A VERY POWERFUL SPEECH!
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Iran seeks to outlast Trump (See 2 below.)
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Perhaps America never had a rule of law that applied equally to rich and poor,, deplorable and powerful but it does seem we have drifted away from even the appearance of such.
If we can return to a semblance of same I believe justice will eventually come to those involved in perpetrating the attacks on Trump and his administration. I further believe it will reach right to the top because I have believed, for a long time, Obama was involved up to his eye balls. History will prove this paragon of virtue was one of the most damning presidents our nation has ever known.
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Dick
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1)
Fourth Gaza War May Start Friday or Saturday
Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
IDF tanks amassed along the Gaza border, March 26, 2019
Two commemorations of events in the short history of the Jewish-Arab conflict will take place this week, which, ironically enough, also marked the 40th anniversary of the Camp David agreement: Friday marks the first anniversary of the Marches of Return, those weekly riots along the Gaza Strip border which resulted in about 200 dead and close to 20,000 injured—85% of whom were estimated to have been paid by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad; then Saturday marks the 23rd anniversary of Land Day, commemorating the 1976 clash between Israeli Arabs and the Rabin government over the latter’s plans to expropriate state-owned land.
It’s the very definition of a gunpowder keg, two in this case, and it follows a week of alarming clashes between Gaza terrorists and the IDF which included a long-range rocket destroying a home in Israel’s Sharon region near Tel Aviv, and IDF retaliatory bombings of vital terrorist assets across the Gaza Strip.
Israeli security officials are expecting all of this to blow up this weekend, unless Hamas and the Jihad take meaningful, active steps to prevent it. Indeed, in this equation only one side appears to have a choice: the Arabs. Because, should violence erupt on schedule, Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice. Less than two weeks from the April 9 election, which will decide his political future, Bibi cannot appear to be appeasing the enemy. He is already being torn apart by Naftali Bennett inside the tent, and Benny Gantz and Avi Gabai who are circling the tent from the outside.
Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi and the command staff spent Tuesday in meetings that resulted, for now, in amassing firepower around the Strip and calling in the reserves. Should war become inevitable, the needed troops will all be in place. Lt. Gen. Kochavi so far has been more aggressive than his predecessor, Gadi Eizenkot, who allowed for long lags between Arab attacks and IDF retaliation, frustration the nation and confusing the troops. Should there be a clash, Kochavi is more likely to inflict great pain on the Strip.
Tuesday also saw a string of minor Arab provocations: a rocket over Ashkelon; a group of Arabs who crossed the border to set fire to an abandoned IDF post and raise the Palestinian flag; and dozens of balloon clusters carrying explosive charges into Israel, at least four of which started fires in Israeli settlements. On Wednesday Israeli schools near Gaza have opened as usual – a sign that the security apparatus is not expecting serious clashes today.
However, on Wednesday morning Ma’an reported that four youths were shot dead in clashes with Israeli forces in the Deheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem, reminding us that danger lurks not only in Gaza this weekend.
Despite his hurried departure from the US on Monday, Netanyahu did not assemble his security cabinet, most likely because he was reluctant to give his nemesis Naftali Bennett, who keeps demanding the role of defense minister, to lecture the PM in his newly adapted, take-no-prisoners style, like this recent post:
“I said from the morning that whoever runs away from terrorism – terrorism pursues him, and that’s exactly what happened. […] I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to defeat Hamas and not allow it to turn the residents of the south into Hamas hostages. We know what needs to be done and how it should be done. I call on the prime minister – give the IDF the order to neutralize and defeat Hamas.”
It continues to be a tense weekend, folks. Stay tuned.
1a) Top minister: ‘As far as Iran knows it’s
Israel’ that carried out Syria strike
Acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday appeared to confirm that Israeli warplanes struck Iranian military targets outside the northern Syrian city of Aleppo overnight.
1a) Top minister: ‘As far as Iran knows it’s
Israel’ that carried out Syria strike
Israel Katz adds operation ‘far more challenging militarily’ than Gaza strikes; at least 7 Tehran-linked fighters said killed in the attack near Aleppo
Acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday appeared to confirm that Israeli warplanes struck Iranian military targets outside the northern Syrian city of Aleppo overnight.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Katz said that “as far as Iran knows, it’s Israel” that carried
out the strike targeting a weapons depot, and went on to say that it was a “challenging”
operation to perform.
“We are being credited by foreign media with an air force operation this past night against
Iranian forces in Syria,” Katz said. “According to the sources it’s Israel, and according to what
the Syrians said and responded it’s Israel. As far as Iran knows it’s Israel.”
Katz, who is a member of the high-level security cabinet, was responding to a question on
Israel’s policy in Gaza. He gave the strike in Syria as an example of an operation that was
“more challenging militarily” than the challenges Israel faces in Gaza, and wondered why
Israel was avoiding using its full force in the Palestinian enclave.
“There were other operations like this one that we have taken responsibility for,” he said.
“This operation was far more challenging militarily, and much more powerful” than those
Israel carries out in Gaza.
Explosions at the Aleppo airport allegedly caused by Israeli strikes on March 27 2019
(Screencapture/Twitter)
Immigration Minister Yoav Galant, also a security cabinet member, downplayed Israeli
involvement in a Thursday interview with Kan, but underscored that Israel would not allow
Iran to operate militarily in Syria.
“We are not taking responsibility for anything,” he said. “But we cannot allow the Iranians to
prepare themselves for a different situation several years from now, and that is the basis for our
operations.
“We have repeatedly said that we will not allow Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, or the
creation of a second Hezbollah front in the Golan Heights,” he said. “We won’t tolerate the
transfer of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah through Syria. These issues are at the core of our
interests.”
Syrian state media late Wednesday night said its air defenses responded to “Israeli air
aggression” targeting positions in the northern Aleppo province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the Israeli bombardment hit
“ammunition stores belonging to Iranian forces and allied groups, and caused huge
explosions.”
It added that at least seven people, believed to be either Iranian troops or Syrian fighters loyal
to Tehran, were killed in the raid. The Observatory said the number of casualties was expected
to rise in the coming days.
A number of residents of Aleppo told AFP that the late-night attack led to a power cut in the
whole city.
The night strikes come at a time of heightened tension between Israel and Syria, following
Monday’s decision by the US administration to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan
Heights, a mountainous plateau captured from Syria in 1967. The decision sparked
condemnation and protests in Syria.
Israel in recent years has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to
Iran, which alongside its proxies and Russia is fighting on behalf of the regime of Syrian
President Bashar Assad.
Israel maintains that Iran is seeking to establish a military presence in Syria that could threaten
Israeli security and attempting to transfer advanced weaponry to the Hezbollah terror group in
Lebanon.
Last year, Israel was twice accused of targeting the Al-Nayrab airbase, adjacent to Aleppo’s
international airport in airstrikes. Al-Nayrab has in the past been linked with Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps militia.
The number of airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel has dropped in recent months, after a
Russian military plane was downed by Syrian air defenses during an Israeli attack on Latakia
in September, killing all 15 servicemen aboard. Russia blamed the Israeli military for that
incident — a charge rejected by Jerusalem — and responded by supplying Syria with the
advanced S-300 air defense system.
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2) Iran’s New Long Game: Outlast Trump
Trump's policies are rattling the Iranian regime
By Adam Kredo
Iranian leaders are running out of options as President Donald Trump tightens the economic
noose on the already ailing hardline regime, which is now intent on outlasting the Trump
administration in hopes that a friendlier U.S. politician can beat him in the 2020 election,
according to U.S. officials and regional experts.
Iran has made no secret of its distaste for Trump, and is now making moves to grow closer
with traditional American foes such as China and Russia. However, it has become increasingly
clear that Iran is feeling the pain as the Trump administration continues to sanction a range of
entities and individuals tied to the country's contested nuclear program and oil sector.
As the sanctions continue to squeeze the regime—prompting protests that have threatened to
topple Islamic theocracy—Iranian leaders have been left with only one long-term option:
Outlast Trump and bet on a more friendly U.S. leader who will restore the landmark nuclear
agreement that provided Tehran with billions in cash windfalls.
It now remains to be seen how far the Trump administration will go in its sanctions policy.
While a range of efforts have choked off Tehran's revenue streams, the United States continues
to issue waivers permitting Iran to engage in sensitive nuclear research, as well as the sale of
crude oil. Iran hawks on Capitol Hill want the administration to keep up the pressure and not
back down before elements of the administration that favor rewarding Iran in a bid to keep the
nuclear deal on life-support through the next election cycle.
Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior adviser on Iran at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,
told the Washington Free Beacon it is increasingly clear that Tehran's only option is to outlast
Trump.
"Tehran's plan is to wait and see what will happen in the 2020 election," Ghasseminejad said.
"The clerical regime hopes that a less aggressive candidate will defeat Trump and the U.S. will
return to the JCPOA," the acronym used to refer to the nuclear deal.
The time is now to further tighten the screws on Iran, Ghasseminejad said, emphasizing the
need to abandon the consideration of more sanctions waivers.
"The administration's best approach is to force Tehran to collapse over the next two years," he
said. "To do that the administration needs a much more vigorous economic, diplomatic, and
regional pressure campaign, a well-devised information warfare and plan of action to support
Iranian dissidents."
"At the moment," Ghasseminejad said, "we see none of these elements."
Instead, the administration has offered signs that it is backing away from its so-called
"maximum pressure" campaign on Iran.
"The administration has failed to push Iran's oil export below the 500 thousand bpd [barrels
per day], a critical threshold," Ghasseminejad explained. "The administration has been unable
to use the opportunity in Syria and Yemen to financially bleed the mullahs and it has not
curbed Tehran's influence in Iraq. On the other hand, the tension between the U.S. and Saudi
Arabia is hurting Washington's oil diplomacy."
Iran hawks on Capitol Hill also are pushing for the administration to follow through on its
vows to collapse the Iranian regime's revenue streams, which have been spent on foreign wars
in Syria, Yemen, and other regional hotspots.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), a vocal Iran opponent, is calling on the Trump administration to
stop issuing oil and nuclear waivers.
"Sen. Cruz believes that the Ayatollahs make their intentions crystal clear when they chant
Death to America and Death to Israel," a Cruz spokesman told the Free Beacon. "They will
preserve the Iranian regime as long as they possibly can in pursuit of those goals."
"Meanwhile many top Democrats have made it clear they intend to reenter the catastrophic
Obama nuclear deal, which enriched and emboldened the regime, as soon as they can," the
spokesman said. "The time for maximum pressure is now, and the Trump administration
should immediately end all of the waivers that are keeping the regime afloat, including all oil
waivers."
As the Trump administration fights with itself over the waivers issue, Iran has been making
moves to tighten its alliances with Russia and China.
Russia, in addition to building several new nuclear reactors for Iran, has emerged as Tehran's
chief ally in the region, as the two combine forces to aid embattled Syrian president
Bashar al-Assad.
China and Iran also have found common ground.
Iranian diplomats announced this week that, after meetings with Chinese officials, they would
be boosting ties between the two countries, particularly on the economic front. This could
provide Iran with another financial lifeline in the face of U.S. sanctions.
New reports further indicate that "China is Spying on Israel to Steal U.S. Secrets," according to
This could be a boon for Iran, which has waged its own spy operations in pursuit of
information on both Israel and America.
One veteran Republican congressional aide working on the Iran issue warned that the waivers
issue has the potential to save the Iran nuclear deal and with it the Iranian ruling regime.
"The people inside the Trump administration who are trying to preserve the deal know that they
just need one last round of waivers to get past the Trump first term," said the official, who
would only speak on background. "The next waiver renewal will be too close to the election,
and no one is going to screw with energy prices that close to voting. Another round of waivers
locks in the nuclear deal at least for the next several years, until it expires on its own."
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