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payback for criticising trump's policies on climate change......

Israel's Netanyahu drops spy chief nominee under fire from Trump ally
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has back-peddled on his decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to the top post of the country’s Shin Bet security agency, following criticism from a key US senator. It was revealed that the former naval chief had penned an opinion piece criticising US President Donald Trump's policies on climate change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Tuesday he had reversed a decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as security agency chief following criticism, including from a key US senator, Republican Lindsey Graham.

"The prime minister thanked Vice Admiral Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Netanyahu had announced Sharvit's appointment on Monday, pushing back against a supreme court decision to freeze his government's move to dismiss incumbent director Ronen Bar. 

The prime minister had announced Bar's dismissal on March 21, citing an "ongoing lack of trust". The supreme court swiftly suspended the decision until April 8. 

Bar's dismissal has sparked daily mass protests in Jerusalem, disrupting the city.

On Monday, hours after Sharvit's appointment was announced, reports began surfacing that he had been among tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in 2023 to oppose the Netanyahu government's attempts to reform the judiciary. 

Israeli media reports also recalled that Sharvit, who served in the military for 36 years, had supported a 2022 water agreement with Lebanon that Netanyahu had opposed. 

It was also revealed that the former naval chief had penned an opinion piece criticising US President Donald Trump's policies on climate change, prompting staunch Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, to criticise his appointment in a post on X.

"While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic," Graham wrote on Monday. 

"There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time. My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250401-netanyahu-reneges-decision-back-ex-navy-commander-head-of-israel-security-chief-shin-bet

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

 

bombs are cheap....

Israel targets Hezbollah militant in deadly airstrike on Beirut 

Israel's military struck a southern suburb of Beirut early Tuesday in an attack on a Hezbollah militant, killing at least four people. The bombing came a few days after another strike there, further testing a shaky four-month ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-aligned group.

 

An Israeli strike on Beirut killed at least four people on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said after Israel announced its second strike on the country's capital in a fragile four-month truce.

Israel's military said it "targeted a Hezbollah terrorist" just days after striking the city in response to rocket fire from Lebanon which it blamed on the militant group.

Israel later confirmed it killed Hezbollah official Hassan Bdair in a Tuesday strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, a bastion of support for Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group.

"Overnight... the (Israeli air force) struck and eliminated the terrorist Hassan Ali Mahmud Bdair... in the Dahieh area" of Beirut, the military and the security services said in a joint statement, alleging that the target had "directed Hamas terrorists and assisted them in planning and advancing a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians."

The raid in Hezbollah's Dahieh stronghold left "three martyrs and seven wounded" according to a Lebanese health ministry toll, quoted by Lebanon's National News Agency.

The top two floors of a multi-storey building were destroyed by the strike, an AFP photographer at the scene said, while panicked residents poured out of their homes.

The photographer saw at least three wounded people being helped by rescue workers and debris covering a street.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the country's military would "strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat" in response to the rocket fire.

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023 in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes on the city.

"This aggression must end. We cannot allow this to continue," Qassem said in a televised address.

'Enforce' truce

Israel's military said Tuesday it carried out a strike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut targeting a Hezbollah operative, the second such strike since a November ceasefire.

"The strike targeted a Hezbollah terrorist who had recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them in planning a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians," the Israeli military said in a joint statement with the domestic Shin Bet security agency.

It said it "acted to eliminate him and removed the threat" in Hezbollah's Dahieh stronghold, without yet naming the target.

The latest strike comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week Israel would "strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat" after rocket fire prompted it to bomb south Beirut for the first time during a fragile four-month-old truce with Hezbollah.

The Tehran-backed Lebanese movement denied involvement in the rocket fire that Israel said prompted it to strike Beirut.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in the months since the ceasefire, hitting what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement.

READ MORE: Israeli strike on Lebanon 'unacceptable' ceasefire violation, Macron says

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems "strategic".

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

 

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250401-israel-says-targeted-hezbollah-militant-in-airstrike-on-southern-beirut

 

BOMBS ARE CHEAPER THAN DIPLOMACY....

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.