Tag Archives: Mossad

Globally the Oval Office is looking weak. What does that mean for our adversaries?

Hassan-Nasrallah

Important Takeaways:

  • ‘When America’s weak, the axis strengthens’: Fmr. Mossad official says Hezbollah fears war
  • Oded Ilam, a former senior Mossad official, spoke recently with Arel Segal on his show on 103FM radio to discuss the implications of Biden’s failure in the recent presidential debate against Donald Trump and the possible escalation in the North.
  • Ilam began by saying, “The Americans, although I don’t think they are anti-Israeli, continue to misunderstand the situation we are in. Biden and his administration have their hearts in the right place. The famous ‘warning’ that Biden gave to the Iranians didn’t move them at all. They attacked Israel anyway, and the American response was that the administration issued condolences for Raisi’s death. The American administration repeatedly shows weakness, which is also reflected in the ongoing negotiations.”
  • “Every time Hamas does not accept a deal with Israel, we are forced to step back two more steps. It is hard for me to see a situation where Hamas allows us to write up another agreement that doesn’t include withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor,” Ilam noted. “I can assume that when America is weak, the axis strengthens. This confrontation is very significant. I saw Biden’s performance in Atlanta, where he was different than at the recent debate. He was excellent. The same team that advised him to go to the debate is exactly the same team that shapes America’s policy.”

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List of world events by Amir Tsarfati

Important Takeaways:

  • Worldview with Amir Tsarfati: Who Will Blink First?
  • In a rare daytime strike, Israel destroyed a Hezbollah site in Tartus in western Syria yesterday. Three terrorists were killed in the missile attack which originated from the Mediterranean. Israel, per usual, declined to comment on the event.
  • Then, that same night, Israel struck again, flying over Lebanon to reach the Shariat Airbase in Homs. The base and other headquarters were damaged.
  • Mossad Thwarts Attacks on Jews Around the World
    • Mossad director David Barnea stated… “We are witnessing a significant increase in attempts to attack Jews and Israelis worldwide, and as we speak, we continue to track Iranian and proxy teams to prevent them from killing Jews and Israelis,” said Barnea.
  • In Armenia/Azerbaijan Conflict, Iran is the One to Blink
    • The slow burn between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed autonomous oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh threatened to burst into flames this past weekend. Both sides raced troops toward their joint border, while calling on their allies to back them up.
    • After a lot of saber-rattling, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement which should calm things back down, at least for now.
  • US Pays Iran $6 Billion for Hostages
    • Our guys for their guys – oh, and $6 billion. In reality, everyone recognizes this for what it is. Tehran took US citizens as hostages, and Washington just paid $6 billion ransom to get them back. “Wait,” say the administration’s apologists, “the agreement is that this money will be used for humanitarian purposes.” But no one believes that, not even Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.
  • Biden and Modi Announce New Railway and Trade System Connecting Asia with the West
    • A new railway and trade system could better unite India and Asia with the West, according to US President Joe Biden, Indian President Narendra Modi, and others at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India. The route would pass through Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Israel before moving into Europe. This would essentially make Israel a substitute trade way in place of using the congested Suez Canal.
  • North Korea May or May Not have Launched their First Nuclear Sub
    • North Korea launched its first fully operational tactical nuclear attack submarine
    • Soon after leaving the unveiling of the sub, the North Korean leader hopped on his personal train and headed northeast to Vladivostok, Russia. Once there, he met Russia President Vladimir Putin at a cosmodrome for talks. The expectation is that Putin will ask Kim for artillery and ammunition, while Kim will want technology in return. This is the first time the two neighbors have met since April 2019

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Israeli spymaster sees ‘one-time’ chance for peace with Arabs sharing Iran worries

FILE PHOTO: Mossad director Joseph (Yossi) Cohen gestures as he addresses a budgeting conference hosted by Israel's Finance Ministry in Jerusalem October 22, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

By Dan Williams

HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) – Israel and U.S.-aligned Arab countries have a unique chance to forge a regional peace deal given their shared worries about Iran, the chief of Israel’s Mossad spy service said on Monday.

In a rare public appearance, Joseph (Yossi) Cohen said his agency had formed a task force designed to spot peacemaking opportunities in a region where only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

“The Mossad today espies a rare opportunity, perhaps for the first time in Middle East history, to arrive at a regional understanding that would lead to a comprehensive peace accord,” he told the Herzliya Conference, an annual international security forum near Tel Aviv.

“Common interests, the fight against rivals such as Iran and jihadist terrorism, the close relations with the White House, and channels of communication with the Kremlin all combine to create what might be a one-time window of opportunity,” he said.

The United States convened Arab and other dignitaries in Bahrain last week to encourage investment in the Palestinian economy that might help renew peace talks with Israel. 

The Palestinians, seeing a pro-Israel bias in the Trump administration and a ruse to deny them their goal of full statehood, boycotted the Manama meeting. Israel, which sent only a non-official delegation, saw in the event a chance to bolster its wider ties to the Arab world.

Cohen, whose speech alluded to the Palestinians only in the context of threats against Israel from the armed factions, said many Arab countries “cannot stand Iran’s thuggish behavior”.

He cited Iran’s nuclear program, assistance for guerrillas in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, and alleged responsibility for a recent spate of sabotage strikes on oil tankers in the Gulf. Iran denies any role in those incidents.

RAPPROCHEMENT PUSH

Cohen said Israel’s warming of relations with Oman, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited last October, followed “a lengthy covert effort by the Mossad” to seek out closer ties.

He pointed to what he termed “an expanding group of responsible, serious countries” – which he did not name – in the region that have channels of communication with Israel despite no formal relations, and cooperate with it in various ways.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz made a rare visit to Abu Dhabi, which does not have officials ties with Israel, for a two-day U.N. climate meeting on Sunday and Monday. While there, he met with an unnamed Emirati official to discuss bilateral ties as well as the Iranian threat, his office said.

Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 deal with major powers, its first major step in violation of the deal since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago.

Cohen reaffirmed Israel’s policy that it would not allow its arch-foe to get a bomb. ”The Mossad or the State of Israel did not sign the nuclear deal (and) will do everything to ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weaponry,” he said.

Iran denies ever seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb.

“Currently, it’s about uranium enrichment at a relatively low percentage, and in amounts that are not large. The threat is to step up enrichment and increase the amounts,” Cohen said, speaking before news of the enrichment breach.

“Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by the Iranians becomes fissionable, at military-enrichment grade, and then an actual bomb. The Middle East, and then the entire world, will be a different place. Therefore, the world must not allow this to happen.”

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller, William Maclean and Andrew Cawthorne)