Prepared for the Conference of Presidents | |
DAILY ALERT |
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 |
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
In December 2016, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) signed a deal with Iran's state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) to build four container ships and six oil tankers for $700 million. Yet the world's largest shipyard has not delivered a single vessel. "It is impossible for us to deliver the ships with U.S. sanctions back in position," said an HHI official. (Korea Times) See also Sanctions Hit Korean Refinery Projects in Iran Worth $5.6 Billion - David Rogers Korean contractor Daelim has cancelled a $2 billion contract to modernize a refinery in the Iranian city of Esfahan. After the U.S. decided to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran, Daelim was unable to secure the necessary funds to finance the project. Sanctions are also expected to hit a $3.6 billion deal involving Iran, Hyundai and Japan's Chiyoda Corporation to construct the Siraf Refining Park in Bushehr province in southeastern Iran. The project was to have involved building eight refineries, increasing the capacity of Iran's refining industry by 22% and expanding its petrochemical feedstock production by 57%. (Global Construction Review) See also Indian Refiner Nayara Energy Cuts Iran Oil Imports - Nidhi Verma (Reuters) See also Israeli Intelligence: U.S. Pressure on Iran Working Better than Expected - Amos Harel According to Israeli intelligence assessments, the chain reaction to the American decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has been more severe than originally forecast. (Ha'aretz) Yahya Staquf, secretary general of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, the 60-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama, is in Israel as a guest of the American Jewish Committee for a conference in Jerusalem. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, and his visit triggered angry protests at home. Staquf says there needs to be "a new discourse" to recognize that Muslims and non-Muslims are equal and should be able to coexist peacefully. (AP-New York Times) Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed on Sunday in Cairo to iron out their differences over Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile River that Egypt fears threatens its water supplies. Ahmed said, "We will take care of the Nile and we will preserve your share and we will work to increase this quota." "I swear to God, we will never harm you," Ahmed told Sisi. (Reuters) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday called for an end to the "illusions and delusions that improving the [Gaza] economy will end terror." "There are three reasons for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," Lieberman told Israel Army Radio. The first, he said, was PA President Mahmoud Abbas, "who one day decided to stop transferring funds to Gaza. Just last week he transferred half of the April salaries." The second reason was Hamas, "which invests millions of dollars on [attack] tunnels, and isn't willing to funnel a single shekel to the education or healthcare systems in the Strip." But the primary obstacle was Hamas' objection to returning the Israeli captives in Gaza - civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed, who crossed into Gaza of their own accord - and the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul which were snatched in the 2014 war. Hamas "can get a generous humanitarian package if it returns the missing Israelis," Lieberman said. (Times of Israel) Shuva Malka, 18, was stabbed on Monday at a bus stop in the northern Israeli city of Afula by Nur Shinawi, 20, of Jenin in the West Bank, who was arrested by police. (Ynet News) A special iftar feast was held in Gaza City last Thursday at the end of the day's Ramadan fast for families of killed and injured Gazans, paid for by the Tehran regime. Every Palestinian wounded near the border fence gets $250 from Iran. Senior Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati addressed the gathering via Internet. Those present included Ismail Haniyeh - the leader of Hamas in Gaza - as well as a senior leader of Islamic Jihad. (Times of Israel) Forty Israeli planes participated in an aerial exercise in Greece's skies last week without landing, the IDF said Monday. "We traveled far from home to unfamiliar terrain in order to carry out a rigidly defined and precise mission, under very challenging conditions," an F-16 squadron commander said. "This capability that we have, to take all of our vehicles and travel far in order to carry out a mission and then return, is something that we...are prepared to use any time it's needed." (Times of Israel) On June 10, in the center of Ramallah, there was a large demonstration against PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, calling on him to remove the embargo from Gaza that left thousands of Gazan workers unpaid and electricity cut off. The PA was clearly concerned. Security officers in civilian clothing mingled with the crowd of demonstrators, photographed the leaders, and arrests are expected. Behind these demonstrations were the leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Terror groups such as the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, and elements from the Fatah-Tanzim are involved with this network. There is a feeling of deep frustration among the Palestinians' younger generation. Therefore, it's easy to recruit them to these kinds of demonstrations. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday that 395,900 tourists came to Israel in May 2018, 14% more than in May 2017 and 33% more than in May 2016. (Globes) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
One way to find employment with the PA is to carry out a terror attack against Israelis. If you kill at least one Israeli, then the moment you are sentenced, the PA will issue your employee card and pay you a salary. Under the 2018 PA budget, $340 million will go to terrorists convicted by Israeli courts and their families. On Sunday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved legislation to deduct the funds Ramallah pays imprisoned terrorists and their relatives from tax revenues Israel transfers to the PA. The writer, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is a former Minister of Internal Security and Israel Security Agency director. (Israel Hayom) Experts need to continue to press back on the International Criminal Court's recognition of Palestine as a state, because "there is still time and room to counter this," international law scholar Andrew Tucker told the Jerusalem Post. While Tucker would argue numerous points for why Palestine fails the test of international law for statehood, he emphasized the Palestinian Authority's inability to effectively govern the West Bank and Gaza as a single state. (Jerusalem Post) See also Palestinian Manipulation of the International Criminal Court - Amb. Alan Baker (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The Israel-Gaza border fence has been the site of riots for 11 consecutive weekends. The closer you get to the fence, the blacker the smoke appears. The Israeli soldiers tell us, "We can barely see anything. Everything's black." When the enraged mob armed with axes and knives reaches the fence, the criticism aimed at the IDF suddenly seems incomprehensible and baseless. The troops are not trying to kill; they are protecting the residents of nearby communities. A throng of protesters approaches the fence, shouting jubilantly - a sign that the fence is on the verge of being breached. Seven soldiers run toward them, using tear gas. There are about 3,000 protesters at this flashpoint, and the number of soldiers facing them appears minuscule. (Israel Hayom) Observations: Scenarios Facing Israel as U.S. Withdraws from Iran Deal - Amos Yadlin and Ari Heistein (The Atlantic)
Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin is director of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, where Ari Heistein is special assistant to the director. |