solution is to divide between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” he said in an interview. The division gives Mr. Netanyahu an excuse to disengage from peace talks, Mr. Brom said, adding that he can say, “I have no partner.”

Mr. Netanyahu did not articulate this strategy publicly, but some on the Israeli political right had no such hesitation.

Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who is now Mr. Netanyahu’s finance minister, put it bluntly in 2015, the year he was elected to Parliament.

“The Palestinian Authority is a burden,” he said. “Hamas is an asset.”

Suitcases Full of Cash

During a 2018 cabinet meeting, Mr. Netanyahu’s aides presented a new plan: Every month, the Qatari government would make millions of dollars in cash payments directly to people in Gaza as part of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas.

Shin Bet, the country’s domestic security service, would monitor the list of recipients to try to ensure that members of Hamas’s military wing would not directly benefit.

Despite those assurances, dissent boiled over. Mr. Lieberman saw the plan as a capitulation and resigned in November 2018. He publicly accused Mr. Netanyahu of “buying short-term peace at the price of serious damage to long-term national security.” In the years that followed, Mr. Lieberman would become one of Mr. Netanyahu’s fiercest critics.

During an interview last month in his office, Mr. Lieberman said the decisions in 2018 directly led to the Oct. 7 attacks.

“For Netanyahu, there is only one thing that is really important: to be in power at any cost,” he said. “To stay in power, he preferred to pay for tranquillity.”

Suitcases filled with cash soon began crossing the border into Gaza.

Each month, Israeli security officials met Mohammed al-Emadi, a Qatari diplomat, at the border between Israel and Jordan. From there, they drove him to the Kerem Shalom border crossing and into Gaza.

At first, Mr. Emadi brought with him $15 million to distribute, with $100 handed out at designated locations to each family approved by the Israeli government, according to former Israeli and American officials.

The funds were intended to pay salaries and other expenses, but one senior Western diplomat who was based in Israel until last year said that Western governments had long assessed that Hamas was skimming from the cash disbursements.

“Money is fungible,” said Chip Usher, a senior Middle East analyst at the C.I.A. until his retirement this year. “Anything that Hamas didn’t have to use out of its own budget freed up money for other things.”

Naftali Bennett, who was Israel’s education minister in 2018 when the payments began and later became the defense minister, was among members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government who criticized the payments. He called them “protection money.”

And yet, when Mr. Bennett began his one-year stint as prime minister in June 2021, he continued the policy. By then, Qatar was spending roughly $30 million a month in Gaza.

Mr. Bennett and his aides, though, decided that the cash disbursements were a monthly embarrassment for his government. During meetings with security officials, Mr. Barnea, the Mossad chief, expressed opposition to continuing the payments — certain that some of the money was being diverted to Hamas’s military activities.

For their part, Qatari officials wanted a more stable, reliable way to get money to Gaza for the long-term.

All sides reached a compromise: United Nations agencies would distribute the Qatari money rather than Mr. Emadi. Some of the money went directly to buy fuel for the power plant in Gaza.

Mr. Hulata, the national security adviser to Mr. Bennett, recalls the tension: Israel was blessing these Qatari payments, even as Mossad intelligence assessments concluded that Qatar was using other channels to secretly finance Hamas’s military arm.

It was hard to stop these military payments, he said, when Israel had become so reliant on Qatar.

Yossi Cohen, who managed the Qatari file for many years as the Mossad chief, came to question Israel’s policy toward the Gaza money. During his final year running the spy service, he believed there was little oversight over where the money was going.

In June 2021, Mr. Cohen gave his first public speech after retiring from the spy service. He said that the Qatari money to the Gaza Strip had gotten “out of control.”

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>>> Israel Has Seized More Land This Year Than in Any Year in the Past Three Decades


The Wall Street Journal

7-3-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-has-seized-more-land-this-year-than-in-any-year-in-the-past-three-decades/ar-BB1pm5Nf?cvid=59bb8ebe8c9d43fcfc0a2406a85f8b44&ei=31


TEL AVIV—Israel has declared control over its single-largest swath of land in the occupied West Bank this year, expanding its ability to build settlements in the Palestinian territory, as it pursues war in Gaza.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by much of the international community.

The Israeli authority that oversees Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank said Wednesday it had declared an additional 5 square miles of the Jordan Valley to be Israeli state land, enabling Israel to allocate it for new settlements and other uses, and in practice, preventing Palestinian access. Israel’s Civil Administration published the order Wednesday, about a week after it was enacted.

Israel has declared a total of 9 square miles of West Bank land to be Israeli state land since the start of this year, according to Peace Now, an Israeli watchdog organization that tracks land seizures in the West Bank. That makes 2024 a record year for land seizures in terms of square miles since Oslo established a framework for a Palestinian state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli officials say.

“Almost half of the lands that were confiscated [since Oslo] were confiscated this year,” said Hagit Ofran, who tracks settlement growth at Peace Now. “It’s huge.”

Since Oct. 7, Israel’s military has operated extensively to root out Hamas and other militant groups in the West Bank, following the attacks by the U.S.-designated terrorist group in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and around 250 held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since war broke out in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities, whose numbers don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Palestinian Authority exercises control over Palestinian-ruled areas of the West Bank in line with the 1993 Oslo Accords, the most-recent major peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, which separated the West Bank into civil and security administrative regions.

The head of the Palestinian Authority’s settlement-monitoring commission said that the land seizures are designed to dispossess Palestinians. The move is “part of a large plan aimed at controlling the eastern part of the West Bank,” Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban, the head, said in a statement.

Israeli authorities say only land that isn’t privately held by Palestinians can be declared Israeli state land, but in practice, rights groups say many Palestinians have had their lands confiscated.

The latest land seizure is within an area administered by Israel, and is contiguous with Israeli settlements northeast of Ramallah, according to Peace Now.

Earlier this year, Israel seized about 3 square miles in an adjacent plot, Peace Now said.

Palestinians say that settlement expansion threatens a future Palestinian state, which they envisage as encompassing East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, because the settlements prevent the creation of contiguous territory.

Parts of the West Bank are administered by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, a secular rival to Hamas and a candidate in some quarters of the international community to govern postwar Gaza. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Palestinian Authority, widely seen as corrupt and inept, is unfit to rule Gaza in its current state.

Still, Israel’s Defense Ministry has been quietly evaluating options to work with Palestinians linked to the Palestinian Authority to establish alternative options to Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s pro-settler finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of West Bank civil affairs in the Defense Ministry, is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and acknowledges working to weaken the Palestinian Authority.

A person close to Smotrich said that while government policy can influence which land the office reviews for designation, the final decision by the Civil Administration isn’t taken by politicians.

Smotrich has created a new deputy role within Israel’s Civil Administration, under whom decisions tied to land designations are taken. The position is currently held by a supporter of the settler movement.

Last week, in a separate move, Israel’s cabinet decided to begin a process toward legalizing five Israeli outposts in the West Bank. “It’s definitely part of moving the settlement movement forward and opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state” a spokesman for Smotrich said about the decision.

The United Nations alleges settlers from those outposts were behind 27 attacks on Palestinians this year. Separately, the U.S. has brought sanctions against some Jewish settlers this year for attacks on Palestinian homes in the West Bank

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[XenaLives]

This post of mine is getting a lot of reposts...

I studied a lot of anthropology when I was young, so this sort of reasoning comes easily to me.

Let's be accurate "ZIONIST JEWS". Judaism is a religion and Zionism is a political affiliation. There are orthodox Jews of Semitic heritage who oppose Zionism. Generally speaking Zionist Jews are Ashkenazim, Not Hebrew. https://shorturl.at/oDHMX

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Xena, They need elections soon to remove Netanyahu and his extreme coalition. Benny Gantz would be the logical choice to end the current insanity. Bibi needs to go to prison imo.




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[XenaLives]

L'chaim...

Pray for these brave souls...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As of now, Israeli Zionist police have started to intervene in the protest against the Israeli army in Jerusalem.<br><br>Since thousands of anti-Zionist Jews do not want to join the Israeli army, Israel is trying to recruit them by force.<br><br>25,000 Jews are protesting against the Zionist… <a href="https://t.co/0WZCE4A8mn">pic.twitter.com/0WZCE4A8mn</a></p>— Torah Judaism (@TorahJudaism) <a href="https://twitter.com/TorahJudaism/status/1807470258040803506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"; charset="utf-8"></script>

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>>> Steakholder Foods Brings Sustainable Innovation to the U.S. with 3D-Printed Plant-Based Delicacies


PR Newswire

Apr 3, 20247


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/steakholder-foods-brings-sustainable-innovation-130000363.html


Steakholder Foods Introduces SHMeat and SHFish blends with Advanced 3D Food Printing Technologies after receiving approval from a highly regarded consultant for the ingredients of the SHMeat and SHFish blends in the United States market

REHOVOT, Israel, April 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Steakholder Foods Ltd. (Nasdaq: STKH), is excited to announce its innovative SHMeat and SHFish blends, designed for 3D-printing exquisite plant-based fish and steak alternatives.

A recent feasibility report prepared by highly regarded consultant confirms the legal status of the ingredients, marking a significant step towards sustainable and ethical food choices.

The comprehensive feasibility report confirms that all ingredients used in Steakholder Foods' SHMeat and SHFish blends are approved for use in the United States. Each ingredient has been carefully selected to ensure compliance with food safety regulations, and they have all achieved Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status. This commitment to using only GRAS ingredients underscores the company's dedication to consumer health and safety.

Introducing SHMeat and SHFish blends

The company's flagship products, SHMeat Beef Steak blend and SHFish White Fish blend, are at the forefront of this innovation. These blends are crafted to mimic the taste and texture of traditional meat and fish, offering a guilt-free and environmentally friendly alternative for consumers.

Expanding the Plant-Based Horizon

Steakholder Foods is not stopping there. The development pipeline includes an exciting range of blends, such as:

SHMeat Beef Asado

SHMeat Beef Tenderloin

SHMeat Beef Flank

SHMeat Chicken Fillet

SHFish Salmon

Each blend is being carefully developed to ensure the highest quality and flavor, catering to a variety of culinary preferences.

Revolutionary Production Technologies

Steakholder Foods' production machines utilize two types of 3D technologies to mimic the texture of meat and fish:

Drop Location in Space (DLS): Used for fish and seafood production, creating delicate textures that closely resemble those found in real seafood.

Fused Paste Layering (FPL): Used for meat production, ensuring that the fibrous texture of meat is accurately replicated in the plant-based products.

These machines are designed and built to work in traditional food factories, matching the same scale production of the industry and are designed according to food safety standards set by the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG).

It should be noted that the company is actively working to ensure that the production process meets the requirements of FSMA and Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) and any other required regulation, as recommended by the consultant.

Seeking Partnerships to Expand the Future of Food

As Steakholder Foods makes its mark in the U.S. market, we are actively seeking partnerships with like-minded companies and producers. Our goal is to collaborate with those who are already established in the plant-based meat and fish alternatives sector, as well as traditional meat and fish producers who are looking to diversify and expand their product portfolios. Together, we can lead the charge in the food industry's evolution, offering consumers innovative, sustainable, and ethical food choices. We believe that through collaboration, we can achieve greater strides in making the future of food not only delicious but also beneficial for our planet.

Arik Kaufman, CEO of Steakholder Foods

"As we introduce our SHMeat and SHFish blends to the U.S. market, we stand at the cusp of a new era in food technology. Our advanced 3D printing technologies are not just a testament to innovation but also a commitment to sustainability and health. These products represent our dedication to providing consumers with food options that are not only delicious but also responsible choices for our planet. We believe that our entry into the U.S. market is a significant step towards a future where the food we eat contributes to a healthier society and a more sustainable world."

About Steakholder Foods

At Steakholder Foods, we are not just creating food; we are shaping the future of sustainable dining. Our innovative SHMeat and SHFish blends, developed through advanced 3D food printing technologies, are pioneering a new era of culinary excellence. With our flagship products like the SHMeat Beef Steak blend and SHFish White Fish blend, we offer a symphony of taste and texture that rivals traditional meat and fish.

Our proprietary Drop Location in Space (DLS) and Fused Paste Layering (FPL) technologies are the keystones of our production, allowing us to craft plant-based alternatives with unparalleled precision and quality. These technologies enable us to produce a variety of textures and flavors, from the delicate fibrousness of a white fish fillet to the robustness of a beef steak, ensuring that every bite is as satisfying as it is responsible.

Designed to integrate into existing food production lines, our machines are built to the scale of industry demands while adhering to the strictest food safety standards, as outlined by the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG). This commitment to quality and safety is at the heart of everything we do.

Steakholder Foods stands at the vanguard of food technology, committed to providing delicious, sustainable, and ethical food choices. Our products are more than just alternatives; they are a testament to our vision of a world where indulgence and sustainability go hand in hand.

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Rickards - >>> Next Middle East War Imminent?


BY JAMES RICKARDS

JUNE 18, 2024


https://dailyreckoning.com/next-middle-east-war-imminent/


Next Middle East War Imminent?

Had enough of the current Middle East war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

But it’s time to get ready for the next phase of this war. The next Middle East war will also involve Israel. Except in this war, Israel’s guns will be pointing north toward Lebanon.

And it risks a much wider conflict, with Iran in particular. Let’s break it down…

Recent intelligence from a variety of sources points to an Israeli war against Hezbollah, which is an Iranian proxy.

Hezbollah is systematically attacking Israeli bases, radars, intelligence-collections facilities and other defense system components. Now the attacks are spreading to include Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Galilee. You’re just not hearing about it in the mainstream media.

These attacks have three effects: They break down Israeli military and intelligence systems, terrorize the civilian population and handicap Israel’s ability to conduct air attacks on Syria or Lebanon.

War on Multiple Fronts

The new war will be fought in the north of Israel. Additional fighting will take place in southern Lebanon, the area around the northern West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee.

I’ve been in or near all of those places. It’s amazing how compact and close together it all is. It’s only about 40 miles from the Israeli border to Damascus and another 40 miles from the Golan Heights to the Mediterranean Sea.

It only takes minutes from takeoff to do a bombing run or a missile attack and perhaps only a day or two to move tank battalions depending on resistance.

Obviously, this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. Israel’s recourse is to stop playing defense and go on offense. That means massive air strikes on Lebanon and Syria, even at the cost of missile attacks on Israel.

Sunshine Patriots

The Israelis might be able to scrounge up some Patriot anti-missile systems from the U.S., but there are very few left because they’ve been sent to Ukraine.

By the way, the war in Ukraine hasn’t demonstrated the superiority of the Patriot. Far from it. It’s largely failed against Russia’s advanced, hypersonic missiles. These missiles have, in fact, taken out several Patriot systems.

If you were a foreign nation seeking defenses against hypersonic missiles like Russia’s Zircon and Kinzhal, would you really seek out the Patriot? Probably not. It’s just not that effective against the latest generation of missiles.

There’s some debate about whether or not these missiles are truly hypersonic. Practically speaking, it doesn’t really matter. The key takeaway is that the Patriot isn’t effective against them.

Iron Done

Air defense is the critical flip side of air superiority. The best information is that Hezbollah has devised ways to avoid Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, most likely through the use of drones. Hezbollah has long had 10,000 or more missiles, mostly supplied by Iran.

In the past, Israel could rely on its Iron Dome to protect most major cities and many settlements.

That defense has now proved inadequate. You might recall that in April, Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of (mostly) drones and ballistic missiles in retaliation for Israel’s attack upon the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Most of the incoming targets were shot down. The media touted that as proof of Israel’s excellent missile defenses.

But they neglected to inform you that a number of missiles penetrated Israel’s defenses and struck Israeli military/intelligence bases. This is the most heavily defended airspace in the world. But a number of Iranian ballistic missiles got through. Iron Dome is being referred to in the region as “Iron Done.”

Don’t think that Israel hasn’t gotten that message.

Two Can Play That Game

It’s not clear what specific type of ballistic missile Iran used to attack these bases in April. But what if Russia gives Iran even more sophisticated missile technology to use against Israel?

The U.S. and its NATO allies have authorized Ukraine to use the missiles they’ve supplied it with to strike targets inside Russia itself. That’s just more escalation, and Russia has warned about the consequences of that decision.

Despite what you hear in the mainstream media, Putin isn’t a crazy warmonger who wants war with the U.S. and NATO. That’s just propaganda. In reality, Putin is very calculated and cautious.

So any Russian retaliation probably won’t attack NATO countries directly. But just like the U.S. is using Ukraine as a proxy to attack Russia, Russia could use its own proxies to attack U.S. interests around the world.

After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander!

Russian Options

Supplying Iran with advanced missile technology that would threaten Israel, a key U.S. ally, would perfectly fit that proxy approach. Maybe Russia also gives the Houthi rebels in Yemen more advanced anti-ship missiles to target shipping in the Red Sea, potentially including U.S. warships.

The Houthis have been using drones and antiquated missiles based on technology from the 1960s. U.S. warships have been able to intercept most of them. But if Russia supplies them with advanced anti-ship missiles, that would change. These missiles would represent a legitimate threat to the U.S. Navy.

Russia could also arm proxies in Syria with advanced drones, for example, to attack U.S. forces based in Syria

Would that be an escalation? Yes. But it wouldn’t be a direct attack on U.S. interests. It would be an indirect attack through proxy, just like the U.S. is waging an indirect proxy war against Russia.

The larger point is that the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East cannot be neatly compartmentalized. They’re connected parts of a greater geopolitical conflict that’s taking place.

Conflicting Visions

It’s the old “rules-based” liberal U.S.-centric global order that’s prevailed since the end of the Cold War versus the emerging multipolar world led primarily by Russia and China.

The latter is represented by the rising BRICS+ nations that are forming their own bloc to counter what they perceive as U.S. arrogance and hegemony.

The bottom line is we could well be facing a new Middle East war, with global implications. It’s likely because Israel must go on offense to avoid being left without defense, which it will not accept.

Markets are not prepared for this wider war, but it’s probably coming soon.

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[XenaLives]

Sounds interesting... we need GOOD AI - but somehow exploitation of AI needs to be prevented.

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>>> Eco Wave Power Global AB (publ), a wave energy company, engages in the development of a wave energy conversion (WEC) technology that converts ocean and sea waves into clean electricity. The company also holds various agreements comprising power purchase agreements, concession agreements, and other agreements worldwide with pipeline of projects with approximately 404.7 megawatts. It has operations in the United States, Sweden, Israel, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, Greece, Portugal, China, Australia, and internationally. The company was formerly known as EWPG Holding AB (publ) and changed its name to Eco Wave Power Global AB (publ) in June 2021. Eco Wave Power Global AB (publ) was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.

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>>> Netanyahu’s split with Biden and the Democrats was years in the making


The Washington Post

by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Steve Hendrix, Tyler Pager

5-26-24


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/netanyahu-s-split-with-biden-and-the-democrats-was-years-in-the-making/ar-BB1n4jWX?cvid=d6eb84bb3a9d4714edd224ba19453811&ei=27


When President Barack Obama hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office in 2014, the Israeli leader lectured him about Gaza’s future, a Palestinian state and an Iranian nuclear deal in a tone that Obama found condescending and dismissive.

After the meeting, an aide asked how it went. Netanyahu “peed on my leg,” Obama replied, according to two people familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose a private conversation.

The moment was emblematic of a dynamic that is culminating in the bitter debates over Israel now erupting across the American political landscape. Over the past 16 years, Netanyahu has departed sharply from his predecessors’ studious bipartisanship to embrace Republicans and disdain Democrats, an attitude increasingly mirrored in each party’s approach to Israel.

The war in Gaza has vastly accelerated the shift, as the once-broad support from Americans for Israel is shattering along partisan and generational lines. The divide, playing out in angry protests and Democratic debates, marks a fundamental shift in U.S. politics.

“I don’t think there’s any other way to say it: Netanyahu has been an absolute disaster for Israel’s support around the world,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “Here in the United States, Netanyahu made a reckless decision to integrate himself with the Republican Party, taking very clear sides in U.S. politics, and it has come with serious consequences.”

Netanyahu is not solely responsible for the shift. Israel has moved steadily to the right and the Democratic Party to the left in recent years, while memories of the Holocaust, which long undergirded Americans’ sympathy for Israel, have increasingly faded into the past. But Netanyahu has led the change with a strategy of aligning himself with the American right, former aides say — a decision that underlies his growing rift with Biden, who personifies the traditional Democratic affection for Israel.

The stakes for Israel could hardly be greater, as leaders on all sides agree that American military and diplomatic support is critical to the viability of the Jewish state as it faces powerful neighbors and a growing number of diplomatic challenges. The United States is by far Israel’s biggest backer.

Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he has personally warned Netanyahu several times over the past 10 years about the risks of aligning himself so closely with Republicans. The prime minister, he said, “has never wanted to listen.”

In the past, Netanyahu’s strategy was reflected in such moves as going behind Obama’s back to address a Republican-led Congress in 2015 to blast the president’s Iran policy, or signaling his preference for GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. In the current conflict, his rejection of Biden’s pleas on delivering aid and protecting civilians have at times taken on an acid tone; a top Netanyahu cabinet minister recently went so far as to post on X, “Hamas ♥ Biden.”

Republicans, in turn, have rushed to highlight their embrace of Netanyahu and attack Biden over any sign of divergence from the prime minister’s policies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he plans to invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress at a time of deep White House concerns about his policies. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of her party’s congressional leadership, recently traveled to Israel to assure members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament: “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel.”

Some Israeli leaders are worried that Netanyahu is permanently wrecking the unified American support for Israel. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, a onetime member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said in an interview that the current leader’s partisan strategy has “caused an erosion in the public support for the State of Israel.”

“I think that this is an acute threat to the basic needs of the state of Israel,” Olmert said. “Once we have threatened this consensus that both parties are equally important for us, once it starts to erode, it can be a very serious danger to what the American system, the American political bodies, will feel obliged to as far as Israel is concerned.”

The currents of Israeli and American politics are far too complex to attribute to a single person, even one as influential as Netanyahu, 74, who has served on and off as prime minister since 1996. In Israel, an array of social, political and security factors have pushed the country steadily to the right, ending its tradition of left-leaning leaders like Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak.

In the United States, Black activists increasingly identify with the Palestinian cause, even as they become a more important part of the Democratic Party and denounce Israel as a “colonial” entity. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement began years ago to protest Israel’s handling of the occupied territories.

But nothing has shattered progressives’ sympathy for Israel like Netanyahu’s rhetoric and actions, Democrats say, particularly the high civilian death toll in Gaza and widespread hunger gripping the enclave because of severely restricted aid.

“Historically, Israel has always had a lot of support in the United States and around the world, and that’s because it was home to Jews who suffered unspeakable crimes during World War II,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust. “But what I think is clear, especially among the younger generation, is the Netanyahu government’s war against the Palestinian people and their killing of tens of thousands of people … has significantly diminished support for Israel and especially among young people, which I think does not bode well for Israel’s future.”

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment for this article, though in the past he has publicly said Israel must be on good terms with both parties. A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter, said Netanyahu has always acted in good faith with American leaders.

“The prime minister has made good on every commitment he made,” the official said.

But Netanyahu’s divisive strategy has been evident for years to leaders in both countries. It emerged with particular clarity when Obama took office in 2009.

Michael Oren, Netanyahu’s ambassador to Washington at the time, said there were two schools of thought in the prime minister’s inner circle. Oren, who was in the minority, advocated nurturing ties with both Republicans and Democrats to ensure Israel had a strong relationship with all U.S. presidents.

The stronger faction — spearheaded by Ron Dermer, who succeeded Oren as ambassador and is now Netanyahu’s chief adviser — argued that Democrats’ growing sympathy for Palestinians was beginning to threaten Israel’s interests. That side asserted that “it was too late” to find productive ground with most Democrats, “that bipartisanship was already dead and if you have limited resources and energy, you should devote them to building up your base,” Oren recalled.

Dermer declined to comment for this article.

Olmert, the former prime minister, recalled Netanyahu asking him for advice before traveling to the United States to meet Obama for the first time in 2009. Olmert cautioned Netanyahu against being condescending or lecturing the U.S. president, whom many conservative Israelis viewed as naively sympathetic with the Palestinians.

Instead, he said Netanyahu “did the opposite,” taking a dismissive tone. “He was very arrogant and very patronizing, and he started this process which drew apart Israel from not just the president, but the party that he represented,” Olmert said.

That frosty relationship lasted throughout Obama’s eight-year tenure. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said that whenever Netanyahu felt Obama was pressuring him, he would go to Republicans in Congress who would then issue statements blasting Obama and create a multiweek political headache for the White House.

“He was duplicitous, self-interested and relentlessly meddled in American politics to undermine President Obama, and frankly was indistinguishable from a Republican political operative in his tactics,” Rhodes said. “Bibi Netanyahu treated Barack Obama differently than any U.S. president had been treated by an Israeli leader.”

Biden, who was then vice president and had known Netanyahu from his years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would often use private meetings to try to smooth over tensions, aides recalled. Biden, unlike other Obama officials, liked Netanyahu personally and felt he could be reasonable in private despite his public bluster.

One such incident came when Obama delivered a speech at the State Department in May 2011 that, among other things, laid out proposed parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The next day, Netanyahu dressed down Obama over the proposal in an Oval Office, aides say, and publicly misrepresented the president’s position.

Netanyahu walked into the White House a couple of days later and saw Biden, who said, “Let’s fix this,” recalled Dennis Ross, a former Middle East envoy who served in multiple administrations, including Obama’s.

“Biden saw himself as the guy who had to be constantly managing the relationship or repairing it when it looked like it was going off the rails,” Ross said. “He felt he understood the Israelis better and Bibi better” than Obama did.

Yet Biden himself could not escape Netanyahu’s snubs. When he visited Israel in March 2010, Netanyahu’s government provocatively announced a new set of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Eight months later, Biden and Netanyahu met in New Orleans — and Israel again took the occasion to announce new settlements.

Oren recalled Antony Blinken, then Biden’s national security adviser and now secretary of state, saying to him, “You guys are really out to destroy this relationship, aren’t you?”

“What could I do?” Oren said. “I just shrugged.”

But Netanyahu’s most inflammatory snub of Obama was his surprise visit to the United States in 2015, when the president was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran that the prime minister, like many Republicans, strongly opposed.

Netanyahu accepted an invitation from then-House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to address a joint session of Congress. He did not tell Obama he was coming, a virtually unprecedented breach of protocol, and Obama aides say they learned about the planned speech from a news report.

The address came two weeks before Israel’s elections in which Netanyahu was campaigning on his ability to stand up for the country’s security in Washington. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said the prime minister had “basically used a joint session of the U.S. Congress for an election rally back in Israel.”

During the speech itself, Netanyahu acknowledged the controversy. “I deeply regret that some perceive my being here as political — that was never my intention,” he said.

By the final year of Obama’s term, some at the White House had an unofficial policy that Dermer was banned from the premises, according to two former Obama officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. (One aide said Dermer still worked with the White House on myriad issues.)

Although many of Obama’s closest aides say privately they came to detest Netanyahu, Biden’s devotion to Israel overrode any annoyance he might have felt. Biden had first visited the country as a young senator in 1973, meeting Prime Minister Golda Meir when Israel’s leaders were socialists, the kibbutz movement was powerful and the Holocaust was less than 30 years in the past.

In the final month of Obama’s term, the president and his top aides were debating a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the occupied territories illegal. Nearly everyone on the call agreed that the United States should abstain to send Netanyahu a sharp message, letting the resolution pass rather than vetoing it as usual.

Biden disagreed, warning Obama that doing so would be a “black mark” on his legacy. Obama moved ahead with the abstention anyway.

When Trump became president in 2017, he and Netanyahu formed an immediate alliance — fostered in part by son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had family ties to Netanyahu. Trump relocated the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something presidents of both parties had avoided to preserve options for the peace process. He also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, upending a half-century of U.S. policy.

Netanyahu, for his part, found numerous ways to show his attachment to Trump. He named a Golan Heights settlement Trump Heights. He erected a massive campaign poster of himself shaking hands with Trump over the slogan, “Netanyahu — in a different league.”

In recent weeks, Trump has waffled publicly about whether Israel should continue its war in Gaza or “finish it.” And he has made it clear that he resents Netanyahu for acknowledging Biden’s victory in 2020, and the two have not spoken in years.

By the time Biden took office, the rift between Netanyahu and Democrats was so marked that the president withheld the traditional White House invitation for almost a year. Relations grew even cooler when the prime minister introduced a controversial plan to rein in Israel’s judiciary, as Biden and other Democrats made clear that they saw it as a threat to the countries’ shared values.

But when Hamas attacked Israel last Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, everything changed — at first.

Biden unwaveringly backed Netanyahu in public in hopes of influencing him in private, even as the White House grew increasingly alarmed at the growing civilian death toll from Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has now surpassed 35,000. Netanyahu, whose political future was thrown into doubt by the attacks, initially appeared deeply grateful for Biden’s support.

But old tensions resurfaced as the conflict dragged on and Biden urged Israel to do more to protect civilians and let aid into Gaza. The two leaders’ private conversations have become testier and their public exchanges colder, as Biden’s own political prospects are threatened by anger from many Democrats over his handling of Gaza.

Rhodes, the former Obama official, said that for all Netanyahu’s aggressive policies and rhetoric, he is an accelerant rather than the cause of the growing rift between Democrats and Israel.

“It was building for a long time before this point. It will continue to evolve after this point. But unless there’s some totally unforeseen shift in Israeli politics, this is not just Netanyahu,” Rhodes said. “There was the artificial sheen of bipartisanship, but I think that’s in the past now.”

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>>> U.S. Warns of Imminent Attack on Israeli Assets by Iran or Proxies


Wall Street Journal

by Warren P. Strobel


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u-s-warns-of-imminent-attack-on-israeli-assets-by-iran-or-proxies/ar-BB1lpTb8?OCID=ansmsnnews11


WASHINGTON—U.S. intelligence reports show that an attack on Israeli assets by Iran or its proxies could be imminent, U.S. officials said Wednesday, as the top American military commander for the Middle East headed to Israel to coordinate a response.

Iran has publicly threatened to retaliate for a strike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus last week, presumed to be the work of Israel, that killed top Iranian military officials, including a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.

Syria and Iran accused Israel of carrying out the attack, which killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who managed Iranian paramilitary operations in Syria and Lebanon, according to Iranian state media and U.S. officials. Zahedi was the highest-ranking Iranian military official to be killed since the January 2020 U.S. assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The U.S. has said it wasn’t involved in the strike in Syria and received no previous warning from Israel that it planned to conduct the attack.

It is unclear whether Iran is planning to conduct a direct strike on Israeli targets or use one of its Middle East proxies. In the past, Tehran has appeared eager to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel or the U.S. and worked via proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran-backed groups in Iraq.

But U.S. defense officials warned that Iran could use its own military forces this time to demonstrate a forceful response to Zahedi’s death.

President Biden said on Wednesday that Iran is “threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel.”

“As I told [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden told reporters. “Let me say it again: ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”

The Biden administration has passed messages to Iran saying that it wasn’t involved in the Israeli strike in Damascus and would hold Iran accountable if it attacked U.S. forces or assets, U.S. officials say. Iran has sent its own messages to the U.S., Iranian officials have said.

Mohammad Jamshidi, the deputy chief of staff to Iran’s president, said in a tweet on April 5 that Tehran had warned the U.S. “not to get dragged in Netanyahu’s trap.”

The U.S. reached out Wednesday to countries in the region to ask them to encourage Iran to avoid escalation, a U.S. official said.

Israeli officials have vowed to strike back if the country is attacked by Iran. The rhetoric on both sides has raised concerns about a wider Middle East war six months after Hamas attacked Israel, leaving more than 1,200 people dead, according to Israel, and prompting an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. That offensive has resulted in the death of more than 33,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, whose figures don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, had planned to travel to Israel before the strike in Damascus, U.S. defense officials said, primarily to iron out logistics for a U.S. temporary pier set to be placed in northern Gaza to expand humanitarian aid deliveries.

He now is expected to leave for Israel this week to also discuss a possible Iranian attack and how the U.S. could respond, the officials said. Kurilla is expected to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

While the Pentagon doesn’t discuss whether it is currently adjusting forces in response to potential threats, U.S. military forces in the region had already been in a heightened state since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday on X that the strikes in Syria constituted an attack on Iranian soil and that Israel “should be punished, and it will be punished.” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded that if Iran attacks Israel from Iranian soil, Israel would retaliate inside Iran.

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>>> Israel's Cyera triples valuation to $1.4 bln in funding led by U.S. investment firm


Reuters

Apr 9, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israels-cyera-triples-valuation-1-141755593.html?.tsrc=fin-srch


April 9 (Reuters) - Israel's data security firm Cyera has tripled its valuation to $1.4 billion in less than a year as it raised fresh capital in a series C funding led by U.S. tech-focused fund Coatue Management.

Cyera, founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, raised $300 million, taking its total funds raised so far to $460 million, the company said on Tuesday.

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has resulted in companies spending more to protect their systems from hack, leading to higher demand for firms such as Cyera that provide data security using its AI-driven platform.

The funding is a rare bright spot for Israeli startups that are facing a decline in funding over the last one year as planned judicial reform and war with Hamas in Gaza deter several investors, according to an annual report by Startup Nation Central.

The latest funding was also joined by new investors - Spark Capital, Georgian and AT&T Ventures - along with existing investors Sequoia, Accel, Redpoint and Cyberstarts.

Cyera had raised $100 million at a valuation of $500 million in June last year.

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Eviation - It looks like electric aircraft could be the future, at least for shorter haul flights under 500 miles. Here's one from the company Eviation (video below). I remember seeing the prototype for this in the news when they had it at the annual Paris Air Show (2019). Eviation began as an Israeli startup, and is now majority owned by the Clermont Group, a Singapore conglomerate, and they have $5 bil in orders. Improved battery technology will be the key to getting longer haul aircraft with bigger payloads -

Check out this long list of electric aircraft at various stages of development -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electric_aircraft

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>>> Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul law


The Washington Post

By Miriam Berger and Ruby Mellen

Updated January 1, 2024


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/01/israel-supreme-court-judicial-reform-netanyahu/


JERUSALEM — Israel’s high court on Monday struck down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s polarizing law that sought to limit the court’s power over government decisions, putting the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis just three months after Israelis united behind the war effort in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary sparked nearly a year of widespread social unrest before the Israel-Gaza war. The unprecedented standoff drew international condemnation and extraordinary opposition from military and senior security officials.

Monday’s ruling comes at a sensitive moment for Netanyahu, who remains embroiled in a corruption trial and is facing calls for his resignation over his government’s failure to thwart the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, as well as its handling of the hostage crisis. The militant group killed about 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostage, according to Israeli officials.

Netanyahu’s Likud party was swift to condemn the court’s decision, calling it “in opposition to the nation’s desire for unity, especially in a time of war.” Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a key force behind the law, said the ruling threatened the unity needed “so our troops can succeed at the front.” He pledged to pass the entire overhaul package after the war ends.

Opponents of the overhaul welcomed the ruling but refrained from public celebrations.

“Today the Supreme Court faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on X, formerly Twitter.

The news came a day after Israel said it would be withdrawing some troops from the Gaza Strip this week, an indication that it may be changing its tactics on the ground even as it rebuffs calls for a cease-fire.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Sunday night that pulling back reservists “will significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year.”

Some critics of the judicial overhaul plan, which Netanyahu’s coalition introduced as a series of bills last January, said Israel’s domestic divisions weakened its ability to respond to regional threats.

Monday’s ruling concerned one part of the package, an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law — which serves in place of a constitution — that was pushed through and passed by Netanyahu’s far-right government in July. The altered law removed the right of the Israeli Supreme Court to block decisions made by government ministers that the judges deem “unreasonable.”

In striking down the law 8-7 on Monday, the top court’s ruling calls for the legislation to be removed. If Netanyahu’s government refuses to honor the ruling, the wartime country could face a constitutional crisis.

Netanyahu has not said whether he would abide by the decision.

Supporters of the legislation said it was a necessary corrective to an activist Supreme Court led by a clique of elite judges. Opponents said the law could lead to authoritarianism and pave the way for Netanyahu’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox backers to alter key foundations of Israel’s liberal democracy. In Israel’s parliamentary system, the high court is seen as the main check on lawmakers and the government.

Netanyahu returned to office in 2022 via a coalition of far-right lawmakers (lunatic faction) who say Israel should be a Jewish state over a democratic one. Among their key priorities is preventing a Palestinian state and annexing the occupied West Bank and other Palestinian land.

In exchange for support of the judicial overhaul, members of the prime minister’s coalition have supported Netanyahu’s bid for parliamentary immunity.

Weekly protests beginning in January 2023 against the proposal drew hundreds of thousands of people. Military pilots and soldiers threatened to boycott volunteer duty if the overhaul plan was not stopped.

In March, Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who warned of potential security problems if Israeli reservists walked out. Gallant was reinstated two weeks later.

President Biden, one of Israel’s staunchest allies, in March also came out against the law in a rare public disagreement. “I hope he walks away from it,” Biden said, adding that Netanyahu’s government “cannot continue down this road.”

But the legislation was swiftly overshadowed after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, and the country quickly united. Israel’s more than 300,000 reservists mobilized for war. Anti-government protesters called off demonstrations. Lapid and opposition figure Benny Gantz proposed a broad emergency government that the parliament passed days later.

The resulting war on Gaza has killed nearly 22,000 people and injured more than 57,600 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, which Israel blockaded in 2007 when the militant group seized power.

The war has wide support in Israel, where most Israelis serve in the military. Domestically, however, there is growing frustration over a lack of clarity by Netanyahu’s government over what happens to Gaza after the war ends.

Brothers in Arms, a group of reserve soldiers who had opposed the overhaul, said in a statement Monday that its members “stand behind the independence of the Supreme Court, respect its ruling, and call all to abstain from division and hatred.”

“After Oct. 7, Israel cannot return to the division and chasms between parts of the nation,” they said.

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Wikipedia - >>> Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Benjamin_Netanyahu#:~:text=On%2021%20November%202019%2C%20Netanyahu,starting%20on%205%20April%202021.

The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu began following investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his inner circle during his fourth and fifth terms as Israel's Prime Minister. The Israel Police began investigating Netanyahu in December 2016 and subsequently recommended indictments against him. On 21 November 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. Netanyahu's trial in the Jerusalem District Court began on 24 May 2020, with witness testimony starting on 5 April 2021. The prosecution listed 333 witnesses.[1] As of December 2023, the trial is still ongoing.[2][3]

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>>> Chuck Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, breaking with Benjamin Netanyahu <<<

Bye bye to Bibi? Let's hope so -


>>> Chuck Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, breaking with Benjamin Netanyahu


Wisconsin Public Radio

BY ERIC MCDANIEL AND CLAUDIA GRISALES

MARCH 14, 2024


https://www.wpr.org/news/chuck-schumer-calls-for-new-elections-in-israel-breaking-with-benjamin-netanyahu


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history and a top advocate for Israel in Congress, announced that he sees Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace in the country’s war with Hamas. He said it was time for the country to hold new elections.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer said.

The New York Democrat, who began his remarks by decrying Hamas and calling for the release of hostages, said that, were Netanyahu to remain in power, it would jeopardize global support for Israel at a critical juncture.

“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” he said.

Schumer said that Israel needs to make “some serious course corrections,” including allowing more aid into Gaza, though asserted that the country had shouldered too much of the blame for the civilian death toll, which is now estimated to be more than 30 thousand people.

“Hamas has heartlessly hidden behind their fellow Palestinians by turning hospitals into command centers and refugee camps into missile launching sites,” Schumer said.

Among the other obstacles to peace Schumer identified: radical right-wing Israelis and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.

The White House was made aware of Schumer’s remarks in advance, according to John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Split with Republicans

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor after Schumer’s remarks to reaffirm his support for Netanyahu.

“The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,” McConnell said.

At a House GOP retreat in West Virginia, Republican leaders called an impromptu press conference to slam Schumer. House Speaker Mike Johnson said they learned about the remarks during a work session, and found the remarks “shocking.”

“This is not only highly inappropriate, it’s just plain wrong,” Johnson told reporters at Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., where Republicans are holding their retreat. “For an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israel politics, while our closest ally in the region is in an extensional battle for its very survival, we need to be standing with Israel.”

Johnson was flanked by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the House Republican Conference. Scalise called Schumer’s remarks “disgraceful,” and said the Senate majority leader owes the people of Israel an apology.Emmer called Schumer’s actions “unprecedented and very dangerous.”

Stefanik said Republicans would hear more during a House Republican luncheon meeting with Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog, who’s expected to give an update on the war.

“House Republicans proudly stand with Israel,” she said.

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>>> Rail Vision Received Order from a Class 1 US Railroad Company for its AI-Based Safety System


GlobeNewswire

Rail Vision Ltd.

Mar 11, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rail-vision-received-order-class-125800866.html


Ra’anana, Israel, March 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rail Vision Ltd. (Nasdaq: RVSN) (the “Company”), a technology company at the forefront of revolutionizing railway safety and the data-related market, today announced that it has received an order for its AI-driven Switch Yard System from a Class 1 freight rail company in the US.

The freight rail company, which is one of the largest in North America, will install and use the system on its locomotive for evaluation and testing different scenarios related to safety.

"We believe that this new order is a milestone for Rail Vision that signifies the industry's trust in our solutions to navigate the complexities of rail operations. By leveraging AI and machine learning, we aim to transform the way railways operate, enhance safety, efficiency reliability and preserve business continuity across a railway network. This is another the beginning of our journey in North America to make rail transportation safer and more efficient for everyone", commented Rail Vision CEO, Shahar Hania.

Rail Vision’s Switch Yard System uses electro-optic sensors (including thermal and day sensors) combined with AI, machine learning and Advance Driver Assistance System (ADAS) solutions, to overcome limited vision issues that expand the range of sight and decrease downtime, while also increasing punctuality, efficiency, and safety. Rail Vision’s solutions address critical issues within the industry with its innovative AI-based Obstacle Detection System (ODS), which enables rail operators to navigate issues easily and swiftly, including on-track obstacles, accidents, high operational costs, lack of personnel, capacity, maintenance issues, heavy traffic on the tracks, extensive driving distances and harsh weather conditions.

About Rail Vision Ltd.

Rail Vision is a technology company that is seeking to revolutionize railway safety and the data-related market. The Company has developed cutting-edge, artificial intelligence-based, industry-leading technology specifically designed for railways. The Company has developed its railway detection and systems to save lives, increase efficiency, and dramatically reduce expenses for the railway operators. Rail Vision believes that its technology will significantly increase railway safety around the world, while creating significant benefits and adding value to everyone who relies on the train ecosystem: from passengers using trains for transportation to companies that use railways to deliver goods and services. In addition, the company believes that its technology has the potential to advance the revolutionary concept of autonomous trains into a practical reality.

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>>> Genie Energy Ltd. (GNE), through its subsidiaries, supplies electricity and natural gas to residential and small business customers in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Genie Retail Energy and Genie Renewables. The company also develops, constructs, and operates solar energy projects for commercial and industrial customers, as well as its own portfolio; provides energy advisory and brokerage services; and manufactures and distributes solar panel, as well as engages in solar installation design and project management activities. Genie Energy Ltd. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

<<<


https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GNE/profile?p=GNE


>>> Genie Energy Ltd. is an American energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. It is a holding company comprising Genie Retail Energy, Genie Retail Energy International, Genie Energy Services, and Genie Energy Oil and Gas. Michael Stein is the Chief Executive Officer, Genie Energy Ltd.[2]

In 2004, seeking to diversify, IDT Telecom’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, Howard Jonas, launched its first Retail Energy Provider or “REP” and enrolled its first energy supply customers. Then, in October, 2011, Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE:GNE), was spun-off from IDT Corporation as an independent public company, at which point Class B common stock of Genie Energy Ltd. began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "GNE".

Genie's founder and chairman is Howard Jonas. Michael Stein is the company's Chief Executive Officer of Genie Energy and Chief Executive Officer of Genie Retail Energy. Avi Goldin serves as the company's CFO.

The president of its Israeli subsidiary is Effie Eitam. Genie Energy's Strategic advisory board is composed of: Dick Cheney since 2009 (former vice president of the United States),[3] Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and chairman of News Corp), James Woolsey (former CIA director), Larry Summers (former head of the US Treasury), Bill Richardson (former Governor of New Mexico, ex-ambassador to the United Nations and United States Energy Secretary),[4] Michael Steinhardt, Jacob Rothschild,[5][4] and Mary Landrieu, former United States Senator from Louisiana.

In 2013, IDT Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Genie Energy, acquired both Dallas-based Diversegy, LLC a commercial energy advisory and its network marketing channel, Epiq Energy. They are now wholly owned subsidiaries of Genie Energy Ltd.[6]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Energy


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>>> Rail Vision's Main Line System Successfully Secures Approval and Certifications and for EU Railway Standards


GlobalNewswire

Rail Vision Ltd.

January 22, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rail-visions-main-line-system-123300830.html


Compliance and homologation sets the stage for accelerated adoption of Rail Vision's Main Line system across the vast EU market


Ra’anana, Israel, Jan. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rail Vision Ltd. (Nasdaq: RVSN) (the “Company”), a technology company at the forefront of revolutionizing railway safety and the data-related market, today announced that its Main Line system has successfully obtained formal certifications for critical European Union (EU) railway standards, an important achievement that underscores the Company's dedication to quality, safety, and innovation in the railway technology market.

With its extensive railway network and robust demand, the EU offers vast opportunities for railway technologies and represents the largest absolute market for rail products and services globally, according to UNIFE World Rail Market. The global digital railway market size is expected to surpass $100 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7%.

"Achieving compliance with these EU standards marks a major milestone for Rail Vision and positions us ahead of the competition in the Railway technology market," said Noam Shloper, Head of Quality and Reliability at Rail Vision. "Our team is driven by a commitment to support product quality and safety above all else, and we're pleased to complete this important milestone that sets the stage for accelerated adoption of our Main Line system across the vast EU market."

Rail Vision's Main Line system is now certified in compliance with EN 50155, which sets the benchmark for hardware equipment in railway applications, ensuring the robustness and reliability of rolling stock components. This compliance demonstrates Rail Vision's system's ability to withstand the rigorous physical demands of railway operations. Additionally, the system meets the requirements of EN 50126, focusing on the specification and demonstration of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS). This standard is crucial in the railway industry, as it guarantees that the system can be relied upon for consistent performance and safety. Furthermore, Rail Vision’s system aligns with EN 50657 standards related to software on board rolling stock. This compliance ensures that the software integrated into the Company's Main Line system meets the highest levels of safety and functionality, crucial for the smooth operation of modern trains. The Main Line system also adheres to EN 45545 standards related to fire protection on railway vehicles.

About Rail Vision Ltd.

Rail Vision is a technology company that is seeking to revolutionize railway safety and the data-related market. The Company has developed cutting-edge, artificial intelligence based, industry-leading technology specifically designed for railways. The Company has developed its railway detection and systems to save lives, increase efficiency, and dramatically reduce expenses for the railway operators. Rail Vision believes that its technology will significantly increase railway safety around the world, while creating significant benefits and adding value to everyone who relies on the train ecosystem: from passengers using trains for transportation to companies that use railways to deliver goods and services. In addition, the company believes that its technology has the potential to advance the revolutionary concept of autonomous trains into a practical reality.

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Rail Vision - >>> A Leading US-Based Rail & Leasing Services Company Orders Rail Vision Switch Yard Systems Valued at Up to $5 Million


GlobeNewswire

Rail Vision Ltd.

January 17, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-us-based-rail-leasing-121800152.html


Ra’anana, Israel , Jan. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rail Vision Ltd. (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: RVSN), a technology company seeking to revolutionize the railway safety market, announced today that a leading US-based rail and leasing services company signed a supply contract with Rail Vision valued at up to $5,000,000 (USD) for the purchase of Rail Vision’s AI-based Switch Yard Systems.

"The signing of the contract with this customer is a significant milestone for Rail Vision, marking our entrance into the US market and reflecting our commitment to enabling the rail industry with cutting-edge AI-based technology," said Rail Vision CEO Shahar Hania. "Our Switch Yard System is designed to significantly improve safety and efficiency in rail yards. We are proud that our new customer, a prominent player in the rail services sector in North America, has recognized the value of our solution. This new partnership is a testament to the innovation and effectiveness of Rail Vision's technology, and we look forward to working closely with this customer to help them enhance operations and contribute to a safer, more efficient rail industry."

Rail Vision’s unique Switch Yard System enables railway operators to streamline and enhance the safety of their industrial switching operations. Combining advanced vision sensors with artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies, the system automatically detects and classifies objects within a range of up to 200 meters, in diverse weather and light conditions. With its one-of-a-kind Pathfinder technology, the Switch Yard System can detect switch states to support the execution of coupling from a remote position. In addition, it enables the monitoring of operational dead zones to facilitate secure wagon coupling and sends real-time visual and acoustic alerts to remote operators and drivers, ensuring a safe and secure environment.

The first phase of the contract is valued at $1,000,000 (USD). Follow-on orders for additional Switch Yard Systems, valued at up to $4,000,000, are subject to customer approval. The contract also includes specific purchase quotas that, if met, provide the customer with exclusivity in the North American industrial railyards switching segment.

About Rail Vision Ltd.

Rail Vision is a technology company that is seeking to revolutionize railway safety and the data-related market. The Company has developed cutting-edge, artificial intelligence based, industry-leading technology specifically designed for railways. The Company has developed its railway detection and systems to save lives, increase efficiency, and dramatically reduce expenses for the railway operators. Rail Vision believes that its technology will significantly increase railway safety around the world, while creating significant benefits and adding value to everyone who relies on the train ecosystem: from passengers using trains for transportation to companies that use railways to deliver goods and services. In addition, the company believes that its technology has the potential to advance the revolutionary concept of autonomous trains into a practical reality.

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>>> Biden warns Israel it is ‘losing support’ over war


The New York Times

by Michael D. Shear

December 12, 2023


https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-losing-support-biden-says-185717915.html


WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Israel’s leaders on Tuesday that they were losing international support for their war in the Gaza Strip, exposing a widening rift with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejected out of hand the American vision for a postwar resolution to the conflict.

Biden delivered the blunt assessment of America’s closest ally in the Middle East during a fundraiser in Washington, where he described Netanyahu as the leader of “the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” which doesn’t “want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution” to the country’s long-running dispute with Palestinians.

The president said that Israel had support from Europe and much of the world as well as the United States, but he added that “they’re starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”

The president’s remarks came hours after Netanyahu pledged to defy weeks of American pressure to put the Palestinian Authority in charge of Gaza once the fighting ends. Netanyahu ruled out any role there for the group, which now governs Palestinian society in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Until Tuesday, the United States had largely backed Israel both in action and in rhetoric — supporting the assault on Gaza, fending off calls for a cease-fire at the United Nations and authorizing the sale of thousands of tank shells to the Israelis.

“There is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas,’” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on social media. He said he hoped the two governments could reach an agreement about what happens after the war ends, but he vowed not to allow threats to Israel’s population to continue.

“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” Netanyahu said. “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan.”

Fatah is the political faction, a rival to Hamas, that controls the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted from Gaza in 2007 but still administers parts of the West Bank.

In his remarks at the fundraiser, Biden pledged to continue that support for Israel’s effort to protect itself, saying that “we’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process. Not a single thing.”

“Without Israel as a free-standing state, not a Jew in the world is safe,” he added.

But he also described his response to Netanyahu’s private assertion that the United States had “carpet-bombed” Germany and dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.

“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War II, to see to it that it didn’t happen again,’” Biden told the donors at the event.

Hours earlier, Netanyahu appeared to take note of the months of American support in his address.

“I greatly appreciate the American support for destroying Hamas and returning our hostages,” Netanyahu said. “Following an intensive dialogue with President Biden and his team, we received full backing for the ground incursion and blocking the international pressure to stop the war.”

But the tone from both men suggested that the well-wishing could soon end.

Biden’s remarks were his most critical to date of Netanyahu’s handling of the war, which continues to claim the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza. The two men had declared unshakable unity during Biden’s visit to Israel days after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people.

Nearly two months of aerial bombardment by Israel and a continuing ground war have leveled much of Gaza City in the northern part of the tiny enclave, which is home to nearly 2 million Palestinians. More than 15,000 people, including several thousand children, have been killed in Gaza during the fighting, according to the territory’s health authorities.

The United Nations says that more than 85% of the population has been displaced, with some aid organizations reporting rampant disease and widespread hunger.

Netanyahu says his government is determined to destroy Hamas’ ability to threaten Israel’s population, and he has repeatedly warned Palestinians to move south. Some locations in the south of Gaza have also been bombed, drawing criticism from humanitarian organizations.

Fighting between Israeli forces and armed groups raged near a small hospital in northern Gaza on Monday and over the weekend. The hospital, Kamal Adwan, has 65 patients, including 12 children in intensive care, and is surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The report said that the hospital’s maternity department had been hit Monday and that, “as a result, two mothers were reportedly killed, and several people were injured.” It was not possible to verify the toll. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Top aides to Biden have said the president believes that his full-throated support of Israel has given him more leverage to press Netanyahu for restraint as Israel conducts its ground war in Gaza. He has repeatedly described his decadeslong history with Israel; Monday evening, he declared at a White House Hanukkah reception: “I am a Zionist.”

Last month, Biden and his top foreign policy aides helped broker a temporary pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and the release of more than 100 of the roughly 240 hostages that Hamas seized on Oct. 7.

White House officials said Biden would meet at the White House on Wednesday with the families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas, his first face-to-face meeting with the relatives since the crisis began.

A White House official confirmed the meeting, but did not offer details about how many of the family members would attend the meeting in person. The president previously spoke with the families on a video call about a week after the attacks.

Biden administration officials have indicated there are about eight remaining hostages with American citizenship after several were released, including during a weeklong pause in fighting last month.

Biden’s public message has evolved since the Oct. 7 attacks. He publicly urged Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza in its war against Hamas, and White House officials have said he has been blunt with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials during private conversations.

But the president has largely left it to other American officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, to call out Israel for its actions on the battlefield. And his comments Tuesday were the president’s first direct acknowledgment of the condemnation by world leaders and humanitarian organizations of Israel’s wartime behavior.

Using the prime minister’s nickname, Biden said that “Bibi’s got a tough decision to make.”

The rising tension between the two men underscored the sensitive moment for the two allies as Biden seeks to persuade lawmakers in Washington to support more than $15 billion in additional aid for Israel’s military campaign. That funding is currently caught up in a political dispute with Republicans over assistance for Ukraine and immigration policy changes at the U.S. border.

Biden has repeatedly asserted Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism by Hamas, and his administration on Friday vetoed a legally binding United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war. On Tuesday, the U.N. General Assembly voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution making the same demand. The United States and Israel were among the 10 countries that opposed it; 153 countries approved.

But on Monday, administration officials said they were looking into reports that Israel’s military had deployed white phosphorus supplied by the United States along the border with Lebanon, in violation of international law.

That allegation, made in reports by Amnesty International and The Washington Post, represented another potential disagreement between the two countries about Israel’s conduct. Israel’s military on Monday said it complies with international law and denied using the weapon illegally.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, said the United States would be “asking questions” about the incident. White phosphorus is an incendiary, toxic substance used to create light and smoke screens during combat. Its use is not illegal, but deploying it deliberately against civilians or in a civilian setting violates the laws of war.

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NY Times - >>> Israel Knew Hamas’ Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago


New York Times

by Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman

December 1, 2023


https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-knew-hamas-attack-plan-122433854.html


TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli officials obtained Hamas’ battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.

The approximately 40-page document, which Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened Oct. 7.

The plan also included details about the location and size of Israeli military forces, communication hubs and other sensitive information, raising questions about how Hamas gathered its intelligence and whether there were leaks inside the Israeli security establishment.

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’ capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said Hamas’ intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by the Times.

Then, in July, just three months before the attacks, a veteran analyst with Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence agency, warned that Hamas had conducted an intense, daylong training exercise that appeared similar to what was outlined in the blueprint.

But a colonel in the Gaza division brushed off her concerns, according to encrypted emails viewed by the Times.

“I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary,” the analyst wrote in the email exchanges. The Hamas training exercise, she said, fully matched “the content of Jericho Wall.”

“It is a plan designed to start a war,” she added. “It’s not just a raid on a village.”

Officials privately concede that, had the military taken these warnings seriously and redirected significant reinforcements to the south, where Hamas attacked, Israel could have blunted the attacks or possibly even prevented them.

Instead, the Israeli military was unprepared as terrorists streamed out of the Gaza Strip. It was the deadliest day in Israel’s history.

Israeli security officials have already acknowledged that they failed to protect the country, and the government is expected to assemble a commission to study the events leading up to the attacks. The Jericho Wall document lays bare a yearslong cascade of missteps that culminated in what officials now regard as the worst Israeli intelligence failure since the surprise attack that led to the Arab-Israeli war of 1973.

Underpinning all these failures was a single, fatally inaccurate belief that Hamas lacked the capability to attack and would not dare to do so. That belief was so ingrained in the Israeli government, officials said, that they disregarded growing evidence to the contrary.

The Israeli military and the Israeli Security Agency, which is in charge of counterterrorism in Gaza, declined to comment.

Officials would not say how they obtained the Jericho Wall document, but it was among several versions of attack plans collected over the years. A 2016 Defense Ministry memorandum viewed by the Times, for example, says, “Hamas intends to move the next confrontation into Israeli territory.”

Such an attack would most likely involve hostage-taking and “occupying an Israeli community (and perhaps even a number of communities),” the memo reads.

The Jericho Wall document, named for the ancient fortifications in the modern-day West Bank, was even more explicit. It detailed rocket attacks to distract Israeli soldiers and send them hurrying into bunkers, and drones to disable the elaborate security measures along the border fence separating Israel and Gaza.

Hamas fighters would then break through 60 points in the wall, storming across the border into Israel. The document begins with a quote from the Quran: “Surprise them through the gate. If you do, you will certainly prevail.”

The same phrase has been widely used by Hamas in its videos and statements since Oct. 7.

One of the most important objectives outlined in the document was to overrun the Israeli military base in Re’im, which is home to the Gaza division responsible for protecting the region. Other bases that fell under the division’s command were also listed.

Hamas carried out that objective Oct. 7, rampaging through Re’im and overrunning parts of the base.

The audacity of the blueprint, officials said, made it easy to underestimate. All militaries write plans that they never use, and Israeli officials assessed that, even if Hamas invaded, it might muster a force of a few dozen, not the hundreds who ultimately attacked.

Israel had also misread Hamas’ actions. The group had negotiated for permits to allow Palestinians to work in Israel, which Israeli officials took as a sign that Hamas was not looking for a war.

But Hamas had been drafting attack plans for many years, and Israeli officials had gotten hold of previous iterations of them. What could have been an intelligence coup turned into one of the worst miscalculations in Israel’s 75-year history.

In September 2016, the defense minister’s office compiled a top-secret memorandum based on a much earlier iteration of a Hamas attack plan. The memorandum, which was signed by the defense minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, said that an invasion and hostage-taking would “lead to severe damage to the consciousness and morale of the citizens of Israel.”

The memo, which was viewed by the Times, said Hamas had purchased sophisticated weapons, GPS jammers and drones. It also said Hamas had increased its fighting force to 27,000 people — having added 6,000 to its ranks in a two-year period. Hamas had hoped to reach 40,000 by 2020, the memo determined.

Last year, after Israel obtained the Jericho Wall document, the military’s Gaza division drafted its own intelligence assessment of this latest invasion plan.

Hamas had “decided to plan a new raid, unprecedented in its scope,” analysts wrote in the assessment reviewed by the Times. It said that Hamas intended to carry out a deception operation followed by a “large-scale maneuver” with the aim of overwhelming the division.

But the Gaza division referred to the plan as a “compass.” In other words, the division determined that Hamas knew where it wanted to go but had not arrived there yet.

On July 6, 2023, the veteran Unit 8200 analyst wrote to a group of other intelligence experts that dozens of Hamas commandos had recently conducted training exercises, with senior Hamas commanders observing.

The training included a dry run of shooting down Israeli aircraft and taking over a kibbutz and a military training base, killing all the cadets. During the exercise, Hamas fighters used the same phrase from the Quran that appeared at the top of the Jericho Wall attack plan, she wrote in the email exchanges viewed by the Times.

The analyst warned that the drill closely followed the Jericho Wall plan, and that Hamas was building the capacity to carry it out.

The colonel in the Gaza division applauded the analysis but said the exercise was part of a “totally imaginative” scenario, not an indication of Hamas’ ability to pull it off.

“In short, let’s wait patiently,” the colonel wrote.

The back-and-forth continued, with some colleagues supporting the analyst’s original conclusion. Soon, she invoked the lessons of the 1973 war, in which Syrian and Egyptian armies overran Israeli defenses. Israeli forces regrouped and repelled the invasion, but the intelligence failure has long served as a lesson for Israeli security officials.

“We already underwent a similar experience 50 years ago on the southern front in connection with a scenario that seemed imaginary, and history may repeat itself if we are not careful,” the analyst wrote to her colleagues.

While ominous, none of the emails predicted that war was imminent. Nor did the analyst challenge the conventional wisdom among Israeli intelligence officials that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was not interested in war with Israel. But she correctly assessed that Hamas’ capabilities had drastically improved. The gap between the possible and the aspirational had narrowed significantly.

The failures to connect the dots echoed another analytical failure more than two decades ago, when American authorities also had multiple indications that the terrorist group al-Qaida was preparing an assault. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were largely a failure of analysis and imagination, a government commission concluded.

“The Israeli intelligence failure on Oct. 7 is sounding more and more like our 9/11,” said Ted Singer, a recently retired senior CIA official who worked extensively in the Middle East. “The failure will be a gap in analysis to paint a convincing picture to military and political leadership that Hamas had the intention to launch the attack when it did.”

<<<



---

[NYBob]

Israel Prayers Bro TIA - GOD'S $Gold at $2,000: With No Israel-Hamas Endgame, $Gold Is Looking at This New Record High — Gary Wagner
Kitco NEWS
605K subscribers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQWoseDY8o

Great $GOLD Low Cost Producer - $Monument Mining Ltd (MMY) (MMTMF) It's Finally Happening! Is This What's Happening -
With Gold Prices -



Andrew Maguire
Finance Log in October 2023,
15.1K subscribers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzqMn7uMEDQ

News Releases

Monument Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2023 Results Gross Revenue of US$12.39 Million and
Cash Cost of US$917/Oz for Gold Sulphide Production and US$1,622/Oz for Gold Oxide Production

https://monumentmining.com/news-media/news/2023/monument-reports-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-2023-results-gross-revenue-of-us-12.39-million-and-cash-cost-of-us-917-oz-for-gold/



$Monument Mining Ltd:

https://monumentmining.com
https://monumentmining.com/news-media/photo-gallery/
https://monumentmining.com/investors/presentation/
https://monumentmining.com/news-media/news/





$Gold Legal Tender GOD'S Real Money -
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Prayers TIA.

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/monie.htm

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

God Bless
Amen

[gfp927z]

>>> Bank of Israel to sell up to $30 billion of forex to stabilise shekel


Reuters

By Steven Scheer and Ari Rabinovitch


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/bank-of-israel-to-sell-up-to-30-billion-of-forex-to-stabilise-shekel/ar-AA1hUG9u?OCID=ansmsnnews11


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Bank of Israel said on Monday it will sell up to $30 billion of foreign currency in the open market, the central bank's first ever sale of foreign exchange, to maintain stability during the war with Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The shekel fell 2.2% versus the dollar to 3.924 - its lowest since a 2016 - after the announcement, then steadied.

"The bank will operate in the market during the coming period in order to moderate volatility in the shekel exchange rate and to provide the necessary liquidity for the continued proper functioning of the markets," it said in a statement.

The central bank also said it would provide liquidity through SWAP mechanisms in the market of up to $15 billion.

"The Bank of Israel will continue monitoring developments, tracking all the markets, and acting with the tools available to it as necessary," it said.

The shekel was already weak, down 10% against the U.S. currency so far in 2023, partly due to the government's judicial overhaul plan that has sharply curtailed foreign investment.

"Despite our expectation of a weaker Shekel in the medium term - softer tech equity flows, a more complex political background and more two-sided risks to monetary policy - we do not expect further sustained bouts of shekel weakness," Citi economists said in a report.

Israeli stock and bond prices slid 7% on Sunday, a day after Hamas gunmen burst across the fence from Gaza in the deadliest incursion into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria's attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

On Monday, key Tel Aviv share indices were down as much as another 0.3% in afternoon trading, while government bond prices fell as much as 1%.

Israel's dollar-denominated government bonds also fell sharply in early European trading as investors got their first chance to react to the unprecedented weekend attack.

Most bonds were down between 1.5 and 4 cents although the 2120-maturing '100 year' bond was down over 5 cents at just 65 cents in what was close to being its biggest ever daily drop.

Citi said that in corporate debt, it was likely the primary market activity for Israel’s banks and corporates will be shut in the near-term.

Israel has amassed forex reserves of more than $200 billion, much of it from buying forex since 2008 to try and keep the shekel from strengthening too much and harm exporters as foreign inflows to the country's tech sector soared.

The last time the bank intervened was in January 2022.

Last month, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron told Reuters that despite the sharply weaker shekel that has helped to push up inflation, there was no need to intervene since there were no market failures.

<<<



---

[NYBob]

IRAN = OBAMA SENDS $150 BILLION IN CASH TO IRAN BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE IN 2016.
WATCH



https://www.bitchute.com/video/NkHPMc86OIEZ/'

PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP IN WATERLOO, IOWA.
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TRUMP FOR SPEAKER - LET THE GAMES BEGIN
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🇦🇷 BREAKING - ISRAEL ATTACKED WITH US FUNDED WEAPONS FROM UKRAINE 👹🇺🇲👹
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Douglas Macgregor: NATO is Done | Ukrainian Army Defeated.
The Divulge’s Diary
1.52K subscribers



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Russian State TV Revives Effort to Reclaim Alaska From U.S.
( Dementia USA should NOT give Putin a reason!)
BY MATTHEW IMPELLI ON 2/10/23 AT 5:20 PM EST

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10.6.23: CALM before STORM! Power moves made. Border, attacks on MAGA, POTUS UP all night, Pray!
And We Know
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Biden Administration Enabling Iranian Mullahs' Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Program – Again?
by Majid Rafizadeh
October 7, 2023 at 5:00 am

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BENJAMIN FULFORD - OCTOBER 2023 - UPDATE
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FEMA FCC 5G KILL GRID -- TODD CALLENDER & DEB TAVARES
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BREAKING NEWS: Senate Republicans Demand Immediate Changes To Biden Border Policies
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USA MAGA BELIEVE TRUMP NOMINATED FOR CONGRESS SPEAKERSHIP JUST ANNOUNCED!!
10-5-23 LOU VALENTINO
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TEXAS CONGRESSMAN DROPS BOMB:'I'M OFFICIALLY NOMINATING TRUMP FOR HOUSE SPEAKER!
NO ONE CAN STOP ME'
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TRUMP BACK TO DC NEXT WEEK?? | LIVE FROM AMERICA 10.5.23 5pm
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NEWS Trump Says He’d Be Willing To Temporarily Serve As House Speaker
By Truth Press Published 2 hours ago



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TRUMP CAN STOP WHATS COMING FOR THE PEOPLE -
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LIVE - Donald Trump to Deliver Remarks at Team Trump Iowa Commit to Caucus Event in Ottumwa, IA
WordNews




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Big Update From Loy Brunson and Juan OSavin
By Noah | Aug 24, 2023

Raland Brunson
August 21 ·
The nine Justices are out for summer break and will not hold any conferences until October, and yet the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court decided today that my brother Loy's case was to be denied of a hearing. Now this is interesting. No conference, no distribution to the Justices and yet while the Presidential appointed Judges are out on vacation, little ole Scott Harris, with a few clicks of the keyboard made a judgment call that pretty much eliminated the U.S. Supreme Court. Well, heck! If Scott can do this, then by all means let the Presidential appointed nine Justices extend their vacations indefinitely! Why? We got Scott Harris who will take care of everything!
In the meanwhile, we've got some ideas of what to do and once again thank you for your wonderful support and for the letters that are being prepared to be sent to the 10th Circuit! Yes! Do we have the right to compel the judges with our letters to keep their oath of office? Heck yeah!
Want to send a letter? Go to: www.enoughisenough.me
All reactions:
272


https://100percentfedup.com/big-update-from-loy-brunson-and-juan-osavin/

ALERT: DEEP STATE TO CANCEL 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, LAUNCH WW3 WITH RUSSIA!!
FULL SHOW 10/3/23 By INFO WARS -
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USA Sad NEWS - RE: Brunson Case; Supreme Court did not hear a case seeking to oust Biden and
other elected officials



https://apnews.com/ap-fact-check/supreme-court-did-not-hear-a-case-seeking-to-oust-biden-and-other-elected-officials-00000188f9faddcfa3a9f9fb8ba70000

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TRUMP - EAS Test Activated, Speaker Of The House, Optics Are Important, In Position, On Target
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Speaker Of The House - Everything Is About To Change,Buckle Up It’s Going To Get Bumpy,This Is The Final Battle
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: MTG NOMINATES TRUMP FOR SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND MORE!
WATCH



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Prayers TIA - LARA LOGAN - CONGRESS COMMITTED TREASON DURING 2020 VOTE COUNT
BRUNSON BROS SAY CONGRESS BROKE OATH
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FLIGHT OF THE BRUNSONS: UNSEEN INTERVIEWS & UNBELIEVABLE CASE DETAILS! A NICK ALVEAR FILM (2023)
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THE TRUTH WILL ALWAYS COME OUT WITH CHARLIE WARD
Truth Seekers



https://rumble.com/v3m7m6d-the-truth-will-always-come-out-with-charlie-ward.html

MAGA "McCarthy Won't Seek Speaker Position In Re-Vote; Trump Nominated By Nehls"

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mccarthy-out-today-motion-vacate-first-order-business-says-he-hasnt-struck-deal-dems

Great STEW PETERS & MICHAEL YON - CHINESE NATIONALS PLAN VIOLENT UPRISING IN AMERICA
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BREAKING! CHINA AND U.S. HEADED FOR ALL OUT WAR, AND PUTIN KNOWS IT
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LOY BRUNSON UPDATES THE INSIDERS CLUB WITH CHARLIE WARD & DAVID MAHONEY
Truth Seekers



https://rumble.com/v3jns4g-loy-brunson-updates-the-insiders-club-with-charlie-ward-and-david-mahoney.html


To All - October 4th - Make a plan right now to keep a daily
appointment with GOD.
The enemy is going to tell you to set it aside, to do
something else. He'll whisper. You're far too involved
with other things, far to busy. But every excuse he
suggest is a lie.
If you're too busy to meet with the Lord, friend, then
you're simply too busy. I repeat you must carve out
the time. Why not establish a plan before you go to
the bed?
Let us come before
His presence with thanksgiving.
Psalm 95:2

Prayers TIA - Lara Logan THE REST OF THE STORY EPISODE #
The Sea Shed2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kFxQSGeg1I

J6 Series - Gabriel's Trumpet: Brunson Brothers Story Pt 1
The Thinking Conservative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0604yV7fO8M

CONGRESS COMMITTED TREASON DURING 2020 VOTE COUNT:
BRUNSON BROS. SAY CONGRESS BROKE OATHS OF OFFICE
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RE-PREVIEW * COVID NEWS CLIPS * VACCINE DEATH * DR. ROBERT MALONE STATEMENT TO PARENTS
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JESUS Kingdom Power For: COVID HOME CARE * IMMUNE SUPPORT * BLOOD ELECTRIFICATION *
NEBULIZE * 5G CORONA VIRUS FLU PANDEMIC
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LIVE: Trurnp Speaks Live 🟠⚪🟣
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Welcome To Tweet ALL - TRUDEAU HIGH ON COCAINE & DRUGS IN INDIA? -
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ELON MUSK, TEXAS BORDER BEING OVERRUN !!!, 4193
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https://www.bitchute.com/video/XxTLQkPbFDaZ/

‼️ WE WON ‼️ WHO PANDEMIC TREATY FALLS THROUGH !!
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MAGA HOW DID THEY STEAL THE 2020 ELECTION? HOW DO THEY PLAN TO STEAL 2024? | JUSTINFORMED TALK RADIO
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ELECTION RIGGERS WILL USE COVID HOAX + TRUMP INDICTMENTS TO STEAL 2024? | JUSTINFORMED NEWS #356
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On Cam: Putin's Men Destroy Ukrainian Depot With 3,000 Tonnes Of Ammo In Kherson | Watch
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BREAKING 🚨 Sep 24 2023 - Patrick Byrne > 'Biggest News Since Nov 3rd 2020'
MyCatholicRedPill
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President Donald Trump speaks at GOP California Convention | LiveNOW from FOX
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White House Knew COVID Vaccines Were Killing People Over Two Years Ago
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Deep State NWO Thanks goes to Biden/Obama ISIS administration-



CHINA WIRES NEW FINDINGS! TREY SMITH LIVE. B2T SHOW SEP 27, 2023
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ELON MUSK GOES NUCLEAR FIRES ENTIRE TWITTER STAFF IN CHARGE OF ELECTION AFTER HE CATCHES THEM IN A..
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Radical Leftists Hijack Legal System to Destroy America -
But GOP Debate Ignores it - Taking your Questions Live!! | TRIGGERED Ep.72
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75% of Americans took the Vaccine. Thankfully 25% Didn't" -Dr. Peter McCullough
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WHAT SHOWED UP ON JOE'S DOORSTEP COULD END IT ALL
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UK JOURNALIST WHO CONDEMNED TRUDEAU'S NAZI SALUTE ARRESTED FOR MISINFORMATION
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EVEN DURING A SHUTDOWN IN USA, INC., UKRAINIAN SALARIES WILL BE PAID [2023-09-26]
- RON PAUL (VIDEO)
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WE WILL EVICT JOE BIDEN’: TRUMP CALLS DEMOCRAT PARTY ‘SICK’ AND ‘EVIL’
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Trudeau DISAPPEARS from Ottawa as Canadians call for his resignation |
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TRUDEAU URGED TO 'RESIGN' AFTER HOUSE SPEAKER 'TOOK THE FALL' OVER NAZI SCANDAL
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America's Collapse - RED ALERT WARNING 09/27/23..
SGAnon. Patriot Act



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LIVE - PRESIDENT TRUMP'S REMARKS LIVE FROM CLINTON TWP MI 9-27-23
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MISSING F-35 ARMED WITH DIRECT ENERGY WEAPONS! PILOT ORDERED TO ATTACK A US
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NEW DR. JIM WILLIE- THE EVENT INTEL! NESARA GESARA - SEPTEMBER 2023
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Pass the hot NWO Obama/Biden sauce please-




NWO Biden/Obama ISIS GOVTS SPRAYING DEADLY POISON ON US CITIES: VIROLOGISTS'
PSEUDOSCIENCE MASS POISONS HUMANITY AGAIN
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OCT 4TH WARNING 88 CODING - 5G ACTIVATED ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
WATCH



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NWO ISIS - 5G ACTIVATED ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
GREG REESE -
WATCH

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Where Do the Missing $21Trillions Go? Catherine Austin Fitts
(A $Trillion = $1000Billions)
TrueLoveFaith



https://rumble.com/v3i2tmk-where-do-the-missing-trillions-go-catherine-austin-fitts.html

9.22.23: Fake NEWS against MASTERS? Panic everywhere! Borders, elections, PRAY!
And We Know
417K followers



https://rumble.com/v3jvnj1-9.22.23-fake-news-against-masters-panic-everywhere-borders-elections-pray.html

Federal government doesn’t even exist -Who did they swear an oath to -Impersonating federal position
TrueLoveFaith



https://rumble.com/v3iobyc-federal-government-doesent-even-exist-who-did-they-swear-an-oath-to-imperso.html

The Greatest Show on Earth 09/18/23..
SGAnon. Patriot Act



https://rumble.com/v3iepys-the-greatest-show-on-earth-091823...html

THE AMAZING & TRUE STORY OF TRUMP'S BIBLE & HEBRIDES REVIVAL! AN EPIC ADVENTURE YOU WON'T FORGET!
WATCH



https://www.bitchute.com/video/mk14wl93vq4x/

Mendoza - how DEW they DEW it? Argentina
Beam spotted @ 7:34

https://youtu.be/gi9JkTSp3Yg



Monument Mining Ltd:
https://monumentmining.com
https://monumentmining.com/news-media/photo-gallery/
https://monumentmining.com/investors/presentation/
https://monumentmining.com/news-media/news/



Gold Legal Tender God's Real Money.
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>>> Perion Network Expects 20% YoY Revenue Growth and 40% YoY Increase in Adjusted EBITDA in Second Quarter 2023


Businesswire

July 6, 2023


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perion-network-expects-20-yoy-070000434.html


Perion Network Expects 20% YoY Revenue Growth And 40% YoY Increase In Adjusted EBITDA In Second Quarter 2023

Company to announce second quarter 2023 financial results and updated annual outlook on August 2, 2023


TEL AVIV & NEW YORK, July 06, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Perion Network Ltd. (Nasdaq & TASE: PERI), a global advertising technology company whose synergistic solutions are delivered across the three primary channels of digital advertising – search, social media and display/video/CTV advertising, today announced preliminary results for the second quarter of 2023.

$ million

Actual
Q2 2022

Preliminary
Q2 2023

YoY

Revenue

146.7

176.0

20%

Adjusted EBITDA(1)

28.5

40.0

40%

Adjusted EBITDA to Revenue(1)

19%

23%

(1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. See a reconciliation table below

"The strength of our second quarter results reflects continued momentum of the business," said Tal Jacobson, Perion’s incoming CEO. "Both the second quarter and first six months highlight the power of our executional agility, underlying technological innovation and market fit. Our diversified and scalable business model has allowed us to capitalize on recent positive market indications, resulting in improved margins and market share gains. Based on preliminary data suggesting stronger than initially anticipated growth, we will provide an update to our annual outlook when we report our financial results on August 2."

Conference Call Details

Perion will release its financial results for the second quarter of 2023 on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, prior to the opening of the financial markets. Incoming CEO Tal Jaconson and CFO Maoz Sigron will host a conference call to discuss the results at 8:30 a.m. ET on the same day.

Registration link:

https://incommconferencing.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xMvsgXNoSAyrwYE3yNKUcA#/registration

Toll Free: 1-877-407-0779

Toll/International: 1-201-389-0914

A replay of the call and a transcript will be available within approximately 24 hours of the live event on the investors section of Perion’s website at www.perion.com/investors.

About Perion Network Ltd.

Perion is a global advertising technology company whose synergistic solutions are delivered across the three primary channels of digital advertising – ad search, social media and display / video / CTV advertising. These channels are brought together by Perion’s intelligent Hub, which integrates the company’s business assets from both sides of the open Web, providing significant benefit to its brands and publisher customers.

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>>> Ormat Commences Commercial Operation of Two New Battery Storage Facilities for 43MW/43MWh of Cumulative Capacity


Ormat Technologies, Inc.

Jun 26, 2023


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ormat-commences-commercial-operation-two-131500202.html


Ormat Commenced Commercial Operation of Eight Assets Under Both the Energy Storage and Electricity Segments and Met Its Growth Target for the First Half of 2023


RENO, Nev., June 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA), a leading renewable energy company, today announced that it has successfully commenced commercial operations for two new battery storage facilities, adding a cumulative capacity of 43MW/43MWh. These storage assets were part of four facilities with a total capacity of 62MW/62MWh planned for the first half of 2023. The completed projects include:

The Upton project, a 23MW/23MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) located in Texas, will provide energy and ancillary services to the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and support the electric grid in times of scarcity.

The Andover BESS project, a 20MW/20MWh located in New Jersey, will provide ancillary services to PJM.

The previously announced commercial operation of the 12MW/12MWh Bowling Green and 7MW/7MWh Howell BESS projects, located in Ohio and New Jersey, respectively, that provide ancillary services to PJM.

Doron Blachar, CEO of Ormat Technologies, stated "We are delighted to announce the commencement of operations of two new battery storage facilities. This achievement highlights our commitment to expanding our portfolio of energy storage assets in key U.S. markets. Ormat has successfully executed multiple complex projects overcoming supply chain challenges and met its growth target for the first half of 2023 showcasing our operational capabilities.”

Blachar further highlighted Ormat's recent accomplishments, remarking, “since the beginning of 2023, Ormat has met all Electricity Segment growth targets and successfully completed the construction or enhancement of four power plants, including the 25MW North Valley geothermal power plant, the 6 MW Brady Solar facility, the recovery of Heber 1, and the 6MW upgrade to the Dixie Valley power plant. The successful completion of these projects aligns with the company's goal of expanding its renewable power portfolio and demonstrates a total increase of 99 MW in all segments since the beginning of the year, reaching 1,257 MW.”

Blachar further emphasized the financial benefits of the storage projects, stating, “Ormat will now be able to maximize the economic advantages of these storage assets as they become eligible for Investment Tax Credits (ITC) for the first time. This eligibility allows us to claim approximately 30% of the asset value in tax credits, reducing our capital needs and enhancing earnings. We remain on track with our energy storage growth targets, with plans to bring online two additional assets in 2023 and make further progress towards achieving between 500 to 530 megawatts and over 1 gigawatt-hour in total capacity by the end of 2025. These targets support further top-line and EBITDA expansion."

ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

With over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (“REG”), with robust plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the U.S. energy storage market. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures, and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter – a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. The Company has engineered, manufactured, and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,200 MW of gross capacity. Ormat leveraged its core capabilities in the geothermal and REG industries and its global presence to expand the Company’s activity into energy storage services, PV solar and energy storage plus PV solar. Ormat’s current total generating portfolio is 1,257MW, comprised of a 1,107 MW geothermal and solar generation portfolio that is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe, and a 150 MW energy storage portfolio located in the U.S.

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