Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israelis don’t trust US President Barack Obama to stop Iran’s nuclear program, a Times of Israeli poll found. The Attorney General rules the anti-Netanyahu grassroots group V15 can continue operating.
In London, the window of a Kosher restaurant was shattered, but the motive is still unclear.
Strange winter weather hit the country, with snow falling up north, hail in Tel Aviv, and rain in Jerusalem. And sand galore.
In what is likely meant as a strong message to Turkey, Greece announced a training exercise with the Cypriot, Israeli, and possibly Egyptian militaries. Egypt killed a Hamas commander in the Sinai, while Hezbollah advanced toward the Syrian Golan Heights.
The Times of Israel liveblogged developments as they happened.
Syrian troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group seize several towns and villages south of Damascus, state media and activists say, advancing in a region leading to the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The government counteroffensive aims at recapturing areas seized by Syrian opposition fighters and members of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, whose recent advances had brought them closer to Syria’s capital, embattled President Bashar Assad’s seat of power.
The government late last year lost large parts of the Quneitra region, on the edge of the Golan. State television said troops gained control of the town of Deir al-Adas and the village of Deir Maker, as well as the nearby areas of Tal al-Arous and Tal al-Sarjeh.
“The operations are being led by Hezbollah’s special forces,” says Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “Their aim appears to be to eventually reach areas bordering the occupied Golan and set up a border zone under Hezbollah’s control.”
The Observatory, which has a network of activists around the country, says Iranian volunteers also are fighting, adding that 20 opposition fighters were killed there Tuesday alone.
— AP
For the first time, Syrian state television acknowledges that President Bashar Assad’s army is being backed by Hezbollah and Iranian officers in its fight against a nearly four-year rebellion.
“The operation launched by the Syrian army is being fought in cooperation with… Hezbollah and Iran,” a Syrian army officer tells state television.
Iranian mourners carry a portrait of Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a commander of the Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards killed in an Israeli airstrike on Syria, during his funeral procession in Tehran on January 21, 2015. (Photo credit: AFP/ATTA KENARE)
— AFP
The sandstorms sweeping the country have led to exceptionally high levels of air pollution, the Environmental Protection Ministry says.
“The levels of air pollution that have been measured in the past day are unusually high compared to previous years, and from a nationwide perspective, we are talking about the biggest sandstorm in the past five years,” a ministry statement says.
Rain has started in the north of the country, while hail falls in the Tel Aviv area.
Egyptian sources tell Sky News Arabic that its military killed a Hamas commander during an aerial strike in the Sinai, Ynet reports.
Egyptian military helicopters fly over the eastern Sinai Peninsula, October 18, 2012. (photo credit: Egyptian Presidency/AFP)
An American biker group is planning to demonstrate in Washington, DC, in support of Netanyahu’s Iran speech on March 3.
The event’s Facebook invite, created by Defenders of Liberty MC, says that the goal is to “maintain an active presence to show support of the Prime Minister’s visit to address Congress. Also provide counter-protest to any Islamic extremist protests that may be present.”
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the US Capitol, but was moved to the White House “because that is where the muslims will be.”
“There is NO point of going to DC and having a protest where there are no muslims. If this event turns out to be as big as it sounds…..It will be the fuse being lit, the revolution to take back Christian America,” writes the group on FB.
Hail falls in Tel Aviv, and a sandstorm engulfs Jerusalem. Times of Israel readers submit pictures of the winter weather.
Rain has started to fall in the capital as well.
Hail falls in Tel Aviv, February 11, 2015 (photo credit: Courtesy/Robin Schwartz)
A sandstorm engulfs the Valley of the Cross, Jerusalem (photo credit: Courtesy/Davida Kutscher)
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem carry out several attacks in the capital, causing light damage and no injuries.
Residents of the Arab neighborhood Wadi Joz throw stones at Israeli cars. No injuries are caused, but three cars are damaged.
Police are searching for the assailants, news site Kikar Hashabat reports.
Earlier in the day, fireworks and Molotov cocktails are hurled at a kindergarten in the Jewish Ma’ale Hazeitim neighborhood near the Mount of Olives, igniting a small fire. No one was injured in the incident.
Police disperse the assailants.
Police units disperse Arab rioters in Ras Al Amud neighborhood, Jerusalem as fireworks were fired at jewish homes. No injuries reported.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) February 11, 2015
Also in the morning, a light rail train was hit by a rock, damaging it lightly.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein tells the Central Elections Committee that it has no reason to ban the Yisrael Beytenu party from participating in the elections. The committee had been petitioned to ban the party because of its allegedly “harmful and racist” positions.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein (Photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Craig Hicks, the gunmen accused of murdering three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was deeply anti-religious, his Facebook page shows.
He reposted many messages calling for atheism, including one saying that atheism could “solve the Middle East problem.” He also shared a photo calling prayer “pointless, useless, narcissistic, arrogant, and lazy.”
Hicks is somewhat hard to pin down politically. He is an avid supporter of gun rights, and posted a photograph of his loaded pistol.
He shared messages mocking Mitt Romney, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, and Bill O’Reilly. And Hicks was very outspoken in his support of gay marriage.
Hicks, 46, is being held in Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder.
Snow blankets the northern Golan Heights, covering the fields and trees of the highland region in white.
Channel 2’s Ehud Yaari says Abdallah Kishta, the Hamas commander killed today by the Egyptian military, was cooperating with the Sinai branch of the Islamic State. Hamas denies the claims.
Slain Hamas commander Abdullah Kishta (Screen capture: Channel 2)
Russia’s alleged tactics in the Ukraine conflict including covert military action and social media campaigns could inspire other nations such as China and Iran, a top defense think tank warns.
Most armies around the world are ill-prepared to tackle this new type of “hybrid warfare,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) says in its annual Military Balance report.
It said NATO should act with “urgency” to develop responses to such threats, which had the potential to “rapidly destabilize” Western states.
The study says Moscow had waged “limited war for limited objectives” in Ukraine while maintaining a “deniability” which had confused the West’s response.
As the United States considers whether to supply arms to Ukraine, it also details how Kiev’s armed forces had been “hollowed out” by low investment and were largely reliant on Soviet-era equipment.
But the effect of such tactics could also spread beyond Ukraine, the report says.
A Pro-Russian rebel prepares arms for the the assault on the positions of Ukrainian army in Donetsk airport, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Mstislav Chernov)
“Policymakers may anticipate that some current or potential state or non-state adversaries, possibly including states such as China and Iran, will learn from Russia’s recent deployment of hybrid warfare,” it says.
Some of the media tactics employed by IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, including using social media to recruit fighters, had “thematic similarities” with those used in Ukraine, the study says.
It warns that Western armies, many emerging from a 13-year war in Afghanistan and facing squeezed budgets, were still focused on fighting more conventional conflicts.
Given the threat, they should be looking at how to counter enemy propaganda as well as gathering intelligence and improving the readiness of military forces, the IISS says.
Another IISS fellow, Toby Dodge, predicts that fighting in Syria and Iraq would last for up to a decade.
“This conflict is going to run in Iraq and Syria over the next 5 to 10 years and I suspect then… the region then moves to contain it,” he told reporters.
— AFP
Our southern neighbors also get walloped by the sandstorm, and try to make the best of it with some wry humor.
Shawerma won't let the #sandstorm win. #Egypt pic.twitter.com/ekffPSO1h1
— Joel Gulhane – چويل (@jgulhane) February 11, 2015
A sandstorm shrouds Cairo as a result of the Sisi and Putin unholy bonding. #Egypt. pic.twitter.com/xmDNqk0GrG
— Amro Ali (@_amroali) February 11, 2015
Things You Missed In #Egypt Because Of The Sandstorm: Putin riding a camel topless. http://t.co/Mlf2oroEr7 pic.twitter.com/GEgN3Xja7L
— CairoScene.com (@CairoScene) February 11, 2015
2nd day of sandstorm in #Cairo #Egypt. 20 Million are coughing. pic.twitter.com/dbZp1oG65r
— Thomas Aders (@Aders_weltweit) February 11, 2015
A long-running parking dispute between neighbors sparked the shooting deaths of three family members at a quiet condominium complex near the University of North Carolina campus, police say.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Tuesday shooting, Chapel Hill police say. He is being held at the Durham County Jail and was expected to make a first court appearance Wednesday morning.
Police say Hicks is cooperating, and that their preliminary investigation showed that the parking dispute was the motive.
— AP
After one of its commanders was reportedly killed by Egypt as he was collaborating with Islamic State-affiliated fighters in the Sinai, Hamas’s military wing says it does not operate “outside the boundaries of Palestine,” Ynet reports.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein will not order the left-wing V15 political group to stop its activities, dealing a blow to the Likud party.
Weinstein rules that Israel’s campaign advertisement law does not apply to internet advertisements.
V15, which is heavily funded by foreign backers, was accused by Likud of violating election law through its alleged ties with the Zionist Union list, which merges the Labor and Hatnua parties, and is headed by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, respectively.
Members of the V15 grassroots election movement, which has launched a campaign to ‘change the regime’, seen outside a press conference held by the Likud party in Tel Aviv on February 1, 2015. (photo credit: Tomer Neuberg/FLASH90)
V15, short for Victory 2015, describes itself on its website as “a supra-party movement that was established by a group of young Israelis along with the announcement of elections” in December of last year. Its aim is to “change the dispiriting reality” in Israel and “take Israel to a new path.”
“We don’t belong to and don’t work for the advancement of a particular party,” V15 says on its website. “Our aim is larger than the personal preference of each of us.”
Presiden Reuven Rivlin meets with ambassadors from Latin American countries this morning.
“These are not easy times, when we are across the region, dealing with the threat of terrorism and extremism,” says Rivlin. “We are seeking a return to dialogue and the negotiating table, instead of unilateral steps. It is important that we return to negotiations, and arrive at agreements which are as always, subject to one key principle – the rule of democracy. Every treaty or agreement that Israel’s government has brought before the Knesset has been accepted by the power of the majority.”
“I want to assure you, Mr. President, that we will do all we can to promote harmonious living for Israelis and the Palestinians, together, in mutual prosperity, and in security,” says Mexico’s ambassador in response.
President Reuven Rivlin meets with ambassadors from Latin American countries (photo credit: Mark Neyman/GPO)
Two pro-Israel lobbying groups — Emergency Committee for Israel and Christians United for Israel Action Fund, release a statement saying that if Democrats boycott Netanyahu’s speech to Congress their action will be construed, at home and abroad, as a victory for the enemies of Israel and the enemies of a strong US-Israel relationship.
“The bottom line is simple: the enemies of Israel benefit most from this campaign against the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech. Whatever their views on Israeli politics or the Iranian nuclear negotiations, members of Congress who are friends of Israel should not play into the hands of Israel’s enemies — and America’s — by boycotting this speech,” the statement reads.
“Boycotting Israel is high on the agenda of the enemies of Israel. Welcoming Israel’s Prime Minister to the halls of Congress is the least that those who claim to be friends of the Jewish state should do.”
Emergency Committee for Israel founder William Kristol at a conservative convention in 2011 (photo credit: CC BY-SA Gage Skidmore, Flickr)
The statements end with a promise to hold to account those who boycott: “And for those who would turn their backs on Israel and boycott its leader — they are no friends of Israel, and we pledge to do our best to educate voters about their undermining of Israel and the US-Israel relationship at this crucial hour.”
During his visit to the pre-military academy in the West Bank community Eli, Netanyahu meets Miriam Peretz, who lost two sons in the IDF. Today, her son Eliraz’s widow Shlomit found a letter he had written to Netanyahu right before he enlisted.
“Me, my friends, and my teachers see in you the axle that connects the entire Jewish nation,” Eliraz wrote.
“Continue to be determined.”
The PM seems deeply touched by the letter.
A gunman is said to have fired shots at a Kosher restaurant in London, England.
There is no confirmation at this time, but the window of the restaurant was shattered. Police are looking into the possibility of a rock attack as well.
More details to come.
BREAKING NEWS: Shots have been fired at Orli kosher restaurant Edgware, London. pic.twitter.com/Wl84Gorpg8
— Jewish News Feed (@JewishFeed) February 11, 2015
Indictments are filed in the Beersheba District Court against three Gaza residents who were caught smuggling weapon materials into Gaza by sea.
According to a Shin Bet statement, the navy stopped on January 19 a number of boats smuggling raw materials for producing rockets and mortars from the Sinai to the Gaza Strip.
The motorboats were carrying liquid fiberglass, and were driven by the three Gaza residents.
In their interrogation by the police and Shin Bet, the suspects passed along information about the maritime smuggling routes, and on Hamas’s use of fishermen to help smuggle weapons into the Strip.
Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons by land is severely limited by the Egyptian Army’s operation in the Sinai, especially on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Netanyahu has set his terms for a debate before the upcoming elections, Channel 2 reports.
He will only agree to a debate after his March 3 speech in the US, and will only debate Tzipi Livni or Isaac Herzog.
Initial police investigation indicates the glass-shattering incident at a London Kosher restaurant was not anti-Semitic, but was part of an attack in which vandals shattered random windows.
Early reports suggested shots were fired, but it seems those reports may have been mistaken, according to the Jewish security organization Community Security Trust.
Initial investigation suggests firearm not used at Edgware kosher restaurant, may be linked to other non-antisemitic incidents in area.
— CST (@CST_UK) February 11, 2015
A poll by Channel 1 gives Likud a significant 4-seat lead over the Zionist Union, at 27-23. The poll also gives the Joint (Arab) List third place with 12 seats.
Ch 1 poll: Likud -27, Zionist Camp 23, Joint List 12, Bennett -11, Lapid-10, Aguda – 8, lieberman/Kachlon – 7, Shas – 6, Meretz, Yishai – 5
— Chemi Shalev (@ChemiShalev) February 11, 2015
Are Israeli flower shops avoiding Arab towns?
Channel 2 profiles Anas Badar, a hi-tech manager from Tira who tried to order flowers for his wife’s birthday. Company after company refused to make the delivery when they heard where he was from. After repeated phone calls and emails, Badar finally convinced a major company to drop off the gift, but he was already shocked and frustrated.
Flower chain D-flowers said in a statement that its deliverymen do not feel safe in Tira, while Zer-4-U said they cannot deliver to every town or home in Israel.
The United States, Britain and France moved to close their embassies in Yemen on Wednesday, increasing the isolation of Shiite rebels who have seized power. In a show of bravado against the Americans, the rebels seized the cars of US diplomats left at the airport on the way out.
At the same time, the rebels — known as the Houthis — attacked demonstrators holding protests against their power grab in various parts of the capital, Sanaa, witnesses said. The fighters beat protesters and stabbed them with knives, and arrested more than a dozen.
The embassy closures are a signal that world powers see little chance the rebels’ advances will roll back soon.
More than 25 vehicles abandoned by departing American embassy staffers at Sanaa airport were seized by the rebels, according to airport officials. The rebels also took weapons that were left in the vehicles, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The embassy’s Marine detachment, which escorted the cars, left their personal sidearms behind since they would be unable to take them on the commercial flights they were leaving on, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters in Washington. They destroyed their heavier weapons — automatic weapons and machine guns — before leaving the embassy, he said.
Yemeni officials said Wednesday that embassy staffers also destroyed files before leaving and handed over Sanaa’s Sheraton Hotel, where they resided, to the United Nations.
— AP
Greece plans joint military exercises with Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says Wednesday, amid continuing tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Kammenos, visiting close ally Cyprus, says the two countries, along with Israel and “possibly” Egypt would begin joint exercises within the coming months aimed at improving regional security.
Cyprus has suspended UN-led peace talks with Turkey, which invaded the island in 1974 and still occupies its northern third, saying Ankara persists in trying to hamper the country’s energy search.
Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and is unhappy that Ankara is determined to search for oil and gas in the same area.
Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos (photo credit: YouTube screenshot)
Kammenos says cooperation “essentially extends the responsibility of providing security and defense areas by defining the EEZ, which Cyprus has already done and very soon the Greek Republic will do as well”.
He says regional security also meant closer ties with Israel, another energy player.
“Defense planning should take into account friends and allies which seek defense cooperation in the region. And I clearly I mean eastward toward Israel.”
US firm Noble Energy made the first find off Cyprus’s southeast coast in 2011 in a block estimated to contain up to 6 trillion cubic feet (170 billion cubic meters) of gas.
Cyprus has ambitions to become a regional gas hub for its own exports, as well those from Israel and even Lebanon.
Energy-starved Egypt is also banking on Cyprus un-tapping greater reserves.
Cyprus is hoping to export its gas, and maybe oil, by 2022.
— AFP
The IDF posts a video showing Navy vessels intercepting Gazan smuggling boats in January. The smugglers carried materials that could be used to build rockets and mortars.
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