Hezbollah Terrorists Ignore Any Cease Fire in Lebanon, United Arab Emirates

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

Lebanon's president sides with Hezbollah, of course.  Hezbollah has taken over Lebanon  Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun speaks during a press conference after the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP: Petros Karadjias) Hezbollah did not take over Lebanon in a single coup, but rather consolidated power over decades following its 1982 formation. Key milestones included maintaining its arms after the 1989 Taif Agreement, entering the cabinet in 2005, and asserting dominance through its military wing—regarded as a major state-within-a-state—throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

Lebanon and Hezbollah at odds over peace talks with Israel as strikes continue despite ceasefire, notes ABC's Matthew Doran.  Lebanon blames

Israel.                             

Israeli Iron Dome air defense systems launch to intercept missiles fired from Iran, in central Israel on Sunday, April 26, 2026.  Israel shot down missiles and drones after Iran launched unprecedented attack.

Hezbollah has reportedly launched more than 10,000 missiles, rockets and drones at Israel in the last 2 months.                        

Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, from Petach Tikvah, serving in the 7th Armored Brigade's 77th Battalion, was killed by an explosive drone fired by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon yesterday.

 Six other soldiers were wounded in the attack. 

According to an Axios report based on multiple Israeli and American sources, Israel sent an Iron Dome air defense system to the United Arab Emirates at the start of the war with Iran, including personnel to operate it. 

According to the Emirati Defense Ministry, Iran launched 550 ballistic and cruise missiles as well as 2,200 drones. 

Most were intercepted, but some struck both military and civilian sites. 

                                              

       A Shahed 136 at an exhibition:  The HESA Shahed 136 (Persian: شاهد ۱۳۶, lit. 'Witness 136'), also known by its Russian designation Geran-2 (Russian: Герань-2, lit. 'Geranium-2'), is an Iranian-designed one-way attack drone, also referred to as a kamikaze drone or suicide drone, in the form of an autonomous pusher-propelled drone.

Israeli officials said that following a call with UAE President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israel Defense Forces to deploy an Iron Dome battery, including interceptors and dozens of soldiers to operate it. 

This was the first time an Iron Dome battery was 

transferred to another country. 

UAE has signed the Abrahamic Accords and has been a friend of Israel rather than an old enemy.  The Abraham Accords are a series of joint normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab nations, brokered by the United States in 2020.

 The primary signatories that normalized relations are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Morocco.   Sudan also agreed to normalization and signed the declaration, though implementation has been delayed.  

The 1967 Arab League summit was held on August 29 in Khartoum as the fourth Arab League Summit in the aftermath of the Arab defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War, and is famous

 for its Khartoum Resolution, known as "The Three No's"; 

No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations

 with Israel.

Khartoum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people,

Since April 2023, there has been a civil war in Sudan between two primary factions of the country's military government. The conflict involves the internationally recognized government, controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Hemedti, who commands the broader Janjaweed coalition. People have been moved about and are starving.  It's a volatile country.  

Resource:

israelAM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Accords

https://www.google.com/search?q=in+1967%2C+arabs+met+in+kartoum%2C+Africa&sca_esv=22f559b5d064249e&sxsrf=ANbL-n6-nXR0GiycLJCnxOjmyu7QNZuOOA%3A1777306561668&ei=wYvvadG6KPOb0PEPmbzNmA4&biw=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum#:~:text=Khartoum%2C%20also%20spelled%20Khartum%2C%20%5Ba%5D,largest%20urban%20area%20in%20Sudan.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-27/lebanon-and-hezbollah-at-odds-over-peace-talks-with-israel/106613802

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80%93present)

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-894212

https://www.knkx.org/2024-04-13/israel-shoots-down-missiles-and-drones-after-iran-launches-unprecedented-attack?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12559113089&gbraid=0AAAAADudUOQNZj6sbNa0ZSp126ROae_Go&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkrzP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Shahed_136

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/what-hezbollah

The BIG MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a dinner meeting inside the Blue Room of the White House in Washington on July 7, 2025. Photo by Al Drago/UPI  License photo | Permalink

Prime minister Netanyahu and President Trump met in the White House yesterday. Netanyahu presented Trump with a nomination letter recommending him for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

When asked about his plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Trump referred the question to Netanyahu, who said, “President Trump had a brilliant vision; he called it ‘free choice.’ If people want to stay, they can. But if they want to leave, they should be allowed to. It shouldn’t be a prison; it should be an open place and allow people free choice.” 

The original population in 1922 of 590,890 has long died out, and those there are about 3 generations of people without a trade other than tunnel digging and shooting.  They've been under the auspices of the UN who seem to favor Hamas highly since it's the Arab countries who signed on right after Israel in becoming UN members and outnumbered Israel like 10 to 1.  Many are still waiting to enter Israel.  That's one way to over-run Israel;  by population and it's now  about at 20% of Israel's population.  As a Jewish country, it cannot go higher.  Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country, never having allowed Jews to step on their land. 

Their numbers have grown through having 4 wives at a time and better health.  The first official census was carried out by the British Mandate government in 1922, on October 23rd. The total population reported in this census was 757,182 individuals, divided as:  

• Muslims: 590,890   That's a difference of 166,292 people
• Christians: 73,024
• Jews: 83,794
• Others: 9,474 (including Druze, Sikhs, Baháʼís, Metawalis, Samaritans) 

Approximately 2.1 million Palestinian Arabs now live in Israel, constituting about 21% of the total population. They are Israeli citizens, with the majority identifying as Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship. 

While the majority of Palestinian Arabs in Israel are Muslim, there are also significant Christian and Druze minorities who enlist in the IDF. They have the right to vote and participate in political life.   

"Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled  from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refugees live in or near 68 Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2019 more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees were registered with the United Nations today." 

Regarding a two-state solution,  Netanyahu said, “I think the Palestinians should have the authority to govern themselves—but not the power to threaten us. That means certain powers, like overall security, will always remain in our hands. 

I would have included many provisos, such as waiting a length  of time to do this and see if it would not be another Gaza when Israel turned that over to the Palestinians.  I suppose this is not the place to quibble about the necessities when setting this up.  It was enough to be reminders of reality for another day.  Since October 7th, and for me, way before that, I've never seen the occasion of having a two state solution at all.  They had lost their chances with me.  How about you all?

They also discussed Iran, Syria, the Abraham Accords and the Gaza negotiations. 

The White House said that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Doha, Qatar this week to push for a cease-fire agreement.                          

Steven Charles Witkoff (born March 15, 1957)  age 68, is an American lawyer and real estate investor .  Real Estate people are a hit with Trump.  Neither he nor Trump are historians, so I hope someone clues him in on important facts.  

The United States and Qatar associate for several key reasons, demonstrating a strong bilateral relationship. This relationship, rooted in diplomatic ties established in 1972 after Qatar gained independence, encompasses various facets including security, economic cooperation, and education. 

The two countries also have extensive economic links, especially in the hydrocarbons sector. Qatar has also developed international educational institutions in the region to cater to the Middle Eastern market. Qatar also hosts an American military facility.  The main U.S. military facility in Qatar is Al Udeid Air Base, which is also the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. It's located in the desert southwest of Doha and serves as the forward headquarters for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The base hosts thousands of U.S. service members and is a key hub for air operations in the region. 

Qatar gives me the shivers, reminding me of the anti-Semite, Qaradawi who was hosted there for so many years while he lectured over the radio and TV against Israel with the blessing of Qatar.  Yusuf al Qaradawi broadcast on Al Jazeera, which had an estimated audience of 40–60 million worldwide. He was also known for IslamOnline, a website he helped for establishment in 1997 and for which he served as chief religious scholar.  So holding peace talks here seems like an anathema.  I would have chosen UAE (United Arab Emirates) who belong to the Abraham Accords and are actively associating themselves with business in Israel.  

Resource:

Edited 7/9/25, 5:16am

israelAM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Witkoff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Israel%20Central%20Bureau%20of,by%20nationality%20and%20as%20Israeli%20by%20citizenship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_refugees

https://greydynamics.com/al-udeid-air-base-the-largest-us-military-installation-in-middle-east/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar%E2%80%93United_States_relations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates#:~:text=It%20shares%20land%20borders%20with,in%20the%20Gulf%20of%20Oman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_al-Qaradawi

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/Photos/Benjamin-Netanyahu-meets-with-Donald-Trump/15579/

Chabad Rabbi Killed By Anti-Semitic Foreigners in United Arab Emirates

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

We 14 million Jews are still spread throughout the world;  a few living here and there for simple reasons.  The Israeli government said the death of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan, who has been missing in the Gulf state of United Arab Emirates since Thursday, was a "criminal anti-semitic terrorist event."  Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan dual citizen who lived in the UAE, had been missing since Thursday, the 21st of November.

Kogan's disappearance quickly sparked suspicions that he had been kidnapped. He was the representative in Abu Dhabi for Chabad Lubavitch, an influential Orthodox Jewish Hasidic organization based in New York.

“With great pain we share that Rabbi Zvi Kogan, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Abu Dhabi, UAE, was murdered by terrorists after being abducted on Thursday, ” Chabad posted on X.                                

     3 killers suspected to be from Uzbekistan, formerly part of Russia;   Islam is the predominant religion, and most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims.

Kogan's vehicle was discovered in a city about an hour and a half from Dubai, Ynet reported. Authorities suspect that he was abducted by three Uzbek nationals who subsequently fled to Turkey.  Uzbekistan is a Central Asian nation and former Soviet republic. It's known for its mosques, mausoleums and other sites linked to the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, a major city on the route, contains a landmark of Islamic architecture: the Registan, a plaza bordered by 3 ornate, mosaic-covered religious schools dating to the 15th and 17th centuries. ―

Information in Israel’s possession indicated that Kogan may have been under Iranian surveillance, reports said.  In other words, he could have been targeted, a Jewish escapee from USSR's clutches of Uzbekistan.  

There is a small Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As of 2019, according to Rabbi Marc Schneier, it is estimated that there are about 150 families to 3,000 Jews who live and worship freely in the UAE. As of 2022, Judaism is experiencing a revival in the Emirates, most likely because of the Abraham Accords that have brought peaceful relations to be a reality today.  There are three synagogues across the UAE. Since the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, the first officially-licensed synagogue in the country was opened in Abu Dhabi, the nation's capital.

     Chabad Jews somewhere  on a special day

The lone rabbi would have been easy to identify to an anti-Semite, and obviously one was on the prowl for a Jew, found one and killed him.  Those living in UAE would have had special jobs relating to making visitations between the countries easier, safer, one would think.  

Kogan's family was originally from Moldavia.  The former Bessarabia is now the Moldavian Republic (formerly in the USSR) with a Jewish population of 80,127 in 1989.   Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The Nistru and Prut rivers run through Moldova, with the Nistru forming part of the border with Ukraine and the Prut forming the border with Romania. The Danube also touches Moldova's southern border.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20small%20Jewish,a%20revival%20in%20the%20Emirates.

https://x.com/Chabad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-830438

Erdogan Claims Cutting Ties of Diplomacy and Trade With Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, age 70;  (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014.

In the wake of criticism in local media of Turkey's 'secret financial ties', Turkish president – who has spoken out harshly against Netanyahu since the beginning of the war – tells reporters that his country has severed relations with Israel; Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv is still operating and Jerusalem says not informed about cut in ties.  

The Ottoman Empire (Turkey)  took over the land of modern-day Israel in 1516 and ruled it until 1917-end of WWI: holding it for about 400 years.  No, Turks are not Arabs; they are a distinct ethnic group with their own language and cultural heritage, completely separate from Arabs, although they may share geographical proximity and some historical interactions due to the Ottoman Empire; the Turkish language belongs to the Turkic language family while Arabic is a Semitic language, making them linguistically different as well. However, they are both Muslims.  According to the state, 99.8% of the population is initially registered as Muslim. The remaining 0.2% are Christians and adherents of other officially recognized religions such as Judaism. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam.

Turkey, the one time Ottoman Empire, has a leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,  that is envious of their previous position in the world and keeps wishing to go back into history, no doubt.  He has severed relations of a sort with Syria so far. In January 2018, the Turkish military and its allies Syrian National Army and Sham Legion began Operation Olive Branch in Afrin in Northern Syria, against the Kurdish armed group YPG. In October 2019, the United States gave the go-ahead to the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, despite recently agreeing to a Northern Syria Buffer Zone. U.S. troops in northern Syria were withdrawn from the border to avoid interference with the Turkish operation. After the U.S. pullout, Turkey proceeded to attack the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Rejecting criticism of the invasion, Erdoğan claimed that NATO and European Union countries "sided with terrorists, and all of them attacked us". 

Erdoğan then filed a criminal complaint against French magazine Le Point after it accused him of conducting ethnic cleansing in the area. With Erdogan's control of the media fanning local nationalism, a poll by Metropoll Research found that 79% of Turkish respondents expressed support for the operation.

                                   Turkish guards in Jerusalem 

What early Jews making the move to Palestine in the late 1800s met up with from Ottoman Empire;  their army.  

 The Empire captured Salonica in 1430 and Constantinople in 1432.  After 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Ottoman Empire was a refuge for  Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal.  Salonika is Greece's second largest city and the capital of Macedonia. It's located in northern Greece and is one of the oldest cities in Europe.  Constantinople is in modern-day Turkey and is now known as Istanbul: Istanbul is located in both Europe and Asia, straddling the Bosporus strait. The city was originally settled by ancient Greeks in the seventh century B.C. as Byzantium. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and later the Ottoman Empire. The city was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930.

Erdoğan visited Israel on 1 May 2005, a gesture unusual for a leader of a Muslim majority country. During his trip, Erdoğan visited the Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. 

The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, addressed the Turkish parliament during a visit in 2007, the first time an Israeli leader had addressed the legislature of a predominantly Muslim nation.

                     Map showing Turkey and Israel, both on the Mediterranean

Relations between Turkey and Israel began to normalize after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu officially apologized for the death of the nine Turkish activists during the Gaza flotilla raid. However, in response to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Erdoğan accused Israel of being "more barbaric than Hitler", and conducting "state terrorism" and a "genocide attempt" against the Palestinians.  This is like the pot calling the kettle "black."  Israel, the target/victims  of terrorists-PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah, has become the aggressor of the terrorists, now the victims in Erdogan's eyes, as well of the eyes of other neighbors.  It just happens that the victim is the only Jewish country while the terrorists are all representatives of the Islamic persuasion.  Israel, like a sore thumb, stands out as the only Jewish nation in the world.  

Turkey, a NATO country, has given Netanyahu a bad time over Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, claiming them all for the Arabs. However, some have questioned Turkey's membership in NATO, noting that Turkey has been courting adversaries of the US, such as Russia, Iran, and China. Some say that Turkey's membership in NATO no longer serves its goals, and that NATO members should suspend cooperation with Turkey and work to secure its departure.

 Erdoğan condemned the Israel–UAE peace agreement, stating that Turkey was considering suspending or cutting off diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates in retaliation.  The relations shifted back to normality since 2021, when the two countries started improving relations. In March 2022, Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited Turkey, meeting Erdoğan. The two countries agreed to restore diplomatic relations in August 2022.

Erdoğan condemned the Israeli attacks in the Gaza strip during 2023 Israel–Hamas war, saying they are a violation of human rights, which led to accusations of hypocrisy as Turkey itself severely bombed Kurdish areas at the same time, including many civilian targets. Erdoğan said that Israel's bombing and blockade of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’ attack was a disproportionate response amounting to a "massacre." On 25 October 2023, Erdoğan said that Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people. On 15 November 2023, he condemned Israel as a "terrorist state" and accused it of committing genocide against the Palestinians.

You can always depend on people like Erdogan to turn a situation completely around

 and favor the enemy, instead.  They do it at every opportunity.  

Resource:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1hqygfgye

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%C4%9Fan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Turkey#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20state%2C%2099.8,the%20population%20follows%20Sunni%20Islam.