Nakba Day يوم النكبةEgypt going to take Diplomatic Steps against Israel

Update added on May 18

[Lebanon 24 on May 16]

Title: On the 76th anniversary of An-Nakba -
Witness in his 80ies clings to the right of return
The elderly Palestinian Muhammad Khader, who lived through the Nakba of 1948 [ i.e. the catastrophe of displacement ], told Anadolu: We left our homes under pressure from Zionist gangs. We went to the city of Ramla, then to Ramallah, later to Al-Am’ari camp. On the way (during the displacement) I saw something unmentionable, and among that is a (Palestinian) woman who was slaughtered from vein to vein. What the Palestinians of the West Bank are subjected to today in terms of “killing and abuse” at the hands of the settlers is similar to what happened in 1948. We live a new Nakba every day, but no matter how long it takes, we must return home ...

[Anadolu, Turkey on May 15, Day of An-Nakba]
Please note: My blog only reflects the views expressed by leading global media regarded as reliable when it comes to their treatment of daily news. The editor cannot be held responsible for single comments put in the showcase by such media and which is part of their daily business of information. W.W./Ulysses

IDF found the bodies of three Jewish festival goers abducted by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
The bodies are reported to be "in a good condition". [CBS on May 17]

..........................

The Wall Street Journal said that Egypt is considering reducing the level of its diplomatic relations with Israel, and has decided to support the genocide lawsuit against it in the International Court of Justice.

The newspaper added in a report: “During the 45 years since the historic peace agreement, Israel and Egypt have become necessary partners, with close, albeit not warm, relations that are important for their national security. But the Israeli attack against Rafah threatens to undermine all of this.”

The newspaper said that Egypt, which represents the center of Arab military, political and cultural power, is now considering reducing the level of its diplomatic relations with “Israel,” according to what Egyptian officials say.

Cairo said in recent days that it would listen to South Africa's lawsuit to the International Court of Justice, which accuses "Israel" of genocide in Gaza . Egypt also refused to open its borders after the Israeli army took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

The newspaper quoted Muhammad Anwar Sadat, whose uncle, President Anwar Sadat, negotiated the "Camp David" Treaty in 1979, as saying that the current conflict is the worst that bilateral relations have witnessed.

Sadat, a former member of the Egyptian parliament, said: “There is a lack of trust” and “there is in fact now a kind of suspicion between the two parties.”

The newspaper says that the current crisis began after the Israeli army gave Egypt a few hours’ notice before it launched a campaign against the Rafah crossing last week , according to an Egyptian official.

The surprise message that reached Egyptian intelligence came after months of cautious negotiations between military, security and Israeli officials regarding the attack in which Benjamin Netanyahu's government threatened against Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had taken refuge

[عربي 21, London May 14, quoting the Wallstreet Journal]

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Latest Update: May 12

The Pillars
of
Palestine

The Palestinians At Home
Photo Book © 2024 / 1974

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CNN Report on Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners

An investigative news report by US broadcaster CNN uncovered the horrors
of a shadowy detention facility where Palestinian prisoners are blindfolded,
handcuffed and forced to wear dirty diapers. [CNN on May 10]

Israeli Attack on Rafah

Independent [US] Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, said Israel shouldn't receive "another nickel" in U.S. military aid despite the findings of a recent State Department report.

"Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid," Sanders said in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Look the facts are quite clear. Hamas is a terrible disgusting terrorist organization that began this war. Though what Israel has done over the last seven months has not just gone to war against Hamas, it has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people. And results have been absolutely catastrophic."

[Fox News on May 12]

[The Hill, US political news from Washington DC on May 8]

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Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said Monday that her country will support a resolution to recognize Palestine as a full member of the UN.

"The vote will take place this week, on May 10. It is important that the European Union does not miss this historic moment," Lahbib said as she met with her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki.

She also said that Belgium wants to co-sponsor and support the resolution.

[Yeni Safak, Turkey, on May 7]

More than 100 students set up camps on the Free University of Berlin campus on Tuesday to protest Israel's war on Gaza.

The group erected tents outside the university building and unfurled banners expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, the students shouted slogans such as “Free, free Palestine!”, "Israel is a terrorist state", "Shame on you Germany”.

The university administration said in a statement that the attempt of the students to occupy the campus was “unacceptable” and it has called in the police to evict the protesters.

Since protests started last month at a number of US universities in support of Palestine, the protests have spread worldwide, including in universities across Europe.

[Yeni Safak, Turkey, on May 7]


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Website request from Australia: Israel - German Submarine Delivery (2012)

My trip to Israel started in West-Berlin where I
lived in a part of the American Sector that was
already populated by Turkish families in 1974.

Israel raising International Concern - Attack on Damascus- Hamas Rejects Agreement - Turkey cuts Economic Links

LAST UPDATE on May 4: Gazans Thank US Campus Protesters for Support
- Nations Bracing for Palestinian Stateship => => => Included Further Down !

According to the Times of Israel on May 2, local time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu once again stated in a speech at a public event that the Israeli army would launch military operations in Rafah, southern Gaza. Israeli officials said Hamas was expected to formally reject the latest hostage exchange deal.

Separately, a security source said Israeli aircraft struck a site on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus late Thursday.

Pictures widely circulated on social media showed thick smoke billowing over the struck building. Syrian state media later stated that eight soldiers were injured in the attack.

The Syrian military issued a statement in the early morning of May 3, saying that a location near the Syrian capital Damascus was hit by an Israeli air strike on the evening of the 2nd, injuring eight soldiers. The statement said that at around 22:05 local time on the 2nd, Israel launched an air strike on a location around Damascus from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, injuring eight soldiers and damaging some facilities.

The well-known financial blog Zerohedge pointed out that Israel’s new attack may be another targeted assassination operation targeting Iranian generals or Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers. Of course, it is also intended to show that Israel is still not frightened by Iran’s April 13 attack. live. It is worth noting that Iran's attack was in retaliation for a previous Israeli attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.

According to unconfirmed social media reports: Israeli strikes in Syria targeted the Syrian national security building in the "Najha" area of ​​rural Damascus.

There was speculation that this was Israel's response to Syria's rocket launch into the Golan Heights earlier this week.

Zerohedge said the new attack also showed that Iran-Israel tensions that nearly led to a major regional war last month were not over.

Both sides made concessions after tit-for-tat "limited" strikes on each other's territory. Israel had reportedly planned a larger attack, but Washington reportedly pressured Netanyahu's government to back down amid concerns that the entire area would be set ablaze.

After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, the Israeli military repeatedly carried out air strikes on targets in Syria on the pretext of attacking Iranian military facilities. Both the Syrian and Iranian governments deny that Iran has troops stationed in Syria.

Although the geopolitical situation still provides support to gold prices, investors on this trading day also need to pay attention to the U.S. non-farm payrolls report to be released at 20:30.

Economists agree that the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for April, released on Friday, is expected to add more than 200,000 jobs for the fourth consecutive month, indicating that the U.S. labor market remains tight.

The market generally expects 243,000 new jobs to be created in April, a slowdown from 303,000 new jobs in March, and the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 3.8%.

[Chinese financial network FX678 on May 3, 2024]

BEIRUT (Tribune News Service) — People across Gaza on Wednesday sent messages of appreciation to demonstrators on U.S. campuses, thanking them for their protests against the Gaza war.

Children, parents and medical staff assembled in the courtyard before Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza, with many of them unfurling banners carrying university insignias with “Thank you for supporting our cause.” Others brandished signs with the words “Your voices pierce the wall of silence and reach the victims in Gaza!,” “The killing of children in Gaza must stop” and “Palestine is everywhere.”

In recent days, as protests and encampments have bloomed in dozens of campuses across the U.S., people in Gaza have taken note of the outpouring of solidarity, both in America and abroad. They in turn have responded — on social media, in rallies, in videos, by words scribbled on tents — with messages of support of their own.

Many view the protests as a positive omen in a time of unrelenting bleakness in Gaza. At another event also in Deir al Balah, others hoped for similar protests to spread in European and Arab countries.

[US Military Newspaper Stars and Stripes quoting a Los Angeles Times article on May 2]

Israel is pushing back as the United Nations as well as several countries in Europe and beyond are expected to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming weeks.

After months of debate among U.N. member states, individual countries and parliaments over whether to recognize an independent Palestinian state, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said this week that five European states could do so by the end of May. In addition, the U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote on Palestinian membership on May 10, following a U.S. veto in the Security Council last month.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan told the General Assembly on Wednesday that “by advancing a Palestinian state, you are telling the Hamas murderers and rapists that terror pays off. It makes me want to vomit.”

“You know the Palestinian Authority doesn’t meet the criteria for statehood,” Erdan added. “You prefer a rogue state and to hell with the Jewish state. This is a clear message to the Palestinians that they never, ever, ever have to sit at the negotiating table, let alone make any compromises.”

The majority of U.N. states already recognize a Palestinian state. When the question of promoting “Palestine” from observer status to full U.N. membership was brought to the Security Council in April, 12 members voted in favor, with Britain and Switzerland abstaining, while the U.S. vetoed the resolution. The resolution, which is nonbinding, is set to go to a General Assembly vote next week; only the Security Council can admit new member states to the U.N.

[Jewish Insider on May 3]

How did the Jews come to America ? There is a fictive answer to this question given by Paul Auster, America's famous contemporary author. It is based on the family legend of Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the boy whose life takes four simultaneous and independent fictional paths in Paul Auster's outstanding novel '4321': According to family legend, Ferguson's grandfather departed on foot from his native city of Minsk with one hundred rubles sewn into the lining of his jacket, traveled west to Hamburg through Warsaw and Berlin, and then booked passage on a ship called the 'Empress of China', which crossed the Atlantic in rough winter storms and sailed into New York harbor on the first day of the twentieth century. While waiting to be interviewed by an immigration official at Ellis Island, he struck up a conversation with a fellow Russian Jew. The man said to him: Forget the name Reznikoff. It won't do you any good here. You need an American name for your new life in America, something with a good American ring to it. Since English was still an alien tongue to Isaac Reznikoff in 1900, he asked his older, more experienced compatriot for a suggestion. Tell them you are Rockefeller, the man said. You can't go wrong with that. An hour passed, then another hour, and by the time the 19-year-old Reznikoff sat down to be questioned by the immigration official, he had forgotten the name the man had told him to give. Your name ? the official asked. Slapping his head in frustration, the weary immigrant blurted out in Yiddish, Ikh hob fargessen (I have forgotten) ! And so it was that Isaac Reznikoff began his new life in America as Ichabod Ferguson. Editor's note: Ichabod (Hebrew: אִיכָבוֹד ʾĪḵāḇōḏ) is a biblical name meaning "without glory", or "where is the glory?". That name makes part of Paul Auster's preferred joke in '4321'. And it should be known that Auster has a Jewish background himself.

War on Gaza - Hamas Concessions ?

- Breaking News from China -
added further down on May 2

Hamas makes major concessions, proposes disarmament conditions

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After confirming that Iran will not retaliate again, the main Israeli army that previously left Gaza is returning to Gaza. Hamas is well aware of the gap in military strength between itself and the Israeli army. If it continues to fight, it will not get any advantages, and it may even be completely annihilated. It chose to make concessions in order to protect itself.

According to Taiwan Strait Network, on Wednesday, Hamas senior political official Khalil Haya said in an interview that Hamas is willing to follow the pre-1967 borders in accordance with the "two-state solution" recognized by the international community. Establish a sovereign Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital and accept refugees in accordance with international resolutions.

If this comes true, Hamas is willing to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel for five years or even longer, disarm, turn into a political party, and form a unified government. This is seen by the outside world as a major concession made by Hamas. However, it seems unlikely that Israel will accept this condition. After all, in their eyes, only the complete destruction of Hamas is the real victory, and senior officials of the Israeli government firmly oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders and clearly reject the two-state solution.

以色列敢这么狂妄，拒不执行安理会决议，公然站在国际社会的对立面，说白了就是因为美国的默许和纵容。

Israel dares to be so arrogant, refuses to implement Security Council resolutions, and openly stands on the opposite side of the international community. To put it bluntly, it is because of the tacit consent and encouragement of the United States.

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According to The Paper, White House spokesman Kirby said that Hamas is a "terrorist organization" and must be "eradicated." As long as Hamas remains in power, it will be impossible to implement the "two-state solution" and there will be no Palestinian state. If they want to temporarily change the rules and really want to build a state for the Palestinian people, they can end the war now, just lay down their weapons and release the hostages.

..........

Hamas does not trust the United States and Israel at all, because they often say one thing and do another, and do not play their cards according to routines. After Hamas disarms, the United States may still veto Palestine's application to join the UN with one vote and prevent Palestine from becoming an independent country.

Israel may also continue to attack Hamas and annex Palestinian territories step by step. By then, the unarmed Hamas will be unable to change anything.

However, when Kirby said these words, wasn't he afraid of domestic chaos? As we all know, not long ago, Palestine's application to join the United Nations was vetoed by the United States, arousing the anger of the international community. Large-scale pro-Palestinian protests and marches broke out in many colleges and universities in the United States.

According to Red Star News, according to statistics, nearly 550 people in American universities have been arrested for related protests in the past week. Protests and demonstrations in American universities have even spread to the southern hemisphere. Demonstrators also broke out at the University of Sydney. They set up tents on campus and wrote slogans saying "Liberate Gaza".

[Excerpts quoted from a comment written by 立伟视界 (Li Wei's gobal view),
'nom de guerre' for a Chinese military commentator from Jiangxi province,
and published by 腾讯网 on May 1st 2024]

Hamas senior official:
Blinken is 'Israel's foreign minister', not the US secretary of state

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According to reports, Blinken met with Israeli leaders to discuss how to provide more aid to Gaza. He repeatedly urged Hamas to accept Israel's proposal to release detained personnel and achieve a ceasefire, calling it "extremely generous."

这名哈马斯官员对路透社记者说：“布林肯的言论与现实相矛盾。布林肯发表这样的言论并不奇怪。他被称为以色列外长，而不是美国国务卿。”

The Hamas official told Reuters: "Blinken's remarks contradict reality. It is not surprising that Blinken would make such remarks. He is called the Israeli foreign minister, not the U.S. secretary of state."

He added: "Even the Israeli negotiating team admitted that Netanyahu was the one who was blocking the ceasefire agreement."

According to reports, Hamas is seeking a permanent ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that regardless of whether it reaches an agreement with Hamas or not, Israel must destroy the remaining Hamas organization in Rafah, southern Gaza, to ensure your own safety.

[Excerpts from a news report published in Beijing by 搜狐 on May 1st 2024]



.......... BREAKING NEWS from CHINA on May 2, 2024 ..........

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that both Hamas and Fatah
have come to Beijing. Will the two factions join forces to fight Israel?

外交部宣布，哈马斯法塔赫都来了北京，两派要合力大战以色列？

The conflict in Gaza continues, with people dying from air strikes or starvation every day, and a ceasefire is imminent. As a responsible major country committed to achieving peace in the Middle East, China announced another blockbuster news today (30th): the two main Palestinian factions are negotiating in Beijing!

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a regular press conference on April 30, a reporter asked about the talks between Fatah and Hamas in Beijing. Spokesperson Lin Jian confirmed this and stated that both parties fully expressed their reconciliation will to discuss many specific matters and make progress, and agreed to continue the dialogue.

..........

But starting the reconciliation process does not mean that reconciliation will be completed automatically. To achieve real reconciliation, we must agree on the most urgent struggle strategies at the moment. Hamas has sacrificed a lot of manpower and material resources. If Abbas and Fatah are sincere in reconciling, they must learn the lessons of the Moscow Conference and not have the idea of "picking the fruit." It should be noted that "if peace is sought through struggle, peace will survive; if peace is sought through compromise, peace will perish." Only when the Palestinian people share the same hatred can they defeat powerful enemies and the dawn of peace can come.

[Excerpts from a news report published in Beijing by 腾讯 on May 2, 2024]

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Obituary for Paul Auster For years, Paul Auster has been my favorite author. Today I heard about his death. Here is a collection of some important works I read and would like to recommend. Some lines from 'Moon Palace' I even read occasionally in a nearby public library. Paul Auster caught my interest because of his ability to combine the development of his characters simultaneously with the development of historic events, some of which I experienced myself. He therefore became the chronicler of my generation, even though some thousand miles separated the author from his reader. After having passed some months in the French capital of Paris, Auster even excelled in the translation of French poetry. The following lines are taken from his 'Report from the Interior', seen as a chronicle of post-war America. They describe his busy activity as a translator and writer of novels, as well as his difficulties to get his works typed for publishing. A letter from Nov. 23, 1967, has it that he rents a typewriter: " About the scenario. I have just gotten hold of a typewriter, a huge machine, rented at the price of $6 a month and have not yet begun the rewriting, only mental revision, addition.The biggest task is the physical work - the typing - there are so many pages. So I won't send it in the mail right away - rather, bring a copy with me at X-mas ... I'll also bring the Dupin translations, and translations of 2 other French poets: Jaccottet and du Bouchet. I'm doing a little book of the three poets for my French course - translations (about 20 poems of each), a general introductory essay, an article on each poet, and commentaries. How academic ! But it is much better than doing an ordinary paper. I have a novel that I am about to begin. Have also written some poems, which I will send to you in the next letter. They still need a bit of work. " Paul Auster was, as well, a notorious smoker of small cigars. In the cultic and obviously autobiographic film 'Smoke', Auster's protagonist, some NY author suffering from a writing blockade, receives the ideas for his X-mas essay just from the worldwise tobacco vendor where he would usually buy his Schimmelpenning cigars (same brand I used to smoke in the 1980s). Unlike me, he smoked until he was grabbed by a lung cancer from which he now died at the age of 77. His last work 'Baumgartner', a novel about age and the fragility of life, I held in my hands but refrained from buying it. It seemed to me too depressing ... Wolfgang Wiesner "Ulysses" on May 1st, 2024

Gaza - Universities Against War

Students and academic personnel at US universities are taking to the streets in favour of the Palestinian victims in Israel's war on Gaza. They are calling for a cutting of military and economic links with Israel in the frame of a genocide that is happening under the eyes of the world.

The protests are even swapping into Europe where students at Paris university Sorbonne are taking to the streets of Paris while similar activities have been reported from Italy as well.

Iranian Attack - The Price Israel Paid for its Defence

The Minister Plenipotentiary [for Trade], Dr. Mongi Badr, an expert in international relations and a member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Association for the United Nations, said that if Iran continues its attack on Israel as a response to Israel's bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, this will be considered a change in the rules for the countries of the region.

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وأوضح «منجي» أن بعض صحف إسرائيل أشارت إلى أن تل أبيب أنفقت ما قد يصل لنحو 1.35 مليار دولار، خلال ليلة واحدة من أجل التصدي لهجوم إيران، باستخدام مئات المسيرات والصواريخ الباليستية، وأن التكلفة تشمل فقط التصدي للمسيرات والصواريخ دون إدراج الخسائر الميدانية، والتي أعلن الجيش الإسرائيلي أنها طفيفة وأن كل صاروخ من نظام آرو الذي يستهدف الصواريخ الباليستية يكلف نحو 3.5 مليون دولار، بينما تدفع إسرائيل نحو مليون دولار لكل صاروخ في نظام مقلاع داود الخاص باعتراض صواريخ كروز، إضافة إلى تكاليف تشغيل الطائرات المكلفة باستهداف المسيرات بالإضافة لحدوث ضرر طفيف في قاعدة نفاطيم الجوية في بئر السبع جنوبي إسرائيل

Mongi explained that some Israeli newspapers indicated that Tel Aviv spent what may amount to about 1.35 billion dollars, during one night, in order to confront the Iranian attack, using hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles, and that the cost includes only confronting the drones and missiles without including field losses, which The Israeli army announced that it is minor and that each missile from the Arrow system, which targets ballistic missiles, costs about $3.5 million, while Israel pays about $1 million for each missile in David’s Sling Shot system for intercepting cruise missiles, in addition to the costs of operating the aircraft assigned to target the drones, in addition to causing minor damage at Nafatim Air Base in Beersheba, southern Israel.

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Mongi added in statements to Al-Watan that Iran's direct attack on Israel for the first time in history would change the rules of the game in the region, especially after the success of a limited number of Iranian missiles in hitting a military airport in the Negev, from which the planes that struck its consulate were launched. As well as another military site, Ramon Airport and the Natim base.

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The Minister Plenipotentiary explained that the Gulf markets suffered severe losses following the Iranian attack on Israel last night, and the Gulf indices turned red, amid declines exceeding 1% at the opening, while the Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain stock exchanges are not operating, and the value of the Iranian riyal has decreased against the dollar, international airlines are also suffering from tension in the region.

[Al-Watan, Egypt, on April 15 at 06:00 AM local time]

Iran & Israel - First Direct Confrontation

From now on, the world is going to change !
About 300 hundred drones and rockets of different types were deployed by Iran. Most of them could be intercepted by Israeli and US forces. A military basis in southern Israel and the region of Dimona, hosting Israel's nuclear capabilities, have been targeted.

فيما ذكرت وكالة الأنباء الإيرانية "إيرنا" أنها استهدفت قاعدة جوية إسرائيلية بنجاح في النقب بصواريخ خيبر.
وأضافت الوكالة، أن القاعدة الجوية المستهدفة في النقب كانت منطلقا للهجوم على القنصلية بدمشق

The Iranian news agency IRNA reported that it successfully targeted an Israeli air base in the Negev with Khaybar missiles. The agency added that the targeted air base in the Negev was the starting point for the attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus. [Al-Dostor الدستور published at 09:00 AM local time]

وقال رئيس هيئة الأركان المشتركة اللواء محمد باقري إن “عملية الوعد الصادق نفّذت بنجاح بين ليل أمس وصباح اليوم (الأحد)، وحققت كل أهدافها”

وأشار إلى أن الضربات استهدفت موقعين عسكريين هما “المركز الاستخباري الذي وفّر للصهاينة المعلومات المطلوبة” لقصف القنصلية الإيرانية في دمشق، إضافة إلى “قاعدة نفاطيم التي أقلعت منها طائرات إف-35” لشنّ الضربة في الأول من نيسان/أبريل. وأكد أن الموقعين أصيبا بأضرار بالغة

من جهتها، أكدت اسرائيل “إحباط” الهجوم وأنها اعترضت مع حلفائها، غالبية المسيّرات والصواريخ قبل بلوغها أراضيها. لكنها أقرت بسقوط بعضها وإلحاق أضرار “طفيفة” في القاعدة الجوية الواقعة في النقب

And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri said “Operation True Promise was carried out successfully between last night and this morning (Sunday), and achieved all its objectives.”

He pointed out that the strikes targeted two military sites: “the intelligence center that provided the Zionists with the information required” to bomb the Iranian consulate in Damascus, in addition to “the Nafatim base from which F-35 planes took off” to launch the strike on April 1. He confirmed that the two sites were severely damaged.

For its part, Israel confirmed that the attack was “thwarted” and that it, along with its allies, intercepted the majority of the drones and missiles before they reached its territory. But it acknowledged that some of them had fallen and caused “minor” damage to the air base located in the Negev.

[Akhbar Alaan أخبار الآن on April 14, 17:00 local time]

Included videos below were published shortly after the Iranian attack began:

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Israel - Awaiting Iranian Retaliation

Developing News on April 13 further down !

Latest 13-04 22:00 - Latest 13-04 22:00 - Latest 13-04 22:00

Israeli Military IDF: Iranian drones will take hours to arrive.
Latest 13-04 22:00 - Latest 13-04 22:00 - Latest 13-04 22:00

After bombing an Iranian consulate building in Damascus, thereby killing some high-ranking Iranian commanders, Israel is now awaiting Iran's retaliation. An Israeli army spokesman put it like that: "The coming days are complicated". Israeli cocerns come at the same time when Hezbollah launched 50 rockets at northern Galilee.

The Yemenite paper Al-Ayyam doesn't allow its article from April 12, 2024, to be copied.

Further News of the Day:
Israeli settlers in the occupied Westbank set fire to a Palestinian village, killing one Palestinian and wounding 25. [Al-Jazeera]

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مع اقتراب رد إيران على إسرائيل.. القصة الكاملة لهجوم القنصلية

تحبس منطقة الشرق الأوسط أنفاسها، ترقبا لهجوم إيراني محتمل للرد على ضربة جوية إسرائيلية طالت قنصليتها في دمشق.

وقد أسفرت الضربة عن مقتل محمد رضا زاهدي أبرز القادة العسكريين الإيرانيين، فهو المسؤول عن فيلق القدس التابع للحرس الثوري في سوريا ولبنان، ورغم أنه ليس الأول الذي يقتل هكذا، لكنه الأرفع بين سلسلة عسكريين إيرانيين استهدفتهم تل أبيب.

وتحدثت تقارير أمريكية عدة، خلال الساعات الماضية، عن تحريك إيران طائرات مسيرة وصواريخ كروز، استعدادا لهجوم انتقامي هو الأكبر ضد إسرائيل, التي لم تعلن مسؤوليتها رسميا عن هجوم القنصلية. 100 مسيرة وعشرات الصواريخ.. سيناريو جنوني لرد إيران على هجوم القنصلية

As Iran's response to Israel approaches...the full story of the consulate attack

The Middle East region is holding its breath, anticipating a possible Iranian attack in response to an Israeli air strike that targeted its consulate in Damascus.

The strike resulted in the killing of Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the most prominent Iranian military leader. He is responsible for the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard in Syria and Lebanon. Although he is not the first to be killed in this way, he is the highest-ranking among a series of Iranian military personnel targeted by Tel Aviv.

During the past hours, several American reports spoke of Iran moving drones and cruise missiles, in preparation for the largest retaliatory attack against Israel, which did not officially claim responsibility for the consulate attack. 100 [guided missiles] and dozens of rockets ... a crazy scenario for Iran's response to the consulate attack.

من كتابة العين الإخبارية • 59 دقيقة
AL-Ain Al-Akhbariya, 59 minutes ago
published on April 13 at 08:00 AM

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الحرس الإيراني يؤكد سيطرته على سفينة مرتبطة بـ"إسرائيل" (شاهد)

كشفت وكالة الأنباء الإيرانية الرسمية، أن الحرس الثوري سيطر على سفينة "مرتبطة بإسرائيل"، مشيرة إلى أن القوات الإيرانية استخدمت طائرة هليكوبتر اعتلت السفينة وسيطرت عليها

وقالت مصادر إعلامية غربية، إن السفينة المحتجزة ترفع علم البرتغال وتديرها شركة زودياك المملوكة لرجل أعمال إسرائيلي

وكانت هيئة عمليات التجارة البحرية البريطانية السبت، تلقت تقريرا عن استهداف سفينة قبالة السواحل الإماراتية.

ولم تكشف الهيئة عن طبيعة ما جرى للسفينة، أو الهجوم الذي تعرضت له، لكنها قالت في بيان، إن السلطات الإقليمية سيطرت على السفينة على بعد 50 ميلا بحريا شمال شرقي الفجيرة الإماراتية، دون تفاصيل إضافية.

والثلاثاء، قال قائد القوة البحرية في الحرس الثوري الإيراني، إن الوجود الإسرائيلي في الإمارات يمثل تهديدا لطهران وإنها قد تغلق مضيق هرمز في حال الضرورة، وتقع الفجيرة على الجانب الشرقي من مضيق هرمز.

Iranian Guards confirm seizure of Israel-linked ship (Witness)

The official Iranian news agency revealed that the Revolutionary Guards took control of a ship "linked to Israel," noting that Iranian forces used a helicopter that boarded and took control of the ship. Western media sources said the seized ship was Portugal-flagged and operated by Zodiac, owned by an Israeli businessman.

On Saturday, Britain's Maritime Trade Operations Authority received a report that a ship had been targeted off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The authority did not disclose the nature of what happened to the ship or the attack it suffered, but said in a statement that regional authorities had taken control of the ship 50 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah, without further details. On Tuesday, the commander of the naval force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the Israeli presence in the UAE posed a threat to Tehran and that it could close the Strait of Hormuz if necessary, as Fujairah is located on the eastern side of the Strait of Hormuz.

[Arabi 21, London, on April 13, 11:00 AM]

@ Ukraine - Russian_Missile_Defense @

@ The following information is based on Chinese media information from the day before:

@ Last year, a Storm Shadow missile launched by Ukraine fell into the Russian-occupied territory with almost no damage and was picked up by the Russian army as a trophy. The reason was not clear at the time. Now photos taken by the Russian Navy show that, It may have been shot down by the armor close-in defense system (Pantsir-M).

Navy Recognition reported that the Storm Shadow missile was targeting a military target near the coast of Crimea. However, the Pantsir-M close-in defense system of the light frigate Taifun detected it early, intercepted it and destroyed it.

Pantsir-M System

The Taifun belongs to Project 22800 and the Black Widow Class (Karakurt Class). This is a light frigate with a displacement of 860 tons. It has 4 ultra-small phased array radars (unknown shape and number) and 3D radars. It is known as "The world's smallest Aegis warship."

Its firepower is also quite powerful. It has a vertical launch system and can launch Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and may also launch P-800 "Oniks" supersonic anti-ship missiles. For short-range defense, they installed the maritime type "Pantsir-M" (CIWS Pantsir-M) after the Russo-Ukrainian War, which has proven its effectiveness in recent incidents.

Oleg Ryazantsev, general manager of the Russian State-owned Military Complex (NPO), said that this shooting down incident should be the first actual combat demonstration of the Pantsir system.

The Armor system is a hybrid missile-quick artillery close-in defense system. Eight missiles can intercept air targets at a distance of 20 kilometers. Two 30mm cannons can destroy air targets within 4 kilometers. The gun's rate of fire is as high as 10,000 rounds per minute, which significantly improves the ship's survivability. @

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Another article from the same day deals with new activities regarding the cooperation between North Korea and Russia:

North Korea's official media KCNA established a new category on its website on the 9th, "DPRK-Russia Friendly Relations Ushering in a Historical Turning Point." This category published a total of 148 articles, including the April 2019 summit between leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. talks, as well as a delegation sent by the Ministry of Education to visit Russia on the 6th of this month.

The South Korean media "Joongang Ilbo" analyzed that it is rare for the Korean Central News Agency, the window for North Korea to express its position to the outside world, to create a new category focusing on North Korea's relations with a specific country. The Korean Central News Agency has previously disclosed the visit of Sergei Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), to Pyongyang from March 25 to 27. It is also very inappropriate to publicly report the foreign visits of the leaders of the intelligence agency in a secret form. Ordinary.

Analysis pointed out that the KCNA was intended to demonstrate the friendly relations between North Korea and Russia that include all-round cooperation in the fields of military, tourism, culture and other fields, and to pave the way for President Putin's future visit to North Korea.

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Regarding the timing of his visit to North Korea, the Kremlin has recently stated that it is very unlikely that Putin will visit North Korea before the Russian presidential election in March, so the visit may be scheduled shortly after his trip to China. Putin is expected to make his first overseas trip during his fifth term in May and hold leadership talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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US based visitor statistics. Data traffic passing through Hong Kong and Singapore nodes
is not included and has been detected otherwise. Such data are leading to the assumption
of an increasing traffic to PR China, based on certain characteristics of client systems.

Visitor statistics recorded by a European provider
for the same period of time on April 12, 2024.

European providers are recording additional data traffic
which is passing through different global internet nodes.
Clients <= US provider <=> European provider => Clients
My article on that subject: Riding the Internet Backbone

Data request from a Zürich client (Switzerland) handled by
an internet node in Virginia (USA, Area of Washington DC).

The Arabs and Adolf Hitler - own report -

Urban Arabs are following some of the same trends people in the West are following. As an example, the reading of books has already given way to electronic entertainment to a great extent.

Nevertheless, there are still many opportunities to buy printed media in a densely populated city like Amman, the capital of Jordan. On my way to the touristic sights there, I found booksellers offering each and every kind of literature one could imagine.

When I gave a closer look at the bookshelves, however, I was really astonished to find three different newcomers dealing with a man whose book My Combat كفاحي is still a no-go for readers in his own country where its reprinting is forbidden and access to it is only granted for academic research: Adolf Hitler, the German 'Führer' who once had triggered off World War II, seems to have become really popular in Jordan and in other countries of the Arab sphere probably as well.

Marx - Hitler - Atatürk

Some guy I met, told me: "I would even invite Hitler into my home." This was somebody who had already told me that his relatives are still living in the Westbank of river Jordan and had allegedly been badly treated under Israeli occupation.

Another Arab put it that way: "The Holy Quran has it that Jews are eating pigs and monkeys. Maybe that has formed their character." He thereby remembered Israeli remarks about the Palestinian attackers of October 7, 2023, being considered by Israel as 'human animals'. By quoting the Holy Quran, he referred to a metaphor used in Sura 6:60 and which mentions the transformation of big wrongdoers into pigs and monkeys on behalf of Allah. Shortly before, we spoke about food and diet during Ramadan. At least "any human being is what he/she is eating" (German proverb).

While 70% of Jordan's population can be regarded as being of Palestinian origin, including high-ranking members of government and the Royal Court, there is much potential for an anti-Israeli attitude, even though most Jordanian citizens are rather peaceful and friendly according to my limited individual experience.

As Hitler's extermination of six million European Jews had led to a mass immigration of Jews into Palestine, already starting around 1938, existing problems between Arabs and Jews in the region intensified and led to a civil war that finally resulted in Israel's declaration of independence and the wars that followed.

Therefore and in a certain way, Hitler was at the starting point of an Israeli-Palestinian conflict where Jews changed from the victims of persecution to the initiators of a genocide and which could even lead to the decline and fall of Israel.

Syrian Refugees to Europe - own report -

On April 1st, international media reported about 240 migrants from Syria having reached the coast of Cyprus.

On that very day, I happened to pass a giant camp for Syrian refugees in the Jordanian governorate of al-Azraq. Alongside Highway 30 and in the middle of a desert, I met with the disturbing view of an extended area covered by tents that are currently hosting some 40.000 refugees from Syria. My driver told me there was another still larger camp in Zaaria, hosting another 80.000 refugees. When checking the facts, I learned that these are indeed the official numbers for 2024 as published by UNHCR, the United Nations Refugees Organisation.

Azraq Camp is neighbouring the Syrian border which is only some 50 km away and near to the historic site of Azraq Castle. Azraq and Zaaria, however, don't host the total of Syrian refugees, as less than 20 percent of such refugees should be currently living in such camps.

Therefore, the European Union should consider themselves lucky not to be flooded by further Syrian refugees when they are now saying that 240 migrants starting on their boats from Beirut was the biggest group of refugees up to now from Syria.

Russia - Terrorist Attack on Moscow Concert Hall

UPDATE added on March 24

Morning News on March 23:
ارتفاع عدد قتلى هجوم قرب موسكو إلى 93 شخصا [أهل مصر] ................................ الإمارات تدين هجوم موسكو "الإرهابي" وتعلن تضامنها مع روسيا [الإمارات]
Death toll from attack near Moscow rises to 93 [Ahl Masr - People of Egypt]................................ UAE condemns Moscow's 'terrorist' attack, declares solidarity with Russia [UAE7]

140 dead and 120 wounded (March 24) in Russia's worst terrorist attack
in 20 years, when militants stormed a Moscow concert hall on March 22.
Clad in camouflage uniforms they opened fire on visitors with automatic
weapons and hand grenades.
According to Western media, the Islamic State ISIS assumed responsibility
for that operation as early as March 22.

The United States collected intelligence in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow, according to officials. ISIS members have been active in Russia, one U.S. official said.
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“ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years,” frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. “ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”

[New York Times on March 22]

The founder of ISIS-K allegedly met with Taliban leaders in Jalalabad, Eastern Afghanistan, on Friday March 22, day of the Moscow assault. Information should have been available to Russian authorities the next day.
Editor's Note: The language used in ,both, the X post and the quoted article is 'Dari' or 'Afghan Persian'. The text has been counterchecked by me, and the English translation given seems to be reliable. The quoted article is referring to the term of 'Khorasan', the historic term for a Greater Persia comprising Afghanistan and which is allegedly preferred by the Tajiks of Central Asia for nostalgia and nationalism.
خراسان : دليلى براى ادامه جنك با طالبان نداريم
Khorasan: We have no reason to continue fighting the Taliban.
The above photo should be showing the Taliban governor of Nangarhar province
together with other Afghan or ISIS leaders in a scene of mutual brotherhood.
It could be the reminder of an earlier reconciliation between different groups.

Inside the Islamic State of Afghanistan, home of ISIS-K under Taliban rule.

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