Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Naftali Bennet toured IDF positions on the Golan Heights on Sunday, with Netanyahu telling reporters that “Iran’s aggression in the region and against us continues. We are taking all the actions necessary to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in the region. This includes action necessary to thwart the transfer of lethal weapons from Iran to Syria, via the air or sea…I cannot provide any more details, but this is a process taking place all the time.” Meanwhile, ‪US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was in Israel on Sunday to meet with his IDF counterparts, with Iran believed to be at the top of the agenda for those meetings.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu blocked efforts to hold a snap primary for leadership of his Likud Party on Sunday evening, despite explanations that it was a move that could save Israel from the necessity of holding yet another election early next year by Netanyahu’s top challenger within Likud, Gideon Sa’ar. Former Jerusalem Mayor and current Likud MK Nir Barkat also clashed with Sa’ar and made an alternative proposal to the party leadership for a vice-chairman to be elected who would serve as Prime Minister while Netanyahu was fighting his legal battles in court, while Sa’ar told the Reshet Bet radio program Monday morning that he and his family have been threatened with violence for his efforts to unseat Netanyahu.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini criticized the Assad regime and its Russian ally over the weekend following reports of heavy bombardments of camps housing displaced persons in Idlib Province, the northwest portion of Syria bordering Turkey which has become the last holdout of the rebel groups opposing the regime. Meanwhile, in neighboring Lebanon, fresh demonstrations were called for Monday after security forces loyal to the government arrested a group of children for pulling down a sign supporting President Michael Aoun’s political party, the Free Patriotic Movement.

Reports emerged over the weekend that over 200,000 residents of northern Israel living in the Mateh Asher Regional Council’s confrontation zone, defined as being from zero to nine kilometers from Israel’s northern border, lack adequate protection from incoming rocket attacks. The IDF Home Front Command issued a statement in response to the report saying it was aware of the situation and was working to rectify it.

In another defeat for the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel, the University of Cape Town announced over the weekend that it is rescinding an earlier move to boycott Israeli academic institutions. South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) national director Wendy Kahn issued a statement to the Jerusalem Post saying the announcement sends “a resounding message of their commitment to academic freedom.”

In May 2019, Iran indicated that it would begin to violate the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This would take the form of a series of incremental and escalatory steps, to be announced every 60 days, in response to the withdrawal of the Trump administration from the nuclear deal a year earlier and the subsequent imposition of harsh sanctions. While the steps have been taken in response to US sanctions, Iran is consistently directing its message to the Europeans, whom the Iranians accuse of not fulfilling their promise to protect Iran’s interests under the deal. Indeed, Iran is not projecting that it wants to leave the deal or that it wants the deal to collapse; rather, the idea is to have sanctions lifted by pressuring the Europeans to do more to help.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have their fingerprints on every battleground in the Middle East.1 Both countries support proxy militias that align with their own politics, and both interfere in their neighbors’ affairs to advance their own interests. These external interventions bolster foreign clients who, in turn, support the patron regime back home, further legitimizing Tehran and Riyadh’s roles as regional hegemons. (PDF)

At the Feast of Tabernacles 2019, ICEJ celebrated a new milestone in our Aliyah efforts, as the ICEJ has now assisted more than 150,000 Jews to make the journey home to Israel since our founding in September 1980. The ICEJ was also privileged to be a part of an especially unique Aliyah arrival ceremony welcoming new Jewish immigrants from different countries. Joy, excitement and unity filled the atmosphere as these new Olim, young and old, entered into a new culture and way of life in their historical homeland!