Benjamin Netanyahu testified in court on December 10 but did not respond to the corruption charges, he spoke about the political situation: “I have waited eight years for this moment to tell the truth”. “I still think it is possible to wage a war, a state and even a trial.” “A few days ago a tectonic event happened here: an earthquake, it is an earthquake that has not occurred in a hundred years. We have changed the face of the Middle East.” And after 15 minutes of illustrating the political contingency he said: “My wife receives attacks, hatred and murder threats that no other wife in the government has received and that I will never receive.”
Then he began to criticize Barack Obama: “Obama in his first meeting with me in the White House made it clear to me that the policy of the United States would take an even sharper turn against the ideas in which I believed.” “Obama turned to Iran. He saw Iran not as a great threat but as a great opportunity – both Iran and Turkey.” “In relation to the State of Israel, he saw the essential necessity of returning more or less to the 1967 lines and establishing a Palestinian state here, and if we solve this problem, everything will be solved.”
And then he added: “I had to face great pressure to create a Palestinian state.” “Obama told me not to build a brick beyond the Green Line [West Bank].” “I had to do something very difficult: I went to Congress, to Obama’s headquarters, to both houses of Congress, and there I spoke out strongly against that agreement which I saw as a disaster for the State of Israel.”
He did not respond to the corruption allegations. He said: “We are fighting a war on 7 fronts and another front could join, Gaza, Lebanon, West Bank, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Iran”.
“Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and member of the internal security cabinet, said that Donald Trump’s inauguration next month offers Israel the opportunity to pursue several strategic goals: toppling the Iranian government, preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state and stopping the reconstruction of Lebanese villages along Israel’s border” – Bloomberg source. He added: “Israel will remain in Gaza for many years to ensure its security just as we do in the West Bank”. “The Palestinian Authority should not have any control over any part of Gaza once the fighting is over”.
Smotrich also sent a message to the Iranian people: “My message to the Iranian people is to break the barrier of fear. The alternative is a war that will leave Israel no choice but to crush the Iranian economy, including its oil and energy facilities.” Finally, he said that “Israel will work to convince its allies to impose a ban on the reconstruction of destroyed homes in Lebanese villages along the border.”
With a majority of 51 opponents against 43 supporters, Netanyahu’s coalition in the Knesset renounces its proposal to form a commission of inquiry into the events of October 7.
On December 11, there was a visit by Azerbaijani Vice President Hikmet Hajiyev to Israel: One of the responsibilities assigned to Hikmet Hajiyev during his visit to Israel was to act as a mediator between Turkey and Israel to avoid misunderstandings and possible incidents. In reference to Syria.
Jordan delivered 62 M113 armored vehicles to the Lebanese army, which were transported by the merchant ship Faisal M from Aqaba.
Sources close to Hezbollah say the group’s supply routes are not a cause for concern despite what is happening in Syria.
And now a look at the military situation in Israel and its borders as of 17:00 on December 11th.
A US Navy Poseidon reconnaissance/surveillance aircraft operating in the Gulf of Aden was recorded. Israeli air strikes on Yemen are possible in the coming days.
Lebanese sources report heavy artillery shelling in the area of Bint Jbeil, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah complains that in and around Khiam there is a delay in the movement of the Lebanese army into the area which is delaying the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Khiam. In the afternoon however, the Lebanese Army began the first phases of deployment in part of the northern and western neighborhoods of Khiam City and its surroundings, and army bulldozers were at the forefront of those entering, along with engineering teams. They were set up at designated locations on the outskirts north and west of the city of Khiam. On the afternoon of December 11, Israeli drones launched an airstrike against the city of Bint Jbeil. Three people were killed.
During the night of December 10, 4 large explosions were heard, one in Tel Aviv and the other 3 in Hadera. The Israeli army says that the explosions were controlled and carried out by the IDF in a military base.
The situation in Gaza and the West Bank remains very tense. Palestinian medical sources report the death of 51 people due to the continuous Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, especially in Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Strip. The Al-Nasser Salah Brigades, Al-Tawhid Brigade, report that Israeli vehicles and soldiers entered the Al-Shaymaa area, west of Beit Lahia. Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for a live mortar attack against Israeli soldiers and vehicles that entered the vicinity of Al-Fawz Mosque in Al-Saftawi area, northern Gaza Strip.
One person killed by Israeli fire west of Nuseirat camp, central Gaza Strip. Israeli artillery shelling east of Al-Masdar village, central Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks heavily shelled residents’ homes in Mashrou’ Amer area, northwest of Gaza City. Al-Quds Brigades reported clashes in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.
Israeli shelling of Al-Zuhur neighborhood, north of Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip. The Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades’ missile unit claims attack on Israeli positions in the Philadelphia axis, southern Gaza Strip, with a missile salvo.
In a joint IDF and ISA announcement: “IDF and ISA eliminated the commander of Nukhba Company who led the October 7 attack on the IDF ‘Paga’ outpost in southern Israel; the head of the Hamas paragliding unit who led the October 7 air infiltration into Israel was eliminated, Fehmi Salmi, a commander of Nukhba Company in Hamas’ Zeitoun Battalion who was operating at the time of the attack from inside a facility that previously served as Al-Falah School.”
“In a further attack, an IAF aircraft struck and eliminated terrorist Salah Dahham, head of the Hamas paragliding unit, in the Jabaliya area. On October 7, Salah Dahham led Hamas’s air infiltration into communities in southern Israel, a key part of Hamas’s murderous attacks on civilians.”
In the West Bank, Israelis storm the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, and raid a home. Clashes are reported between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces who storm the West Bank village of Yatma, south of Nablus. Israeli forces storm the West Bank town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
Follow our updates on Geopolitical Gleanings - Spigolature geopolitiche: https://t.me/agc_NW and on our blog The Gleanings of AGCNEWS - Le Spigolature di AGCNEWS: https://spigolatureagcnews.blogspot.com/
