#News #Times #NewsAndTimes #NT #TNT #Israel #World #USA #POTUS #DOJ #FBI #CIA #DIA #ODNI #Mossad #Putin #Russia #GRU #Ukraine #SouthCaucasus #NewAbwehr
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Ukraine – Israel Alliance – GS https://t.co/gCBQzWsMmb pic.twitter.com/TVemvWnsys— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) December 26, 2023
Day: December 26, 2023
Two dates will be forever impregnated on our memories. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with the goal of destroying the Ukrainian state and Ukrainian identity. On October 7, the Hamas invaded Israel towards Iran’s goal of destroying Israel. Russian and Hamas forces have committed untold war crimes against Ukrainians and Israelis.
The Anti-Western Axis of Evil, led by Russia and Iran, represent existential threats to Israel and Ukraine. The US and NATO should encourage Israel to forge a bilateral security alliance with Ukraine and provide military backing. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said ‘Russia, China, and, to some extent, North Korea seek to strengthen mutual ties as they grow dissatisfied with the rules-based world order.’ Kirby believes they are unhappy with the rules-based order the U.S. and the West established after 1991, adding ‘We still believe that that rules-based order matters and that there are certain nations that would like to act in ways inimical to that order.’
Russian and Iranian goals of destroying Ukraine and Israel are closely interlinked. Russia has used its war against Ukraine to cement an Anti-Western Axis of Evil that brings together dictatorships with the goal of destroying the so-called US-led unipolar world. Russia and Iran openly state they are fighting Ukraine and Israel which are described as Western ‘puppet states’ occupying historically Russian and Arab lands.
Moscow and Tehran seek to wipe Ukraine and Israel off the face of the earth. The anti-Israeli genocidal chant of ‘From the River to the Sea’ is matched by Russian nationalist calls to eradicate Ukraine and murder millions of Ukrainians.
Russia and Iran have been military allies for decades, including the Kremlin assisting Tehran building its nuclear programme. Their military alliance has deepened since summer 2022 when Iran joined Russia’s war against Ukraine. Military equipment has been sent both ways. Russia has procured additional military supplies from North Korea.
Nuclear proliferation is of no concern to Russia if the countries that acquire nuclear weapons are anti-Western. Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in the 1990s in return for worthless security guarantees that Russia violated. Russia has no compulsion in providing nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea, and other anti-Western countries. Nuclear Iran would be welcomed by Russia and China in their fight for a so-called multipolar world.
Although Russia and Iran represent existential threats to Ukraine and Israel respectively, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has until now refused to support Ukraine in the war with Russia. Israel has refused to even supply defensive military equipment that could be used to defend Ukrainians against Iranian Shaheed drones.
This is surprising.
After all, Ukraine is led by a Jewish-Ukrainian president whose family suffered in the Holocaust. Ukraine has experienced the biggest Jewish revival in Europe in the last three decades and each year the city of Uman hosts the largest Jewish festival in the birthplace of the founder of Hasidism.
Netanyahu courted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a populist nationalist ideological ally, pandering to pro-Putin Jewish voters who have emigrated from Russia. Netanyahu is a Putinversteher, a German word used to describe politicians and businesspersons who seek to work with Putin. In recent Israeli elections, billboards showed Netanyahu and Putin embracing, smiling, and hugging.
Israel intelligence services ignored the growing Russian-Iranian military cooperation, presumably at the behest of their political masters keen to maintain good relations with Russia. Netanyahu was so confident of his personal relationship with Putin that he never expected him to ditch Israel for Iran and its terrorist proxy Hamas. This is what has happened since the Hamas attack.
Russia’s realignment with terrorist groups in the Middle East and the Kremlin’s forging of an Anti-Western Axis of Evil requires a robust response from the West in an Israeli-Ukrainian military alliance.
Strong support exists in Ukraine for such a step. A new opinion poll found Ukrainians to be far more pro-Israeli than Russians or even Americans with 69% of Ukrainians, in contrast to only 6% of Russians and 38% of Americans, sympathising with Israel. Meanwhile, only 1% of Ukrainians, compared to 21% of Russians and 11% of Americans, sympathise with Palestinians.
On February 24th of last year and October 7, the Anti-Western Axis of Evil declared war on the West and the rules-based international order which has been in place since 1945. The axis is fighting the West in Israel and Ukraine. Russia and Iran view Israel and Ukraine as Western puppet states that should be erased from the map.
Following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, it is strategically incomprehensible for Israel to continue to refuse to develop a military relationship with Ukraine supported militarily and diplomatically by the US and NATO. Such an alliance would defend Israel and Ukraine from the existential threats posed by Russia and Iran while at the same time sending a strong signal to Moscow and Tehran that the West is ready to defend its interests in eastern Europe, the Greater Middle East, and globally.
President Biden ordered strikes on three locations in Iraq after three U.S. service members were wounded, one critically, in an attack on Erbil Air Base early Christmas morning credited to a militia group backed by Iran.
In a statement Monday, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Biden directed the strikes against three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, which claimed credit for the initial attack against U.S. personnel.
The groups, the U.S. said, are all connected to Iran.
The attack was carried out by a one-way attack drone, according to the statement, which said the three locations were “focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities.”
The statement said Biden ordered the retaliatory strikes after learning of the attack that wounded the U.S. service members.
“President Biden was immediately briefed on the attack this morning, and he ordered the Department of Defense to prepare response options against those responsible. Those options were then presented to the President during a call this afternoon with Secretary of Defense Austin and members of the President’s national security team,” the statement read.
“During that call, the President directed strikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities,” the statement continued.
“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way. The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.”
The attacks come as the Israeli war in Gaza continues to stoke tensions in the region. The Biden administration has backed Israel in the war, while militia groups across the region backed by Iran have increased their military actions in response to the bombardment of Gaza.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a statement called the strikes “necessary and proportionate” and said they were “intended to disrupt and degrade capabilities of the Iran-aligned militia groups directly responsible.”
Austin echoed Biden’s warning that the U.S. is prepared to take further action if necessary.
“Let me be clear – the President and I will not hesitate to take necessary action to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests. There is no higher priority,” Austin said in the statement.
“While we do not seek to escalate conflict in the region, we are committed and fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities.”
This story was updated at 10:51 p.m.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
#News #Times #NewsAndTimes #NT #TNT #Israel #World #USA #POTUS #DOJ #FBI #CIA #DIA #ODNI #Mossad #Putin #Russia #GRU #Ukraine #SouthCaucasus #NewAbwehr ⚡️#Ukraine destroyed the Russian landing ship #Novocherkassk in Feodosia in temporarily occupied #Crimea https://t.co/gAhfm6ydbk pic.twitter.com/O4HpFPuM3O
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) December 26, 2023
Tweets: @KyivPost: RT by @mikenov: ⚡️#Ukraine destroyed the Russian landing ship #Novocherkassk in Feodosia in temporarily occupied #Crimea https://t.co/gAhfm6ydbk pic.twitter.com/oRFmLhhKJr
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) December 26, 2023
Governor Soundararajan Criticizes Tamil Nadu’s Flood Response: Politics or Genuine Concern?
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–https://t.co/xlgNMVbKWz
Key IDF officer reportedly voiced concern about Nova festival, but was told to OK it … WATCH:… pic.twitter.com/tbvXSrtqUH— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) December 26, 2023
Michael Novakhov’s favorite articles – 4:13 AM 12/26/2023
A key Israel Defense Forces officer raised concerns and opposition to approving the Supernova music festival, which he saw as a “needless security risk,” but was told to authorize it, according to a new report.
Some 360 people were killed by Hamas terrorists at the rave on October 7, and dozens more were assaulted and taken hostage. Some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea that day, killing around 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.
Haaretz reported Monday that the Gaza Division’s operations officer, Lt. Col. Sahar Fogel, was unhappy about the event being held so close to the Strip, and his concerns were supported by other officers. The worries reportedly did not stem from fears of a terrorist incursion, but rather the threat of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza.
There have been multiple reports that warnings from surveillance and intelligence sources of a potential attack were ignored ahead of October 7. The report said it was unclear if Fogel knew of the other warnings.
Despite his objections, Fogel was told to approve the Nova festival, the report said, detailing concerns of legal difficulties if the festival were not approved, as well as a request to combine the authorization with that of another festival, held at the same venue on October 5-6.
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The report said that a special alert area was established in the Iron Dome system, known as a “polygon,” to give extra protection to the festival venue. However, it said, security forces were aware that safe spaces could not be provided for the thousands of partygoers.
The Eshkol Regional Council also opposed the rave, believing that it would be a public nuisance.
FILE – An armed Hamas terrorist walking around the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 7, where terrorists from Gaza massacred hundreds of people. (South First Responders / AFP)
Responding to the report, the IDF said that the army would “conduct a detailed and in-depth investigation into the matter once the operational situation allows, and will make its findings public.”
Last week, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman leveled harsh criticism over the breakdown of Israel’s defenses on October 7, promising that “the massive failure” of that day would eventually reviewed by his office.
“On October 7, the borders of the State of Israel were breached, and cursed Hamas terrorists did whatever they liked in towns of this country. Thousands of Israeli citizens were slaughtered, raped and kidnapped, and were left to their fate on Simchat Torah,” Englman told the Knesset Finance Committee, pointing to a report his office released the previous day about the government’s failure to address civilians needs on the home front.
Englman said his review of the functioning of the security services surrounding the events of October 7 would begin when developments in the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza allow it, stating that it would be impossible to conduct this probe while the IDF is carrying out intense military operations.
Earlier in December, relatives of those murdered by Hamas terrorists at two raves on October 7 — the Supernova festival and the smaller, nearby Psyduck festival — announced that they had formed a lobby to address their grievances with the government.
FILE – Erez Zarfati, whose daughter Ron Zarfati was murdered at the Nova music festival, speaks in Tel Aviv on December 11, 2023, at a launch event for a group bringing together families of partygoers killed or kidnapped on October 7. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Representatives of some 200 families that lost loved ones at the parties met at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, launching a joint effort to advocate for recognition of their unique plight amid alleged governmental negligence.
The forum calls for the immediate establishment of an independent committee of inquiry to investigate negligence leading up to the massacre, claiming security forces failed to consider all potential dangers when allowing the raves to take place a mere five kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
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A nearly one-hour documentary comprising first-hand video and audio footage from the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7 has become the most viewed film in the history of Israel’s Yes Studios.
Some 364 people were murdered at the outdoor event near Kibbutz Re’im attended by 3,500 partygoers—nearly one-third of the 1,200 people killed by Hamas terrorists during their mass invasion of the northwestern Negev. Many were wounded, and at least 40 were taken back to Gaza as hostages. There were widespread reports of rape and sexual abuse, including gang rape.
Directed by Dan Pe’er, Yes offered the “#NOVA” documentary to all Israeli outlets to air for free, and the company is working on international distribution. It is currently available in the Hebrew language of the victims and Arabic of the perpetrators.
Another documentary, “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre,” has already been picked up by worldwide broadcasters. That film premiered on Dec. 23 on Israel’s Kan.
Watch the “#Nova” documentary here. Warning: Graphic depictions of violence.
Already registered? Log in for full access
Already a member? Log in to stop seeing this
“#Armenia, in my opinion, has made a clear decision to distance itself from #Russia,” said Xavier Colomina, #NATO Secretary General’s special representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia. He referred to the peace process between Armenia and #Azerbaijan in an interview… pic.twitter.com/KFqwjaqfXi
— Robert Ananyan (@robananyan) December 25, 2023
A key Israel Defense Forces officer raised concerns and opposition to approving the Supernova music festival, which he saw as a “needless security risk,” but was told to authorize it, according to a new report.
Some 360 people were killed by Hamas terrorists at the rave on October 7, and dozens more were assaulted and taken hostage. Some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea that day, killing around 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.
Haaretz reported Monday that the Gaza Division’s operations officer, Lt. Col. Sahar Fogel, was unhappy about the event being held so close to the Strip, and his concerns were supported by other officers. The worries reportedly did not stem from fears of a terrorist incursion, but rather the threat of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza.
There have been multiple reports that warnings from surveillance and intelligence sources of a potential attack were ignored ahead of October 7. The report said it was unclear if Fogel knew of the other warnings.
Despite his objections, Fogel was told to approve the Nova festival, the report said, detailing concerns of legal difficulties if the festival were not approved, as well as a request to combine the authorization with that of another festival, held at the same venue on October 5-6.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
The report said that a special alert area was established in the Iron Dome system, known as a “polygon,” to give extra protection to the festival venue. However, it said, security forces were aware that safe spaces could not be provided for the thousands of partygoers.
The Eshkol Regional Council also opposed the rave, believing that it would be a public nuisance.
FILE – An armed Hamas terrorist walking around the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 7, where terrorists from Gaza massacred hundreds of people. (South First Responders / AFP)
Responding to the report, the IDF said that the army would “conduct a detailed and in-depth investigation into the matter once the operational situation allows, and will make its findings public.”
Last week, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman leveled harsh criticism over the breakdown of Israel’s defenses on October 7, promising that “the massive failure” of that day would eventually reviewed by his office.
“On October 7, the borders of the State of Israel were breached, and cursed Hamas terrorists did whatever they liked in towns of this country. Thousands of Israeli citizens were slaughtered, raped and kidnapped, and were left to their fate on Simchat Torah,” Englman told the Knesset Finance Committee, pointing to a report his office released the previous day about the government’s failure to address civilians needs on the home front.
Englman said his review of the functioning of the security services surrounding the events of October 7 would begin when developments in the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza allow it, stating that it would be impossible to conduct this probe while the IDF is carrying out intense military operations.
Earlier in December, relatives of those murdered by Hamas terrorists at two raves on October 7 — the Supernova festival and the smaller, nearby Psyduck festival — announced that they had formed a lobby to address their grievances with the government.
FILE – Erez Zarfati, whose daughter Ron Zarfati was murdered at the Nova music festival, speaks in Tel Aviv on December 11, 2023, at a launch event for a group bringing together families of partygoers killed or kidnapped on October 7. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Representatives of some 200 families that lost loved ones at the parties met at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, launching a joint effort to advocate for recognition of their unique plight amid alleged governmental negligence.
The forum calls for the immediate establishment of an independent committee of inquiry to investigate negligence leading up to the massacre, claiming security forces failed to consider all potential dangers when allowing the raves to take place a mere five kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
You’re a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read 4 Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel eleven years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
A nearly one-hour documentary comprising first-hand video and audio footage from the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7 has become the most viewed film in the history of Israel’s Yes Studios.
Some 364 people were murdered at the outdoor event near Kibbutz Re’im attended by 3,500 partygoers—nearly one-third of the 1,200 people killed by Hamas terrorists during their mass invasion of the northwestern Negev. Many were wounded, and at least 40 were taken back to Gaza as hostages. There were widespread reports of rape and sexual abuse, including gang rape.
Directed by Dan Pe’er, Yes offered the “#NOVA” documentary to all Israeli outlets to air for free, and the company is working on international distribution. It is currently available in the Hebrew language of the victims and Arabic of the perpetrators.
Another documentary, “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre,” has already been picked up by worldwide broadcasters. That film premiered on Dec. 23 on Israel’s Kan.
Watch the “#Nova” documentary here. Warning: Graphic depictions of violence.
Already registered? Log in for full access
Already a member? Log in to stop seeing this