Perbincangan Harian - 16 April 2024

Pemimpin Perang Israel Tidak Percaya Satu Sama Lain

Long-simmering grudges and arguments over how best to fight Hamas have soured relations between Israel’s wartime decision makers—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the former head of the Israeli military, Benny Gantz. The three men are at odds over the biggest decisions they need to make: how to launch a decisive military push, free Israel’s hostages and govern the postwar strip.

Now, they also must make one of the biggest decisions the country has ever faced: how to respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory. Their power struggl…  e could affect whether the Gaza conflict spirals into a bigger regional fight with Iran that transforms the Middle East’s geopolitical order and shapes Israel’s relations with the U.S. for decades

.“The lack of trust between these three people is so clear and so significant,” said Giora Eiland, a former Israeli general and national security adviser. Netanyahu, the nation’s longest-serving premier, increasingly is trying to direct the Gaza war by himself, while Gallant and Gantz are widely seen to be trying to cut out Netanyahu from decisions.

Gantz, the general who led Israel’s last major war against Hamas a decade ago, has previously expressed a desire to oust Netanyahu as prime minister. He called earlier this month for early elections in September after tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the prime minister’s handling of the war—a sign that Gantz’s base has grown frustrated with his role in a Netanyahu-led government.

Gallant is considered the most hawkish of the three. At the start of the war, he advocated a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, but he also is eager to align with the U.S.

Netanyahu has been keeping Gallant and Gantz in the dark about key decisions, according to current and former Israeli officials. In an effort to gain control over food and supplies going into Gaza, he has considered appointing an official on humanitarian aid who will report directly to his office and bypass the defense minister, said Israeli officials familiar with the matter.

“It’s very hard for the prime minister to make the army do what he wants if the minister of defense is not aligned with him,” said Amir Avivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum think tank. “This lack of alignment is making things for Netanyahu very, very hard.”

The three men have been rivals for years. Gantz has run against Netanyahu in five elections that political analysts have described as some of the country’s nastiest ever. Last year, Netanyahu tried to fire Gallant, who has told people close to him that the prime minister’s previous Gaza policies have been a failure.

As for relations between Gantz and Gallant, they barely spoke to one another for more than a decade before joining the war cabinet together.

Banjir teruk melanda Dubai beberapa minit selepas ribut hujan lebat

Dubai International Airport forced to divert flights after torrential downpour causes the runway to look like an ocean.

Citizens are being told to stay inside as thunder, lighting, hail and heavy rain slams the region.

Dubai saw more rainfall in one day than they see on average for an entire year, nearly 5 inches.

The country of Oman was also hit by the intense rain which reportedly killed 18 people.

Dubai is more generally known for its hot and dry desert weather, with the average temperature in April 33ºC.

However, flash flooding can be deadly, especially…   if people are in the vicinity of dry riverbeds known as ‘wadi’ in Arabic, which can quickly fill with water and wash away vehicles and bystanders.

Dubai’s flooding comes a day after heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in Oman on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, killing at least 17 people as rescuers searched for survivors.

In one incident, a group of school children and a driver died when their vehicle was overtaken, authorities said.

The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) stated that the current unsettled weather in the region is expected to last until tomorrow.

Rang Undang-Undang Pembiayaan Ukraine Termasuk $8 bilion untuk membayar gaji kakitangan kerajaan

Republican House leader Mike Johnson proposes $48 billion for Ukraine, including almost $8 billion to pay Ukrainian government salaries and pensions.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday said he planned this week to advance a long-stalled national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies, along with a separate bill aimed at mollifying conservatives who have been vehemently opposed to backing Kyiv.

Mr. Johnson’s announcement, coming after he has agonized for weeks over whether and how to advance an infusion of critical aid to Ukraine amid stiff Republi…  can resistance, was the first concrete indication that he had settled on a path forward. It came days after Iran launched a large aerial attack on Israel, amplifying calls for Congress to move quickly to approve the pending aid bill.

Emerging from a meeting in which he briefed G.O.P. lawmakers on his plan, Mr. Johnson said he would cobble together a legislative package that roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago but that is broken down into three pieces. Lawmakers would vote separately on a bill providing money for Israel, one allocating funding for Ukraine and a third with aid for Taiwan and other allies. They would cast a fourth vote on a separate measure containing other policies popular among Republicans.

AS berkata peningkatan dengan Iran bukan untuk kepentingan AS atau Israel

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a group of American Jewish leaders on Tuesday that further escalation with Iran is not in the interests of either the U.S. or Israel, three people who attended the meeting told Axios.

The Biden administration and several other Western countries allied with Israel are urging Benjamin Netanyahu's government not to rush into a retaliation against Iran that could lead to a regional war.

The U.S. assessment is that Iran would respond to any significant, overt Israeli strike on Iranian soil with a new round of missile and drone attacks, a senior…   U.S. official told Axios."We think it will be very hard to replicate the huge success we had on Saturday with defeating the attack if Iran launches hundreds of missiles and drones again — and the Israelis know it," another U.S. official said.

A person who attended the meeting said Blinken did not say that Israel should refrain from responding to Iran, stressing it was Israel's decision to make.

"But his message was: be smart, strategic and limited as possible," the attendee said."Strength and wisdom are two sides of the same coin," Blinken told the Jewish leaders.Blinken said that "we would never tell Israel what to do," and that the Biden administration was simply giving Israel the best advice it can, according to two people who attended the meeting.

Blinken told the group that the fact that Jordan and Saudi Arabia were part of the defensive effort to repel Iran's attack was very important and opens opportunities for the future, according to one attendee.

Blinken also claimed that Hamas may have rejected the most recent hostage deal because it thought the Iranian attack might lead to a regional conflict, two attendees said.He added that if Hamas sees there is no regional war, the militant group will once again be under pressure to cut a hostage deal.The State Department declined to comment.

AS berkata peningkatan dron perang dengan Iran bukan untuk kepentingan AS atau Israel

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a group of American Jewish leaders on Tuesday that further escalation with Iran is not in the interests of either the U.S. or Israel, three people who attended the meeting told Axios.

The Biden administration and several other Western countries allied with Israel are urging Benjamin Netanyahu's government not to rush into a retaliation against Iran that could lead to a regional war.

The U.S. assessment is that Iran would respond to any significant, overt Israeli strike on Iranian soil with a new round of missile and drone attacks, a senior…   U.S. official told Axios."We think it will be very hard to replicate the huge success we had on Saturday with defeating the attack if Iran launches hundreds of missiles and drones again — and the Israelis know it," another U.S. official said.

A person who attended the meeting said Blinken did not say that Israel should refrain from responding to Iran, stressing it was Israel's decision to make.

"But his message was: be smart, strategic and limited as possible," the attendee said."Strength and wisdom are two sides of the same coin," Blinken told the Jewish leaders.Blinken said that "we would never tell Israel what to do," and that the Biden administration was simply giving Israel the best advice it can, according to two people who attended the meeting.

Blinken told the group that the fact that Jordan and Saudi Arabia were part of the defensive effort to repel Iran's attack was very important and opens opportunities for the future, according to one attendee.

Blinken also claimed that Hamas may have rejected the most recent hostage deal because it thought the Iranian attack might lead to a regional conflict, two attendees said.He added that if Hamas sees there is no regional war, the militant group will once again be under pressure to cut a hostage deal.The State Department declined to comment.

Lebih 50 orang yang terselamat daripada pembunuhan beramai-ramai Israel telah membunuh diri

Following the Hamas-led massacre at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, about fifty survivors have committed suicide, revealed Guy Ben Shimon.

Ben Shimon, a survivor of the massacre, spoke on Tuesday at a Parliamentary hearing for a State Audit Commission on the treatment of the survivors of October 7.

"Few people know, but there have been almost 50 suicides among the Nova survivors. This number, which was true two months ago, may have increased since," Ben Shimon said, emphasizing that many of his friends who escaped the massacre could not recover from what they had experien…  ced.

"There are many survivors who had to be forcibly hospitalized due to their psychological state. My friends are not getting out of bed, neither am I," he described their condition since the October 7 attack.

"I am practically unable to do anything. I had to get a dog to help me survive in my daily life. The goal for all of us is to return to work and function normally, but we cannot do it without adequate help," Ben Shimon added.

The parliamentary hearing focused on alleged failures of the state bodies towards the survivors of October 7. There were complaints about the difficulties, notably bureaucratic, that the survivors faced in getting their post-traumatic stress disorder recognized, as well as in receiving the needed care.

"Why should I constantly prove what I experienced? Why am I forced to go back to the details of what I experienced for them to believe me?" Naama Eitan, another survivor of the music festival, asked during the hearing.

"I participated in a study that monitored my pulse and other parameters and revealed how bad my health is. I sleep on average two hours a night. Each morning at seven o'clock, I relive the moments when I was hidden in the bushes with terrorists passing by me. I can no longer move on my own, I need to be constantly accompanied," she described.

During the Hamas-led attack, 364 people were brutally murdered at the Nova Music Festival. According to recent studies, 600,000 Israelis were awaiting psychological support since October 7.

The Israeli Ministry of Health says that they do not have any information or statistics about the claim made of 50 survivors who have committed suicide.

China mendedahkan rancangan untuk menamatkan perang Ukraine

World powers should focus on restoring peace and stability in Ukraine rather than seeking “selfish gains,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.

The chancellor arrived in China on Sunday, accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and business executives.

Meeting with Scholz at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Xi told the German leader that all parties should work together to restore peace in Ukraine as soon as possible. The Chinese leader also outlined four principles that he believes will prevent the…   conflict from escalating.

First, we should prioritize the upholding of peace and stability and refrain from seeking selfish gains,” Xi said, as quoted by the Xinhua news agency.

The next step, according to Xi, would be to stop “adding fuel to the fire,” which would enable conditions for the restoration of peace.

The Chinese leader also called for a reduction of the impact of the conflict on the global economy, and for parties to “refrain from undermining the stability of global industrial and supply chains.”

Scholz, whose three-day trip to China is the second since he took office in 2021, told Xi that he is willing to discuss “how we can contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine.” The ongoing crisis has affected Germany’s “core interests” and has disrupted energy supplies and global trade, the chancellor added.

According to Scholz, the hostilities have also had a negative impact on European security and risk damaging the “entire international order.”

China, which has insisted it is neutral in the Ukraine conflict, has been widely criticized by the West for refusing to condemn Moscow’s military operation.

The strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing has strengthened since the Ukraine crisis broke out, as the two countries have ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic ties.

Beijing has long urged peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, and issued a 12-point peace plan to end the hostilities on the first anniversary of the conflict in February 2023.

The initiative, hailed by Moscow, includes a call for a cessation of hostilities, the resumption of peace talks, abandoning a “Cold War mentality,” and respecting the sovereignty of all nations.

In contrast to Beijing’s proposal to end the fighting, Kiev’s ten-point peace formula first presented by President Vladimir Zelensky in the autumn of 2022 demands the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces from all territories within Ukraine’s 1991 borders.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described Zelensky’s peace formula as an “absolutely hollow” ultimatum that is “divorced from reality.”

AS gagal membida Iran untuk membenarkan ’serangan simbolik’ oleh Israel

An Iranian military security official has revealed exclusively to The Cradle that the US contacted the Islamic Republic, asking the nation to allow Israel "a symbolic strike to save face” following Iran's retaliatory drone and missile barrage this weekend.

“Iran has received messages from mediators to let the regime do a symbolic strike to save face and asked Iran not to retaliate,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed to The Cradle.

He added that Tehran “outright rejected” the proposal, delivered by mediators, and reiterated warnings that any Israeli attack…   on Iranian soil would be met with a decisive and immediate response.

The reply was delivered directly to the Swiss envoy in Tehran by officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and not the foreign ministry. According to The Cradle's source, the decision for the IRGC to reply directly was meant “to send a strong warning to the US.”

“Iran successfully embarrassed all of the integrated radar network and anti-missile systems of the US and the [Israeli] regime. The US even activated its parked satellites over the region to do maximum protection and failed miserably,” the Iranian military official added.

The revelations come as US defense officials have told western media that they expect a “limited response” from Israel against Iran, which will reportedly focus on targets outside of Iranian territory.

Nevertheless, US officials stressed that Tel Aviv had not briefed the Pentagon on a “final decision” as discussions within Israel's fractured war cabinet continued.

“The US does not intend to take part in the military response,” they confirmed. However, they expect Israel to inform Washington about response plans in advance.

Israel has publicly vowed to respond to the Iranian operation this weekend, which saw the launch of hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles by the Islamic Republic in retaliation to the Israeli bombing of Iran's consulate in Damascus.

“This launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles and drones into Israeli territory will be met with a response,” Israeli army chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said on Sunday, speaking from the Nevatim air force base in southern Israel, which was one of three military targets successfully hit by the Iranian barrage.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday night that Tehran's response to any Israeli retaliation would come in “a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond.”

Polis Menutup Persidangan Konservatif Untuk "Menjamin Keselamatan"

Police in Brussels have stormed a right-wing conference attended by Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman after orders for the event to be shut down.

Local authorities ordered the controversial National Conservatism (NatCon) Conference to be closed to “guarantee public safety”.

Ms Braverman, the former home secretary, and Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, were among the political names advertised to speak at the event on Tuesday alongside right-wing Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban.

Officers arrived after the event began at the Claridge venue in central Brussels to tell organi…  sers the event would be shut down. According to a report on social media, police arrived while Mr Farage was addressing the event, giving attendees 15 minutes to leave the venue. However, officers did not appear to force the event to shut down and speeches continued.

Police have now said they will not let anyone else into the venue and people can leave and not re-enter.

Emir Kir, mayor of the area where the conference was held, said: “I issued an order from the mayor to ban the ‘National Conservatism Conference’ event to guarantee public safety.

“In Etterbeek, Brussels City and Saint-Josse, the far-right is not welcome.”

Conference organisers said they were launching a legal challenge to Mr Kir’s order, adding: “There is no public disturbance and no grounds to shut down a gathering of politicians, intellectuals, journalists, students, civic leaders, and concerned citizens.

“The police entered the venue on our invitation, saw the proceedings and the press corps, and quickly withdrew. Is it possible they witnessed how peaceful the event is?”

“Would you believe that Brussels appears to have got even worse in the four years since I’ve been there.

“We’ve now had not one but two venues cancel us holding this conference. Apparently the socialist mayor of Brussels doesn’t think this meeting should take place. Antifa and other organisations threatening to protest.

“I mean talk about cancel culture, these are political parties that are going to come top of the poll in at least nine European countries when we get the results through on June 10 of this year. So on my way back to the ghastly Brussels, cancel culture alive and well.”

Rakyat Ukraine di bandar-bandar barisan hadapan berasa terkesan dengan pencerobohan Rusia

Under orders from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s forces are rushing to fortify their defence lines. They claim to be holding on but Russia is pounding them with devastating glide bombs, missiles and heavy artillery to try to punch its way through.

Just 30km north-west of Avdiivka, Myrnohrad is in their crosshairs. So are the nearby frontline cities of Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk and Slovyansk, all of which are coming under heavy and steady Russian attacks, leaving locals few options but to flee.

Of Myrnohrad’s pre-war population of 47,000, only about half rema…  in. The same is true of every other city and town in the region — more than 1mn people have fled since 2022, according to regional authorities.

That trend is sure to continue as Russian forces outgun and outnumber Ukrainian soldiers who are struggling to hold the line.

“Unfortunately, the enemy greatly outnumbers us,” said Yuriy Fedorenko, commander of the “Achilles” drone battalion. While he was speaking, live drone footage showed Russian forces on the move. “For every one of our artillery fires, the enemy fires five, six, sometimes seven shells,” he added.

Russia’s presence was felt in the city, which counted 80,000 residents before 2022. Dozens of buildings and most recently the city’s train station have been destroyed by missiles.

It is the second time that Kostyantynivka has been in the direct path of Russian troops, having been occupied for almost three months in 2014.

A local petrol station advised customers and employees to spend as little time as possible on its site “in connection with the increased level of danger . . . associated with rocket and artillery fire”.

In other cities close to the front, especially those serving as logistical hubs, residents have come under heavy bombardments since the start of the year. Many spend nights underground, in basements or bomb shelters.

Besides the constant shelling, people suffer severe shortages of food and medicines. Visiting a doctor is difficult, as clinics and hospitals are packed with wounded soldiers. Nearly every resident interviewed by the FT mentioned the heavy psychological toll the war had taken on their communities.