ISRAEL (IINO)
US refusal to bring forward KC-46 refueling aircraft holds back possible Israeli strike on Iran DEBKAfile
Mar 23, 2023 @ 12:58 – The Biden administration’s refusal to accede to Israel’s latest requests for delivery asap of the KC-46 Pegasus military refueling aircraft sets back a potential Israel airstrike for averting a nuclear-armed Iran. It is another hiccup in US-Israel relations with the current Netanyahu government. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained that Boeing can’t meet this request now since its hands are full with US Air Force orders. Under its $927m contract with Boeing, Israel will acquire four KC-46 aircraft; the first due by the end of 2025 and the other three in 2016.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant underlined as pressing the first Pegasus delivery after Iran was discovered enriching uranium up to 84pc grade and needed to be stopped before it jumped the six points up to weapons grade nuclear fuel. Advanced refueling aircraft are essential for the Israel Air Force to be sure of making the distance to targets in Iran and returning home safely.
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources add that the administration is strongly motivate to deny Israel’s request additionally by consideration of the ramifications of the Chinese-brokered détente between Saudi Arab and Iran. While reluctant to let Beijing gain a strong foothold in the Middle East, Biden regards this deal as offering the region a spell of stability. Ebbing US influence is a price they are willing to pay for the sake of calm in this volatile region. And a potential Israel air strike on Iran is seen as a recipe for major upsets, particularly since relations between Washington and Jerusalem have faced one hiccup after another. Inflammatory remarks by over-aggressive, under-experienced the new government ministers have soured the friendship. Most recently, the State Department chastised Israel for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s public statement repudiating the existence of a Palestinian people as a “fabrication.”
Netanyahu bows to pressing demands to shelve judicial reform until summer DEBKAfile
Mar 27, 2023 @ 11:51 – After a tense 10-hour delay, PM Binyamin Netanyahu finally agreed Monday night, March 27, to hold back the contentious judicial reform bill until the next Knesset session. He was mum on his widely condemned dismissal of Yoav Galant as defense minister. The anti-reform protesters called off their “day of disruption” due on Tuesday. The general strike declared by the Histadrut trade unions was cancelled.
In his broadcast address, Netanyahu announced that he had put on hold the second and third readings of the Judges Appointments bill due for enactment that day out of a sense of national responsibility, a will to avert a split in the country and the need to seize the opportunity for broad consensus. He denounced the refusal by military reservists to serve as intolerable and must be stopped.
“I am not willing to rend the country to shreds,” Netanyahu said. “We must remember that we are not facing enemies but brethren. Israel society has entered on a collision course, a dangerous crisis that undermines our fundamental unity. He welcomed opposition leader Benny Gantz’s standing offer of dialogue.
Replying to the prime minister, Benny Ganz welcomed his action as a first step towards averting civil war – ”Better late than never” he commented – and agreed to present himself at the president’s residence to discuss the formulation of a basic law representing broad consent. The aim must be to strengthen democracy and civil rights as well as repairing agreed-upon flaws in the judicial system.
DEBKAfile reported on Monday morning.
With PM Binyamin Netanyahu apparently poised to halt his government’s judicial reform legislation, the meeting of coalition leaders Monday morning, March 27 broke up in wild disorder forcing him to postpone his statement. Meanwhile, spurred by his dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Galant Sunday night, the Histadrut Trade Unions Federation declared a general strike, shutting down public services – excepting the health services that went on emergency footing – shopping malls, schools Takeoffs were cancelled at Ben Gurion airport stranding 72,000 travelers. Mayors and local council leaders declared a hunger strike in support of Galant’s pressing demand Sunday night to halt the legislation, the cause of his dismissal.
Netanyahu’s Shameful Surrender to the Left by Daniel Greenfield
The Left bet that with enough pressure they could shut down democratic judicial reform in Israel.
March 28, 2023 – The Left, in Israel and in the United States, bet that with enough pressure they could shut down democratic judicial reform in Israel. The weak point in the coalition government, as in every government where he has served as prime minister, is Netanyahu. The tragic truth to anyone who has been paying attention to Israeli politics long enough is that given enough pressure, he buckles, frees terrorists, freezes construction and backs off attack plans.
This was a mostly solid coalition that, like a fish, rotted from the head down. And, to be fair to Bibi, this time there was a lot of pressure. The Biden administration and the EU joined forces with not only the Israeli Left which rioted in the streets, but assorted influencers who play at being pro-Israel in the U.S. Usually credible papers like the Jerusalem Post did nothing but churn out hateful propaganda. And yet, approaching the finish line, Bibi held out until he buckled. A weak man is always the weak point and he’s a weak man.
2023 Inflated Palestinian Demography Yoram Ettinger
March 27th, 2023 – Official Palestinian demographic numbers are highly-inflated, as documented by a study, which has audited the Palestinian data since 2004:
*500,000 overseas residents, who have been away for over a year, are included in the Palestinian census, contrary to international regulations. 325,000 were included in the 1997 census, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and 400,000 in 2005, according to the Palestinian Election Commission. The number grows steadily due to births.
*350,000 East Jerusalem Arabs are doubly-counted – by Israel and by the Palestinian Authority. The number grows daily due to births.
*Over 150,000 Arabs, who married Israeli Arabs are similarly doubly-counted. The number expands daily due to births.
*A 390,000 Arab net-emigration from Judea & Samaria is excluded from the Palestinian census, notwithstanding the annual net-emigration since 1950. For example, 15,466 in 2022, 26,357 – 2019, 15,173 – 2017 and 24,244 – 2014, as documented by Israel’s Population and Migration Authority (exists and entries) in all the land, air and sea international passages.
*A 32% artificial inflation of Palestinian births was documented by the World Bank (page 8, item 6) in a 2006 audit.
*The Judea & Samaria Arab fertility rate has been westernized: from 9 births per woman in the 1960s to 3.02 births in 2021, as documented by the CIA World Factbook. It reflects the sweeping urbanization, growing enrollment of women in higher education, rising marriage age and the use of contraceptives.
*The number of Arab deaths in Judea & Samaria has been under-reported – since the days of the British Mandate) for political and financial reasons.
*The aforementioned data documents 1.4 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria, when deducting the aforementioned documented-data from the official Palestinian number (3 million).
In 2023: a 69% Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel. In 1947 and 1897: a 39% and 9% Jewish minority. In 2023, a 69% Jewish majority benefiting from fertility tailwind and net-immigration. Arab fertility is Westernized, and Arab net-emigration from Judea and Samaria. No Arab demographic time bomb. A Jewish demographic momentum.
More data in this article and this short video.
