Middle East Experience

At least 86 civilians have been killed in US operations in Yemen since 2017, according to a new report by Airwars, a UK-based nongovernmental organization.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Intel: Pentagon undercounting civilian casualties in Yemen, watchdog says

President Emmanuel Macron vowed Thursday that "France will not give up on our values" after a knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in what he called an "Islamist terrorist attack".Macron offered condolences to the country's Catholics after the killing, and urged people of all religions to unite and not "give in to the spirit of division".For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.He also announced that he will more than double number of soldiers deployed to protect against attacks to 7,000.Macron’s announcement to increase deployments from around 3,000 currently to 7,000 came hours after the attack in the Mediterranean city left two women and a man dead at the Notre Dame basilica.It was the third attack in two months in France that authorities have attributed to Muslim extremists, including the beheading of a teacher.It comes during a growing furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were republished by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo — renewing vociferous debate in France and the Muslim world over the depictions that Muslims consider offensive but are protected by French free speech laws.Read more:France knife attack: Woman beheaded in Nice church, two others dead, several injuredMacron tweets in Arabic that France ‘will never give in’ amid Prophet cartoon stormFrance: Calls for boycotting French products in Middle East ‘must stop immediately’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: France’s Macron vows country will not yield after ‘Islamist terrorist attack’ in Nice

The pressing economic grievances of the Turkish public and deep-rooted business links with France are likely to far outweigh any Turkish enthusiasm to boycott French goods.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Erdogan’s boycott call against France more grandstanding than economic threat

The man suspected of killing three people at a church in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday is a 21-year-old Tunisian who arrived in Europe just a few weeks ago, sources close to the inquiry said.The suspect, identified as Brahim Aoussaoui, landed in late September on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where he was placed in virus quarantine by authorities before being released with an order to quit Italian territory.He arrived in France in early October, the sources said.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Read more:France’s Macron vows country will not yield after ‘Islamist terrorist attack’ in NiceFrance knife attack: Woman beheaded in Nice church, two others dead, several injuredMacron tweets in Arabic that France ‘will never give in’ amid Prophet cartoon storm
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: French investigators identify Nice attacker as a 21-year-old Tunisian migrant

The White House informed Congress that it intends to push ahead with the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, the head of the powerful Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday.The deal will see 50 F-35 jets sold to the UAE, sources told Reuters.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel, chairman of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned the move, saying it would “significantly change the military balance in the Gulf and affect Israel’s military edge.”Engel, first elected in 1988, lost his primary race earlier in the year and he will not be up for reelection.Read more: After UAE-Israel deal, Tel Aviv’s defense minister jets to US to ensure military edgeHe said the F-35 was a “game-changing stealth platform,” and called for Congress to study the sale carefully. “Rushing these sales is not in anyone’s interest,” he said.Engel repeatedly said the sale of the fighter jets to the UAE must ensure what is referred to as Israel’s qualitative military edge.“Lastly, the transfer of these weapons to one Arab state inevitably will generate demands from others in the region. Will the price for normalization with Israel be an infusion of advanced weapons? Is this wise?” he questioned.Israel initially balked at the prospective sale but dropped its opposition after what it described as US guarantees that Israeli military superiority would be preserved.Washington and the UAE have been aiming to have a letter of agreement for the F-35 jets in time for UAE National Day celebrated on Dec. 2, Reuters reported last month.The move came after a three-way peace deal was brokered by the US between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel in what became known as the “Abraham Accords.”Read more: US vows to maintain Israel’s ‘military edge’ amid talk of F-35 sale to UAE- With Reuters
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US to sell F-35 fighter jets to UAE, White House tells Congress

As he did every day, the sexton of the Notre Dame church in the French city of Nice opened up the doors around 8:30 a.m. There were few people around; the first Mass of the day was not due to start for another two hours. But soon after he started work, a man armed with a knife entered the church and slit the throat of the sexton, beheaded an elderly woman, and badly wounded a third woman, according to a police source.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The sexton and the elderly woman died on the spot, the third woman managed to make it out of the church into a nearby cafe, but she died from her wounds, Nice mayor Christian Estrosi told reporters at the scene. None of the victims has so far been named. What happened in the initial moments of the attack inside the church, a neo-Gothic building in a tree-lined square in the center of Nice, remains unclear. But testimony from witnesses, mobile phone footage, and accounts from officials, offer an initial if incomplete picture of how the attack ended. At some point during the attack inside the church, someone ran to a bakery next to the church, and asked staff to call the police. "I thought it was a joke, I didn't believe it," said one of the staff in the bakery, who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV and gave his name as David. But when the person insisted the police should be called, David said he walked the short distance to the corner of Rue d'Italie and Avenue Jean Medecin, where last year local authorities installed an intercom in front of the church that connects directly to the municipal police. David said he pressed the button on the intercom, and summoned the police. The mayor, Estrosi, who had attended last year's unveiling of the intercom, said this was how police were first alerted to the attack. David said the police arrived on the scene within 30 seconds, while he went back inside his bakery and pulled down the blinds.Blood and panicAt some point during the attack, the knifeman came out of the church, according to Didier-Olivier Reverdy of police officer's union Alliance Police Nationale. "When the attacker came out, there was a kind of panic around the concourse" surrounding the church, said Reverdy. "There was blood visible." Anais Colomna was in the lawyer's office where she works, next to the church, when her phone call was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. "When I turned around, I saw that they (the police) were firing at someone who was moving away from the church," she told Reuters. The man police were firing at then disappeared from view, she said. The first shots were fired at 8:58 a.m., according to local officials in Nice. What happened next is unclear, but it appeared the attacker went back towards the church. In video footage obtained by Reuters, shot from a balcony across the street from the church, police officers with guns and Tasers raised, could be seen in the side entrance of the church, looking inside. Gunshots could be heard. It was not clear from the footage what they were shooting at. Estrosi said that, as police were detaining the attacker, "he kept shouting on a loop, 'Allahu Akbar'." The Arabic phrase means God is Greatest. The attacker carried on shouting the phrase even after he was shot and wounded by police, Estrosi said. The attacker was detained by police at 9:10 a.m., local officials said. Footage from the same balcony vantage point later showed a man with dark hair on an ambulance gurney being wheeled away from the side of church and into a waiting ambulance. Police with guns surrounded the man on the stretcher, who was motionless.Read more:France’s Macron vows country will not yield after ‘Islamist terrorist attack’ in NiceFrench investigators identify Nice attacker as a 21-year-old Tunisian migrantFrance knife attack: Woman beheaded in Nice church, two others dead, several injured
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: How attack in France happened: Church sexton had throat slit while preparing for Mass

Although Apollo is an Olympian deity of the Greek and Roman cultures, it is highly probable that the person wearing the ring with Apollo’s portrait was a Jew.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 2,000-year-old gem seal depicting Greek god Apollo found under City of David

Meeting comes a week after Gantz flew to Washington where the two signed a deal securing Israel’s QME.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Defense Secretary Esper lands in Israel amid F-35 sale talks

After three people were killed by a suspected Islamist extremist in France’s coastal city of Nice, Turkey's president took a break from his row with Paris to condemn the violence.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Turkey joins chorus of condemnation of Nice murders

Currently, hundreds of couples are not able to get married at all, since going abroad is not an option and the Chief Rabbinate will not perform a ceremony and provide legal recognition.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Norway to allow civil marriages for Israelis who can't marry in Israel