With new developments each day, there is much to keep up with in Middle East news.
Russia’s Ambassador to Israel, Alexander Shein, has refused to call Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations. In a recent interview on Israeli television, he described them as “radical organizations which sometimes adhere to extremist political views.” He added, “We do not consider them to be terrorists at all.”
Despite pressure from the United States, Russian officials have repeatedly said that Hamas and Hezbollah, allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad, will not be designated as terrorist organizations. Russia provides military backing to Assad’s official Syrian army and has keen interest in the outcome of Syria’s internal conflicts.
Not surprisingly, the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and the entire European Union have a dramatically different opinion of Hamas and Hezbollah.
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Iranian navy continues to provoke U.S.
An Iranian missile boat directed a laser at a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter flying over the Strait of Hormuz last week, an action the U.S. military called “unsafe and unprofessional.”
The strait is a key waterway linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It has long been a site of frequent naval conflict involving Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. and its allies.
The Marine CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter automatically fired flares in response to the laser. No one was injured and there was no damage to ships in the strait.
A U.S. Navy commander said Iran’s action was unsafe because “illuminating helicopters with lasers at night is dangerous as it . . . can impair vision and can be disorienting to pilots using night-vision goggles.”
The incident is the latest in a series of Iranian provocations. In March, two sets of Iranian navy fast-attack boats approached a U.S.-led, five-vessel flotilla entering the strait, which resulted in a U.S. aircraft carrier confronting the Iranian boats.
Senate votes to strengthen Iran sanctions
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation late last week to strengthen sanctions against Iran testing ballistic missiles and conducting other, non-nuclear provocations.
Passed by a vote of 98-2, the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 would impose new mandatory sanctions against persons and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The Senate vote on new sanctions for Iran sends the bill to the House of Representatives. If it passes there, it will then go to the President’s desk.
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “We see destabilizing act after destabilizing act—from missile launches, to arms transfers, to terrorist training, to illicit financial activities, to targeting Navy ships, and detaining American citizens…And it’s past time for us to take steps to protect the interests of the United States and our allies.”
Since the Senate vote last week, Iran has engaged in a joint military drill with China in the Persian Gulf and has fired missiles at ISIS in Syria—an action that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say “I have one message for Iran: Don’t threaten Israel,” the Times of Israel reports.
Also in the news
The United States is threatening to replace the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with an alternative group of nations, if the 47-member body doesn’t stop its anti-Israel bias and undergo reform.
“We are either going to reform this thing and make it reflect what it should be reflecting or we will withdraw our support for it,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
If the U.S. does pull out of the UNHRC, Tillerson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee it would “find other means that we can approach human rights issues on a multilateral basis with partners who see it the same way we do.”
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has also spoken publicly about the possibility of a pullout, most recently when visiting Geneva in early June. The Jerusalem Post reports that her office also issued a statement after learning the UNHRC might ask the International Court of Justice at The Hague to issue an advisory opinion on alleged Israeli human rights abuses toward Palestinians.
The U.S. has regularly criticized the UNHRC’s anti-Israel bias. The Jewish state has been condemned more than any other country, including persistent human rights abusers such as Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
Since its founding in 2006, the Human Rights Council has adopted 135 country-specific resolutions—half of which condemned Israel.
Staying connected
I appreciate your interest in what’s happening in the Middle East—and your love for Israel and the Jewish people. My goal with these weekly updates is to help you stay informed so that you can also pray more effectively for the nation of Israel.
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