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Comments (0)Iran began an air defense drill designed to protect its nuclear program, Iranian state television reported.
The war games, which began Sunday in western Iran, are reported to be “huge” and are scheduled to last five days, according to reports by the IRNA news agency.
A day before the start of the drill, an Iranian cleric warned that Iran would hit Tel Aviv if it is attacked by Israel, according to reports.
“If the enemy should want to test its bad luck in Iran, before the dust from its missiles settles in this country, Iran’s ballistic missiles would land in the heart of Tel Aviv,” said Mojtaba Zolnour, a deputy of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative in the Revolutionary Guards, according to IRNA.
The Revolutionary Guards have joined the country’s regular army for this week’s drill.
Also Sunday, an Israeli newspaper reported that Iran is bribing countries to vote against Israel in the United Nations.
Yediot Achronot said a report obtained by Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that Iran last year promised the Solomon Islands $200,000, as well as technological aid, in exchange for dropping its support of Israel in the United Nations.
The poor nation, which traditionally has supported Israel, began voting against the Jewish state several months ago, including voting for the adoption of the Goldstone report that accused Israel, as well as Hamas, of war crimes during last winter’s Gaza war.
The report also said, according to the newspaper, that Iran is trying to bribe Israel supporters Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
Turkey Demands Delivery of Israeli Drones
Turkey has given Israeli defense contractors 50 days to deliver 10 promised drone aircraft.
Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul sent a letter to Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit demanding that they deliver the unmanned aerial vehicles by the beginning of the new calendar year. The letter threatened to cancel the deal, which was signed in 2005, if the drones are not delivered in time.
“If this letter does not bear fruit either, the tender may be canceled, but there is no cancellation at the moment,” Gonul said Saturday on CNN Turk news, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Turkey signed on four years ago to purchase the surveillance drones known as Herons from Israeli Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems at a cost of more than $180 million. The companies missed the original delivery deadline, and then missed a new deadline to deliver four Herons in August, followed shortly by another two and finally the last four by the end of October.
Turkey recently returned two drones because they did not perform up to expectations.
Israeli officials say the project was slowed down after surveillance equipment supplied by Turkey for the drones was too heavy for the machine.
Israel-Turkey relations have grown tense since the Gaza war, with Turkey taking the lead in some international forums in demanding that Israel be held accountable for alleged war crimes. Last month Turkey prevented Israel from joining a NATO-alliance military exercise that ultimately was canceled due to Israel’s exclusion.
Mendel Kaplan, Ex-Jewish Agency Board Chair, Dies
Mendel Kaplan, a prominent South African Jewish leader and philanthropist, has died.
Kaplan, a billionaire steel magnate who served as board chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel for nearly a decade, was 73.
A champion of Jewish education and Russian aliyah to Israel, he was board chairman of the Jewish Agency from 1987 to 1995.
Kaplan also was chairman of Keren Hayesod’s World Board of Trustees from 1983 to 1987 and national chairman of the Israel United Appeal, South Africa, from 1978 to 1987.
He established the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town and the South African Jewish Museum, and was one of the first funders of the City of David excavation.
“Few, if any, have done as much to build South African Jewry into the dynamic, vibrant community it is today,” said the chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, Zev Krengel. He said that Kaplan could be called “the father of the South African Jewish community.”
Kaplan, who authored several books, made his fortune in the South African steel industry, and for the past 35 years had residences in Israel and South Africa, according to The Jerusalem Post.