Israeli president picks Netanyahu to try and form government

April 06, 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s president on Tuesday handed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the difficult task of trying to form a government from the country’s splintered parliament, giving the embattled leader a chance to prolong his lengthy term in office while on trial for corruption charges.

In his announcement, President Reuven Rivlin acknowledged that no party leader had the necessary support to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. He also noted that many believe Netanyahu is unfit to serve in light of his legal problems.

Nonetheless, Rivlin said that there was nothing in the law preventing Netanyahu from serving as prime minister. After consulting with the 13 parties in the newly elected parliament, Rivlin said that Netanyahu had the best chance of any candidate of forming a new government.

“No candidate has a realistic chance of forming a government that will have the confidence of the Knesset,” Rivlin said. But, he added, Netanyahu has a “slightly higher chance” of being able to. “I have decided to entrust him with the task,” Rivlin said from Jerusalem. Rivlin added that the choice was “not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis.”

With that, Rivlin nudged forward the twin dramas over the country’s future and Netanyahu’s fate, giving Israel’s longest-serving premier a fresh chance to try to salvage his career. Netanyahu now has up to six weeks to try to cobble together a coalition during his trial.

Early reactions from the premier’s sworn rivals highlighted the difficult road ahead. Yair Lapid, leader of the party that won the second-highest number of seats, acknowledged that the law left Rivlin “no choice,” but in the same tweet denounced the development as “a shameful disgrace that tarnishes Israel.”

A court ruling could be months or even years away. The proceedings are expected to take place up to three days a week, an embarrassing and time-consuming distraction that will shadow Netanyahu’s appeals to his rivals.

Netanyahu holds the most support — 52 seats — in Israel’s Knesset. But that is still short of a 61-seat majority. He is likely to use his powers of persuasion to try to lure a number of opponents, including a number of former close aides who have vowed never to serve under him again, with generous offers of powerful government ministries or legislative committees.

Parties representing 45 members supported Yair Lapid, while Yamina, with seven seats, nominated its own leader, Naftali Bennett. Three parties holding a total of 16 seats made no recommendation. Rivlin’s decision merges questions of Netanyahu’s legal and political future in what’s perhaps the starkest political challenge of his career.

In court, he faces fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges in three separate cases. Proceedings resumed Tuesday, though the premier was not expected to appear in court. A key witness on Monday cast Netanyahu as an image-obsessed leader who forced a prominent news site to help his family and smear his opponents.

Netanyahu denies all charges and in an nationally televised address accused prosecutors of persecuting him in an effort to drive him out of office. “This is what a coup attempt looks like,” he said. Monday’s court session focused on the most serious case against Netanyahu — in which he is accused of promoting regulations that delivered hundreds of millions of dollars of profits to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage on the firm’s popular news site, Walla.

Ilan Yeshua, Walla’s former chief editor, described a system in which Bezeq’s owners, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, repeatedly pressured him to publish favorable things about Netanyahu and smear the prime minister’s rivals.

The explanation he was given by the couple? “That’s what the prime minister wanted,” he said.

Kellman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Israeli voters poised to send first Reform rabbi to Knesset

March 19, 2021

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In years of going against Israel’s religious and political mainstream, Rabbi Gilad Kariv has learned to handle conflict. He has argued controversial civil rights cases before Israel’s Supreme Court. And as an activist, he has lobbied at the Knesset, the 120-seat parliament for a country facing its fourth election in two years.

So after locking up a spot that put him on the brink of joining the Knesset, it did not rock Kariv's world when powerful Orthodox lawmakers responded by threatening to boycott him. The 47-year-old lawyer and father of three is poised next week to become the first Reform movement rabbi to hold a seat in parliament, a political ascent that marks a key victory for religious pluralism in Israel and for the millions of American Jews who practice liberal streams of their religion.

Kariv's rise to the fourth-highest seat in the center-left Labor party would also put the Reform movement closer to the center of power inside Israel, rather than remaining a feature of the far-flung diaspora. The politically powerful Orthodox establishment has treated Kariv as a threat, suggesting he is the face of a “clownish” and “illegitimate" cult of pretenders.

Kariv shrugs off the hostility. “If an Israeli politician and politicians in general need to have the skin of an elephant, a thick skin," Kariv said in an interview at Labor headquarters in Tel Aviv. “Then an Israeli Reform rabbi needs the skin of a mammoth.”

He spoke not far from the spot where, during the first Palestinian uprising in 1987, he said he and his fellow teenage activists demonstrated weekly for a two-state peace agreement with the Palestinians and were spit upon by passers-by.

Kariv himself was raised in a secular Tel Aviv family. Like most Jewish Israeli boys, he celebrated his bar mitzvah, and early on, he considered becoming Orthodox. He first encountered Reform Judaism during a high school trip to the United States. After returning home, he joined one of Israel’s first Reform congregations, rising to become its leader.

The Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism now lists more than 50 congregations, representing a still-small but growing slice of a country whose Jewish rituals are largely controlled by Orthodox leaders. About 3% of Israeli Jews say they belong to the Reform movement.

About a third of American Jews, about 2 million people, identify as Reform. Non-Orthodox American Jews also tend to hold much more liberal views on social and political issues than Israel's increasingly right-leaning society. That has translated into rising tensions between the world's two largest Jewish communities over issues like religious pluralism, West Bank settlement construction and how to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.

Those differences were on display during the Trump administration, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close ties with the former U.S. president alienated many American Jews. Just talking about “Western liberal democratic values, you’re losing big parts of the Israeli audience,” said Kariv.

But Kariv, who is both a rabbi and a lawyer, believes Israel's Zionist ideals include respect for human rights and the LGBT community, assisting African migrants who have made their way to Israel and protecting the environment. He is a strong advocate of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, believes West Bank settlement construction should be frozen and borders should be worked out in negotiations.

Such positions will put Kariv at odds on many issues with Netanyahu's religious and nationalist partners, if the Israeli leader wins another term in Tuesday's vote. Even if Netanyahu's opponents manage to form a more moderate coalition, Kariv isn't likely to change much policy on his own as a new member of the parliament. But he'll have influence and a louder microphone just for having a seat inside the government. That's expected to raise his profile on volatile issues, such as a recent Supreme Court decision allowing people who convert to Judaism inside Israel through the Reform or Conservative movements to become citizens.

The March 1 ruling, 15 years in the making, only affects about 30 people a year. But like Kariv's rise, the symbolism of the ruling challenged the Orthodox establishment's monopoly on defining what and who qualifies as Jewish. Several members of the Knesset have vowed to challenge the decision via legislation.

As a lawmaker, Kariv would have a voice in the parliament's debate. He's said that if Israel wants to be the nation-state of the Jewish world, then it must recognize all the denominations of Judaism with equality.

“To be inside the Knesset means he’s at the table. He’s at the lectern, wearing a kippah as an Israeli," said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Reform movement in the U.S. who has lobbied the Knesset with Kariv, his Israeli counterpart, for nine years. Now, Jacobs said, “instead of writing op-eds, he's going to be standing at the plenum.”

This equal footing would give some added legitimacy to a movement the Orthodox leaders have dismissed. They see Reform Judaism as a threat unlike secularism, said one expert. “Reform Judaism conveys an alternative interpretation of Judaism," said Shmuel Rosner, senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. Many Orthodox leaders “don't want to have any discussion about it.”

United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party, released a campaign video just after the court decision that cast non-Orthodox converts in Israel as akin to dogs wearing skullcaps. The ferocious blowback might work in Kariv's favor.

Kariv "is a strong individual and he’s been very outspoken," said Jay Ruderman, president of The Ruderman Foundation, a Boston-based group that educates Israeli lawmakers about American Jewry, and himself an Orthodox Jew. “In the Knesset, it will be a bumpy ride.”

But if Kariv's critics keep up the hostility, Ruderman added, “they will make him more well-known.” And in a closely split parliament, pragmatism may end up prevailing. Rosner said the threatened, pre-election boycott of Kariv could easily fade if the Orthodox politicians need him in a tight vote.

“We should all remember that this is politics,” he said. “People can be enemies in public and still trade horses privately.”

Secretive Israeli nuclear facility undergoes major project

February 25, 2021

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A secretive Israeli nuclear facility at the center of the nation's undeclared atomic weapons program is undergoing what appears to be its biggest construction project in decades, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.

A dig about the size of a soccer field and likely several stories deep now sits just meters (yards) from the aging reactor at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona. The facility is already home to decades-old underground laboratories that reprocess the reactor's spent rods to obtain weapons-grade plutonium for Israel's nuclear bomb program.

What the construction is for, however, remains unclear. The Israeli government did not respond to detailed questions from the AP about the work. Under its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies having atomic weapons. It is among just four countries that have never joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a landmark international accord meant to stop the spread of nuclear arms.

The construction comes as Israel — under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — maintains its scathing criticism of Iran's nuclear program, which remains under the watch of United Nations inspectors unlike its own. That has renewed calls among experts for Israel to publicly declare details of its program.

What “the Israeli government is doing at this secret nuclear weapons plant is something for the Israeli government to come clean about," said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association.

With French assistance, Israel began secretly building the nuclear site in the late 1950s in empty desert near Dimona, a city some 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Jerusalem. It hid the military purpose of the site for years from America, now Israel's chief ally, even referring to it as a textile factory.

With plutonium from Dimona, Israel is widely believed to have become one of only nine nuclear-armed countries in the world. Given the secrecy surrounding its program, it remains unclear how many weapons it possesses. Analysts estimate Israel has material for at least 80 bombs. Those weapons likely could be delivered by land-based ballistic missiles, fighter jets or submarines.

For decades, the Dimona facility's layout has remained the same. However, last week, the International Panel on Fissile Materials at Princeton University noted it had seen “significant new construction” at the site via commercially available satellite photos, though few details could be made out.

Satellite images captured Monday by Planet Labs Inc. after a request from the AP provide the clearest view yet of the activity. Just southwest of the reactor, workers have dug a hole some 150 meters (165 yards) long and 60 meters (65 yards) wide. Tailings from the dig can be seen next to the site. A trench some 330 meters (360 yards) runs near the dig.

Some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) west of the reactor, boxes are stacked in two rectangular holes that appear to have concrete bases. Tailings from the dig can be seen nearby. Similar concrete pads are often used to entomb nuclear waste.

Other images from Planet Labs suggest the dig near the reactor began in early 2019 and has progressed slowly since then. Analysts who spoke to the AP offered several suggestions about what could be happening there.

The center’s heavy-water reactor has been operational since the 1960s, far longer than most reactors of the same era. That raises both effectiveness and safety questions. In 2004, Israeli soldiers even began handing out iodine pills in Dimona in case of a radioactive leak from the facility. Iodine helps block the body from absorbing radiation.

Those safety concerns could see authorities decommission or otherwise retrofit the reactor, analysts say. “I believe that the Israeli government is concerned to preserve and maintain the nation's current nuclear capabilities,” said Avner Cohen, a professor of nonproliferation studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who has written extensively on Dimona.

“If indeed the Dimona reactor is getting closer to decommissioned, as I believe it is, one would expect Israel to make sure that certain functions of the reactor, which are still indispensable, will be fully replaced."

Kimball, of the Arms Control Association, suggested Israel may want to produce more tritium, a relatively faster-decaying radioactive byproduct used to boost the explosive yield of some nuclear warheads. It also could want fresh plutonium "to replace or extend the life of warheads already in the Israeli nuclear arsenal,” he added.

Israel built its nuclear weapons as it faced several wars with its Arab neighbors since its founding in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust. An atomic weapons program, even undeclared, provided it an edge to deter enemies.

As Peres, who led the nuclear program and later served as prime minister and president of Israel, said in 1998: “We have built a nuclear option, not in order to have a Hiroshima, but to have an Oslo,” referring both to the first U.S. nuclear bomb drop in World War II and Israel's efforts to reach a peace deal with Palestinians.

But Israel's strategy of opacity also draws criticism from opponents. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seized on the work at Dimona this week as his country prepared to limit access by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency amid tensions with the West over its collapsing 2015 nuclear deal.

“Any talk about concern about Iran's nuclear program is absolute nonsense," Zarif told Iranian state television’s English-language arm Press TV. “Let's be clear on that: It's hypocrisy.” The timing of the Dimona construction surprised Valerie Lincy, executive director of the Washington-based Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.

“I think the most puzzling thing is ... you have a country that is very aware of the power of satellite imagery and particularly the way proliferation targets are monitored using that imagery," Lincy said. "In Israel, you have one known nuclear target for monitoring, which is the Dimona reactor. So you would think that anything that they wanted to keep under the radar would be kept under the radar.”

In the 1960s, Israel used its claims about adversary Egypt’s missile and nuclear efforts to divert attention from its work at Dimona — and may choose to do the same with Iran now. “If you’re Israel and you are going to have to undertake a major construction project at Dimona that will draw attention, that’s probably the time that you would scream the most about the Iranians," said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor also teaching nonproliferation issues at Middlebury.

Israel is expanding Dimona nuclear facility

February 20, 2021

Israel is expanding its Dimona nuclear facility located in the Negev desert, news agencies reported, according to new satellite images released on Thursday.

Dimona is Israel's nuclear research facility. It was officially renamed after late Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres in 2018. Israel developed the fissile material for its nuclear arsenal in this nuclear reactor.

The International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM), an independent expert group, on Thursday released new images, pointing out that the area being worked on is a few hundred meters across to the south and west of the processing point at the nuclear facility.

As reported by The Guardian, Pavel Podvig, a researcher with the program on science and global security at Princeton University, explained: "It appears that the construction started quite early in 2019, or late 2018, so it's been underway for about two years, but that's all we can say at this point."

The secretive nuclear facility built with French assistance in the 1950s has played a key role in equipping Israel's nuclear arsenal.

According to The Guardian, The Federation of American Scientists estimated that Israel has about 90 warheads, made from plutonium produced in the Dimona heavy water reactor.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210220-israel-is-expanding-dimona-nuclear-facility/.

UAE delegation arrives in Israel to prepare for embassy opening

February 15, 2021

An Emirati technical delegation arrived in Israel today to arrange the requirements for the opening of the UAE Embassy in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) said: "A technical delegation from the UAE arrived in Israel today, as part of preparations for the opening of an Emirati embassy in Tel Aviv."

Yesterday Mohamed Mahmoud Al-Khaja was sworn in as the UAE's ambassador to the occupation state of Israel, by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, at a ceremony at Al Watan Palace in Abu Dhabi.

Israel opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi on 24 January.

The controversial move comes after the UAE and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic, cultural and commercial relations following the signing of the Abraham Accords on 15 September at the White House.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210215-uae-delegation-arrives-in-israel-to-prepare-for-embassy-opening/.

Israel cancels trade delegation's trip to UAE

February 15, 2021

Israel has cancelled its planned participation in a major defense expo in the United Arab Emirates next week due to COVID-19 curbs on air travel, Israeli officials said today.

Dozens of Israeli defense firms had been due to take part in the IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi from 21-25 February – a first for both countries, which last September established formal relations, Reuters reported.

But officials from Israel's Defense Ministry and Regional Cooperation Ministry said the plan was cancelled. They cited Israel's 26 January ban on international air travel, which is still in force as it tries to reverse a surge in COVID-19 contagion.

A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said it requested special permission for the firms to fly out to the UAE capital, but was refused by a Regional Cooperation Ministry authorization panel.

A Regional Cooperation Ministry spokesman said the request "had to be denied, despite the desire to … promote defense activity, and given the need to [make] unprejudiced decisions".

The business newspaper Globes quoted an unidentified senior representative of an Israeli defense firm as saying that the cancellation would spell "huge" losses of deals to competitors.

"The Emirati hosts were supremely friendly and rolled out the red carpet. We were meant to have been the focus of the expo, with several top-of-the-line products and exhibits," the representative was quoted as saying. "All that, for nothing?"

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210215-israel-cancels-trade-delegations-trip-to-uae/.

Washington warns it will prevent Israel planes from landing in US airports

February 15, 2021

The US Department of Transportation has warned it would prevent Israel's El Al flights from landing in American airports if Tel Aviv continues to prevent American planes from landing in Israel, Israeli media reported yesterday.

According to the Israeli TV Channel 12, the US Department of Transportation demanded that Israel allow US airlines to fly rescue flights for stranded Israelis in the country and not to allow Israel's national carrier El Al to carry out the mission.

Washington, according to the report, told Israel that its decision to only allow the Israeli airline to move stranded passengers to their homes is a violation of aviation agreements between the two countries.

The Biden administration sent a message to Israel saying that both American and Israeli carriers should be allowed to fly the routes to prevent a potential crisis between the two sides.

The report pointed out that Israel is afraid that other countries, including the UK would take the same steps.

Israeli media said that the Transportation Ministry would have held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter yesterday.

Israel banned passenger flights in and out of the country from 25 January as part of a national lockdown to help stem the spread of coronavirus.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210215-washington-warns-it-will-prevent-israel-planes-from-landing-in-us-airports/.

Indonesia and Mauritania were 'close' to recognizing Israel, say Trump officials

20 January 2021

Two US officials have claimed that the outgoing Trump administration ran out of time before it could secure agreements with Indonesia and Mauritania to normalize relations with Israel.

The officials, who spoke to the Times of Israel, said that US President Donald Trump would have secured the deal if he were to be in office for another month or two.

“Mauritania and Indonesia are high on the list, but it changes based upon various circumstances,” one senior US official told the Times of Israel.

“You can put every country on the list, to the point where Iran will eventually join the Abraham Accords.”

Mauritania was apparently "weeks" away from finalizing a deal, claimed the officials after Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner identified the northwestern African country as a possible candidate to normalize relations with Israel.

One official also alleged that Trump was in "intermediate" talks with Oman to normalize relations with Israel and "less" advanced talks with Saudi Arabia, which would have taken longer.

Last year, Jakarta played down reports of normalization with Israel, after a senior US official told Bloomberg that Indonesia could receive $2bn in development aid from the US.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas it would not sign an agreement to recognize Israel until there was a viable Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, US President-elect Joe Biden during his election campaign said that he supported the Abraham Accords.

Biden's nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has also said that recognition of Israel is something he would support but not prioritize.

Source: Middle East Eye.

Link: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-normalisation-indonesia-mauritania-close.

Netanyahu courts Arab voters in election-year turnabout

January 20, 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent much of his long career casting Israel's Arab minority as a potential fifth column led by terrorist sympathizers, is now openly courting their support as he seeks reelection in the country's fourth vote in less than two years.

Few Arabs are likely to heed his call, underscoring the desperation of Netanyahu’s political somersault. But the the relative absence of incitement against the community in this campaign and the potential breakup of an Arab party alliance could dampen turnout — to Netanyahu's advantage. He might even pick up just enough votes to swing a tight election.

Either way, Netanyahu's overtures have shaken up the Arab community. The Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties that secured a record 15 seats in the 120-member Knesset last March, is riven by a dispute over whether it should work with Netanyahu's right-wing Likud at a time when less objectionable center-left parties are in disarray.

Its demise would leave the community with even less representation as it confronts a terrifying crime wave, coronavirus-fueled unemployment and persistent inequality. But given the complexities of Israel's coalition system, a breakaway Arab party could gain outsized influence if it is willing to work with Netanyahu or other traditionally hostile leaders.

The struggle was on vivid display last week when Netanyahu traveled to Nazareth, the largest Arab-majority city in Israel, his third visit to an Arab district in less than two weeks. Outside the venue, dozens of people, including a number of Arab members of parliament, protested his visit and scuffled with police, even as the city's mayor welcomed and praised him.

“Netanyahu came like a thief to try to scrape together votes from the Arab street,” said Aida Touma-Suleiman, a prominent lawmaker from the Joint List. "Your attempt to dismantle our community from within won’t succeed.”

Arabs make up around 20% of Israel's population. They have full citizenship, including the right to vote, and have a large and growing presence in universities, the health care sector and other professions. But they face widespread discrimination and blame lax Israeli law enforcement for a rising wave of violent crime in their communities.

They have close familial ties to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and largely identify with their cause. That has led many Jews to view them as sympathetic to Israel's enemies, sentiments fanned by Netanyahu and other right-wing politicians.

On the eve of elections in 2015, Netanyahu warned his supporters that Arabs were voting in "droves." During back-to-back elections in 2019, his campaign sent poll observers to Arab districts and pushed for cameras in voting booths, in what critics said was a ploy to intimidate Arab voters and whip up false allegations of election fraud.

Those moves backfired spectacularly. The Joint List, an unwieldy alliance of Islamists, communists and other leftists, boosted turnout and emerged as one of the largest blocs in parliament. At times, it looked like it might help deny Netanyahu a majority coalition or even emerge as the official opposition.

But last May, after three deadlocked elections in less than a year, Netanyahu formed a coalition with his main rival and the Joint List was left out in the cold. In the coming election, polls indicate a coalition of right-wing and centrist parties committed to ending Netanyahu's nearly 12-year rule would be able to oust him without the Arab bloc.

No Arab party has ever asked or been invited to join a ruling coalition. In Nazareth, Netanyahu claimed his remarks in 2015 were misinterpreted — that he was merely warning Arab voters not to support the Joint List.

“All Israel’s citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, must vote," he said. In other Arab towns, he has visited coronavirus vaccination centers, boasting about his success in securing millions of doses and encouraging residents to get inoculated.

Netanyahu's Arab outreach seems to have given a green light to centrist and left-leaning politicians to do the same, with less concern that their right-wing rivals will use it against them. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, Netanyahu's main center-left opponent, said over the weekend that he was open to forming a government with external support from the Joint List.

The Joint List is meanwhile showing signs of breaking up. Mansour Abbas, the head of an Islamist party, has expressed openness in recent months to working with Netanyahu to address issues like housing and law enforcement. An aide to Abbas declined requests for an interview.

A full-scale breakup of the Joint List could further reduce turnout and potentially leave one or more of its four parties with too little support to cross the electoral threshold. Thabet Abu Rass, the co-director of the Abraham Initiatives, which works to promote equality among Jews and Arabs, says Netanyahu may attract a small number of Arab voters, but that far more of them would simply boycott the election.

“They are waiting to see if there is going to be a Joint List or not, and if you ask me, it’s not going to happen,” he said. "There are a lot of deep differences this time.” A poll carried out in December forecast Arab turnout at around 55%, far lower than the 65% seen last March.

Although Arab parties have historically performed worse on their own, some feel the parties might be more effective individually. In Israel's political system — which requires would-be prime ministers to assemble majority coalitions — small parties often wield outsized influence.

“When we speak about the Palestinian community in Israel, we don’t speak about one bloc, we have different ideologies,” said Nijmeh Ali, a policy analyst at Al-Shabaka, an international Palestinian think tank. “Sometimes you need to break up in order to gain power."

Netanyahu appears to be focused on the margins ahead of a tight race that could determine not only whether he remains in office, but whether he secures immunity from prosecution on multiple corruption charges. With only a few seats, a pragmatic politician like Abbas could determine Netanyahu's fate.

“This is the new thing in Arab politics," said Arik Rudnitzky, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “They are ready to hold direct negotiations with Likud.” He said it doesn't mean they will be part of a governing coalition, but they could offer outside support to secure benefits for the Arab public. “It might be a win-win situation," he said.

Associated Press reporters Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem and Ami Bentov in Nazareth, Israel, contributed to this report.

Marcos victory opens old wounds for martial law victims in Philippines

May 13, 2022

By Thomas Maresca

MANILA, May 13 (UPI) -- As Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was closing in on the presidency of the Philippines earlier this week, playwright Boni Ilagan thought back to a morning almost 50 years ago.

Ilagan, then a 23-year-old student activist, was on the run from Bongbong's father -- dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. -- who had declared martial law and was hunting down political opponents and dissidents.

In April 1974, Ilagan's luck ran out. An intelligence unit burst into the safe house where he and his fellow publishers of an underground newspaper were hiding.

"They started the torture right there in the house," Ilagan, now 70, told UPI. "I think they wanted us to be demoralized immediately, so that we could offer no resistance."

For the next two years, he was held prisoner at Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Manila. Ilagan's captors burned his feet with a flat iron. They made him lie between two cots, suspended by only his head and feet, and beat him when he sagged or fell -- the torturers called it "San Juanico Bridge," named after a span Marcos built as a gift for his wife Imelda, now 92 years old.

Iligan's voice caught as he described how interrogators forced a stick into his penis, trying to get him to talk.

"It took a long time before I was able to share the details of this," he said. "I was in denial."

According to Amnesty International, the Marcos administration detained 70,000 people on charges of subversion, tortured 34,000 and "salvaged" 3,240 -- a euphemism for extrajudicial killings.

Ilagan's sister Rizalina was also arrested and "disappeared" in 1977, her name inscribed on a memorial wall that Boni visited after casting his vote on Monday.

With the presumptive victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the presidential election -- he won by a landslide of more than 16 million votes, according to still-unofficial results -- the memories of those dark years have grown closer than ever.

"It's unimaginable," Ilagan said. 'It's like a nightmare that I thought had been lost forever and now has been revived."

Another student activist, Neri Colmenares, was just 18 when he was arrested in 1978. He would spend a total of four years in prison, subject to frequent beatings and electric shocks.

However, Colmenares said it was the mental torture -- such as being forced to play Russian roulette with a loaded revolver -- that was worse.

"After three days of beatings, your body is so numb that no more pain can be added," he told UPI. "It was the mental torture that actually broke a lot of activists. I always say that it is probably because the mind is limitless. Therefore, the pain is limitless."

Both men have been active in keeping the memory of the martial law era alive and warning of the dangers of returning the Marcos clan to power.

Ilagan, a renowned playwright whose works portrayed the human rights violations of the Marcos dictatorship, is one of the leaders of the activist group Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law.

Colmenares, a 62-year-old human rights lawyer and former congressman, ran an unsuccessful campaign for a Senate seat this week on a ticket closely allied with Leni Robredo, the main opponent of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the presidential race.

"I was competing against Marcos more than I was competing for my senatorial position," Colmenares said. "Because among the candidates, I think I'm the only one who was tortured and arrested during Marcos era, so I felt a personal obligation."

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has never apologized or admitted to any wrongdoing from the two decades of rule that saw his family plunder up to $10 billion from the country. Instead, he ran on a campaign slogan of "together we will rise again" and praised his dictator father as a "political genius."

Meanwhile, opponents have been faced with a "firehose of disinformation," according to fact-checking group Tsek.ph, much of which has set out to rehabilitate the family's image and cast the Marcos era as a kind of golden age of the Philippines.

"Marcos has been exceptionally effective in using disinformation spread on social media to rebrand his family's history and create a devoted following," Liz Derr, founder of TrollExposer, a U.S.-based organization that roots out accounts and groups responsible for fake news on Facebook, told UPI.

"He has conditioned his followers to be impervious to fact checking and reliable sources," Derr said.

One widespread myth, used to explain the notorious kleptocracy's wealth, claims that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was paid thousands of tons of gold when he worked as a lawyer for the descendants of a Philippine royal family.

Other accounts claim that only terrorists were arrested under martial law -- not activists or critics such as Ilagan and Colmenares. The lies are especially targeted at voters too young to have firsthand memories of the Marcos era, which ended when he was driven into exile by a popular uprising in 1986.

"I felt some resentment against the young people for believing," Ilagan said. "But I realized it was not their fault. It was the fault of our government, our institutions who failed to ensure that the lessons of history, especially during martial law, were taught."

"My main obligation is to tell people my story," Ilagan said. "So I tell my story. And I tell the story of my sister."

Source: United Press International (UPI).

Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/05/13/philippines-ferdinand-marcos-martial-law-Philippines/2611652445128/.

The rise and fall -- and rise again -- of the Philippines' Marcos family

May 6, 2022

By Danielle Haynes

May 6 (UPI) -- For decades, the name "Ferdinand Marcos" would have struck anger and fear in most Filipinos, and any association with the late dictator might have been the kiss of death for a political campaign.

But on Monday, voters in the Philippines are poised to elect the son and namesake of the onetime dictator into power more than three decades after his father was deposed.

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. of the Federal Party of the Philippines heads into Monday's election with 56% of Filipinos saying they'd vote for him, according to a Pulse Asia Research Inc. poll released Monday. He has more than double the support of his next-nearest opponent, Vice President Leni Robredo (23%). Seven percent of respondents said they'd vote for former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

The support for the younger Marcos is remarkable given how far his family -- including his mother, Imelda Marcos -- fell during the People Power Revolution.

Ferdinand Marcos rose to power in 1965 after nearly two decades in politics -- first working for the first president after independence from the United States, Manuel Roxas, then as a member of the House of Representatives and Senate. He broke with Roxas' Liberal Party after failing to receive its nomination for president in 1965, and was ultimately elected as a member of the Nationalist Party.

Early in his presidency, Ferdinand Marcos won the hearts of Filipinos, building up the country's infrastructure and giving his beauty-queen wife powers beyond those of a typical first lady. A UPI article on his legacy published in the days after his 1989 death said his administration "originally was likened to the Camelot of the John F. Kennedy years in the White House."

Ferdinand Marcos was the first leader of the Philippines to serve a second term, but despite his re-election general favorability in his first term, he faced growing discontent, particularly among students.

Ferdinand Marcos implemented martial law in 1972, jailing opposition members -- including Benigno Aquino Jr. -- and using the armed forces to carry out his will. He used violence to suppress opposition to his rule, silenced media outlets, confiscated some half-million firearms, and oversaw a fraudulent referendum to ratify his martial law in 1973.

The Marcos administration faced fierce threats even within its own ranks, with the politicized military stamping out at least five attempted coups.

He gradually amassed more power and wealth for himself, to the tune of $28 billion, much of which he stole from the Central Bank of the Philippines. The U.S. government estimates he made off with up to $10 billion of that in exile.

The first couple came to be associated with excess and a decadent lifestyle. Imelda Marcos was famous for her collection of thousands of pairs of shoes, racks of gowns and Gucci handbags.

Ferdinand Marcos ended martial law in 1981, the same year he was elected to a third term. Growing discontent with his rule spurred a non-violent revolution in 1986. Over the course of four days in February, some 2 million people protested the regime's violence -- including the assassination of popular opposition leader Aquino -- election fraud and financial corruption.

Multiple political, military and religious groups joined in support of the effort, also known as the Yellow Revolution, and the first family ultimately fled, seeking refuge in Hawaii.

Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquina, was sworn in as president, a role she served for six years.

Ferdinand Marcos died at the age of 72 in 1989, still in exile in Hawaii. He initially was interred in a mausoleum on the island of Oahu, but his body was moved to a crypt in the Philippines in 1993.

In 2016, he was quietly given a hero's burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the national cemetery, to the outcry of those who remembered his brutal and dictatorial reign.

Despite protests against his burial at the revered cemetery, opposition to Imelda Marcos and his son, Bongbong Marcos waned in recent years.

The former first lady, now 92, returned to the Philippines in the 1990s and served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1998 and again for nine years beginning in 2010. Bongbong Marcos was governor and vice governor of Ilocos Norte for a combined 15 years, before serving in the House. He most recently served six years in the Senate.

Bongbong Marcos is running for the presidency as a member of the Federal Party of the Philippines, which was formed by supporters of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte. The party seeks to navigate the Philippines' unitary system of government to a federal one consisting of provinces or states.

His running mate is Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the daughter of the current president.

Though the younger Marcos has plenty of detractors from those who remember the atrocities of his father's regime, observers blame a lack of education about the dictatorship and misinformation by the Marcoses for the new support and BongBong Marcos' likely win.

Source: United Press International (UPI).

Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/05/06/philippines-philippines-election-ferdinand-marcos-history/5851651701744/.

Reports: 2,000 Wagner Mercenaries Remain in Libya

Saturday, 14 May, 2022

At least 1,500 to 2,000 Wagner Group mercenaries are still in Libya after dozens were transferred to fight in Ukraine, multiple sources told Italy's Nova news agency.

A UN team of experts reported that about 2,000 fighters remained in Libya with Pantsir S-1 anti-aircraft defense systems, MiG-29 fighters, and Su-24 tactical bombers.

The Financial Times cited Western and Libyan officials saying last month that 5,000 mercenaries remain in Libya on behalf of Moscow after several were withdrawn following the war in Ukraine, the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Many Libyans complain that the "mercenaries" and foreign forces did not leave their country, despite the steps taken by the Joint Military Committee (5 + 5) under the Geneva Agreement signed in October 2020.

Libyan politicians believe tensions prompted the conflicting parties to keep foreign forces and "mercenaries" on the fronts, which reduced the demand for these elements to leave the country.

Conflicting reports about the number of "mercenaries," whether they are affiliated with "Wagner" or pro-Turkish elements, claim about 20,000 fighters are in Libya.

Libyan affairs researcher Jalal Harchaoui said that Russia took control of four major military bases in Libya before February 24 and still controls them to date.

Harchaoui noted that there was no significant withdrawal of Russian personnel from Libya in the wake of the war in Ukraine, but only modest adjustments.

In a recent press interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed that the authorities invited the Wagner Group to Tobruk on a "commercial basis."

It is believed that the Russian "mercenaries" entered Libya when the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, waged war on Tripoli in April 2019.

However, Libya's Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha said in an article in The Times that "since 2014, thousands of mercenaries from Wagner, a private military group close to Vladimir Putin, have been in my country."

Meanwhile, the Brigade 444 of the Defense Ministry arrested a man it believes is involved in the killing and kidnapping of several victims in the mass graves in Tarhuna.

The brigade disclosed that members of its forces arrested Hatem Ali Mohammed, involved with the notorious Kaniyat militia in cases of murder and kidnapping.

Mass graves suspected to hold hundreds of bodies began to unfold after the Kaniyat militia - also known as the 9th brigade of Haftar's forces.

During the past months, the brigade announced the arrest of several suspects accused of killing, kidnapping, banditry, human trafficking, and fuel smuggling.

Earlier, the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Libya (SASG), Stephanie Williams, visited Tarhuna accompanied by officials from the Public Prosecution Committee and the Criminal Investigations Department.

Williams said that the UN and international justice mechanisms had made significant efforts to investigate violations in Libya, including the mass graves in Tarhuna, adding that the UN will support the pursuit of justice, accountability, and an end to impunity so that the perpetrators do not go unpunished.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3644841/reports-2000-wagner-mercenaries-remain-libya.

Ukraine's key IT sector booming despite Russian invasion

By Charlotte Plantive

Lviv, Ukraine (AFP)

May 13, 2022

Ukraine's IT sector is booming despite the Russian invasion. Workers with stickers on their laptops recline on beach chairs outside a warehouse for start-ups in the east Ukraine city of Lviv giving off major Silicon Valley vibes.

But the atmosphere inside is different.

Through the glass doors of the complex, young Ukrainians zig-zag between stacks of bulletproof vests and cardboard boxes filled with helmets ready for the front.

They are part of Ukraine's burgeoning tech sector which was forced to adapt after Russia's invasion and has become key to supporting the war effort.

"Most tech companies had developed contingency plans" in case of war said Stepan Veselovskiy, the head of the "IT Cluster Lviv" community.

He told AFP that companies transferred servers to secure locations and established back-up systems outside the country before Russia invaded on February 24.

When Russian bombing started, IT companies shut offices in the capital Kyiv and eastern city of Kharkiv and engineers found refuge in western Ukraine or Poland next door.

Veselovskiy said there were already around 500 tech companies in Lviv before the war but now estimates that 80 percent of the sector is in the western city.

One is Infopulse, which provides various digital services to mainly European customers.

It brought 300 of its 2,300 employees to Lviv, where it has offices in one of the city's few buildings equipped with a bunker.

There are bunk beds and stable internet underground so employees to continue working in the event of an air raid.

There are also generators in case Russian forces target power stations and terminals for Elon Musk's Starlink internet service.

"Even in the most drastic conditions, business can continue," regional manager Ivan Korzhov said.

They can even thrive.

- Tech army -

Since the start of the war, Infopulse has gained four new customers and in April -- the second month of the Russian invasion -- it created 25 new jobs in Ukraine.

It is not the only tech company in Ukraine to do so.

Veselovskiy says February -- when Russia attacked -- was a historically good month for Ukraine's tech sector and its estimated 200,000 employees.

"It slowed down a bit in March, but we are very optimistic for the future because the war doesn't stop us from growing," he said.

This is a stark contrast to other industries, battered by the invasion. Exports for traditional sectors such as steel and agriculture have collapsed.

But the tech sector, naturally, has not been affected by the destruction of bridges, roads or the blocking of ports.

It has, according to Veselovsky, made more than $2 billion since the start of the war and has become the country's leading exporter.

"It's a good thing for Ukraine because we generate income in dollars every month when the country really needs it," Korzhov said.

"We pay our taxes and give a lot of money" to the government.

The IT Cluster Kyiv has already allocated $2 million, mainly to buy equipment for Ukrainian soldiers.

That's how its offices ended up looking like an army depot.

The sector has also offered its brightest to help the military.

Softserve -- one of Ukraine's biggest tech companies -- has worked on the military's websites for free and IT Cluster Kyiv modernised one of the military's command centres.

Infopulse also participates in a joint project by the Ukrainian army and the ministry of digital transformation.

"Specialists in tech and cybersecurity work with the government on the information front," its regional manager Korzhov said.

He then repeated a popular slogan in Ukraine: "We are not waiting for peace, but for victory."

Source: Space Daily.

Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ukraines_key_IT_sector_booming_despite_Russian_invasion_999.html.

Finland announces 'historic' NATO bid, as Sweden holds key meet

By Elias Huuhtanen

Helsinki (AFP)

May 15, 2022

The Finnish government officially announced its intention to join NATO on Sunday, as Sweden's ruling party was to hold a decisive meeting that could pave the way for a joint application.

Less than three months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the move is a stunning reversal of Finland's policy on military non-alignment dating back more than 75 years.

Sweden, which has been militarily non-aligned for more than two centuries, is expected to follow suit with a similar announcement, possibly on Monday.

"Today, the President of the Republic and the Government's Foreign Policy Committee have jointly agreed that Finland will apply for NATO membership, after consulting parliament," Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Sunday.

"This is a historic day. A new era is opening", Niinisto said.

Despite last-minute objections by Turkey, NATO members are on "good track" in their discussions on welcoming Sweden and Finland into the Western military alliance, Croatia's foreign minister, Gordan Grlic Radman, said as he arrived for talks with NATO counterparts in Berlin.

Finland's parliament will convene to debate the membership proposal on Monday.

"We hope the parliament will confirm the decision to apply for NATO membership during the coming days. It will be based on a strong mandate", premier Marin said.

An overwhelming majority of Finnish MPs back the decision after Marin's Social Democratic Party on Saturday said it was in favor of joining.

"Hopefully, we can send our applications next week together with Sweden," Marin had said on Saturday.

The two Nordic countries broke their strict neutralities after the end of the Cold War by joining the EU and becoming partners to NATO in the 1990s, solidifying their affiliation with the West.

But the concept of full NATO membership was a non-starter in the countries until the war in Ukraine saw public and political support for joining the alliance soar.

Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia, has been leading the charge, while Sweden appears anxious at being the only non-NATO country around the Baltic Sea.

Finland is also Sweden's closest defense cooperation partner.

Many Swedish politicians have said their support is conditional on Finland joining.

On Saturday, the Finnish head of state phoned his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin to inform him of his country's desire to join NATO, in a conversation described as "direct and straightforward".

"Avoiding tensions was considered important," Niinisto said in a statement after the call.

But Putin responded by warning that joining NATO "would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland's security", according to a Kremlin statement.

Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries of consequences if they join NATO.

Niinisto said Sunday that while Helsinki expects Russia to respond to its decision, "little by little, I'm beginning to think that we're not going to face actual military operations."

"After the phone call with Putin, I think so even more."

- No other choice -

According to recent polls, the number of Finns who want to join the alliance has risen to over three-quarters, almost triple the level seen before the war in Ukraine.

In Sweden, support has also risen dramatically, to around 50 percent -- with about 20 percent against.

Sweden's Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, were meeting Sunday to decide whether the party should abandon its historic stance against joining, last reaffirmed at the party's annual congress in November.

A green light from the party would secure a firm parliamentary majority in favor of joining.

While the party's leading politicians have seemed ready to reverse the decision, critical voices within have denounced the change in policy as rushed.

But analysts say it is unlikely that the party will oppose the move.

NATO membership needs to be approved and ratified by all 30 members of the alliance.

While Finland and Sweden claim to have received favorable signals from Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday expressed hostility to the idea.

Turkey's objections, directed in particular at Stockholm, focus on what it considers to be the countries' leniency towards the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is on the EU's list of terrorist organizations.

Niinisto said Sunday he was "prepared to have a new discussion with President Erdogan about the problems he has raised".

At NATO's meeting in Berlin, Slovakia's Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said he was "absolutely certain that we will find a solution", while Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said "the signs don't look bad" for Sweden and Finland...

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Finland_announces_historic_NATO_bid_as_Sweden_holds_key_meet_999.html.

US House Passes Stop Iranian Drones Act

Friday, 29 April, 2022

The US House of Representatives unanimously passed the Stop Iranian Drones Act (SIDA) to end its drone program and impose sanctions on its supporters.

The bill was approved by 424 votes against two and required approval from the Senate and a presidential signature to become law.

Republicans Tom Massie and Marjorie Greene were against the bill.

The bill promises to punish those who deal with the Iranian regime in the drones' program under the US Sanctions on conventional weapons.

Democratic Representative Ted Deutsch tweeted: "time, and again, Iran has used UAVs to threaten global stability and US interests. Congress countered this destabilizing behavior today and passed the Stop Iranian Drones Act."

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said the Act would stop Iran or Iranian allies from acquiring combat drones that could be used against US troops or US allies.

Alleging that Iran is "the world's leading exporter of terrorism," Stefanik said the world should know Washington will "use every tool at its disposal to cut off Iran's access to deadly weapons."

The legislators spoke of the importance of approving such a draft as Iran uses the drones to spread panic in the Middle East and attack US forces, Israel, and allies in the region.

They urged the Senate to pass the exact version of the bill quickly ahead of sending it for signing at the White House.

Last December, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, warned of the danger of drones against the US and its allies in the Middle East.

McCaul said that "these attacks are intolerable" whether Iran launches the attack, the Houthis, Iran-backed militia groups, or other Iran-sponsored entities.

"The people of the Middle East, including Americans living there, cannot live in freedom, stability, or prosperity under assault by Iran's drones," said McCaul.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks pointed out that the "deadly drones in the hands of the world's greatest exporter of terrorism, Iran, jeopardizes the security of the United States and regional peace."

He asserted that the recent Iranian drone attacks on US troops, commercial shipping vessels, regional partners, and the export of drone technology to conflict zones pose a dire threat.

The Democratic representative stressed that the bill sends a strong signal to the international community that it supports the Iranian drone program and will not be tolerated by the US government.

The senators pledged to expedite the bill's approval, which was put forward by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Bob Menendez, and its top Republican, Jim Risch, in December.

The lawmakers behind the proposed legislation say it clarifies that US sanctions on Iran's conventional weapons program under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) include the supply, sale, or transfer to or from Iran of drones, which can be used in attacks against the US or its allies.

"Iran's increasing reliance on unmanned aerial vehicles to attack US personnel and assets across the Middle East and shipping vessels, commercial facilities, and regional partners is a serious and growing menace to regional stability," said Menendez.

He warned that Iran's reckless export of this technology to proxies across the region represents a significant threat to human lives.

"We must do more to hold Iran accountable for its destabilizing behavior as we continue to confront the threat of its nuclear program."

Risch said the US must do more to halt "Iran's regional terrorism," as "we saw with recent Iranian-sponsored drone attacks on American troops and the Iraqi Prime Minister, as well as the constant attacks on Saudi Arabia."

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3619136/us-house-passes-stop-iranian-drones-act.

Musk Says $44 Bln Twitter Deal on Hold over Fake Account Data

Friday, 13 May, 2022

Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that his $44-billion cash deal for Twitter Inc was "temporarily on hold” while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

Twitter shares initially fell more than 20% in premarket trading, but after Musk, the chief executive of electric car market Tesla Inc, sent a second tweet saying he remained committed to the deal, they regained some ground.

The shares were down 8.6% to $41.19 in midday trading on Friday, a steep discount to the $54.20 per share acquisition price.

Musk, the world's richest person, decided to waive due diligence when he agreed to buy Twitter on April 25, in an effort to get the San Francisco-based company to accept his "best and final offer." This could make it harder for him to argue that Twitter somehow misled him.

Since then, technology stocks have plunged amid investor concerns over inflation and a potential economic slowdown.

The spread between the offer price and the value of Twitter shares had widened in recent days, implying less than a 50% chance of completion, as investors speculated that the downturn would prompt Musk to walk or seek a lower price.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," Musk told his more than 92 million Twitter followers.

Twitter is planning no immediate action as a result of Musk's comment, people familiar with the matter said. The company considered the comment disparaging and a violation of the terms of their deal contract, but was encouraged by Musk subsequently tweeting he was committing to the acquisition, the sources added.

Musk came to Twitter's office for a meeting on May 6 as part of the transaction planning process, a Twitter spokesperson said.

There was no immediate reaction from the investors that Musk tapped last week to raise $7.1 billion in funding.

Spam or fake accounts are designed to manipulate or artificially boost activity on services like Twitter. Some create an impression that something or someone is more popular.

Musk tweeted a Reuters story from ten days ago that cited the fake account figures. Twitter has said that the figures were an estimate and that the actual number may be higher.

The estimated number of spam accounts on the microblogging site has held steady below 5% since 2013, according to regulatory filings from Twitter, prompting some analysts to question why Musk was raising it now.

"This 5% metric has been out for some time. He clearly would have already seen it... So it may well be more part of the strategy to lower the price," said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Tesla's stock rose 4% on Friday morning. The shares have lost about a quarter of their value since Musk disclosed a stake in Twitter of April 4, amid concerns he will get distracted as Tesla's chief executive and that he may have to sell more Tesla shares to fund the deal.

There is plenty of precedent for a potential renegotiation of the price following a market downturn. Several companies repriced agreed acquisitions when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020 and delivered a global economic shock.

In one instance, French retailer LVMH threatened to walk away from a deal with Tiffany & Co. The US jewelry retailer agreed to lower the price by $425 million to $15.8 billion.

Acquirers seeking a get out sometimes turn to "material adverse effect" clauses in their merger agreement, arguing the target company has been significantly damaged.

But the language in the Twitter deal agreement, as in many recent mergers, does not allow Musk to walk away because of a deteriorating business environment, such as a drop in demand for advertising or because Twitter's shares have plunged.

Musk is contractually obligated to pay Twitter a $1 billion break-up fee if he does not complete the deal, and the language in the deal contract appears to cap any damages that Twitter can seek from Musk to that level.

But the contract also contains a "specific performance" clause that a judge can cite to force Musk to complete the deal.

In practice, acquirers who lose a specific performance case are almost never forced to complete an acquisition and typically negotiate a monetary settlement with their targets.

"The nature of Musk creating so much uncertainty in a tweet (and not a filing) is very troubling to us and the Street and now sends this whole deal into a circus show with many questions and no concrete answers as to the path of this deal going forward," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note.

Defeat the bots

Musk has said that if he buys Twitter he "will defeat the spam bots or die trying" and has blamed the company's reliance on advertising for why it has let spam bots proliferate.

He has also been critical of Twitter's moderation policy and has said he wants Twitter's algorithm to prioritize tweets to be public and was against too much power on the service to corporations that advertise.

Nevertheless, Musk is targeting advertising revenue to more than double by 2028, according to slides he presented to investors that were reported by the New York Times.

Ads are expected to make up about 45% of Twitter's total revenue by that time, down from nearly all of its revenue today, according to the investor presentation.

Earlier this week, Musk said he would reverse Twitter's ban on former US President Donald Trump when he buys the social media platform, signaling his intention to cut moderation.

Trump, who started a rival site called Truth Social, took to his own platform to weigh in on the fracas.

"There is no way Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter at such a ridiculous price, especially since realizing it is a company largely based on bots or spam accounts," Trump wrote in a post, adding that his site is much better.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3643366/musk-says-44-bln-twitter-deal-hold-over-fake-account-data.

Citing Pandemic, China Withdraws as Host of 2023 Asian Cup

Saturday, 14 May, 2022

China relinquished its right to host soccer's 2023 Asian Cup on Saturday in the latest cancellation of the country's sports hosting duties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Asian Football Confederation praised Chinese soccer officials for making “this very difficult but necessary decision in the collective interests of the AFC Asian Cup.”

The 24-nation tournament was due to be played in 10 cities in mostly newly built stadiums in June and July of next year.

The four-yearly Asian Cup is traditionally played in January and February. Qatar (2011) and Australia (2015) hosted the tournament when it was played in January, while the 2019 event in the United Arab Emirates was held from Jan. 5 to Feb. 1.

China was due to host the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou in September but that was postponed along with nearly all international sports events in the country. China did host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing though under a strict lockdown for athletes and officials with few fans able to attend.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3644821/citing-pandemic-china-withdraws-host-2023-asian-cup.

NKorea Reports More COVID Deaths, Kim Says Pandemic 'Great Turmoil'

Saturday, 14 May, 2022

North Korea announced 21 new "fever" deaths Saturday and said more than half a million people had been sickened nationwide, as Kim Jong Un said that the spread of COVID-19 had thrust his country into "great turmoil" and called for an all-out battle to overcome the outbreak.

Despite activating its "maximum emergency quarantine system" to slow the spread of disease through its unvaccinated population, North Korea is reporting tens of thousands of new cases daily.

On Friday alone, "over 174,440 persons had fever, at least 81 430 were fully recovered and 21 died in the country," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

North Korea confirmed Thursday that the highly-contagious Omicron variant had been detected in the capital Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong Un ordering nationwide lockdowns.

It was the North's first official confirmation of Covid cases and marked the failure of a two year long coronavirus blockade maintained at great economic cost since the start of the pandemic.

"The number of fevered persons totalized from late April to May 13 is over 524,440," KCNA said, with 27 deaths total.

The report did not specify whether the new cases and deaths had all tested positive for Covid-19, but experts say the country will struggle to test and diagnose on this scale.

"It's not a stretch to consider these 'fever' cases to all be Covid-19, given the North's lack of testing capacity," said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.

"The actual number of Covid cases could be higher than the fever figures due to many asymptomatic cases," he said, adding that the pace of infection was growing "very fast".

North Korea held its second Politburo meeting this week, overseen by Kim, KCNA reported.

"The spread of malignant disease comes to be a great upheaval in our country since the founding of the DPRK along with the worldwide spread of Covid-19," he said, referring to North Korea by its official name.

The meeting of the country's top officials discussed "supplying reserve medicines" and other ways of "minimizing the losses in human lives", KCNA said.

North Korea has a crumbling health system -- one of the worst in the world -- and lacks essential medicines and equipment, experts say.

With no Covid vaccines, antiviral treatment drugs or mass testing capacity, North Korea will struggle to handle a massive outbreak, experts warn.

Kim said Saturday that North Korea would follow the Chinese model of disease management.

"It is good to actively learn from the advanced and rich anti-epidemic successes and experience already gained by the Chinese party and people in the struggle against malicious epidemic," he said, KCNA reported.

China, the world's only major economy to still maintain a zero-Covid policy, is currently battling multiple Omicron outbreaks -- with some major cities, including financial hub Shanghai, under stay-at-home orders.

North Korea has previously turned down offers of Covid vaccines from China, as well as from the World Health Organization's Covax scheme.

Beijing said Thursday it would be willing to help Pyongyang, and South Korea also announced Friday it could send vaccines to the North -- if Kim's regime would accept them.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3644571/nkorea-reports-more-covid-deaths-kim-says-pandemic-great-turmoil.

New Zealand's PM Tests Positive for COVID

Saturday, 14 May, 2022

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday.

She will not be in parliament for the government's emissions reduction plan on Monday and the budget on Thursday, but "travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage," the statement said.

Details of the trip are still to be confirmed, although she is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Harvard University on May 26.

Ardern had been symptomatic since Friday evening, returning a weak positive at night and a clear positive on Saturday morning on a rapid antigen test, it said.

She has been in isolation since Sunday, when her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive, it said.

Due to the positive test, Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of May 21, undertaking what duties she can remotely.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson will address media in her place on Monday.

New Zealand enforced one of the world's most restrictive approaches to managing the initial COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, and its death toll of 892 remains among the lowest of developed nations.

However, it has experienced an Omicron surge since restrictions were loosened in March, with Ardern's positive case among more than 50,000 recorded over the last week.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3644801/new-zealand%E2%80%99s-pm-tests-positive-covid.

As World Conveys Condolences, UAE Bids Farewell to Khalifa bin Zayed

Saturday, 14 May, 2022

The UAE bid farewell on Friday to late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the country, who passed away after 18 years of service and achievements.

Sheikh Khalifa was laid to rest at a cemetery in Al Bateen, following nationwide prayers, led by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi and senior sheikhs of Al Nahyan family, at the Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed the First Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa, saying that there will be 40 days of official mourning with flags at half-staff and a three-day closure of ministries, official bodies and private institutions.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, paid tribute to the late president, who “fulfilled his promise, served his nation and loved his people.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said that the UAE has lost its “righteous son, the leader of the empowerment stage and the trustee of the blessed journey,” stressing that the stances, achievements and wisdom, of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed have left their mark across the Emirates.

Leaders and senior officials in the Gulf, Arab and Islamic countries and the world conveyed their condolences for the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa.

Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said expressed his heartfelt condolences to the UAE leadership and people on the sad news, saying that Sheikh Khalifa “was one of the Arab leaders who worked to serve Arab and Islamic nation and led the United Arab Emirates with determination and perseverance until it became a landmark referred to in all fields.”

King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain mourned the death of Sheikh Khalifa, expressing his heartfelt condolences to the UAE leadership and people on this sad news.

For his part, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, said: “The Arab and Islamic nations have lost one of their great leaders, who devoted his life to serving his country and people and defending Arab and Islamic issues.”

Moroccan King Mohammed VI paid tribute to the great achievements of late Sheikh Khalifa, conveying his deep condolences for the passing away of “a noble and brave Arab leader, bound to Morocco by solid ties of brotherhood and esteem.”

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani mourned the death of Sheikh Khalifa, whom he described as “a great leader known for his wisdom and moderation, who dedicated his life to serving his country and nation.”

Jordan's King Abdullah II, for his part, said: “We have lost a dear brother and an outstanding leader who inherited wisdom from his late great father Sheikh Zayed and dedicated his life to serving his country and the Arab and Islamic nations.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offered his condolences “in his name and on behalf of the Syrian Arab people to the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and the Emirati people.”

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf, remarked that Sheikh Khalifa had dedicated his life to serving his people, country and Arab and Islamic nation.

He also recalled his role in supporting the GCC, “which has become a constant entity that respects the depth of fraternal relations that have bound the people of the Gulf throughout history.”

“We have lost a Gulf, Arab and international leader and pioneer,” he declared.

US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the passing of Sheikh Khalifa.

A statement by the White House read: “Sheikh Khalifa was a true partner and friend of the United States throughout his decades-long tenure as President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, and in his earlier role as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.”

Biden added: “On behalf of the American people, I offer my condolences to Sheikh Khalifa’s family and all Emiratis as they mourn this great loss. We will honor his memory by continuing to strengthen the longstanding ties between the governments and people of the United States and the United Arab Emirates.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson voiced his sorrow over the death of Sheikh Khalifa and said in a tweet that the latter was “a wise and respected leader who will be missed enormously.”

Russia expressed its condolences, praising the late UAE president’s role in developing relations between the two countries.

In addition, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would visit the UAE to offer condolences.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also expressed his condolences in a tweet.

“Sheikh Khalifa’s great legacy and deeds were appreciated by many in Israel. The State of Israel stands alongside the UAE and its people at this difficult time,” Bennet said.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his condolences and described Sheikh Khalifa as a “great statesman and visionary leader under whom India-UAE relations prospered.”

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3644716/world-conveys-condolences-uae-bids-farewell-khalifa-bin-zayed.

Turkey, Kazakhstan sign joint production accord for drones

May 11, 2022

Nazlan Ertan

Turkey and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to start co-producing Turkey’s Anka drones in Kazakhstan during the first-ever state visit of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Ankara.

The memorandum of understanding signed between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) and state-owned Kazakhstan Engineering foresees the joint production of Anka — a medium-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) — by Turkish and Kazakh experts. This makes the energy-rich Central Asian state the first to produce these reconnaissance-strike drones outside Turkey.

Besides joint production, the sides plan to assemble unmanned aerial vehicles and hand over production technologies to Kazakhstan, according to the statement by TUSAS. Last year, Turkey sold three Anka drones (which have far less international fame than the Bayraktar TB2 fighters used in Ukraine) to Kazakhstan following a defense agreement in May.  Another three Anka drones were reportedly sold to Tunisia in an $80 million deal.

“This deal with Kazakhstan is an important gain for Turkey vis-a-vis China and Russia, both of which compete for political influence and economic dominance in Kazakhstan and have their own drones,” Ozgur Eksi, editor-in-chief of online defense portal TurDef.Co, told Al-Monitor. “This joint production plant may be a foothold to defense industry to Central Asia and former Soviet republics.”

Eksi maintains that the Anka drones had long been part of the defense industry agenda between Ankara and Astana. “They caught the Kazakh military’s eye at the Kazakh Defense Fair, Kadex, almost a decade ago. This is a large but scarcely populated country, and it wants to be able to control its airspace. These drones — which fly at medium altitude, cover a large area and can stay long in the air — are well suited to the Kazakh needs of reconnaissance and surveillance,” he said.

The joint-production announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday’s “enhanced strategic partnership” memorandum between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Tokayev on May 10. The two presidents also oversaw the inking of 15 accords in widely divergent areas such as cooperation between communication agencies and exchange of military intelligence.

“This first state visit by Tokayev ever since he took office is a confidence-bolstering one between the two countries,” professor and director of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute Huseyin Bagci told Al-Monitor. “Tokayev signals that the bilateral ties with Turkey will remain a priority for him, as it had been with Nursultan Nazarbayev, his mentor.”

Bagci maintains that Ankara is also extending a similar message to Astana. “Ankara’s relationship with Uzbekistan (Kazakhstan’s neighbor and rival for regional leadership) has gained a new momentum, particularly with Erdogan’s visit to Tashkent last month, when the sides heralded their comprehensive strategic partnership,” he said. “Tokayev’s visit gave the opportunity to Turkey to rekindle its strategic partnership with Astana and reaffirm Kazakhstan’s key role in the Organization of Turkic States.”

The visit, marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties, was filled with mutual compliments and diplomatic niceties. “We have elevated our cooperation to the enhanced strategic partnership level with the joint memorandum we have just signed. Turkey and Kazakhstan, which draw strength from their shared history, language, religion and culture, are two brotherly countries with long-standing relations,” Erdogan said. In turn, Tokayev, a career diplomat, referred to Turkey as a very important strategic partner for Kazakhstan and to Erdogan as “a wise and respected statesman with a vision.”

Taking a break from official talks, the two leaders played a table tennis match in a move intended as a charm offensive to Tokayev, an accomplished player who held the chair of the Kazakh Table Tennis Federation for 13 years.

Erdogan also praised Tokayev’s leadership when his oil, gas and uranium-rich but landlocked country was rocked with unrest in January due to fuel price hikes, labor unrest and long-term grievances on inequality. The unrest spiraled into mass disturbances and looting that led to the worst bloodshed in the former Soviet state's 30 years of independence. Offering condolences for those who died in the protests, Erdogan said, “The perseverance and will President Tokayev has displayed to shape the New Kazakhstan is praiseworthy. We support the comprehensive reform program implemented in this regard and stand ready to do our part for the stability, peace, security and prosperity of this brotherly country.”

Many analysts believe that Turkey was caught off guard when unrest spread across Kazakhstan. “Turkey was unprepared for this uprising [and] the quick departure of the Nazarbayev regime, as they thought that Nazarbayev had fully consolidated authoritarian rule,” Gul Berna Ozcan, an academic who specializes in Central Asia at the School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, told Al-Monitor. The fact that Tokayev turned to the Russian Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to help Kazakhstan overcome what he called “the terrorist threat” was seen as undermining, if not a downright snubbing, the Organization of  Turkic States (OTS) and Turkey’s leadership role.

Others say that it would be unrealistic to imagine that OTS could have played a similar role to CSTO, a military alliance created by Russian President Vladimir Putin to mirror NATO. “OTS neither has a military force nor such a mandate, so there does not seem to be an ‘either CSTO or OTS’ situation there,” Isik Kuscu, associate professor of international relations at METU and a Kazakhstan expert, told Al-Monitor.

“Ties with Turkey are an important pillar in Kazakhstan’s decades long multivector foreign policy, particularly vis-a-vis the two larger powers, China and Russia. With the growing concern among the Kazakhs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and some Russian politicians’ claims on Kazakhstan’s northern territories, warmer ties with Turkey seem even more relevant,” Kuscu said.

Speaking at the press conference on the Ukraine crisis and the importance the two countries attach to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Erdogan said that the two countries were on the same page. He also underscored that the Ukraine crisis had shown the need for “solidarity and cooperation” among the Turkic states both at the bilateral level and within the Organization of Turkic States.

The Organization of Turkic States, founded under the name “Turkic Council” in 2009, was strongly supported by Nazarbayev. Its founding members consisted of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan joined in 2019, and Turkmenistan, which follows a policy of permanent neutrality, joined the organization as an observer at the Istanbul summit. EU-member Hungary has observer status. For cynics, the organization looks like an autocrats’ club. Its advocates — and there are many in Turkey’s diplomatic circles — say it offers an institutionalized platform where participants take up critical issues such as infrastructure, energy and transportation through economy-focused pragmatism rather than ethnic idealism.

President Erdogan maintained his “business-first” tone with Tokayev, saying that the sides planned to double the bilateral trade volume from the current $5 billion to $10 billion — exactly the same amount he pronounced with Uzbekistan during his Tashkent visit.

In March, Deputy President Fuat Oktay visited Kazakstan and attended a business forum that gathered more than 250 representatives of business, government agencies and the quasi-public sector from the two countries to seek ways to strengthen bilateral business ties. Ten commercial agreements worth $500 million were signed at the forum, including building transport and logistics centers with air cargo in western Kazakhstan and a pharmaceutical plant in Almaty, the Astana Times reported.

Source: al-Monitor.

Link: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/05/turkey-kazakhstan-sign-joint-production-accord-drones.