Iran Threatens Israel as U.S. Approves Plane Sales

Iran held a large military parade in Teheran Wednesday to commemorate the beginning of the war it fought with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from 1980-88. The parade included fiery speeches by senior generals and officials and a banner displayed on one vehicle which declared “If the leaders of the Zionist regime make a mistake then the Islamic Republic will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust.” Also on Wednesday, the US Treasury Department issued licenses for Boeing and Airbus to supply passenger and cargo jets to Iranian airlines.

In an incident eerily reminiscent of recent terrorist attacks in Israel and the US, a man attempted to approach the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, Turkey armed with a knife Wednesday afternoon and was shot in the leg by an armed, off-duty Turkish police officer who happened to be passing by. “The staff is safe,” an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said, while Reuters reported that a Turkish police officer confirmed the attacker had shouted “Allahu Akbar” while attempting to attack the embassy.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is temporarily filling the roll of apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, gave a press conference Wednesday in which he denounced the “fundamentalism” of unspecified religious groups which he said was responsible for many of the problems in the Middle East. He added that his plan was to encourage “interfaith dialogue” between different communities in order to rectify the situation.

Kiryat Gat Chief Rabbi Moshe Havlin has been under severe pressure, including physical attacks on himself and his family, following his recent work on an agreement which would see larger numbers of young Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jewish men enlisting in the Israeli military. Havlin’s home was broken into earlier this month by a group of men from the anti-Zionist Natorei Karta group, who attacked him and his wife and vandalized their possessions. Religious Services Minister David Azoulay has called for protection for the Rabbi and his family in the wake of these incidents.

In his final address as president to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Obama devoted 31 words of a 5,600-word speech to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reflecting a penchant to play up the negative, the Israeli media highlighted the second part of Obama’s sentence while downplaying the first part: that the Palestinians must reject incitement and recognize Israel’s legitimacy.

Vice Adm. Ram Rothberg discusses current training, efforts to deter Hamas and Hezbollah, monitor the war in Syria and the increased Russian activity in the Middle East and assist the other branches of the IDF in various strategic efforts.