Friends and foes want Netanyahu out

Israelis are still reeling from the killing of 1,200 people, most of them civilians and kidnapping of 240 more, including children and elderly. Stunned by the massive security failure, many want Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu out.

A poll published by the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute on January 02 showed only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain in office after the war on Hamas ends, in line with previous surveys that have shown his popularity sharply down.

The embattled leader, who for years has brandished a Mr. Security image, shows no sign of wanting to leave.

"He's defiant. He's apparently taken a strategic decision to survive politically even this. I think it's a quixotic aim and sooner or later I believe that his own colleagues will tell him that his time is up," said political analyst Amotz Asa-El.

Political change looks unlikely in the near term while fighting in Gaza still rages. Netanyahu meanwhile, has vowed to pursue war until complete victory over Hamas with security chiefs warning combat will run through 2024. There are signs within Netanyahu's government that some are jockeying for position.

Reports of wrangling within the security cabinet have been leaked to the Israeli press and far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, largely cut out of any war decisions, has taken swipes at Benny Gantz, Israel's former centrist defence chief who has joined Netanyahu's emergency government and war cabinet.

Anti-government street protests that had swept Israel for almost a year until the attack have been rekindled in recent weeks, calling for elections to be held. But those are still relatively small compared with the mass demonstrations of 2023.

"It's time for him to go home, said marketing manager Noa Weinpress, in Tel Aviv. "It should have happened on the eighth of October and if not, definitely now, after a hundred days."

Even some of Netanyahu's biggest fans seem resigned to the inevitable departure of a leader they still admire.

"I think he'll win the war and step down, with dignity," said Yossi Zroya, a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party and Shawarma stand owner in Ramla.

It was here Netanyahu was greeted with cheers of "King Bibi" 15 months ago at an election campaign event where he pledged to return security to the streets.

The sentiment was echoed by other supporters strolling through Ramla market. "Netanyahu is a genius. He's not to blame for what happened," said Rafi Kimchi, a diamond dealer visiting from nearby Herzliya. "But I think he's done. It's finished."

Eyeing disillusioned Likud voters, Ben-Gvir could be looking to set himself apart and leave the government ahead of a campaign, said Asa-El, who is research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

Gantz, meanwhile, has seen his popularity soar in the polls, seen as a responsible man of the people. Numerous Likud veterans have long been vying to succeed Netanyahu, including Foreign Minister Israel Katz and lawmaker Yuli Edelstein.

Yossi Cohen, Israel's former spy chief and a frequent commentator on news shows in recent weeks, has also been floated as a successor, with some polls giving a party led by him around 12 of the Knesset's 120 seats.

"Nothing is out of the question," Cohen told N12's Uvda television show on Jan. 4. "I have not decided yet."

Asa-El predicted a "political bang" once fighting subsides, possibly a premature election. "There will be vast, big and multiple demonstrations if the politicians will try to drag their feet," he said.

 

 

IMF Executive Board Completes First Review of Stand-By Arrangement for Pakistan

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first review of Pakistan’s economic reform program supported by the IMF’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The Board’s decision allows for an immediate disbursement of SDR 528 million (around US$700 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 1.422 billion (about US$1.9 billion).

Pakistan’s 9-month SBA was approved by the Executive Board on July 12, 2023, for the amount of SDR 2.250 billion (about US$3 billion at the time of approval), aims to provide a policy anchor for addressing domestic and external balances and a framework for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.

The program is focused on: 1) implementation of the FY24 budget to facilitate Pakistan’s needed fiscal adjustment and ensure debt sustainability, while protecting critical social spending; 2) a return to a market-determined exchange rate and proper FX market functioning to absorb external shocks and eliminate FX shortages; 3) an appropriately tight monetary policy aimed at disinflation; and 4) further progress on structural reforms, particularly with regard to energy sector viability, SOE governance, and climate resilience.

Macroeconomic conditions have generally improved, with growth of 2% expected in FY24 as the nascent recovery expands in the second half of the year.

The fiscal position also strengthened in Q1FY24 achieving a primary surplus of 0.4% of GDP driven by overall strong revenues. Inflation remained elevated, although with appropriately tight policy, anticipated to decline to 18.5% by end-June 2024. Gross reserves increased to US$8.2 billion in December, up from US$4.5 billion in June 2023. The exchange rate remained broadly stable.

The current account deficit is expected to rise to around 1.5% of GDP in FY24 as the recovery takes hold. Assuming sustained sound macroeconomic policy and structural reform implementation, inflation should return to the SBP target and growth continue to strengthen over the medium term.

Following the Executive Board discussion, Antoinette Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Chair, made the following statement:

“Pakistan’s program performance under the Stand-By Arrangement has supported significant progress in stabilizing the economy following significant shocks in 2022-23. There are now tentative signs of activity picking-up and external pressures easing. Continued strong ownership remains critical to ensure the current momentum continues and stabilization of Pakistan’s economy becomes entrenched.

“The authorities’ strong revenue performance in Q1FY24 as well as federal spending restraint have helped to achieve a primary surplus in line with quarterly program targets. However, in the context of pressures, including from provincial spending, efforts at mobilizing revenues and ongoing non-priority spending discipline need to continue to ensure that the budgeted primary surplus and debt goals remain achievable. Going forward, broad-based reforms to improve the fiscal framework—mobilizing additional revenues particularly from non-filers and under-taxed sectors and improving public financial management—are required to create fiscal space for further social and development spending.

“The authorities took challenging steps to bring both electricity and natural gas prices closer to costs in 2023. Continuing with regularly-scheduled adjustments and pushing cost-side power sector reforms are vital to improving the sector’s viability and protecting fiscal sustainability.

“Inflation remaied high, affecting particularly the more vulnerable, and it was appropriate that the SBP maintains a tight stance to ensure that inflation returns to more moderate levels. Pakistan also needs a market-determined exchange rate to buffer external shocks, continue rebuilding foreign reserves, and support competitiveness and growth. In parallel, further action to address undercapitalized financial institutions and, more broadly, vigilance over the financial sector is necessary to support financial stability.

“Boosting jobs and inclusive growth in Pakistan requires continuing protection of the vulnerable through BISP and accelerating structural reforms, most notably around improving the business environment and leveling the playing field for investors, advancing the SOE reform agenda and safeguards related to the Sovereign Wealth Fund; strengthening governance and anti-corruption institutions; and building climate resilience.”

 

Iran serves notice on Pakistan for delay in gas pipeline project

Reportedly, Iran has served a third notice to Islamabad, renewing its intention to move the arbitration court for not laying the pipeline as part of the Iran-Pakistan gas line project. The project has been facing delays since 2014.

It is believed that the Interstate Gas System (ISGS) has funds to lay down the 81-kilometer pipeline to partially become part of the project. Now it is time Pakistan should come out of US hegemony and complete this gas pipeline at the earliest.

Iran had asked Pakistan in its second notice to construct a portion of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in its territory by March 2024 or be ready to pay a penalty of US$18 billion.

Tehran had sent a notice to Islamabad in February 2019 to move an arbitration court for not laying down the pipeline in Pakistan’s territory in the stipulated period under the IP gas line project. It threatened to invoke the penalty clause of Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA). The GSPA was signed in 2009 for 25 years but the project could not take shape.

Pakistan has been arguing that it could not materialise the project in its territory because of the US sanctions imposed on Iran, a view which authorities in Tehran have never subscribed, saying the US sanctions are not justified. Iraq and Turkey have been using gas from Iran for long as they have managed waivers on the US sanctions.

It is on record that India got a waiver for importing petroleum products from. Pakistan has, meanwhile, tried to contact the US authorities many times to know whether the US curbs on Iran would have any impact on Pakistan if it becomes a part of the IP gas line but the country has not received any response from Washington.

The GSPA (Gas Sales Purchase Agreement) was signed under the French law and the Paris-based Arbitration Court is the forum to decide disputes that arise between the two countries. The French arbitration court does not recognize the US sanctions.

It is believed that the top authorities in Pakistan have carved out a strategy under which it has been decided to partially implement the IP gas line project by laying down an 81-kilometer pipeline from Gwadar to the Iranian border, a point where Iran has already laid down its part of the pipeline from the gas field. This will help Pakistan avoid the expected penalty of US$18 billion if Iran moves the Arbitration Court.”

As per the plan, the 81-kilometer pipeline will connect Gwadar with the IP gas line project and the gas will be used in Gwadar initially. If the US does not invoke any kind of sanctions, then the pipeline will be extended from Gwadar to Nawabshah. If Washington imposes sanctions, then Pakistan will have valid reasons to abandon the project and this is how it would escape the US$18 billion penalty and arbitration court proceedings. To this effect, top-level leadership of both the countries is in constant touch at the ministerial level on a strategy to implement the project and the prime minister will be briefed by the authorities very soon and a go-ahead for the strategy will be sought.

The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has also been sensitized over the latest notice from Iran and the strategy carved out by the authorities concerned.

According to top sources in SIFC, Pakistan has to show seriousness by March 2024 towards the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline by laying down the 80-kilometer pipeline from Gwadar to the Iranian border or it would face the US$18 billion penalty.

United States sends private message to Iran

US President Joe Biden said America has delivered a private message to Iran about the Houthis in Yemen after the US carried out a second strike on the group.

"We delivered it privately and we're confident we're well-prepared," he said without giving further details.

The US said its latest strike was a follow on action targeting radar.

Iran denies involvement in attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea. However, United States continues to allege that Iran is supplying weapons to Houthis.

It is believed that United States wants to disrupt smooth sailing of ships through Red Sea because about 15% of global seaborne trade passes through it. This includes 8% of global grain, 12% of seaborne oil and 8% of the world's liquefied natural gas.

Joint US-British airstrikes targeted nearly 30 Houthi positions in the early hours of Friday with the support of Western allies including Australia and Canada.

A day later, the US Central Command said it carried out its latest strike on a Houthi radar site in Yemen using Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.

A Houthi spokesman told Reuters the strikes had no significant impact on the group's ability to affect shipping.

Most Yemenis live in areas under Houthi control. As well as Sanaa and the north of Yemen, the Houthis control the Red Sea coastline.

The official Western government line is that the ongoing air strikes on Houthi targets are quite separate from the war in Gaza. These are a necessary and proportionate response to the unprovoked and unacceptable Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, they say.

In Yemen and the wider Arab world these attacks are viewed rather differently.

These assaults are seen as Britain and United States joining in the Gaza war on the side of Israel, since the Houthis have declared their actions to be in solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza. One theory even says that the West is doing Netanyahu's bidding.

It is still possible that these airstrikes will have a chilling effect on the Houthis. They will certainly degrade their capacity to attack ships in the short term. But the longer these airstrikes persist, the greater the risk that Britain and the US get sucked into another conflict in Yemen.

It has taken Saudi Arabia more than eight years to extricate itself from Yemen after a US proxy war and Houthis are now more entrenched than ever.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign of air strikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza have killed 23,843 Palestinians so far with thousands more believed dead under rubble. 

New Israeli mantra: Iran trying to distract world from its nuclear program

Speaking at The Jerusalem Post’s Israel Summit, leading US Evangelist Dr. Mike Evans said that the Hamas massacre on October 07, 2023 was a preemptive attack on the State of Israel by Iran, via Hamas, its proxy. Evans stated that Iran authorized the attack to divert attention from its dream of developing nuclear weapons.

“Iran is trying to exhaust Israel and distract Israel. They’re trying to exhaust the world and distract the world to keep their eyes off of Iran going atomic. Iran will be an atomic nuclear state by November of this year (2024), when the US presidential election takes place, and it wants a nuclear umbrella of Russian planes flying over Iranian airspace similar to what they do in Syria as a quid pro quo for its drones and missiles helping Russian’s war against Ukraine,” he said.

“If this happens, the Gulf States will begin a nuclear arms race and will be paving the way for Armageddon. Nineteen terrorists attacked America on September 11, 2001,” said Evans. “You can be certain that Iran has more than 190 Hezbollah sleeper cells waiting for the green light to come in through the Mexican border to America.”

Evans said that two years before the Abraham Accords, at the 2018 Jerusalem Post Summit, he had predicted that five to six Arab countries would be signing peace agreements with Israel.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has built a bridge among these Muslim countries,” he stated, “and that alliance is not going to end because of the Gaza crisis you are in now. But the Gaza war is only the welcome mat to a Persian Pandora’s box.”

Evans provided a comprehensive list of the numerous ways in which the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem is helping the State of Israel during the war.

The organization has hosted evacuated families from the South in its apartment complex, organized free events for evacuees and their families, provided vouchers valued at thousands of shekels to evacuated families, and held special events for them twice a week at the FOZ Heritage Center.

Friends of Zion help wounded soldiers and tend to their needs, provides food and entertainment to Holocaust survivors, and renovated and repurposed a bomb shelter for the activities of Holocaust survivors.

“We are fighting a media war,” says Evans, “and it’s a real war that we’ve got to win together.”

In that spirit, Evans and Friends of Zion reported the events of October 07 from the field and hosted journalists and influencers who expressed their support for Israel.

FOZ is fighting a social network war with over 700 posts, many with over 4 million viewers, to win the hearts and minds of 40% of the globe that gets its misinformation on social networks.

 

Muslim Parliamentary Union demands prosecution of Israel over Gaza atrocities

Israeli officials should face legal action for the crimes committed by the regime against the besieged Gaza Strip, demanded a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The gathering also issued a warning that the current state of affairs might lead to an unprecedented explosion in the region.  

The demand was made via the final communiqué of the 5th emergency meeting of the permanent Palestine committee of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday. 

The meeting was merged with the first meeting of the Palestine Committee of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

The communiqué declared Israel must be placed on trial for its war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against people in Gaza.

“We want the international community to fully take up its responsibility to condemn these measures and try to put an immediate end to the aggression,” it said.

In addition to praising South Africa for bringing an International Court of Justice complaint against Israel, the statement asked PUIC members to assist South Africa in prosecuting Israeli offenders.

According to the statement, the world must act to put an immediate halt to Israel’s onslaught, warning that Muslim nations cannot stay passive while Israel continues to massacre Palestinians, and that the situation risks producing an eruption of wrath and a regional confrontation.  

It also said that PUIC members support the Palestinian people’s struggle against Israel in all forms, as all occupied countries have the right to self-defense in the face of aggression.

The statement denounced Israel’s intention to forcefully relocate Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and demanded the return of all Palestinians to their country.

Additionally, the communiqué also denounced US backing for Israel’s offensive, noting that Washington has given the regime access to a variety of cutting-edge weaponry and munitions.

It further stated that the US sought to whitewash Israel’s misdeeds in the international arena by using its veto power to prevent the UN from acting against the apartheid regime.

The statement also urged member nations to provide financial and political assistance to Palestinians, as well as seek to provide additional supplies to the beleaguered strip and assist Palestinians in rebuilding their homes devastated by Israel’s war machine.

Representatives from 26 Islamic and Asian nations, including Bahrain, Turkey, Algeria, Oman, and China, attended the PUIC summit in Tehran. The PUIC was set up in Iran in 1999, with its headquarters in Tehran.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, stated at the meeting on Wednesday that the Israeli regime was built on aggression and genocide, and that it must continue to do such horrible crimes in order to survive.

“What is coming to pass in the Gaza Strip today is a cause of deep concern and shame for humanity. It is double injustice to a nation that has been deprived of all human rights and has been under aggression and occupation for more than seven decades,” Qalibaf said.

He continued by saying, “No awakened conscience can be dismissive of the heinous and widespread bloody crimes being committed by the Israeli Zionist regime’s war machine in Gaza and its horrendous effects on the peace and security of the region and the world.”

A representative from the Palestinian parliament underscored the imperative for Islamic nations to stand in support of Palestine, vehemently denouncing bilateral ties with the Zionist regime as a tacit approval of ongoing atrocities.

President of the Algerian Parliament Ebrahim Boughali also urged advocates for the freedom of Palestine and global leaders to take necessary actions for the trial of the Zionist regime in international courts.

“All tools should be used to prosecute Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people in international courts,” said Qassem Hashem, the representative from the Lebanese Parliament.

 

Saudi Arabia urges restraint after US and UK target Yemen

Saudi Arabia is closely monitoring with deep concern the ongoing military operations in the Red Sea region after the United States and Britain carried out massive air strikes in Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Friday.

"The Kingdom underscores the critical importance of maintaining security and stability in the Red Sea area, which is internationally recognized for its strategic significance in global navigation, directly impacting the interests of the entire world."

In light of the ongoing regional events, Saudi Arabia called for restraint and urged all parties involved to avoid any escalation, emphasizing the need for a peaceful resolution to maintain the area's stability and security.

United States and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, US officials said.

The military targets included air defense and coastal radar sites, drone and missile storages and launching pads.

US President Joe Biden stated that the air strikes were to demonstrate that the US and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s continuous attacks in the Red Sea. He clarified that the decision was made after diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberations.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said.

He said these attacks endangered US personnel and civilian mariners and jeopardized trade. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary," he added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak noted that the Royal Air Force conducted targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis. The Defense Ministry revealed that four fighter jets based in Cyprus participated in the strikes.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry has refuted rumors regarding the presence of foreign forces at King Fahd Air Base in Taif. Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, the ministry’s spokesperson, said these rumors were false, Al Arabiya reported early on Friday.

Ali al-Qahoum, a high-ranking Houthi official, vowed retaliation, stating, “The battle will be bigger... and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Americans and the British.”

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, reported strikes hitting various strategic locations, including the Al-Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa, the airport in the port city of Hodeida, a camp east of Saada, the airport in the city of Taiz, and an airport near Hajjah.