Drone intercepted by Hamas is Elbit Skylark 1

Mashaal leading Hamas delegation to Turkey

A Hamas delegation headed by the group’s political bureau leader, Khaled Mashaal, is to visit Turkey, says Osama Hamdan, the terror organization’s official in charge of international relations.

Hamdan does not say when the delegation will leave but says the visit will take place soon. He says the Mashaal and the group will meet senior Turkish officials in order to discuss the situation of the Palestinian people.

According to Israel Radio, Mashaal will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today. There is no other confirmation for the report.

Hamas recently denied Israeli reports saying Turkey expelled Salah al Arouri, a senior Hamas official who, according to Israel, is in charge of training terror cells in the West Bank.

Mashaal met earlier this month with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Qatar. During the meeting Lavrov invited him to visit Moscow.

NGO seeks warrant to destroy 9 West Bank buildings

The Yesh Din NGO, a group dedicated to defending Palestinian land claims, asks the High Court of Justice to issue a warrant to destroy nine illegal structures in the outpost Derech Ha’avot, an illegal settlement in the West Bank.

The group said it decided to target those specific buildings since they were still under construction and not yet housed, and are located in an area that belongs, the NGO says, to residents from a nearby Palestinian village, al-Hader.

Efrat mayor raps EU ‘duplicity’ on building

The head of the Efrat Local Council, a West Bank town, says the European Union is an “exemplar of duplicity.”

Oded Ravivi, a lawyer by training, criticizes the EU for allegedly sponsoring illegal construction in the West Bank for Palestinian housing. His comments come after the Knesset Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria convened yesterday to discuss illegal Palestinian construction in the West Bank, where Civil Administration officials presented 140 instances of illegal construction activity conducted by European sponsors including the EU.

“The EU is an exemplar of duplicity in a guise of defending human rights,” says Ravivi. “On the one hand it condemns ‘illegal’ construction by Jews in Judea and Samaria and on the other hand it builds illegally for the Palestinians. Building not according to plans, without connecting [houses] to infrastructure, while creating [environmental] harm and violating planning and construction laws,” Ravivi says.

“I believe,” he adds, “that peace will come when these masters will leave the area and let us and the Palestinians live side by side. I invite them to Efrat to witness with their own eyes the coexistence between Palestinians and residents of Efrat.”

He adds that he wishes to commend Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai who said during yesterday’s discussion that the state will take active measures against anyone who conducts illegal construction in the West Bank.

Government Coordinator in the Territories Brigadier general Yoav Mordechai (L) speaks with Oded Ravivi, head council of Efrat, during a tour expanding the settlement of Efrat in Gush Etzion on January 25, 2015. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

IS says it beheaded Croatian hostage in Egypt

The Islamic State group claims to have beheaded a Croatian hostage abducted in Egypt, posting a purported picture of the victim’s body on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts.

The Croat, Tomislav Salopek, was abducted last month west of the capital Cairo. The jihadists had issued a 48-hour deadline that ended last Friday threatening to kill him if Muslim women prisoners were not released from Egyptian jails.

The picture’s authenticity could not be immediately verified.

— AFP

Top Likud MK convinced Congress will reject Iran deal

Head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) is convinced that the US Congress will reject the nuclear deal with Iran “with a great majority,” according to a report on Israel Radio.

Hanegbi says Congress will reject the deal regardless of its implications for Israel, and adds that Israel is not trying to influence Congress members to examine the Vienna deal “through Israeli eyes” but rather to “examine what is good for their country – we have reasons enough to see why this agreement weakens the United States.”

Zionist Union co-leader Tzipi Livni says she too believes the deal is bad for Israel but adds that “we cannot fight the war of one month ago.” Livni says that even if Congress rejects the deal, in reality Iran has already received much of the legitimacy it has once lost from many of the world’s countries, and the boycott against it has been lifted in many ways.

Tzipi Livni and Tzachi Hanegbi attend a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting (Photo credit: Michal Fattal /FLASH90)

Kerry says ‘snapback’ sanctions won’t be triggered by Iran violating arms embargo

If Iran violates the arms embargo or the restrictions imposed on its missile program it would not force an automatic reinstatement of sanctions, US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York.

“The arms embargo is not tied to snapback,” Kerry said. “It is tied to a separate set of obligations. So they are not in material breach of the nuclear agreement for violating the arms piece of it.”

Kerry told the audience that the UN panel which has until now been monitoring countries’ compliance with the sanctions regime would be abolished in coming months and a new mechanism would have to be created.

Iran wanted to tie the nuclear deal with measures taken against its missile program and allegations of terror funding. But those remain under two separate sets of restrictions, eight and five years long, respectively, while the nuclear deal has a 10-year expiration date.

It was not clear until now, however, whether Iran would trigger the so-called snapback sanctions if it violated the two shorter embargoes.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about the Iran deal on August 11, 2015 in New York City (Andrew Burton/Getty Images/AFP)

Kerry told the Reuters event that the US and its allies will have “ample tools at our disposal” if Iran violated the arms embargo and missile sanctions.

“There is a specific UN resolution outside of this agreement that prohibits them from sending weapons to Hezbollah. There is a separate and specific UN resolution that prohibits them from sending weapons to the Shia militia in Iraq,” he is quoted by Reuters as saying.

Kerry added that similar resolutions banned arms sales to the Houthi rebels in Yemen and to other potential buyers of arms from Iran.

According to the Reuters report, the Islamic Republic has consistently violated the UN arms embargo and missile sanctions.

Jewish Home MK says Haaretz ‘incites’ against him

Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich files a complaint of incitement against the Haaretz newspaper, Army Radio reports, after a writer described in an op-ed published this morning how he would slap the MK in the face.

The op-ed in question was written by Nissan Shor, a columnist whose pieces often convey social criticism in satirical form. In a piece lamenting the apparent weakness of the Israeli left, Shor writes:

In my dreams we establish a militia. A gang of bespectacled Ashkenazis with whiskey bottles and baseball bats, going out on the streets and looking for Bentzi Gopshtain and members of the Lehava organization in order to teach them a lesson. After we finish with them, and they escape limping and bleeding, we tackle [Beitar Jerusalem fan group] La Familia and also chase the psychopathic grandson of [Rabbi Meir] Kahane, breaking apart all the racists. Screwing the nationalistic hooligans, finishing off the Jewish terrorists. And Bezalel Smotrich will also receive a slap or two.

Smotrich has in the past said he is “proud to be homophobic” and, speaking at a discussion on a bill that would allow execution of convicted terrorists, said he was “willing to be the hangman.”

Haaretz, according to Army Radio, did not respond to the complaint.

The Times of Israel can only hope it will not be the target of a similar complaint, now that it reproduced the offending paragraph.

Bezalel Smotrich (Photo credit: Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Heavy traffic after bus catches fire

A bus caught fire following a malfunction near Kiryat Tivon in the center of the country.

As a result Route 75 is heavily congested in both directions. Fire and rescue teams doused the flames and no passengers were hurt.

Iran general says country ready for ‘any threat’

A senior Iranian official says that the country’s Revolutionary Guards are “prepared to counter any foreign threat,” according to a report in Tasnim, a semi-official news agency.

“Today, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has immense power with reliance on people and faith (in God), and by possessing very advanced technologies, it is ready to counter any foreign threat,” Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari is quoted by Tasnim as saying.

He says that “defending the Islamic Revolution” is the main duty of the IRGC forces.

Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Mohammad Ali Jafari. (screen capture: YouTube/Press TV)

Man stabbed in chest in north, badly hurt

A man in his thirties was stabbed in his chest in Nesher, in northern Israel.

The man is unconscious and in serious condition. Magen David Adom paramedics and volunteers from the Hatzalah organization are treating the man at the scene.

The circumstances of the stabbing are not yet clear.

Spain arrests man who sold shirts with IS logo

Spanish police arrest a man who sold shirts with a printing of an execution by the Islamic State terror group. The man also sold shirts bearing different slogans and insignia of the terror group.

US anti-Semitism envoy opposes legal silencing of hate speech

The top US official combating anti-Semitism says he does not counsel any restrictions on speech in his interactions with foreign officials.

“In our interactions with other governments and civil society outside the United States we make very clear that we support freedom of speech and assembly and oppose criminalizing speech – even the most odious forms of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred,” Ira Forman, the State Department’s special envoy to combat and monitor anti-Semitism, said in an Aug. 10 letter to Jewish Voice for Peace.

Forman was replying to the group after it said that the State Department definition of anti-Semitism, which is used to deal with foreign officials, inhibits free speech on US campuses.

— JTA

Ira Forman, the US State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, speaking at the Hungarian parliament in Budapest, October 2013. (Tom Lantos Institute/ JTA)

Justice minister mulls jailing migrants for 5 years

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is considering implementing a clause in the so-called Infiltrators Law that allows jailing of illegal migrants for up to five years, in an effort to deter migrants from trying to remain in the country.

Shaked is trying to find ways to curb the number of African migrants in Israel after yesterday the High Court of Justice struck down a key clause of the law, reducing the amount of time migrants can be held in detention facilities from the current 20 months to one year.

Justice Ministry officials say that thus far, the government had avoided enforcing the clause against tens of thousands of migrants and chosen to send them instead to detention facilities in the south of the country.

But now, officials say, in light of the High Court ruling and amid fear that a new wave of migrants will arrive, the minister has decided to consider implementing the clause, which allows the imprisonment of migrants who have recently arrived in the country for up to five years.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked speaks at the annual Bar Association Conference in Eilat, May 18, 2015. (Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)

Death toll from Egypt heatwave reaches 61

The Egyptian Health Ministry says the number of people who died in a massive heatwave scorching the country since Sunday has reached 61.

Nearly 600 people were hospitalized across the country for medical problems directly related to the high temperatures.

‘Equal Chance Association’ thanks Rivlin for his support

This morning, President Reuven Rivlin received a letter of appreciation for “promoting the integration of people with disabilities through employment” from the Equal Chance Association, during a meeting with a delegation of the group at the President’s Residence. The association is a virtual community which provides opportunities for the integration of people with disabilities in the labor market and society.

The president congratulated participants and stressed the importance of of a healthy society in which everyone is treated equally. “When I meet with you and hear about places of employment where you are able to feel at home, I see some very encouraging prospects,” he said.

Oren Hellman, the founder of the Equal Chance Association, said, “We would like to voice our support for you at the current time. We are engaged in accepting different people, whether someone with a disability, from a different sector, or of a different sexual orientation. We respect them and treat them as an equal. The President has worked on integrating people with disabilities since he was the speaker of the Knesset, and in him we know that we have a true partner.”

During the meeting, team members introduced themselves to the president and told him of their disabilities, which included cerebral palsy and autism. They also told the president about their integration in various companies, such as the Israel Electric Corporation and cyber companies.

President Reuven Rivlin (wearing a tie) sitting with people who found employment through the ‘Equal Chance Association’ at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, on Wednesday August 12 2015. (Mark Neyman/GPO)

PA’s Abbas reportedly plans to resign

An Egyptian report quoted by Channel 2 says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will resign from his position in the next few weeks, and that he recently appointed a deputy as he prepares to step down.

Abbas has been head of the PA since the demise of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He threatened to dismantle the PA in late July but eventually continued to serve in his position.

The report was attributed to an Egyptian journalist.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a press conference, June 10, 2015 (AP/Darko Vojinovic)

Blair reportedly met with Mashaal in Qatar

Former British prime minister and ex-Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair met recently with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, according to a report in the Arabic version of the Huffington Post.

Blair also met with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el- Sissi and with the Egyptian chief of intelligence as well as with senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.

According to the report, the meeting between Blair and Mashaal in Doha, Qatar, is the second in less than two months, and like the first meeting, was dedicated to finding a formula for a long-term ceasefire with Israel in return for lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

A separate Egyptian report, quoted by Haaretz, says a five-man delegation from Israel arrived in Cairo yesterday for meetings with Egyptian security officials. Leading the delegations was Yitzhak Molcho, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy. The content of the meetings was not disclosed.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair (AP/Matt Rourke)

Hamas claims it has tech to block IDF drones

Hamas claims to have developed new technology capable of obstructing the signal used to control UAVs, Channel 2 reports.

According to the report, the terror group boasts that it managed to “break the code” of Israeli unmanned aircraft after it intercepted and analyzed some drones.

In a video published by the Gaza terror group, a Hamas official shows pieces of what are supposed to be Israeli drones, including some close-up shots of parts of the drones, presumably taken apart for research purposes.

Israel makes extensive use of drones both for intelligence gathering and attack missions.

‘Parchin pix don’t indicate more activity’

Satellite images from the past few years do not support the theory that Iran has recently conducting a rushed-up cleaning of the Parchin research facility.

According to a piece published in Bloomberg Views, the number of vehicles seen in a parking lot outside the Parchin facility has more or less remained at 20 over the past several years.

Reports over the past week have underlined the number of cars, saying the increase in the number of vehicles points to suspicious activity at the site. According to Bloomberg, not only is the number of cars mostly static; some of the cars seem to appear in different images, indicating that they may belong to employees of a nearby factory.

US officials say they can tell if Iran is cheating on deal

US intelligence officials say they are confident they can verify Iran’s compliance with the recently completed nuclear deal, despite a track record of misjudgments about weapons of mass destruction.

The main reason, according to a classified joint intelligence assessment presented to Congress, is that the deal requires Iran to provide an unprecedented volume of information about nearly every aspect of its existing nuclear program, which Iran insists is peaceful. That data will make checking on compliance easier, officials say, because it will shrink Iran’s capacity to hide a covert weapons program.

“We will have far better insight (into) the industrial aspects of the Iranian nuclear program with this deal than what we have today,” James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told an audience last month at the Aspen Security Forum.

Outside experts don’t dispute that. But they question — considering past analytical blind spots in the Middle East — whether American spying will really be able to catch every instance of Iranian cheating.

— AP

Switzerland to lift Iran sanctions tomorrow

Switzerland will tomorrow lift sanctions against Iran, Reuters reports, quoting a government announcement.

The move comes following a deal between Tehran and world powers intended to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“The Federal Council (government) wishes today’s steps to be seen as a sign of its support for the implementation of the nuclear agreement and its interest in deepening bilateral relations with Iran,” Reuters quotes a Swiss government statement as saying.

Investigation against ex-IDF chief reportedly to be closed

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is closing the investigation case against former chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Channel 2 reports.

The file is part of a case called the Harpaz Affair, in which Ashkenazi was suspected of handing over to journalists top secret military information, as well as delaying in giving to the police the Harpaz file, a document containing instructions on how to play up the profile of Yoav Galant, then a top general (and today the Housing Minister and member of Kulanu party) and dismiss other contenders competing to succeed Ashkenazi as chief of staff.

The document was later revealed to be a forgery.

Former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

US Jewish journalist tells of relative freedom on trip to Iran

An American-Jewish journalist just back from an unprecedented week-long reporting trip to Islamist Iran has described a relatively free hand in choosing who to interview and what questions to ask, despite being assigned a government minder.

Larry Cohler-Esses (Courtesy)

In a longform multimedia piece published Wednesday in the Jewish Daily Forward, the newspaper’s deputy managing editor Larry Cohler-Esses details the process of obtaining a visa to the Islamic Republic — with the help of a member of the Iranian Jewish community who wrote a letter on his behalf — and his subsequent conversations in Iran with ayatollahs, government officials and regular Iranians on Jews in general and Israel in particular.

Here’s more on Cohler-Esses’s unprecedented trip — as the first journalist from a US Jewish newspaper to be granted a visa since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. And here’s his Forward piece.

Hamas claims drone it caught is Elbit Skylark 1

The military wing of Hamas claims that it managed to convert an Israeli drone to be operated for the group.

The terror group claims its engineers managed to take control over the systems of a Skylark 1 type drone “and managed in making it operational in its service” two weeks ago.

“Security checks and technological systems were tested, and then the unit put the UAV back together and added it to the ranks of Izz a-Din al Kassam,” a statement from Hamas said.

The Skylark 1 is a miniature drone carried in several pieces by land troops and assembled before launch. It is launched by hand, almost like a kite, and was designed for close-range surveillance missions.

The dismantling of the craft by Hamas members as seen in a video published by the group is not a feat of engineering but rather the way the drone is operated.

An IDF soldier from the Artillery Corps launches an Elbit Skylark 1, known in the IDF as a Sky Rider, during Operation Protective Edge in late 2014. (CC BY-SA2.0 Matanya/Wikipedia)

Twitter user affiliated with IS claims to have hacked sensitive US officials’ accounts

A Twitter account supposedly managed by a supporter of the Islamic State terror group publishes a spreadsheet with the alleged names, email addresses, and passwords of hundreds of American military and government employees, Sky News reports.

The account urges members of the group to carry out attacks. Most of the names on the list are of people based inside the US and serve within the Air Force, Marines, NASA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to Sky.

It is not clear whether the information is up to date.

Must-watch video: Massive blast at China building

An explosion of massive proportions took place in the Chinese city of Tianjin this evening.

It is not yet clear what is the source of the blast, which according to some sources originates in a chemical factory.

The clip below shows several cellphone captures of the moment. The fireball created by the blast looks almost like a nuclear detonation.