Earth calamities and Rumors of war

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alsughasoughaiuyfygh

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Nuclear chief: Iran builds new centrifuge rotor factory

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Nuclear-chief-Iran-builds-new-centrifuge-rotor-factory-562823

Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington's withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signaled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the organization is aware of the announcement but has "no comment."

"Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it," Salehi, said, according to state media.

"Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work."

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons.

Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility.

Iran nuclear chief says uranium stockpile has doubled to 950 tons

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-nuclear-chief-says-uranium-stockpile-reaches-950-tons/

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency said on Wednesday that his country’s effort to acquire uranium has resulted in a stockpile of as much as 950 tons.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told state TV that Iran had imported some 400 tons of uranium since the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Western powers, bringing its stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons — up from 500 tons.

Salehi said that would be enough of the material for Iran to reach its longtime goal of running 190,000 centrifuge machines for enriching uranium in the future.

Salehi also said that the country has constructed a new factory to build rotor blades for centrifuges, with a capacity to manufacture rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, Reuters reported.

Salehi insisted that the factory did not break the terms of the nuclear agreement.

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it,” Salehi said, according to Reuters.

“Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all of its work.”

The nuclear accord limits Iran’s uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent, enough to use in a nuclear power plant but far lower than the 90% needed for an atomic weapon.

However, since the US pulled out of the deal in May, Iran has vowed to boost enrichment capacity to put pressure on the remaining signatories to live up to the agreement.

In a video clip aired Tuesday by Israeli television, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that Israel was responsible for Trump’s decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal.

The prime minister, who has long railed against the pact, gave a dramatic presentation a little over a week before Trump’s May 8 decision, where he unveiled documents Israel secreted away from Tehran that he said proved “Iran lied” about its nuclear program.

In his announcement, the US president said the accord would not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms and he therefore was exiting the agreement and reimposing sanctions.

Trump’s decision was sharply opposed by Iran and the deal’s other signatories — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China. Those countries are currently working to preserve the accord following the US pullout.

Israel considers Iran its arch-enemy, citing Iran’s calls for Israel’s destruction, support for terrorist groups across the region, and growing military activity in neighboring Syria. Israel has warned that it will not allow Iran, whose troops are backing Syrian President Bashar Assad, to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.
 
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If Iran Gets Back to Nukes, Israel Is Better Prepared to Strike

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/arti...-gets-back-to-nukes-israel-is-ready-to-strike

In September 2012, standing at the podium before the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel made one of the forum’s more memorable appearances while holding up a placard showing a cartoon-like bomb. “At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs — that’s by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu said. Then he drew a red line on the diagram just under the words “Final Stage.”

It’s an image we should bear in mind as the fate of the Iran nuclear deal hangs in the balance.

Netanyahu’s UN speech was the peak of his public diplomacy efforts to mobilize the international community to take action against Tehran’s nuclear program. The implicit threat was as clear as the red line he drew: If the world would not act, then Israel would have no choice but to carry out a military strike.

With the signing of the interim nuclear deal between the global powers and Iran the following year, Netanyahu’s threat never materialized.

Fast forward to today. With the possible collapse of the nuclear deal in the next few months — the result of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it — we may well see renewed threats by both Israel and the U.S. to use force against Iran. This is especially true if Tehran decides to resume its production and accumulation of enriched uranium in similar quantities and purity levels to what it produced prior to the deal.

An Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities remains a remote possibility. The Europeans may yet prove successful in saving the deal. Even if they don’t, the Iranians are unlikely to try and “break out” to the bomb; and even if they do, they are still more than a year away from producing enough fissile material for a single weapon.

But there can be no doubt that Israel is better positioned today to carry out an effective strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and to face the certain repercussions, than it was six years ago.

This fact should be weighed in the balance as the international community — and Iran — contemplate their response to the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.

In the early years of this decade, when the military option was being seriously considered by the Israeli government, many doubted its ability to carry out an effective strike that would cause significant damage to the Iranian nuclear program.

Unlike with the Syrian and Iraqi nuclear programs, where a single strike on a single facility was enough to eliminate both countries’ nuclear potential, the Iranian program is comprised of dozens of sites spread across the country — one bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined and located 1,000 miles away from Israel.

Moreover, certain key Iranian facilities are not only protected by advanced air defense systems but are also heavily fortified. For this reason, military analysts assessed that an effective attack would require repeated waves of air strikes, possibly lasting over several days, thus requiring Israeli warplanes to travel back and forth thousands of miles in order to refuel and re-arm. That would be a challenging operation even for a superpower.

What’s more, such strikes would have set off fierce retaliation from Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, including the firing of thousands of rockets and missiles with a range covering all of Israel. At the time, Israel didn’t have effective defense systems that could address this extensive missile threat. Iron Dome, which is designed to intercept rockets with a range of up to 60 miles, only entered its operational stage in 2011. Development of the David’s Sling defense system, which is designed to intercept missiles with a range of nearly 200 miles — needed for the missiles in Hezbollah’s arsenal that threaten Tel Aviv and various strategic installations and national infrastructure — was then only in its infancy.

Finally, the aftermath of any Israeli strike would have included not only in a long war with Hezbollah but also in strong diplomatic condemnations. Israel would have needed an American diplomatic umbrella to address various hostile initiatives in the U.N. Security Council, as well as urgent military assistance to be able to withstand a prolonged conflict with Hezbollah. It is far from certain that the Barack Obama administration would have provided such protection.

Today, things are very different: Israel is better positioned in every way to carry out such a strike and to deal with its aftermath.

Operationally, the warming of relations between Israel and the Gulf countries over the past few years, first and foremost with Saudi Arabia, opens a whole range of possibilities to the Israeli Air Force. There is little doubt that Saudi Arabia would give a green light for Israeli warplanes to pass through its airspace, or that Israeli air tankers would be allowed to hover over the Arabian Peninsula in order to refuel IAF jets.

In fact, given the strategic relations that have been formed in recent years and the current alignment of interests, it’s not inconceivable that the Saudis (and potentially other Gulf countries) would go even one step further: allowing Israeli warplanes targeting Iranian nuclear targets to take off and land at Gulf Cooperation Council air bases. This could be a game changer in terms of the Israeli air force’s ability to effectively destroy Iran’s dozens of nuclear facilities.

Militarily, Israel has made a giant leap forward in recent years in terms of its ability to deliver more bombs, more accurately and to more targets in a given time period. On top of that, last December Israel declared its fleet of U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighters operational. The fleet is still small, just 12 warplanes, but Israel plans to have two full squadrons operational by 2024.

It is true that the Iranians have strengthened their defensive capabilities as well, receiving S-300 batteries from Russia that have been deployed around their most strategic facilities. However, Israel believes that it could overcome those defenses even without the use of its new F-35s, let alone with them.

In addition, the Trump administration — unlike the Obama White House — is likely to agree to provide Israel with “bunker-buster” bombs that would be essential to destroying key elements of the Iranian nuclear program, specifically the Fordow enrichment facility, which is buried in a mountain tens of meters underground.

Israel is also better positioned today to address the aftermath of such an attack. First, it’s certain that the Trump administration would provide full protection in the Security Council, while also delivering as much materiel as necessary to sustain a long Israeli military campaign.

Second, while Israel could face significant damage as a result of heavy barrages of Hezbollah’s ever-increasing supply of missiles, the proven capabilities and wide deployment of Iron Dome batteries, along with the David’s Sling system being operational, make Israel’s preparedness significantly higher than it was a few years ago.

None of this is to imply that just because Israel is now better positioned to carry out a strike on Iran means that it will inevitably do so. The chances remain low for now. There are many domestic constraints as well as international factors that could prevent Israel from eventually launching such a strike, or even make it redundant (such as international pressure forcing Iran toward restraint).

However, Israel’s enhanced capabilities do allow Netanyahu to take a more aggressive approach toward Tehran, knowing that if push comes to shove, the prospects of a strike succeeding will be significantly higher than it was when he held up that cartoon bomb at the UN.
 
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https://syriancivilwarmap.com/

Couple more rebel cities were surrendered to the Syrian regime. Nawa and Sheikh Saad are suffering heavy airstrikes. It's possible they may get captured tomorrow.

At this rate, I'm estimating that Assad will have completely control of this part of the country by the end of the month. If not, then early August.

IMG_0003.JPG
 
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jgr

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https://syriancivilwarmap.com/

Couple more rebel cities were surrendered to the Syrian regime. Nawa and Sheikh Saad are suffering heavy airstrikes. It's possible they may get captured tomorrow.

At this rate, I'm estimating that Assad will have completely control of this part of the country by the end of the month. If not, then early August.

View attachment 234678
Syria for Syrians.
 
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jgr said in post #1424:

Syria for Syrians.

Indeed, which includes the rebel Syrians who started the war in the first place, because Assad's dictatorship was so crushing.

And now Russia and Iran and (Lebanese) Hezbollah have all invaded Syria to crush these Syrians.

So much for Syria for Syrians.

Instead, now it's Syria for Russians and Iranians and Lebanese. (And RT would, of course, somehow claim that this is right.)
 
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Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1422:

In addition, the Trump administration — unlike the Obama White House — is likely to agree to provide Israel with “bunker-buster” bombs that would be essential to destroying key elements of the Iranian nuclear program, specifically the Fordow enrichment facility, which is buried in a mountain tens of meters underground.

Note that it has not been shown that even the best U.S. "bunker busters" could necessarily take out Fordow, just as a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told the Israeli cabinet in 2011 that the IDF does not have the ability to hit the Iranian nuclear program in a "meaningful way". This could be because some of the key Iranian nuclear facilities are buried so deep underground (i.e. under mountains) that no bombs dropped from the air (not even the best bunker busters) can get down to them. Also, Iran now has highly-advanced, Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles guarding its main nuclear-weapons facilities. The only way to end Iran's nuclear weapons program is to send ground forces into Iran who can fight their way down into the facilities and then blow them up with hand-placed plastic explosives. But there are so many different facilities scattered in so many different places across Iran that it would take an all-out ground invasion of Iran to be able to reach all of the facilities, and also to overthrow Iran's extremist regime. For if it is not overthrown, it will (with Russian and North Korean help) simply rebuild any nuclear facilities which are destroyed; or it will secretly purchase already-built nukes directly from North Korea. But, in an awful irony, any future U.S. preparations for an all-out Iraqi ground war against Iran, to prevent the destruction of Israel by Iranian nukes, could instead result in the destruction of Israel during a different war, by the very same Iraqi ground forces which had been built up by the U.S. to invade Iran.
 
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Indeed, which includes the rebel Syrians who started the war in the first place, because Assad's dictatorship was so crushing.

And now Russia and Iran and (Lebanese) Hezbollah have all invaded Syria to crush these Syrians.

So much for Syria for Syrians.

Instead, now it's Syria for Russians and Iranians and Lebanese. (And RT would, of course, somehow claim that this is right.)

There isn't a Syrian civilian alive today who wouldn't exchange the conflagration of the Syria that is, for the "crushing dictatorship" of the Syria that was.

The "rebel" Syrians bought the propaganda perpetuated by the zionist neocon warmongers in Washington, and their CIA-orchestrated presstitutes in the western MSM, that American interference and destabilization could somehow improve their lives.

As with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, et al; the calamitous consequences of their choices will persist for generations.

But for CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR, and the plethora of western bought-and-controlled MSM presstitutes, truth is no longer any objective.

The only objective is to now parrot the message and do the will of the deep state.

The ultimate outcome of their venal perfidy will be global war.
 
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Syrian Rebels, Regime Strike Deal in Province Near Israeli Border, State TV Says

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east...e-strike-deal-in-region-near-israel-1.6291582

The Syrian state news agency SANA said on Thursday there are reports that rebels had agreed a surrender deal in the southwestern province of al-Quneitra at the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

If verified, the move would mark another major victory for President Bashar al-Assad, who has recovered swathes of southwestern Syria over the last month in a Russian-backed offensive that has forced many rebels to surrender.

SANA, citing its correspondent, said the deal stipulated a return of the Syrian army to positions it held prior to 2011, when the Syrian conflict erupted.
Citing reports, SANA said the agreement "stipulates the departure to Idlib of terrorists who reject the settlement" and allowed those who wish to remain to "settle" their status with the authorities, meaning accepting a return of Assad's rule.

A rebel source sent a copy of what he said was the final agreement -- that included a provision that Russian military police would accompany two Syrian army brigades into a demilitarized zone that has been in place on the Golan Heights since 1974. The zone was agreed after the 1973 Middle Eastern war.

There would be further negotiations on a deadline for handing over medium and heavy weapons, according to the agreement sent by the rebel source.

U.S. President Donald Trump said at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki that both had agreed to work together to help ensure Israel's security.

Putin, Assad's most powerful ally, cited the need to restore the situation along the Golan borders to the state that prevailed before the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011.

Controversial Jewish nation-state bill passes into law

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Controversial-Jewish-nation-state-bill-passes-into-law-562898

The controversial Jewish nation-state bill became Israel's 14th Basic Law early Thursday morning after it passed into law in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 62 in favor, 55 against and two abstentions.

The law passed after a stormy debate full of theatrics that stretched more than eight hours.

Applauding the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the law as "a defining moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the State of Israel.

"122 years after Herzl published his vision, we have stated by law the basic principle of our existence," Netanyahu said from the Knesset podium.

The head of the special committee that legislated the bill, MK Amir Ohana (Likud), told the plenum it could be the most important legislation in the history of the state. He said the bill had been discussed more than any of the basic laws that have been passed before.

The law's sponsor, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter, turned to Arab MKs in the final address before voting and told them: "We were here before you, and we will be here after you." But he said their rights as minorities would not be harmed by the law.

Joint List MKs condemned the legislation. Party leader Ayman Odeh waved a black flag on the Knesset podium and his faction colleague, MK Jamal Zahalka, ripped up the bill.

"We are now seeing with shock the death of our democracy, which has been dying in recent years, and suffering from the racism that has hit a new peak with this bill," Joint List MK Ahmed Tibi said earlier in a meeting of Ohana's committee that legislated the bill and approved it by an 8 to 7 vote Wednesday morning along coalition and opposition lines.

The Jewish nation-state bill is a Basic Law with constitutional heft that declares Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. It anchors in law the state’s menorah emblem, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, national holidays and the right of all Israeli residents to preserve their heritage without consideration of religion and nationality.

The two most controversial clauses in the bill were changed.

The Diaspora clause says, “The state will act in the Diaspora to maintain the connection between the state and the Jewish people.” The original version said that the connection would be maintained among “the Jewish people, wherever they are.”

A clause that could have permitted one religious group to bar another from living in their community was replaced with one saying that, “The state sees developing Jewish settlement as a national interest and will take steps to encourage, advance, and implement this interest.”
 
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EU leads criticism after Israel passes Jewish 'nation state' law

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/israel-adopts-controversial-jewish-nation-state-law

The European Union has led a chorus of criticism after Israel passed a controversial law declaring that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country.

Adding that the legislation would complicate a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the EU joined Israeli Arab political leaders, Israeli opposition politicians and liberal Jewish groups in the US in flagging up concern, with some saying the law amounted to “apartheid”.

The legislation stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”.

It also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions.

“We are concerned, we have expressed this concern and we will continue to engage with Israeli authorities in this context,” said a spokeswoman for the EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini.

“We’ve been very clear when it comes to the two-state solution, we believe it is the only way forward and any step that would further complicate or prevent this solution of becoming a reality should be avoided,” the spokeswoman added.

The law was also condemned by the Turkish foreign ministry, which said the legislation trampled on the principles of universal law and disregarded the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Some of the strongest language was used by the head of the Israeli Arab Joint List group of parties, Ayman Odeh, who denounced it as “the death of our democracy”.

He added: “[The Knesset] has passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us that we will always be second-class citizens.”

In a moment of ironic timing, the legislation was passed just hours before Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed a visit by Hungary’s far-right leader, Viktor Orbán, who Israeli critics have accused of praising Nazi-era antisemitic collaborators.

The “nation state” law, backed by the rightwing government, passed by a vote of 62-55with two abstentions after months of political argument. Some Arab MPs shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.

“This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told the Knesset.

Last week he said: “We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel’s democracy but the majority also has rights and the majority decides. An absolute majority wants to ensure our state’s Jewish character for generations to come..”

The law was condemned by Yohanan Plesner, the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, who described it as “jingoistic and divisive” and an “unnecessary embarrassment to Israel”.

The legislation, which will become part of Israel’s “basic laws” that make up its quasi-constitution, was also condemned by the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents the largest Jewish denomination in the US “This is a sad and unnecessary day for Israeli democracy,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs.

“The damage that will be done by this new nation state law to the legitimacy of the Zionist vision and to the values of the state of Israel as a democratic – and Jewish – nation is enormous.

There are 1.8 million Arabs in Israel, about 20% of the total population.

Early drafts of the legislation went further in what critics at home and abroad saw as discrimination towards Israel’s Arabs, who have long said they are treated as second-class citizens.

Clauses that were dropped in last-minute political wrangling – and after objections by Israel’s president and attorney general – would have enshrined in law the establishment of Jewish-only communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents.

Instead, a more vaguely worded version was approved, reading: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment.“

Even after the changes, critics said the law would deepen a sense of alienation within the Arab minority. “I announce with shock and sorrow the death of democracy,” said Ahmad Tibi, an Arab MP.

In Ma’alot-Tarshiha, a municipality in northern Israel that was created by linking the Jewish town of Ma’alot and the Arab town of Tarshiha, there was anger among Arab residents.

“I think this is racist legislation by a radical rightwing government that is creating radical laws and is planting the seeds to create an apartheid state,” said Bassam Bisharah, a 71-year-old doctor.

Adalah, the legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel, called the law an attempt to advance “ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies”.

Jewish nation state: Israel approves controversial bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44881554

Israel's parliament has passed a controversial law characterising the country as principally a Jewish state, fuelling anger among its Arab minority.

The "nation state" law says Jews have a unique right to national self-determination there and puts Hebrew above Arabic as the official language.

Arab MPs reacted furiously in parliament, with one waving a black flag and others ripping up the bill.

Israel's prime minister praised the bill's passage as a "defining moment".

"A hundred and twenty-two years after [the founder of modern Zionism Theodore] Herzl made his vision known, with this law we determined the founding principle of our existence," Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens."

However, the law risks further alienating Israel's large Arab minority, who have long felt discriminated against.

What does the law say?
Called The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People, the legislation essentially defines Israel first and foremost as a Jewish state.

Among its 11 provisions, it describes Israel as "the national home of the Jewish people" and says the right to exercise national self-determination there is "unique to the Jewish people".

It also reiterates the status of Jerusalem under Israeli law, which defines the city - part of which is claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of a future state - as the "complete and united... capital of Israel".

Controversially, the law singles out Hebrew as the "state's language", effectively prioritising it above Arabic which has for decades been recognised as an official language alongside Hebrew.
It ascribes Arabic "special status" and says its standing before the law came into effect will not be harmed.

In one of its clauses, the law stresses the importance of "development of Jewish settlement as a national value", though it is unclear whether this also alludes to settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Why was this law created?
The question of Israel's status as a Jewish state is politically controversial and has long been debated. Before now, it has not been enshrined in law.

Some Israeli Jewish politicians consider that the founding principles of Israel's creation, as a state for Jews in their ancient homeland, are under threat and could become less relevant, or obsolete, in the future.

Fears over the high birth-rate of Israeli Arabs, as well as possible alternatives to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which could challenge Israel's Jewish majority, have spurred on calls to anchor the Jewishness of Israel in law.

The bill has been under discussion since it was first introduced in 2011 and has undergone multiple amendments, with the final version watering down or dropping altogether sections regarded as discriminatory.

Israel has no constitution but instead passed over time a series of Basic Laws which have constitutional status. The nation state law is the 14th such basic law.

The issue of Israel as a Jewish state has become increasingly important in recent years and a key dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that the Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state in any final peace settlement. He argues that the Palestinians' refusal to do so is the biggest obstacle to peace, saying it demonstrates that the Palestinians do not genuinely recognise Israel's right to exist.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meanwhile has said he will never recognise Israel as a Jewish state, arguing that the Palestinians have long recognised the State of Israel and should not be expected to go further.

Why does it matter?
It is important because it is hugely symbolic, and according to Israel's Arab minority, evidence that Israel is downgrading their status.

Israeli Arabs, many of whom identify as or with Palestinians, comprise about 20% of the country's nine million-strong population.

They have equal rights under the law but have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens and say they face discrimination and worse provision than Israeli Jews when it comes to services such as education, health and housing.

Civil rights groups have denounced the law and some critics, including one Arab MP described it as apartheid - the state-sanctioned racial discrimination of black people during white-minority rule in South Africa.

Israel is often accused by its fiercest critics of practising a system akin to apartheid against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israel vehemently rejects the allegation as a smear tactic used by those who reject its very right to exist.

Yeah... This is only going to further isolate Israel and possibly cause some vigilante countries to take matters into their own hands, especially Turkey. I thought I'd never see Israel do this but I can now see why they are going to be alone during the Ezekiel 38 & 39 events.
 
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Syrian rebels surrender in Quneitra as Assad continues advance in south

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ender-quneitra-assad-continues-advance-south/

Syrian rebels have agreed to surrender a sensitive area bordering the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, a monitor and opposition source said Thursday, the latest in a series of deals expanding regime control over key territory.

The agreement follows another deal that saw thousands of residents evacuated Thursday morning from two pro-regime towns in northern Syria long besieged by hardline rebels.

Both deals, negotiated by regime ally Russia, will be seen as victories for President Bashar al-Assad over the seven-year uprising that once threatened his rule.

With a mix of military force and negotiated surrenders, his forces this month captured more than 90 percent of Daraa, the southern province where protests against him first erupted in 2011.

They then began intensely bombing rebels in Quneitra, a crescent-shaped province wedged between Daraa and the buffer zone with the Israel-occupied Golan to the west.

Under pressure, rebels have agreed to hand over Quneitra and the buffer to government forces, an opposition negotiator and a monitoring group told AFP on Thursday.

"The deal provides for a ceasefire, the handover of heavy and medium weapons, and the return of government institutions to the area," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

Syrian forces would take over opposition territory in the buffer zone and some rebel fighters would be bussed to opposition territory in northern Syria, he added.

The agreement, according to the Observatory, does not include Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist-led alliance that holds territory straddling Quneitra and Daraa.

State news agency SANA said it had information on a deal for the army to return to its pre-2011 positions in the area, but did not provide more details.

A member of the rebel delegation to the talks said that a preliminary ceasefire agreement on Quneitra had been reached with Moscow but said it was unclear when it would be implemented.

As part of it, he told AFP, Syrian government forces accompanied by Russian military police would enter the buffer zone with the Golan.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised internationally.

It sees security in the area as a top priority and has been on high alert since Assad began his assault on the south one month ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow earlier this month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Syria's south.

Russia is a decades-old ally of Syria's government and has used a carrot-and-stick strategy with the opposition to help Assad regain the upper hand across the country.

Moscow dispatched warplanes to Syria in September 2015 to back beleaguered regime troops but has reached out to rebels too, securing negotiated surrenders of vital areas.

It has also been involved in talks that led to the evacuation of thousands of besieged people in a pair of pro-regime towns in northern Syria.

https://syriancivilwarmap.com/

IMG_0003.JPG
 
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jgr said in post #1427:

There isn't a Syrian civilian alive today who wouldn't exchange the conflagration of the Syria that is, for the "crushing dictatorship" of the Syria that was.

Keyword civilian. Syrian rebels have been willing to die to try to free themselves from the vile tyranny of Assad/Putin, which crushes the Syrians, and which has ruthlessly bombed even peaceful civilians into oblivion, such as in eastern Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, and, in the future, Idlib.

To support Assad/Putin is to support evil. (This will drive RT mad, but so be it.)

jgr said in post #1427:

The "rebel" Syrians bought the propaganda perpetuated by the zionist neocon warmongers in Washington, and their CIA-orchestrated presstitutes in the western MSM, that American interference and destabilization could somehow improve their lives.

RT propaganda. The Syrian rebels were no different than the American rebels against British tyranny.

But the U.S. abandoned the Syrian rebels, unlike France's continued support of the American rebels.

jgr said in post #1427:

As with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, et al; the calamitous consequences of their choices will persist for generations.

As if Russia didn't try to conquer Afghanistan. And as if Russia isn't still trying to influence Libya, and also Iraq (through Russia's evil ally Iran).

jgr said in post #1427:

But for CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR, and the plethora of western bought-and-controlled MSM presstitutes, truth is no longer any objective.

Just as truth is no objective for RT, but servility to Putin, or else they will be gunned down on the street.

They are not presstitutes, but slaves.

jgr said in post #1427:

The only objective is to now parrot the message and do the will of the deep state.

The state is deeper in Russia, and much more lethal.

jgr said in post #1427:

The ultimate outcome of their venal perfidy will be global war.

Posh. Only if Putin knows that he's about to die anyway, from some disease or poisoning. Otherwise, MAD still reigns.
 
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https://syriancivilwarmap.com/

Assad takes more land. All that remains between Assad and the Golan Heights is a strip of rebel held territory and ISIS. ISIS has also captured land from the rebels and I do not believe it will last long with Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime on the prowl.

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Wayholka said in post #1433:

ISIS has also captured land from the rebels and I do not believe it will last long with Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime on the prowl.

Note that ISIS is being allowed to last long in far-eastern Syria, where U.S. troops are in control.

This is on purpose, to give the U.S. troops a reason to stay there. But also to give time to the Iraqi Baathist generals leading ISIS there to set up a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq, which will overthrow Iran's hegemony over Iraq, and set up Iraq for an eventual all-out invasion of Iran, to end its extremist regime.

So many problems in the Middle East will vanish once the current Iranian regime is removed.

(But, alas, it may not be removed. For a future, Baathist Iraq could turn and take out Israel instead. Also, this won't be Gog/Magog, which won't happen for another thousand years: Revelation 20:7-10. Instead the Iraqi defeat and occupation of Israel would be the antitypical fulfillment of Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17 the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath".)
 
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jgr

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Keyword civilian. Syrian rebels have been willing to die to try to free themselves from the vile tyranny of Assad/Putin, which crushes the Syrians, and which has ruthlessly bombed even peaceful civilians into oblivion, such as in eastern Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, and, in the future, Idlib.

To support Assad/Putin is to support evil. (This will drive RT mad, but so be it.)

Syrian rebels have died, and do and will die, buying the American lie. The US presence is an unsolicited invasion illegal under international law. US airstrikes have killed thousands, as have Syrian government airstrikes. There would be far fewer casualties from far fewer airstrikes by any side had the US refrained from its illicit incursion and rebel support.

ISIL/ISIS was an American creation of terrorism and destabilization. As the world has witnessed, it is unsurpassed as an incarnation of evil.

There is none driven more mad than those seen in the mindless hysteria exhibited by the American and western MSM, as Pres. Trump seeks to establish dialogue, and deescalate tensions, with Pres. Putin. But these objectives are at diametrical variance with those of the MSC, which must continuously manufacture an enemy to justify its existence, and its trillion dollars of unaccounted “budget” waste. Thus hysterical madness must continue to prevail.

RT propaganda. The Syrian rebels were no different than the American rebels against British tyranny.

But the U.S. abandoned the Syrian rebels, unlike France's continued support of the American rebels.

Yes, the western MSM presstitute media would never ever itself emit propaganda.

There might be some defensibility in American intervention if the objective was genuinely to bring freedom and democracy. But there's no money to be made from an objective so noble. And it has been well said that all wars are bankers' wars. And the world's most pernicious bankers dwell on Wall Street. So the invariable unstated but unmistakable priorities of American hegemonic intervention are: 1. Parachute in billions of dollars (as Victoria Nuland boasted regarding Ukraine) to finance an uprising which will overthrow the existing regime; and install a puppet vassal regime that will do Washington's bidding on demand. 2. Commence looting and impoverishment of the nation's economy and citizens to feed Wall Street's insatiable maw.

As if Russia didn't try to conquer Afghanistan. And as if Russia isn't still trying to influence Libya, and also Iraq (through Russia's evil ally Iran).

The Soviet Union abandoned Afghanistan in 1989. Russia has not been back since.

Yes, Russia is not permitted to influence anyone. Only America has that privilege.


Just as truth is no objective for RT, but servility to Putin, or else they will be gunned down on the street.

They are not presstitutes, but slaves.

So if there is no truth in any MSM, where do we find truth?

The state is deeper in Russia, and much more lethal.

Yes, Russia's deep state has launched thousands of lethal drone strikes over recent years, from various of its 800 military bases around the globe, causing thousands of collateral civilian casualties.

The comparison of the lethality of the Russian and American deep states elicits the comparison of a flea to an elephant.

Posh. Only if Putin knows that he's about to die anyway, from some disease or poisoning. Otherwise, MAD still reigns.

MAD has never been other than conceptual, insofar as both sides have always retained first use of nuclear weapons as a policy option. The losing side in a protracted conventional conflict would at some point feel compelled to resort to nuclear first use.
 
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Note that ISIS is being allowed to last long in far-eastern Syria, where U.S. troops are in control.

This is on purpose, to give the U.S. troops a reason to stay there. But also to give time to the Iraqi Baathist generals leading ISIS there to set up a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq, which will overthrow Iran's hegemony over Iraq, and set up Iraq for an eventual all-out invasion of Iran, to end its extremist regime.

So many problems in the Middle East will vanish once the current Iranian regime is removed.

(But, alas, it may not be removed. For a future, Baathist Iraq could turn and take out Israel instead. Also, this won't be Gog/Magog, which won't happen for another thousand years: Revelation 20:7-10. Instead the Iraqi defeat and occupation of Israel would be the antitypical fulfillment of Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17 the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath".)
For an objective unpresstituted analysis of the Syrian situation:

https://libertarianinstitute.org/the-myth-of-us-inaction-in-syria/


Et al:

https://straightlinelogic.com/2018/07/19/the-black-belt-strategist-by-robert-gore/
 
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jgr said in post #1436:

Syrian rebels have died, and do and will die, buying the American lie.

Rather, fighting tyranny.

jgr said in post #1436:

The US presence is an unsolicited invasion illegal under international law.

Self-defense against ISIS.

jgr said in post #1436:

US airstrikes have killed thousands, as have Syrian government airstrikes.

Not thousands. And not directed at civilians on purpose, as with Syria/Russia.

jgr said in post #1436:

There would be far fewer casualties from far fewer airstrikes by any side had the US refrained from its illicit incursion and rebel support.

There would have been no casualties had Assad given up his tyranny.

jgr said in post #1436:

ISIL/ISIS was an American creation of terrorism and destabilization.

RT propaganda.

jgr said in post #1436:

[Re: ISIS]

As the world has witnessed, it is unsurpassed as an incarnation of evil.

That's why the U.S. went after it. Trump got done what Obama dithered over.

jgr said in post #1436:

There is none driven more mad than those seen in the mindless hysteria exhibited by the American and western MSM . . .

That language is so RT.

Do you watch all their videos?

jgr said in post #1436:

There is none driven more mad than those seen in the mindless hysteria exhibited by the American and western MSM, as Pres. Trump seeks to establish dialogue, and deescalate tensions, with Pres. Putin.

Um, Putin's got dirt on him.

Compromat.

(Just as Israel could have on Putin.)

jgr said in post #1436:

But these objectives are at diametrical variance with those of the MSC, which must continuously manufacture an enemy to justify its existence, and its trillion dollars of unaccounted “budget” waste.

Actually, Russia, like China, is a real, geopolitical enemy, and they pose threats to peaceful nations in eastern Europe and eastern Asia, as is proven by their invasions of Ukraine and the South China Sea.

If not held back by the U.S., they would divide the world between them, and impose their tyrannical governments over everyone.

Thank God for the U.S.

Thank God that there is still freedom in the world.

jgr said in post #1436:

Thus hysterical madness must continue to prevail.

When the U.S. does not continue to prevail, the world is doomed.

jgr said in post #1436:

Yes, the western MSM presstitute media would never ever itself emit propaganda.

Who said that?

The point is to take every news story with a grain of salt, considering the source and what interests it may wish to further.

Don't swallow RT as if it were gospel truth. It's corrupt.

jgr said in post #1436:

There might be some defensibility in American intervention if the objective was genuinely to bring freedom and democracy.

There is no defensibility in Russian intervention in Syria with the objective of propping up a tyrant, just so that Russia can keep its naval base there, and expand its hegemony over every part of Syria.

jgr said in post #1436:

But there's no money to be made from an objective so noble. And it has been well said that all wars are bankers' wars. And the world's most pernicious bankers dwell on Wall Street. So the invariable unstated but unmistakable priorities of American hegemonic intervention are: 1. Parachute in billions of dollars (as Victoria Nuland boasted regarding Ukraine) to finance an uprising which will overthrow the existing regime; and install a puppet vassal regime that will do Washington's bidding on demand. 2. Commence looting and impoverishment of the nation's economy and citizens to feed Wall Street's insatiable maw.

Right, like the U.S. did to Western European nations and Japan after World War II. Not. Instead, the U.S. rebuilt them into thriving and free countries.

But Russia invaded Ukraine to annex it into its tyranny. If that is not hegemonic intervention, then nothing is.

jgr said in post #1436:

The Soviet Union abandoned Afghanistan in 1989. Russia has not been back since.

Only because it knows that it can't win there.

jgr said in post #1436:

Yes, Russia is not permitted to influence anyone. Only America has that privilege.

Russia only influences others to expand its tyranny. It has nothing else to offer.

The U.S. has freedom to offer.

jgr said in post #1436:

So if there is no truth in any MSM, where do we find truth?

It wasn't said that there is no truth there. There is usually at least some truth in every news story. But it must picked out of the "spin" of the story.

jgr said in post #1436:

Yes, Russia's deep state has launched thousands of lethal drone strikes over recent years, from various of its 800 military bases around the globe, causing thousands of collateral civilian casualties.

Keyword collateral, while Russia/Syria intentionally bombs civilians, as was proven in eastern Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, and will be proven even more horribly in the future annihilation of Idlib.

jgr said in post #1436:

The comparison of the lethality of the Russian and American deep states elicits the comparison of a flea to an elephant.

No, only Russia's economy is like a flea to the elephant of the American economy.

Because the Russian economy has been so poorly managed by Putin and his oligarch thugs.

All they do is plunder the natural-resource riches of the poor and lovely Russian people.

The Russian people need freedom.

It's the same in Iran. The poor and lovely Iranian people are ruled by a cabal of evil thugs.

The Iranian people need freedom.

It's no coincidence that Russia and Iran are allies. Tyrannies like to stick together.

jgr said in post #1436:

MAD has never been other than conceptual, insofar as both sides have always retained first use of nuclear weapons as a policy option.

First use is no less conceptual than MAD. And the latter concept has been what has kept the former from ever being acted upon.

jgr said in post #1436:

The losing side in a protracted conventional conflict would at some point feel compelled to resort to nuclear first use.

No, for that would turn a simple, conventional loss into utter annihilation.
 
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Rather, fighting tyranny.

If tyranny is such a concern, focus on Saudi Arabia, perpetrator of 9/11 directly responsible for thousands of American deaths, and the primary sponsor of global Sunni terrorism responsible for thousands more deaths worldwide.

Syrian tyranny is trifling by comparison.

Self-defense against ISIS.

Self-defense against an enemy of your own creation inside another sovereign nation's borders thousands of miles distant.

Must be talking about the American way.

Not thousands.

Approaching 6,000 according to the article.

And not directed at civilians on purpose, as with Syria/Russia.

Deplorable but inevitable when rebels are embedded in civilian populations.

There would have been no casualties had Assad given up his tyranny.

Nor would there have been absent an instigated rebellion.

RT propaganda.

Presstituted propaganda.

That's why the U.S. went after it. Trump got done what Obama dithered over.

The U.S. went after its residual vestiges after Russia had inflicted the majority of the damage and decimation.

That language is so RT.

Do you watch all their videos?

That language is so presstituted.

Do you watch only CNN and read only the WaPo?

Um, Putin's got dirt on him.

Compromat.

(Just as Israel could have on Putin.)

Let's have some credible evidence as opposed to baseless allegations and demonizations.

Actually, Russia, like China, is a real, geopolitical enemy, and they pose threats to peaceful nations in eastern Europe and eastern Asia, as is proven by their invasions of Ukraine and the South China Sea.

If not held back by the U.S., they would divide the world between them, and impose their tyrannical governments over everyone.

Thank God for the U.S.

Thank God that there is still freedom in the world.

U.S. - about 800 military bases globally

Russia – about 20 military bases primarily in former Russian territories

Who is the threat?

I thank God for what the U.S. has done in the past to preserve freedom in the world. But what it is now doing and becoming is a threat to humanity. If only the U.S. is exceptional and indispensable, as it has declared, then the rest of the world is by default unexceptional and dispensable. This is the insane rhetoric of confrontation and conflict.

During the worst times of the Cold War of the past, dialogue between the U.S. and Russia was maintained. This included during the Cuban missile crisis, when Kennedy and Khrushchev continued to communicate, and ultimately reached a resolution.

Today, any attempts at dialogue and communication are termed treasonous. And the demonization of Russia is without precedent in the history of political discourse between the West and the East.

If the U.S. does not abandon the insanity which it is currently pursuing, the consequences are ultimately irreversible and globally disastrous.

When the U.S. does not continue to prevail, the world is doomed.

On its current trajectory, the world is doomed.

Who said that?

The point is to take every news story with a grain of salt, considering the source and what interests it may wish to further.

Don't swallow RT as if it were gospel truth. It's corrupt.

It may surprise you to know that there are information sources other than RT which are credible and objective. See post #1437.

Continued below...
 
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