New satellite images published Saturday show Russia has massed troops in the annexed Crimean Peninsula in recent days.
Private Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI) said some of the military vehicles — including tanks, armored personnel carriers and rocket launchers — were seen outside of staging grounds, “possibly preparing for movement soon.”
The buildup in Crimea occurred within the past four days, according to ISI.
Imagery from February 15 shows the area near the town of Novoozerne completely empty.
ISI said the buildup of the forces in the area was to allow Russia to invade southern Ukraine.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz met Saturday with US Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference.
Saturday’s meeting with Harris focused on the issue of ongoing Iran nuclear talks, as well as the situation in Ukraine, according to Gantz.
“I expressed my gratitude to US President Biden and the VP for their commitment to preventing a nuclear Iran. I told her that any future agreement must include consistent enforcement by the IAEA in addition to handling the open files in the nuclear program,” Gantz said in a statement.
“I also thanked her for the United States’ important role in maintaining stability in the Middle East, in the face of regional aggression perpetrated by Iran and its proxies,” he said.
“We also discussed the importance of expanding the Abraham Accords, the situation in Ukraine, and the importance of confidence-building measures with the Palestinians. I updated the VP [on] steps I plan to take in order to deepen cooperation with our neighbors in the region,” he added.
Israel and its regional allies are developing a joint defense pact to protect against the threat of suicide drones, Israeli television reported Saturday.
According to Channel 12 news, Israel began working on the arrangement with regional countries following drone and cruise missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that have been attributed to Iran’s proxies in Yemen and Iraq.
If the pact comes into existence, member states that identify a launch toward a neighboring country could warn that nation and assist in downing the drone.
The network, which did not cite a source, said the effort includes neighbors near and far, but didn’t give further details.
The TV report came a day after Israeli air defenses failed to down a small drone that entered the country from Lebanon, which the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group claimed responsibility for launching.
More than 200 kilograms of marijuana flowers and hashish seized, no arrests made
Israeli troops foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs into Israel from Egypt on Friday morning, the military said.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras spotted the drug smuggling attempt and dispatched troops to the scene.
Suspects from the Egyptian side tossed the drugs over the fence, apparently for accomplices on the Israeli side to later pick them up.
State’s witness Shlomo Filber reportedly had data illicitly siphoned off device; Kan: Prosecutors believe hacking did not affect case evidence
Attorneys of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former owner of both Bezeq and the Walla news site, Shaul Elovitch, are expected to request a delay in the testimony of state’s witness Shlomo Filber in Netanyahu’s criminal trial, according to Hebrew media reports Saturday.
This follows revelations that Filber, the ex-director-general of the Communications Ministry, apparently had his phone illicitly hacked by police during the investigation into Case 4000.
But Kan news reported that so far, prosecutors believe any improper use of spyware technology was not tied to evidence used in the case.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin holds a press conference announcing a far-reaching program of legal reforms at the Knesset on January 4, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
The new government intends to pass its sweeping legislative agenda for an overhaul of Israel’s legal and judicial system by the end of March.
According to an official in the office of MK Simcha Rothman, chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the different pieces of legislation making up the four components of the planned major reform are currently being drawn up and will be presented to the government’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the coming weeks.
Once there is general agreement among the different coalition parties, the legislation will be submitted to the Knesset as government bills, with the goal being to pass all four reforms by the end of the Knesset winter session which will end shortly before the Passover holiday that starts April 5.
A screenshot of presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking in an interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya that was aired on December 15, 2022. (Twitter screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the United States needs to reaffirm alliances with its traditional partners in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, adding that a normalization deal between Jerusalem and Riyadh could serve as a “quantum leap” for long-moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.
In an interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya, Netanyahu said he plans to tell US President Joe Biden that “there is a need for America’s reaffirmation of its commitment to its traditional allies in the Middle East.”
Netanyahu noted Israel’s “unbreakable” alliance with the United States, but said that “the traditional alliance with Saudi Arabia and other countries has to be reaffirmed.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UAE with Mateo David and his new Israeli passport, November 17, 2022 (via Twitter).
Israel’s embassy in Abu Dhabi issued the first-ever Israeli passport to a citizen born in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Hailing the “exciting moment,” Ambassador Amir Hayek personally handed the passport to the parents, who welcomed their son Mateo David in May this year.
The mother, Danielle, is married to a Belgian. “Because I am a Zionist, I said to my husband I want to get the Israeli passport and the Belgian one after,” she told the Ynet news site.
“Here in the United Arab Emirates, there is a great appreciation for Israel. I receive a lot of respect when I say I am Israeli. I’m proud to be here and to say it,” she added.
The daughter of Ilan Sztulman Starosta, who heads Israel’s first consulate in Dubai, was the first Israeli to be born in the UAE last year. At that time, Israeli passports could not be issued in the Gulf country.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev speaks during a news conference at the Palace of Brigades in Tirana, Albania, Nov. 15, 2022 (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)
The Azerbaijani parliament on Friday approved a proposal to open an embassy in Israel.
The historic decision will make Azerbaijan the first Shi’ite Muslim country to open an embassy in the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the move, saying “Azerbaijan is an important partner of Israel and home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim world.
“The decision to open an embassy reflects the depth of the relationship between our countries. This move is the result of the Israeli government’s efforts to build strong diplomatic bridges with the Muslim world,” he said.
“The Azeri people… will now be represented for the first time in the State of Israel,” he added.
New UK Conservative party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves the party’s headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the leadership contest, on October 24, 2022. (Justin Tallis/AFP)
Rishi Sunak, who will be the new British new prime minister after becoming Conservative party leader on Monday, is considered a strong supporter of Israel and a friend of the UK’s Jewish community.
At a Conservative Friends of Israel event in August, Sunak declared Jerusalem is “indisputably the historic capital” of Israel and that there was a “very strong case” for moving the UK embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv.
“It’s something I’d like to do,” he said.
But Sunak, a former Treasury chief, also acknowledged “sensitivities” over the issue.
“If it was that easy, it would have been done by now,” he said.
The incoming premier made those remarks during his failed leadership bid against Liz Truss, whose resignation as prime minister last week after a tumultuous six-week stint in office paved the way for Sunak’s elevation to leader, after his lone challenger for the post bowed out of the race on Monday.
Truss told Prime Minister Yair Lapid last month that she was reviewing the UK embassy’s potential relocation to Jerusalem, but did not end up acting on the matter during her record short term in office.
Persecution Live 