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“Ukrainians cannot support the dynamics of advancement either in width or in depth, they cannot logistically cover mass movements, but more importantly, they cannot establish a stable rear. In fact, for the counteroffensive to make sense at all, they would first have to disrupt both Russian logistics and the rear, as well as cut their lines of communication. But how can they achieve this? With what?” – Captain Liner.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi tendered his “deepest condolences” over the incident.

By JNS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi spoke on Tuesday in the wake of the terrorist attack along the Sinai border that killed three IDF soldiers.

El-Sisi extended his “deepest condolences” over the incident, and Netanyahu thanked the Egyptian leader for agreeing to a “thorough and joint investigation,” according to an Israeli readout of the call.

“The two leaders expressed their commitment to continue strengthening the peace and security cooperation that is vital to both countries,” added the statement.

The terrorist who killed three Israeli soldiers over the weekend was identified on Monday as Mohamed Salah Ibrahim.

Ibrahim, 22, was drafted into the Egyptian military last June and stationed along the Israeli border as a police officer.

He had complained repeatedly about his military service and recently went absent without leave for 18 days.

Ibrahim shot dead Sgt. Lia Ben-Nun, 19, and Staff Sgt. Uri Iluz, 20, overnight on Friday while they were manning an observation post near the border. During the subsequent manhunt, Staff Sgt. Ohad Dahan, 20, was killed in Israeli territory in an exchange of fire with the terrorist, who was also fatally shot.

A fourth Israeli soldier was lightly wounded.

A preliminary investigation found that Ibrahim crossed the border through an emergency gate used by IDF soldiers in coordination with Cairo.

Egypt claimed he had crossed the border to chase drug smugglers in the aftermath of an earlier bust.

However, Israel’s Army Radio reported on Sunday that the Egyptian policeman had in his possession six magazines for his rifle, a Koran and a knife. The IDF believes that the presence of the Koran suggests that Ibrahim was motivated by Islamic religious extremism, the report said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Egyptian Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Zaki spoke on Saturday evening and agreed to cooperate in investigating the attack.

The post Netanyahu, el-Sisi speak after Egypt attack killed three IDF soldiers appeared first on World Israel News.

The dam break added a stunning new dimension to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, now in its 16th month.

By Associated Press

The wall of a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine that Moscow controls collapsed Tuesday, triggering floods, endangering Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war rushed to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the emergency.

Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area. It was not possible to verify the claims.

The potentially far-reaching environmental and social consequences of the disaster quickly became clear as homes, streets and businesses flooded downstream and emergency crews began evacuations; officials raced to check cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; and authorities expressed concern about supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian forces were widely seen to be moving forward with a long-anticipated counteroffensive in patches along more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of frontline in the east and south of Ukraine.

It was not immediately clear whether either side benefits from the damage to the dam, since both Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-held lands are at risk of flooding. The damage could also hinder Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south and distract its government, while at the same time Russia depends on the dam to supply water to Crimea.

Patricia Lewis, director of the International Security Program at Chatham House think tank in London, said apportioning blame is difficult but “there are all sorts of reasons why Russia would do this.”

“There were reports (last fall) of Russians having mined the reservoir. The question we should pose is why the Ukrainians would do this to themselves, given this is Ukrainian territory,” she said.

Experts have previously said the dam structure was suffering from disrepair. David Helms, a retired American scientist who has monitored the reservoir since the start of the war, wrote in an e-mail that it wasn’t clear if the damage was deliberate or simple neglect from Russian forces occupying the facility.

But Helms reserved judgement, noting as well a Russian history of attacking dams.

Amid official outrage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council. He alleged that Russian forces set off a blast inside the dam structure at 2.50 a.m. (2350 GMT) and said some 80 settlements were in danger.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “a deliberate act of sabotage by the Ukrainian side … aimed at cutting water supplies to Crimea.”

Both sides warned of a looming environmental disaster. Ukraine’s Presidential Office said some 150 metric tons of oil escaped from the dam machinery and that another 300 metric tons could still leak out.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s President’s Office, posted a video showing swans swimming near an administrative building in the flooded streets of Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka, a city in the Kherson region where some 45,000 people lived before the war. Other footage he posted showed flood waters reaching the second floor of the building.

Calls for evacuation

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the Dnieper’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson downriver to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances, and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.

The Russian-installed mayor of occupied Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, said it was being evacuated as water poured into the city.

Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom said in a Telegram statement that the damage to the dam “could have negative consequences” for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is Europe’s biggest, but wrote that for now the situation is “controllable.”

The UN.’s International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement there was “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant,” which requires water for its cooling system.

The plant also has alternative sources of water, including a large cooling pond than can provide water “for some months,” the statement said.

Ukrainian authorities have previously warned that the dam’s failure could unleash 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) of water and flood Kherson and dozens of other areas where hundreds of thousands of people live.

The World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development, a Ukrainian nongovernmental organization, estimated that nearly 100 villages and towns would be flooded. It also reckoned that the water level would start dropping only after five-seven days.

A total collapse in the dam would wash away much of the broad river’s left bank, according to the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Working Group, an organization of environmental activists and experts documenting the war’s environmental effects.

‘The station cannot be restored’

Videos posted online began testifying to the spillover. One showed floodwaters inundating a long roadway; another showed a beaver scurrying for high ground from rising waters.

The incident also drew international outrage, including from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said the “outrageous act … demonstrates once again the brutality of Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

Ukraine controls five of the six dams along the Dnieper, which runs from its northern border with Belarus down to the Black Sea and is crucial for the entire country’s drinking water and power supply.

Ukraine’s state hydro power generating company wrote in a statement that “the station cannot be restored.” Ukrhydroenergo also claimed that Russia blew up the station from inside the engine room.

Leontyev, the Russian-appointed mayor, said numerous Ukrainian strikes on the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant destroyed its valves, and “water from the Kakhovka reservoir began to uncontrollably flow downstream.” Leontyev added that damage to the station was beyond repair, and it would have to be rebuilt.

Ukraine and Russia have previously accused each other of targeting the dam with attacks, and last October, Zelensky predicted that Russia would destroy the dam in order to cause a flood.

Authorities, experts and residents have for months expressed concerns about water flows through — and over — the Kakhovka dam.

In February, water levels were so low that many feared a meltdown at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, whose cooling systems are supplied with water from the Kakhovka reservoir held up by the dam. By mid-May, after heavy rains and snow melt, water levels rose beyond normal levels, flooding nearby villages. Satellite images showed water washing over damaged sluice gates.

The post Collapse of major dam in southern Ukraine triggers emergency as Moscow and Kyiv blame each other appeared first on World Israel News.

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The post The Deadly Delusions of NATO and the Atlantic Council appeared first on Global Research.

Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said its release “is vital to ensuring transparency and accountability” in the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen called Monday for the White House to release an official American report on the accidental killing of a reporter last year during a firefight between the IDF and Palestinian terrorists in Jenin.

The administration should “immediately declassify” last month’s summation report of the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) on the May 2022 death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian journalist with American citizenship, “in its entirety,” the Maryland Democrat said.

“I strongly believe that its public release is vital to ensuring transparency and accountability … and to avoiding future preventable and wrongful deaths – goals we should all support,” he added.

Van Hollen criticized Israel’s refusal to let the USSC team interview “key witnesses,” seemingly referring to the IDF soldiers who were involved in the clash. Saying that the report provides “very important insights” about how this IDF unit and others “operate in the West Bank,” he also noted that Israel had rejected Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call for the IDF to rethink its rules of engagement in the region.

“Such a review remains necessary,” he said.

For over a year, since the beginning of a serious uptick in terror attacks, IDF forces have been going on almost-nightly raids in Judea and Samaria to arrest suspects and confiscate illegal weapons. Just last week, 32-year-old Meir Tamari was murdered in a drive-by shooting in an attack for which the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, took credit.

Jenin is a hotbed of terrorism, and the IDF force came under attack when it entered the city looking for wanted men last May. The PA and Al Jazeera, Abu Akleh’s employer, claimed no Palestinians were shooting in the area where the journalist had been standing, clearly marked as a member of the press – a claim that the IDF contested.

The internal Israeli investigation into her death, which American officials were allowed to observe, concluded that the badly mangled bullet that hit Abu Akleh could not be proven to have come from an Israeli weapon, although “likely.” The Israeli government apologized last month for her death.

Van Hollen is a qualified Israel supporter. Although the 64-year-old legislator has gone on record backing Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, he consistently calls for applying the “two-state solution” to the Palestinian-Israel conflict and is strongly supported by the left-wing J-Street advocacy group.

While saying that he opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that targets Israel, he does not support anti-BDS legislation, citing First Amendment concerns.

In March, Van Hollen criticized Israel when the government voted to roll back the Disengagement Law to enable Jews to return to the four settlements in northern Samaria that had been destroyed in the 2005 disengagement.

Last month, he led 15 colleagues in a letter to Blinken stating that Israel should be allowed to join the Visa Waiver Program only if all U.S. citizens are allowed free travel to Israel, “regardless of national origin, religion, or ethnicity.” He cited problems that American Palestinians or Muslim tourists have had at Israel’s borders, which have generally stemmed from Israel’s security concerns.

The post US senator calls to declassify American report on Al Jazeera journalist’s death appeared first on World Israel News.

The E1 building plan was originally presented nearly three decades ago, in 1994, and received initial approval from the Civil Administration in 2004.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A planning committee that could approve plans for a new Jewish neighborhood near Jerusalem is scheduled to meet next week, paving the way for building to begin for the long-postponed project – but it’s unclear if the meeting will actually happen.

The Subcommittee for Objections within the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration is currently slated to meet next Monday to hear opposition to the construction of 3,400 new housing units in the E1 area, on the outskirts of a Jerusalem suburb.

Should the plan be approved, the construction would create a new neighborhood in Ma’ale Adumim that would essentially connect the Judean desert city to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority and pro-Palestinian groups are vehemently opposed to the construction, as it would create major geographic challenges for a potential contiguous Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

Notably, the E1 building plan was originally presented nearly three decades ago, in 1994, and received initial approval from the Civil Administration in 2004.

Since then, the project has been repeatedly delayed by numerous prime ministers and governments, due to intense pressure from the U.S. and European Union.

While the subcommittee is expected to meet next week, this exact session had already been postponed once in 2023. The meeting was also postponed three times in 2022.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s opposition to building in E1 during an AIPAC summit in Washington D.C. on Monday.

“Settlement expansion clearly presents an obstacle to the horizon of hope we seek,” Blinken said, adding that Jewish building in the region “damages prospects for two states.”

During U.S.-brokered security summits earlier in 2023, Israeli officials reportedly pledged to freeze settlement building and expansion for the foreseeable future.

The post Will approval meeting for new Jewish community be postponed again? appeared first on World Israel News.

“We are at the dawn of a new era for humanity, an era of artificial intelligence. Things are changing at a dizzying pace and Israel must formulate a national policy on this issue,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said after speaking with innovator-entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The post A NEW ERA: Netanyahu hails new dawn of Artificial Intelligence appeared first on World Israel News.

The de-dollarization threat looms as the Chinese yuan assumes a more active role in international payments and as the BRICS block grows. But how realistic is it that another fiat currency could dethrone the dollar?

Country’s economy is growing faster than China’s, and its short-term goal is to become a $5-trillion economy