Middle East Experience

The bronze statue - reaching a height of five meters and weighing six tons - was named 'Gibor Israel' (Israel's hero), which refers to a decoration for valor received in the IDF.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Police remove six-ton statue of protester installed near PM’s residence

Over 100 million students around the world have taken place in Hour of Code events that teach programming and code writing since the project launched seven years ago.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Hour of Code teaches programming in Israel and around the world

The World Health Organization offers recommendations for how to convince the public to get inoculated. The Jerusalem Post adapts them to Israel.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Three ways to ensure Israelis take the COVID-19 vaccine - analysis

Medical information, checks and pay stubs were among the customer information released.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Shirbit hackers release more data as company refuses to pay ransom

The recently assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was recorded saying he had been asked to produce “five warheads” for the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to reports by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted in the Times of Israel.The recording was reportedly acquired by Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after Israeli intelligence recruited an Iranian official close to Fakhrizadeh, according to the Times of Israel citing the Yedioth report.The report added that Olmert apparently played the recording to then US President George W. Bush in 2008 as part of Israel’s efforts to convince his administration of the dangers of Iran’s nuclear program.According to the Times of Israel, Yedioth cited several unnamed Israeli and Middle Eastern intelligence officials on top of recollections from Ehud Barak, another Israeli former prime minister who was Olmert’s defense minister in 2008.The paper told how Olmert considered the recording “top-secret” due to its source and insisted that President Bush’s adviser Stephen Hadley left the room before playing it.According to the report, Olmert told Bush: “I’m going to play you something, but I ask that you not talk about it with anyone, not even with the director of the CIA,” before playing a recording of a man speaking Persian.“The man speaking here is Mohsen Fakhrizadeh,” Olmert reportedly told Bush. “Fakhrizadeh is the head of the “AMAD” program, Iran’s secret military nuclear project. The one it denies exists at all.”A man who Olmert said was Fakhrizadeh was then heard saying – in an apparent reference to what the Times of Israel called “his superiors” – that “they want five warheads.” He then reportedly said “they aren’t letting me work.” The Times of Israel noted that Yedioth did not quote the word “nuclear” directly.Fakhrizadeh and Iran’s nuclear programIsrael has long accused Fakhrizadeh of leading Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapon program, which it denies.In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli intelligence had acquired extensive data from Iran’s nuclear program that showed its ambitions to develop nuclear weapons and implicated Fakhrizadeh.“Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” he said in a press conference at the time.The man dubbed “the father of Iran’s nuclear program” was a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and a physics professor at the Imam Hussein University.Fakhrizadeh headed the country’s AMAD Project, which was aimed at developing a nuclear device – while Iranian officials say the program is now closed, Israel and others say it is still ongoing in secret. He later founded Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).Fakhrizadeh was shot dead on the outskirts of Tehran on November 27. Iran has accused Israel of being behind the assassination and threatened revenge attacks.Read more:Iranian media says Israeli arms were used to assassinate Mohsen FakhrizadehWho was Mohsin Fakhrizadeh, the assassinated ‘father of Iran’s nuclear bomb’?Why is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explain
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Slain Iranian scientist Fakhrizadeh asked to produce ‘five warheads’: Israeli report

Israel's normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and Israel’s apparent rapprochement with Saudi Arabia worry Jordan, especially when it comes to its special custodian status in Jerusalem.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israeli, Jordanian foreign ministers meet, with plenty of issues on their agenda

Any new nuclear deal with Iran must prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons, said the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Nayef al-Hajraf on Sunday.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Al-Hajraf, who represents the six-member GCC, said Iran’s continues to destabilize the region and violate UN resolutions, including the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.“[Iran is] still destabilizing the region with a view to achieve its political goals. Therefore, the GCC countries have been always reiterated [that] any new nuclear deal with Iran shall prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons and missiles, and shall demand Iran to meet the IAEA obligations and to fully cooperate with IAEA inspectors,” he said.Any new deal should consider the GCC’s regional security interests, added al-Hajraf, who was speaking at the International Institute for Security Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue 2020 in Bahrain’s capital.Al-Hajraf also distinguished between Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.“Iran’s nuclear program still poses a threat to the international peace and security and it’s still frequent covert effort to obtain nuclear weapons,” al-Hajraf said.“Nuclear weapons pose a serious threat to our planet, which is the gravest danger ever encountered, as the use of such destructive weapons will cause humanitarian disasters,” he explained.In contrast, he emphasized that GCC countries do not object to any country using nuclear energy for a “peaceful purpose” if the country takes all necessary measures to ensure the safety of its nuclear facilities, “especially if such facilities do not meet the nuclear safety and security standards.”Al-Hajraf added that countries in the region are concerned about Iran’s nuclear reactor in the city of Mahshahr because “it is located on an active seismic line which may expose the region to substantial danger should any radiological leakage occur.”He emphasized the need for Iran to follow IAEA standards and to “press Iran to sign conventions of nuclear safety.”Security General al-Hajraf concluded by saying possessing nuclear weapons does not guarantee security and stability in any region of the world. Instead, peace is best achieved through “building trust and cooperation among countries and seeking to achieve progress and development which ensure security and stability in the world.”“The GCC hopes that the “international community will pursue its efforts to create a nuclear weapon-free zone,” al-Hajraf said.Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates make up the six countries of the GCC.Read more:Saudi Arabia open to full ties with Israel, on condition of Palestine state: Saudi FM‘Significant progress’ made to resolving Gulf crisis: Saudi FM Prince FaisalIran continues to fund militias in region, terror operations in Europe: Saudi FM
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Any new Iran deal must prevent Tehran from having nuclear weapons: GCC chief at IISS

Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the US Prince Turki al-Faisal Al Saud criticized Israel on Sunday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, where Israel’s foreign minister opposed his remarks.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Prince Turki, who began his speech by saying his comments reflected his personal view, criticized Israel’s actions toward the Palestinian people, describing Israel as the “last Western colonizing” power in the Middle East.He said that Israel had evicted Palestinians after the 1948 war and “they repeated that calumny after the 1967 war, when more of the inhabitants that remained after the 1948 war were equally dispossessed of their lands.”He also said that Israel has occupied neighboring Arab lands, “not the reverse,” adding that “what the Arabs have waged since 2002 is the ‘Arab Peace Initiate,’ which all Israeli governments rejected at every turn.”The former ambassador also called out the Israeli border wall, calling it the “apartheid wall,” and said it “prevents the inhabitants of the land they colonized from returning to their stolen properties.”Read also: Neglected and stateless: How Jerusalem Palestinians may benefit from Gulf-Israel tiesHe also added that despite the International Court of Justice issuing a ruling that the wall is illegal, Israel has “incarcerated [Palestinians] in concentration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations— young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice. They are demolishing homes as they wish, and they assassinate whomever they want.”Prince Turki's comments come as neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recently moved to normalize relations and establish ties with Israel, also known as the Abrahamic Accords.He said if the Abrahamic Accords are “based on geography, then there can be no Abrahamic Accords without the inclusion of the land of Abraham – Mecca.”Prince Turki reiterated that the “Arab Peace Initiative must be implemented with regard to Palestine.”Saudi Arabia has insisted that any normalization between it and Israel can only happen alongside a lasting peace deal involving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The Kingdom publicly continues to state its unwavering support for the Arab Peace Initiative, a 2002 Saudi-sponsored deal that offers Israel full ties with all Arab states in return for Palestinian statehood on territory Israel captured in 1967.The former ambassador concluded his speech by calling on the Israeli people to “take the extended hand of peace and end this tragic charade,” adding that “only then can we together meet the other colonizing pretender that boasts about its control of four Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Sanaa and Baghdad,” in reference to Iran.Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who spoke immediately after Prince Turki, said:“I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative.”“I don’t believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the Middle East,” he said.With AP.Saudi Arabia open to full ties with Israel, on condition of Palestine state: Saudi FMAny new Iran deal must prevent Tehran from having nuclear weapons: GCC chief at IISSSaudi Arabia has not hesitated to defend the Palestinian cause: FM
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Israel occupies lands, puts Palestinians in ‘concentration camps’: Saudi Prince Turki

Saudi Arabia will be one of the first countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the Ministry of Health spokesman said on Sunday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.Read the latet updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.Dr. Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali also said the Kingdom has made “significant” agreements with companies that are currently developing vaccines, SPA reported without mentioning any specific companies.Saudi Arabia will implement a registration system for individuals to register for receiving the vaccine once it becomes available. Details will soon be announced, the spokesman said, adding that authorities are cautious in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and it will be approved by expert committees.The Kingdom registered less than 200 new coronavirus cases per day on Saturday and Sunday, signaling a significant drop in new infections after having registered nearly 6,000 per day during the peak of the outbreak.Despite a drop in the infection rate, authorities continue to urge people to adhere to preventative measures including wearing masks and social distancing in an effort to keep the numbers low.Al-Ali also said Saudi Arabia is among the countries that have recorded an improvement and decrease in the rate of infection, adding that “we are in the finaly stages and we hope it will be a fast, safe and healthy for all.”The health ministry has recorded 358,713 infections, 348,879 recoveries and 5,965 deaths as of December 6.Read more:Saudi Arabia reports drop in cases with 187 COVID-19 infectionsIsrael occupies lands, puts Palestinians in ‘concentration camps’: Saudi Prince TurkiAny new Iran deal must prevent Tehran from having nuclear weapons: GCC chief at IISS
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia will be one of first countries to receive COVID-19 vaccine: Spokesman

The positive news comes on the same day Doha recorded its lowest number of community-spread cases in months..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: COVID vaccine available in Qatar 'within weeks' – Doha News