Iraqi PM first foreign leader to meet Iran’s Raisi; two agree to boost ties
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi became the first foreign leader to visit and meet with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi since the hardliner took office in August.
“I hope despite the aims of the enemies of the two countries, we will witness expansion of good relations between Iran and Iraq,” Raisi said in a joint news conference in Tehran on Sunday.
Iraq has been trying to mediate between Tehran and its Gulf Arab foes, including Saudi Arabia, in the hope of stopping its neighbors settling scores on its territory.
Iraq has become the playground of rivalries between Iran on one side and the United States, Israel and Gulf Arab states on the other, with attacks against US forces and assassinations of Iranian and Iraqi paramilitary leaders.
Raisi said Iraq had agreed to waive visas for Iranian pilgrims to Shi’ite holy sites in Iraq later this month, on the occasion of Arbaeen marking the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammed’s grandson.
“Decisions were also made about the two countries’ financial issues that should be adopted,” Raisi said, without elaborating.
Iraq relies on Iranian gas and electricity, but imports have been irregular recently due to outstanding payments.
Iran’s state gas company said late last year that it had slashed supplies to Iraq over more than $6 billion arrears, placing Baghdad and other cities at risk of power shortages.
Iraq’s electricity ministry said last month that Iranian gas supplied to the central region was reduced from three million to two million cubic meters per day, while to the southern region it was reduced from 17 million to five million cubic meters per day. (Reuters)
different.
But circumstances could become acute this year, because between the return of travelers from Uman and a seventh-day COVID test is Yom Kippur.
On this, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, nearly all Israelis who traveled to Ukraine are supposed to be in isolation. Yet, those close to the community said that it can be assumed that the majority of people who tested positive but have no symptoms – and even more so, those who tested negative – will go to their synagogues to pray.
It can also be expected that there will not be proper police enforcement on Yom Kippur.
Tomer Lotan, director-general of the Public Security Ministry, told The Jerusalem Post that there is no special protocol for monitoring those who returned from Uman, except for those who may have forged negative coronavirus test certificates and are being questioned by police.
To date, the police and the Population and Immigration Authority have apprehended around 175 passengers returning from Uman whom they believe were carrying forged documentation, and officials said they assume there could be others. However, of those who underwent preliminary questioning, one official said only some 20 people appear to have broken the law.
Check Point Software Technologies said on Sunday that it was tracking an Israeli group on Telegram called “COVID vaccination certificates/COVID tests” that was actively being used to sell forged COVID tests and vaccination certificates. The group has been operating since last November, but had been actively targeting travelers to Uman with personalized forged documents that are sold for NIS 100 each, the Israeli cybersecurity company said.
The group is also selling similar documents to Israeli soldiers, using the format of files issued by IDF Medical units.
Check Point has passed the information on to the Israel Police’s 433 Lahav international fraud unit for investigation, it said.
The group is also selling similar documents to Israeli soldiers, using the format of files issued by IDF Medical units.
Check Point has passed the information on to the Israel Police’s 433 Lahav international fraud unit for investigation, it said.
“We have been following the sales of fake coronavirus tests and vaccines from November 2020 and we see how this field is developing,” said Oded Vanunu, Head of Products Vulnerability Research at Check Point.
“What started as a group of hackers on the Dark Net has moved to free trade on messaging apps like Telegram, in groups that sometimes contain hundreds of thousands of people. In recent days, we have discovered the sales for travelers to Uman, and we can see how easy it is to forge coronavirus tests and enter Israel, even as people are getting sick.”
Authorities are expected to launch criminal proceedings against those whom they believe were knowingly spreading a communicable disease.
On average, Lotan said, police check in with 6,000 people a day who are supposed to be in isolation, many fewer than the number of Uman travelers or
the number of Israelis who are supposed to be quarantining on the holy day.
The level of infection stemming from Uman should not surprise anyone. Health officials knew this situation could happen, but depending who you ask, they either felt helpless to control the situation, decided to look away, or tried to offer a solution but their efforts did not go as planned.
From any perspective, according to Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, around 10% of Uman travelers caught the virus and almost as many brought it back with them to Israel.
Ynet reported on Sunday that it had seen a letter sent a month ago by coronavirus commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka to internal authorities warning about the danger of letting the Uman pilgrimage take place.
“These returnees from Uman are citizens from all parts of the country, and are expected to be at synagogues during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” Zarka wrote in the letter.
“There is a fundamental concern that upon their return they could ignite a new wave of infection and import new variants to Israel.”
Ash responded that “when all other flights were open, it was not possible to stop these particular flights,” in an interview with 103 FM on Sunday morning.
“If a person decides to pray in a way that is against his best interest and he gets sick, that is his choice,” a Health Ministry spokesperson told the Post. “Whoever traveled to Uman, traveled at his own risk of being infected.”
What really went on in Uman? The people who traveled there paint a picture of COVID-19 chaos: Thousands of people crammed into dozens of small spaces, sleeping together, eating together and, of course, praying together for hours over three days.
“There was no isolation, no social distancing, no masks,” R from Bat Ayin told the Post. “It was just like a year without coronavirus. Sure, some people took care of themselves, but most – like me, did not.”
“It is not surprising that people would be infected?” another hasid who traveled to Uman said. “What result do you want?”
The Health Ministry and Religious Affairs Ministry touted their “Uman outline” ahead of the holiday, but in reality, the outline was really just the standard travel outline for anyone heading to an orange country.
All travelers were required to take a PCR test within 72 hours of traveling abroad. They were also asked to take a test within 72 hours of their return – though this was quite complicated since these tests could not be performed on the holiday and most travelers were returning to Israel almost immediately after the holiday to be back home before Shabbat.
Rosh Hashanah ended Wednesday at sundown.
To help support the travelers, the Health Ministry paid and recruited Magen David Adom to go to Uman and set up rapid PCR testing complexes for Israeli visitors.
“We could have just made Ukraine a red state and banned people from traveling there,” the ministry spokesperson told the “We tried to make it easier for them. We tried to make concessions.”
But this is not what happened in actuality, visitors said.
R said some people got tested and received a positive result. Then, a few hours later, they went to another complex questioning the original result, retested and got a negative result, which they used to board their plane.
Others saw long lines at the testing sites and decided to skip testing altogether, getting test results sent to them from their friends that they could show at the airport in Kyiv instead. Travelers said airport officials hardly checked their documentation. These travelers returned to Israel not knowing if they were infected or not.
Some people assumed they could be tested and get their results at Kyiv airport, but when they arrived, they realized that without a smartphone they could not access their documentation.
“It was a huge balagan,” R said, describing “pushing and shoving” and “young and old people stepping on each other” in an effort to get screened for the virus. Many ultimately gave up because they had to make their flights. Others stayed to be tested and were forced to purchase updated tickets.
“Look, people wanted to go home,” another traveler told the “I cannot judge, but from what I hear, people were positive and came back negative anyway.”
The Health Ministry spokesperson said that of the 175 who were originally apprehended, some 113 – the majority – were found to be unvaccinated. As such, it is possible that these people’s infection did not yet show up on the rapid test or that they caught the virus on the way back at the airport or on the plane.
Among the haredi community in general, vaccination rates among all people over the age of 16 are the same as among the general population.
“We cannot stigmatize a whole community based on outliers,” said Prof. Eyal Leshem.
He added that the Uman event should be put in perspective.
“If you look at the big picture, 1,500 cases is a lot, but it does not change a trend,” Leshem said.
Rather, the mass prayers of millions of Israelis inside synagogues over Yom Kippur – people who are unvaccinated or ill – could cause Israel to lose control again of the fourth wave, he said.
Leshem warned that Israel is not yet out of the eye of the storm.
“We cannot relax,” he said. Zev Stub contributed to this report. •
Their initiative and boldness that led them to discover the flaw in the prison’s structure did not continue after they exited the tunnel shaft.
All the men, including the two remaining fugitives, have Israeli blood on their hands and were serving life sentences.
Zubeidi, who has been in and out of Israeli and Palestinian prisons since he was 14, was once considered a symbol of the Second Intifada as the leader of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin’s refugee camp.
The other five escapees were identified as Munadil Nafayat, Iham Kahamji, Qadiri and the Arida brothers, who are all members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and from towns near
Jenin.
With only four out of the six back behind bars, Israel’s security forces cannot declare victory yet. At least one of two remaining fugitives is believed to have made it to Jenin, a place where even the Palestinian Authority Security Forces rarely operate in due to the high level of violence.
With the PASF working with Israel to capture the men, it will likely be a joint and violent operation inside the densely populated refugee camp, where there is strong support for PIJ.
Israeli security officials are still concerned that the two men could carry out an attack while they are on the loose or that other Palestinians emboldened by their release could carry out attacks in an attempt to distract troops from the manhunt.
And should the fugitives be killed by security forces, a new wave of terrorist attacks could break out in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The refugee camps in the West Bank, especially Jenin, are full of young unemployed men and are awash in weaponry. The mix of high unemployment rates and weapons is never a recipe for calm.
Israel could reenter the West Bank the way it did in Operation Defensive Shield to clear the camps of the tons of arms. But that would almost certainly lead to many casualties on both sides.
There have already been three rockets launched from the Hamas-run coastal enclave, and if Operation Guardian of the Walls taught Israel’s defense establishment anything, it’s that Hamas succeeded in connecting the West Bank and Gaza.
Any bloodshed will lead to violence on both fronts.
Israel breathed a sigh of relief this weekend, and rightly so. But it needs to inhale and hold another breath for just a little longer, and once the last two are caught, it can release that breath – until the next security incident occurs.
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recent years that need to be made more efficient and to strive for excellence.
“We can and must work differently, especially in a security organization like the Prison Services, [such as instituting] high-quality appointments in accordance with purely professional parameters, setting national targets and forming organized work plans. What was broken can be fixed,” he said.
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, four of the six fugitives, including Zakaria Zubeidi, were caught by Israel Police’s Counterterrorism Unit in Nazareth and Umm el-Ghanam, with help from locals who tipped of the police. IDF trackers from the Mirol Reserve Unit took part in the manhunt, as well.
Munadil Nafayat and Iham Kahamji remain at large.
Five of the escapees – Nafayat, Iham Kahamji, Yakoub Mohammed Qadri and brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed Ardah – were identified as members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and from the Jenin area.
The sixth, Zakaria Zubeidi, was a prominent leader in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades during the Second Intifada. He was later granted an amnesty but was arrested again in 2019.
They escaped from Gilboa
Prison on Monday. Though security forces initially thought that they were being helped following their escape, it is now believed that the fugitives did not have any outside assistance.
Following their arrest, they were transferred to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for additional questioning. The four men were taken to Nazareth District Court on Saturday night and had their detention extended by nine days. The Palestinian Prisoners Association said that they were not allowed to meet with their lawyers.
Regarding developments in Israel in recent days, Gantz said that security forces will continue to hunt the last two fugitives who escaped from Gilboa prison last week “by all means and joint forces.”
He said that while Israel has “no intention” of harming Palestinians and is promoting economic moves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, “if terrorist organizations try to take advantage of the situation, and act on the backs of most Palestinians who want to continue the trend of economic development and stability – they will be the first to be charged a price.”
Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.