Haaretz

[Judea]

 

[Judea]

PRESIDENT WEISS SIGNS REUNIFICATION LAW

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Jerusalem - Earlier today President Weiss has signed the Reunification Law after the law was approved late last night by the Knesset. The law prepared by Minister Levy provides for the end of recognition of the Palestinian Authority and legally places the territories of the West Bank and Gaza under the control of the State of Israel. The Ministry of Defense has however not yet mobilized the IDF to bring force to the new law. It is expected this may happen at anytime in the next several months. Especially as a new wave of conscripts is scheduled to enter their ranks in the next few weeks.

The Reunification Law brings force to one of President Weiss' electoral promises and provides the legal tools and fulfils the legal requirements under the Basic Laws for President Weiss to authorize military action to bring Palestine under Israeli control if the Palestinian Authority does not relent. The PA now under attack both from Israel and previously already from more extremist forces within its ranks is unlikely to do so, so the signing of the law has made a new war all but inevitable. Sources within the Ministry of Defense have hoewever confidently stated that they would not stop short the complete conquering of the Palestinian Territories and defeat of all extremist forces from within.

The action follows a long chain of events, starting with the 1947 UN Partition Agreement, ever since Israel has been under constant attack from the Arab world. While relations with most neighboring states have been either brought to a stalemate or even normalized, this most certainly does not apply to the Palestinian Territories which have continued to launch rockets at Israeli targets.

Frustration over the previous governments' surrender and inability to protect Israeli lives was a direct catalyst to catapult the President and her party into power. As such a strong position on reunification was seen as inevitable.

While the law has been passed, it right now only has force on paper and within the territory controlled by the government of Israel. As such the immediate implications are that Israel no longer recognizes Palestinian sovereignty and that their diplomatic personnel have been ordered to leave the country immediately. It also allows the President to authorize military action without further approval from the Knesset. Internationally, it sets the stage for what is to come and allows the international community to pick sides. In the longer term after military action is implemented either the IDF succeeds in their objectives and brings the Palestinian Territories under the control of Israel, or it fails. There really is no alternative.

However with the inclusion of new conscripts into the IDF and other military expansion plans this law may see its first attempt at enforcement sooner rather than later. Already along the borders of Gaza and the West Bank a build-up of forces has been reported.

 

[Judea]

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS LABELS REPUBLIC OF THAILAND AS HOSTILE STATE

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Jerusalem - In response to ongoing escalations and provocations from the Republic of Thailand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared Thailand a hostile state. This status change will immediately restrict Thai citizens from flying into the country and will cut off any trade relations that may have existed.

Operating under the Foreign Interference Protection Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is empowered to assign various different statuses to a country. Hostile is the lowest status that can be granted to a state without being at war with one. It is the first hostile status change with prior the bulk of the nations being considered friendly or neutral and only some threatening.

With the status change Thai citizens can no longer travel into the country and those already inside the country must leave upon the expiration of their visa. An exception exists for permanent residents who may remain in the country on their permanent residency status. Additionally Israeli banks will be prevented from opening new accounts for Thai individuals or businesses, they can however still withdraw any funds from them or leave assets in existing accounts. Finally, the measure will prevent Thai citizens from starting new businesses inside Israel. Owners of existing businesses not currently in the country must handle affairs remotely as they will not be able to receive visa.

In an elaboration on the decision, Minister Levy has stated the State of Israel is saddened that it had come to this decision, however that the Thai government had left it no choice but to take measures for the protection of the Israeli state.

 

[Judea]

IDF PLACED ON HIGH ALERT FOLLOWING INTIFADA DECLARATION

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Jerusalem - Following the recent Palestinian declaration of Intifada, the Ministry of Defense has placed the IDF on high alert and ordered the closing of all border points between Israel and the Palestinian territories. While no violence has been reported yet, the Mossad has established that the so called Palestinian Restoration Force has established full control over all the Palestinian Territories and displaced the Palestinian Authority. In a brief statement the President has reminded the world that this is the exact scenario she had warned for.

A video message was received by this news organization early today from a man we have identified as Umar ibn Bishr, a Palestinian native, who has declared himself the Caliph of the al-Quds Caliphate. In this declaration he also called for an Intifada against Israel and a Jihad against what he described as decadent Islamic countries. This extends his threat not just to Israel but the wider Arab world.

While no violence has been reported yet, the Ministry of Defense wants to take no risks and has ordered the full closure of all border crossings between Israel and Gaza and Israel and the West Bank. The supply of water, gas, electricity, and other resources will continue for now. Traffic between the countries however will not be authorized. While the government sought to restrict humanitarian impact with this measure, it will almost certainly still cost lives in the forms of Palestinians that need medical treatment in Israel for advanced diseases being unable to enter the country.

In addition to closing the borders the entire IDF has been placed on the highest alert level possible. One undisclosed senior officer in the Israeli Air Force declared "We have never seen something like this before, there were always attempts to unify forces and form a united front against us but an actually united Palestine fighting as one force is unprecedented". The Ministry of Defense has declared that the IDF will not fire the first shot, but if shot at they will swiftly establish control of the area.

Commenting on the development at an unrelated event President Weiss stated that "As long as the Palestinian Territories remain divided there will always be an escalation to war. Just like we are seeing now. The blame for this situation is 100% with the international community. Once again we will suffer the consequences but this time we are not stopping at a ceasefire".

 

[Judea]

PRESIDENT DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY

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Jerusalem - In further response to the Palestinian Intifada Declaration, the President has declared a State of Emergency. Under this State of Emergency she has used special powers to mobilize up to 100,000 IDF reserves and block off certain areas as no go zones for civilians. The IDF has been deployed throughout Israeli cities and especially in border regions to maintain security.

Under the Basic Laws of Israel a State of Emergency transfers nearly all executive and legislative powers to the Office of the Cabinet, the state is in effect for 90 days and can be renewed three times before the Knesset needs to vote to approve a renewal. The first measure taken, the mobilization of the reserves is likely intended to bolster the IDF in anticipation of a drawn out war to bring order to the Palestinian Territories and defeat the PRF.

The second measure, blocking off certain areas to civilian traffic is less standard. The President has motivated this by referring to past incidents where Palestinians managed to infiltrate deep into Israeli society and damage the nation from inside. Exclusion zones have been established around all Federal government buildings as well as the residences of key officials, diplomatic areas, and around military facilities. Any civilian caught inside these exclusion zones must be able to provide a valid reason. Foreigners in the diplomatic areas may only travel to their designated embassy. A more drastic exclusion zone has been established around Gaza and the West Bank. A 10km zone has been established on the Israeli side where only residents and military are allowed to enter. Any civilian caught without proof that they live in the area will be in violation. Any violators will be held as foreign saboteurs and may be detained until the State of Emergency ends.

While normally the public would oppose these measures, the video message has re-awakened fears from the first Intifada and as a result Israelis have become highly supportive of any measure that seeks to reduce the threat to the State. It is not expected the government will have any difficulties calling up reserves as plenty of reserves in recent days have come forward to volunteer to serve their nation once again.

 

[Judea]

IDF ACTIVATES EXTENSIVE AIR DEFENSE NETWORK

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Jerusalem - With the threat of improvised rockets and unmanned aerial technology becoming increasingly easily available to individuals and non-state organizations, the Israeli Defense Forces have brought an integrated air defense system online. This network of individual systems is meant to detect, identify, track, and if determined to be dangerous to an inhabited area, intercept hostile weapons.

The network currently consists of the Iron Dome and Arrow Defense systems. Iron Dome primarily consists of an advanced RADAR and interceptor launcher. Whenever rockets or other small systems are launched the RADAR detects the launch and uses advanced computational systems to live track where the target is headed. If it is determined to be an inhabited area or an area otherwise important to the security of Israel, an interceptor is fired at the target to destroy it before it can reach its destination.

Arrow is primarily designed as an anti-ballistic missile system, similarly using state of the art AESA RADAR Arrow can detect ballistic missile launches from significant distances, when it does an Arrow missile is launched to intercept it.

The IDF continues work on another version of Arrow that is capable of intercepting Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and different systems named David's Sling, Light Beam and Iron Beam. David's Sling is is a medium to high range air defense system capable of intercepting primarily enemy cruise missiles and aircraft, whereas Light Beam and Iron Beam are laser based and intended to eliminate smaller enemy targets that Iron Dome can also counter but where the cost of purchasing the system is far lower than the price of an Iron Dome interceptor or the most likely damage inflicted. While David's Sling is expected to join the network as early as next year, Light and Iron Beam are likely still a decade from service. In the meantime Israel intends to purchase Patriot and THAAD systems from the United States and SAMP/T from the Empire of France to complement Israeli anti-air capabilities.

The IDF has brought 3 Arrow Systems on-line, while they did not disclose how many Iron Dome systems have been brought on-line it is believed to be more than a dozen based on the project budget and expenses the IGF reported to the Knesset.

 

[Judea]

THOUSANDS MARCH IN ANTI-WAR PROTEST

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Tel Aviv - Following the government's earlier commitment to annex the Palestinian Territories and the mobilization of the Israeli Defense Forces, thousands have attended a protest in Tel Aviv calling for a peaceful dialogue with the Palestinians, and to end the cycle of violence.

The protests were organized by a coalition of left-leaning opposition parties. Leader of this coalition, Shimon Peres, stated that Israel and Palestine are stuck in a cycle of violence for the past 60 years and going back thousands of years. While he acknowledges that IDF could likely successfully overwhelm the Palestinian militias and take the territories in a short period, annexing the territories and integrating them would likely only perpetuate the cycle of violence and eventually prove impossible. "Never in the modern era has one country ever been able to successfully occupy another country for longer than a few years".

According to estimates from the Police four thousand people have attended the protest. Yasam anti-riot units have been placed on alert, however with the protest remaining peaceful and contained to the designated protest zone no police intervention has been required. While this is the largest anti-war protest in years, polling indicates they do not represent a majority of the population. In a recent poll by this newspaper 53% of Israeli citizens support annexing the Palestinian territories while 12% oppose it and 35% don't know. Interestingly when restricting the polling to just Arab Israelis support for annexation is at 62% with 30% against and 8% unsure. The large support among the Arab population is likely related to the President's promise that after annexation Palestinians dispalced in past conflicts would be offered compensation for lost property and help finding new homes close to where they lived.

At the President's regular press conference scheduled during the protest when asked about it she commented. "Israel is a free country, anyone is free to protest just about anything. I understand the concerns of the opposition and I appreciate their position. I disagree with their assessment that a two state solution is possible and firmly believe like a majority of Israelis and especially Arab Israelis that the best road to peace is a one-state solution where the rights and unique cultural identities of all ethnic groups are not only preserved but protected and enshrined in our Basic Laws. Israel will be the home for all people, not just the Jews or the Muslims.

While the President could have prevented the protest due to the ongoing State of Emergency, she seperately declared that a peaceful protest far away from a potential conflict zone does not pose a security risk. The activation of the Air Defense Network in general has made authorities more relaxed as they no longer fear that a large crowd would be a target for enemy missile attacks.

The protest is unlikely to change policies as sources inside the IDF report the President is about to order artillery and air strikes over the Palestinian territories followed shortly by a ground invasion. The goal according to the sources is to quickly overwhelm militias inside the territories and rapidly secure the area through shock and awe as to minimize civilian casualties and avoid a drawn out war.

 

[Judea]

THAILAND RESPONSIBLE FOR ESPIONAGE ON ISRAELI VESSELS AND GLOBAL DATA LEAK

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Jerusalem - The Ministry of Defense has determined that the recent global intelligence leak showing sensitive information about the INS David Ben-Gurion and three Polish naval vessels could only have been done by the Republic of Thailand, this conclusion is based on findings of the Israeli Navy, Israeli Ground Forces, Mossad, and Aman. The Office of the President has condemned the Republic of Thailand for this gross violation of Israeli national security and aggressive action as the INS David Ben-Gurion was within Israeli territorial waters at the time of the high resolution pictures and video being taken. It added that Thai actions have endangered both the State of Israel at large and the crew of the INS David Ben-Gurion in particular.

Recently fax machines worldwide received an anonymous communication including pictures and video footage showing four naval vessels. These were quickly determined to be a La Fayette Class Frigate flying an Israeli flag as well as three Polish vessels. The hull number corresponds to the only La Fayette Class in Israeli service, the Israeli Navy's flagship the INS David Ben-Gurion. According to a press statement issued by the Israeli Navy on the same day as the images were taken the INS David Ben-Gurion had been ordered to contact three Polish vessels which for multiple days had shown no or little movement. The David Ben-Gurion was to contact these vessels and establish if they needed any aid. When it was determined the ships were okay and engaging in a legal operation, the David Ben-Gurion advised them to avoid entry into Israeli territorial waters and then returned to its regular mission of patrolling Israel's territorial waters.

In a seperate statement the Ministry of Defense confirmed that they had received a similar information package prior to the public dissemination and has reason to believe that the Polish state may have received a package as well. Today the Ministry of Defense has issued a statement that an investigation managed to rapidly identify the party responsible. According to this statement the Integrated Air Defense Network detected and identified the launch of an IAI Searcher 2 UAV from within Turkish territory. The IAI Searcher 2 is an Israeli developed drone, the only two nations within range of the vessels that these UAVS were sold to were Cyprus and Thailand and of those two only Thailand is known to have a military base within Turkish territory. At the time of launch the automated systems did not identify it as a threat, this changed when it came closer to Israeli territory at which point human operators began tracking it. At that point it also came within range of the RADAR on the INS David Ben-Gurion and the aircraft at that time above it. Sometime after detection the UAV crashed into the sea. In addition to this evidence, Mossad has also been able to link a quote used in the release to statement made by Thai officials before and after the data leak. The combination of this data leads the Ministry of Defense to conclude Thailand is responsible beyond reasonable doubt.

Following the report the Office of the President has released a statement condemning Thailand's actions and its duplicity, on the one hand revoking its sanctions against the State of Israel while at the same time endangering its national security at a time when Israel is preparing to engage in military action. The statement went on to condemn the UAV flying close enough to Israeli airspace that it almost became a legitimate target for the Israeli Navy and Air Force to destroy, an action that would have undoubtedly escalated existing tensions.

The Ministry of Defense in a press conference revealed that it has contacted the Polish Ministry of National Defense to propose a joint investigation into the matter. The Ministry of Justice has announced its intent to charge the five Thai nationals in Polish custody with espionage, and 172 counts of attempted manslaughter. One count each for every crewmember of the INS David Ben-Gurion. They are likely to request judicial cooperation and eventually extradition of the Thai nationals to be tried by an Israei court.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that despite Thailand's public statement, the espionage and endangering of the crew continues justifying the label of hostile state and that it will do so unless and until Thailand makes amends. It has however clarified that even as a hostile state the Republic of Thailand is free to repopulate its embassy in Tel Aviv.