https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/eu-chief-italian-pm-head-to-israel-for-energy-talks

EU chief, Italian PM head to “Israel” for energy talks

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi were scheduled to visit the Israeli occupation on Monday as the EU seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuel imports.

Both leaders were scheduled to hold energy talks in “Israel”, which has transitioned from a natural gas importer to an exporter in recent years due to large offshore discoveries.

Von der Leyen was to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, with talks projected to focus "in particular on energy cooperation," a commission statement read.

Mario Draghi, who is on his first Middle East trip since taking office last year, will also discuss energy and food security during his two-day trip, according to Italian media.

Both leaders will meet Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

The EU formally adopted a ban on most Russian oil imports this month, the EU's toughest sanctions yet against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that Von der Leyen has proposed that the EU phase out its reliance on Russian hydrocarbons, including gas, by 2027.

Draghi and other EU leaders have warned that as energy prices rise, European customers may require protection.

Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar and other officials have stated that if “Israel” can deliver gas from occupied Palestinian offshore reserves, which are estimated to be worth nearly 1,000 billion cubic meters, it could help meet EU demand.

Before Von der Leyen's visit, European Commission spokesperson Dana Spinant told reporters to "stay tuned for announcements on energy cooperation with Israel and other partners in the region."

Options for supplying stolen Palestinian gas to Europe

For the time being, supplying gas to Europe would be difficult and would necessitate significant and long-term infrastructure investments.

With no pipeline connecting its occupied Palestinian offshore fields to Europe, one option for the Israeli occupation is to pipe natural gas to Egypt, where it could be liquefied and shipped to Europe.

Another possibility is the construction of a pipeline to Turkey.

The EastMed project, a proposal for a seafloor pipeline connecting “Israel” with Cyprus and Greece, is option three.

Experts have raised concerns about the project's cost and viability, while “Israel” has stated that it would like to see Italy sign-on.

Eying to steal Lebanese gas

"Israel" looks to expand its resources, not only at the expense of Palestinians and Palestinian territory but also at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty.

A new Israeli platform in the Karish field, a contested maritime zone, has been lately placed to steal Lebanon’s gas at a distance of 80km away from Haifa, by the British-Greek exploration company Energean.

Furthermore, media sources reported that agreements signed between "Israel" and Energean stipulate that the security measures of the platform fall within the company's responsibilities, while the maritime security of the Karish field falls on the shoulders of the IOF.

Additionally, the Israeli occupation navy is securing the area by means of naval vessels situated both above and below the surface of the sea, including submarines. The IOF also pointed out that they are "working to transfer the Iron Dome system in its naval version to the region."

Lebanon condemned the installation of the new platform for the Energean in the heart of the disputed area, Karish field, between Lebanon and occupied Palestine.

Amos Hochstein, the US envoy mediating the maritime border talks, was scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Monday.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/aoun:-we-refuse-israeli-threats

Aoun: We refuse Israeli threats

A Lebanese official source said Beirut will for the first time present a written proposal to the US delegation regarding the border demarcation with "Israel", which has the approval of Lebanon's President, Prime Minister, and Speaker.

The source told Sputnik that the main point in Lebanon's written response is that it is based on the country's right to fully invest in the Qana field, and its refusal to relinquish any of it.

The fact that Lebanon holds a united position vis-a-vis the demarcation for the first time is in itself most of the victory, because differences on the matter have threatened to waste Lebanon's chances.

Lebanese President: We refuse "Israel's" threats

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun asserted that Beirut refuses "Israel's" threats, and holds firm to the return to indirect negotiations with the occupation.

Aoun tweeted on Monday that Lebanon refuses the threats of the Israeli enemy, who is behaving in violation of international law.

He further added that there is no relation between the talks on border demarcation with "Israel", the import of gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan, or negotiations with the IMF.

On Saturday, Aoun and Lebanese PM Najib Mikati discussed the issue of the demarcation of the maritime borders with the Israeli occupation to move negotiations forward.

A vessel operated by the London-based Energean arrived to develop a gas field known as Karish, which Lebanon says lies within a contested area.

The contested area is at the epicenter of the issue, and it drove Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to urge the Israeli occupation to take its equipment out of the Mediterranean Sea "swiftly and immediately", warning against the repercussions that would stem from any violations of Lebanon's territorial integrity.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/biden:-israeli-security-part-of-reason-for-ksa-trip

Biden: Israeli security part of reason for KSA trip

US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that his expected visit to Saudi Arabia will also address "Israel's" security issues.

According to The Times of Israel, the US President's trip to the occupied territories has been set for July 14 and 15.

Biden dismissed claims that his visit to Saudi Arabia will have to do with the kingdom's oil exports, rather, the US president said it is part of a larger meeting that will take place in Saudi Arabia: "That’s the reason I’m going. And it has to do with national security for them — for Israelis," Biden told reporters.

“I have a program — anyway. It has to do with much larger issues than having to do with the energy piece,” he added.

The dates for Biden's tour in West Asia have yet to be finalized, but a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said this trip "comes in the context of a significant agenda with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the other countries of the Middle East."

White House Spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre's responded to a question earlier this month, on June 1, about previous statements made by Joe Biden against Saudi Arabia, which he described as a "pariah", saying the remarks still stand.

Biden has delayed his visit to West Asia a number of times so far, with Politico claiming that Biden "angrily rejected" the possibility of meeting with Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, before giving in later on.

One Israeli official, quoted by The Times of Israel, said the delay was due to the White House debating certain aspects of the stopover in Saudi Arabia, which is politically sensitive.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/miscellaneous/over-15000-sheep-drown-as-ship-sinks-in-sudanese-port

Over 15,000 sheep drown as ship sinks in Sudanese port

Thousands of sheep drown with sunken Badr 1, an export ship, in the Red Sea port of Suakin, on Sunday. The vessel was exporting livestock from Sudan to Saudi Arabia. According to a Sudanese port official, the ship “was carrying 15,800 sheep.”

Another official said all crew members were rescued, however, this incident will have several economic and environmental consequences. In his statement, he outlined that the sunken ship will “likely have an environmental impact due to the death of the large number of animals carried by the ship”.

The livestock on the ship was valued at approximately $3.7M said Saleh Selim, the head of the association’s livestock division, as he called for an investigation into the accident. The port is already under investigation following a fire that blazed for several hours, and caused damage in the cargo area, earlier this month.

Furthermore, Omar Al-Khalifa, head of the national exporters’ association, said that the ship did not sink quickly. In fact, the ship took several hours to sink at the pier, meaning there was a window that suggested it “could have been rescued”. The animals were loaded on the vessel at the port of Suakin.

Al-Khalifa also added that approximately 700 sheep were rescued “but they were found very ill and we don’t expect them to live long”.

Suakin, Sudan's ancient port town, is no longer the country's primary trade hub; that honor now belongs to Port Sudan, 60 kilometers away along the Red Sea coast. Prior to the ousting of former President Omar Al-Bashir, there was an agreement, signed in 2017, with Turkey for the port’s rehabilitation. However, the political instability and the deposition of former Al-Bashir put that project on hold.

The coup that ousted the former president also marked the beginning of a financial crisis that still looms over Sudan.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/enough-evidence-found-to-indict-trump:-jan-6-panelists

Enough evidence found to indict Trump: Jan. 6 panelists

Members of the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot said Sunday they had found enough evidence to criminally indict former US President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 US elections.

The evidence, the panelists claim, is enough for the Department of Justice to consider an "unprecedented" criminal indictment against Trump for the events that unfolded on January 6, the day Congress sought to ratify Biden's win.

Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing set to take place on Monday and which focuses on Trump's efforts to spread his allegations of his opponent stealing the election, the committee said.

In light of the hearings for the Capitol riots, Representative Adam Schiff said he would like the department to investigate any criminal activity on Trump's part. Schiff, a Democrat who leads the House Intelligence Committee, said there were certain actions that outline the efforts to overturn the election results, which he does not see the Justice Department investigating.

The committee's public hearings kicked off last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how he was continuously pedaling his claims of election fraud, despite several advisers asking him to stray away from his bid to overturn the election results.

Additional evidence will come to light later this week, which Democrats say will show that the former Republican president and some of his advisers massively engaged in efforts to spread misinformation, pressured the DoJ to accept the false claims of election fraud, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the January 6 ratification vote.

Stepien is a longtime ally of Trump, and his allyship with the Republican saw him becoming a top adviser to the Trump-endorsed Wyoming House candidate Harriet Hageman.

Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich criticized the committee's decision to call Stepien to the witness stand as "politically motivated".

Other witnesses on the list include BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his post on January 4, 2021, Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News, Washington's elections attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, and former Philadelphia city commissioner Al Schmidt.

The House panel will also bring up to question the millions of dollars Trump's team brought in fundraising in the lead-up to the January 6 riot, sources have stressed.

"Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president's guilt or anyone else's," Schiff said. "But they need to be investigated if there’s credible evidence, which I think there is."

Maryland Democrat representative Jamie Raskin revealed that the committee had already laid out criminal statuses they believe Trump violated in legal pleadings.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland did not go into details on whether he would be willing to prosecute Trump, an action that would have major repercussions on the US political arena, especially in light of an election season in which the former president has been quite vocal about his intention to run for office again.

If the legal proceedings go according to the Jan 6 committee's plans, Donald Trump would become the first ever president or ex-president to be indicted in the history of the United States. The only one who came closer was former President Richard Nixon.

Rudy Giuliani, one of former US President Donald Trump's primary lawyers throughout his efforts to clutch onto his seat at the White House, is the latest piece of the Trump domino to fall in connection to his bids to overturn the 2020 election results. Moreover, former White House aide Peter Navarro was recently charged with contempt of Congress, and subsequently arrested for his refusal to cooperate with the probe into the January 6 riots.

Giuliani had spearheaded a pro-Trump lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania. The suit, had the bids been met with success, would have invalidated as many as 1.5 million mail-in ballots, but it was dismissed by courts.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel accused Giuliani of violating Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct "in that he brought a proceeding and asserted issues therein without a non-frivolous basis in law and fact for doing so" and "that he engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/west-pressuring-arab-league-nations-to-oppose-russia

West pressuring Arab League nations to oppose Russia

The Arab League's Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said in an interview with Egypt's Sada el-Balad TV channel that the West has been pressuring Arab League member countries to issue condemnations against Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

"They [Arab League countries] did not succumb to this dictate to which they were subjected, and some even refused to vote for condemning the actions of the Russian Federation," Ahmed Aboul Gheit said during the interview on Sunday.

He also highlighted that the West has been doing this as part of its attempt to "surround" Russia.

The Russian foreign ministry reported, on Tuesday, that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, in Riyadh, and both hailed the level of cooperation within OPEC+.

The remarks came amid reports in Western media that some members of OPEC+, an alliance of OPEC members and their allies, were considering excluding Russia from the group.

In a statement published on its website, the ministry added that "they noted the stabilizing effect that the tight cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia has on world markets for hydrocarbons in this strategically important sector.”

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/khatibzadeh:-iaea-resolution-planned-politically-motivated

Khatibzadeh: IAEA resolution planned, politically motivated

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said at the ministry's weekly press conference on Monday that the IAEA's adoption of a resolution that accuses Iran of not cooperating with it has disrupted the path of cooperation between Tehran and the agency.

Khatibzadeh pointed out a joint statement between Iran and the IAEA issued on March 6, and said that comparing this statement with the recent statements made by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, it's clear that Grossi has changed his opinion.

"Certainly, we could not leave this non-technical political action unanswered. Our actions were decisive and proportionate," he added.

This comes after the IAEA's Board of Governors adopted on June 8 a draft resolution submitted by the US, France, UK, and Germany, criticizing Iran for what they claim were incomplete answers given to the IAEA on uranium traces at "undeclared sites". These claims were quickly refuted by the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, who said that Iran has neither secret or unwritten nuclear activities nor unreported nuclear sites.

Grossi's visit to "Israel"

Khatibzadeh also referred to Grossi's trip to "Israel" ahead of the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, saying it was unfortunate that someone like the IAEA Director-General would allow "Israel" to misuse the agency's structure.

"I think the message of the trip is as clear as any other non-diplomatic move," he said, adding, "The director-general should be concerned about impartiality and independence. According to the statute of the agency, he had a definite duty and met the wrong people at the wrong time and place."

Furthermore, Khatibzadeh referred to an interview made by Grossi with a media outlet yesterday, wherein he made certain comments about Iran's economy. The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson asserted that Grossi should reconsider his statements and take care not to make declarations beyond his duties.

Instead of focusing on Iran, which has merely stopped surveillance cameras beyond the Safeguards Agreement, the diplomat said the IAEA should focus on parties that are not members of the NPT, hinting at "Israel".

In the near future, Iran is set to host the President and Parliament Speaker of Turkmenistan, and Russia's Foreign Minister, while the Pakistani FM will visit Tehran tomorrow.

Iran's Foreign Minister is scheduled to pay a visit to the African continent in the future.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/officials-say-israel-unequipped-for-major-emergency

'Israel' unequipped for next war: Officials

The Israeli occupation is not prepared to respond comprehensively when the next Seif Al-Quds takes place, Israeli Occupation Police Force Operations Division Deputy Chief Sigal Bar Zvi said Sunday.

Bar Zvi's warning came at a meeting for Israeli mayors and emergency and security officials, set to discuss "Tel Aviv's" readiness to respond to a major emergency, such as war or a devastating earthquake.

"We will not be able to respond to the full extent of such an event with the resources we have. Guardian of the Walls was a watershed moment, and we are not in a place that can give a real response," she added.

Opening the conference, the head of the Home Front Command of the Israeli occupation forces warned Israeli citizens to brace for the next war, pointing out that the occupation would suffer major losses.

Highlighting how domestically troubled the Israeli occupation is, Major General Uri Gordin noted that the "reality" for the Israeli occupation has shifted dramatically over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which "Tel Aviv" grossly mishandled, and mainly because of Seif Al-Quds.

Seif Al-Quds had a major impact on the Israeli occupation, damaging the Israeli infrastructure and busting many myths "Tel Aviv" had built around its air defenses.

"The bad news is that in the next war - the third Lebanon war or the first northern war, whatever we call it - tens of thousands of rockets will be launched toward Israeli homes," he explained.

"Thousands of rockets and missiles every day, at Israeli cities, over the entire length and width" of occupied Palestine.

He also acknowledged that the situation would be difficult for the Israeli "home front", stressing that it would be difficult to imagine what would happen in Lebanon.

Warnings from a position of disadvantage

IOF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi warned the people of Lebanon during the conference, stressing that "Tel Aviv" would strike with "immense power".

With bold claims of bombarding Lebanon, the Israeli official also said that the regional situation would become far more difficult as soon as tensions start flaring up, "before the first shot is fired."

Discussions and threats of war come in light of tensions between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation over the Israeli occupation planning to extract gas from the contested Karish gas field instead of waiting for negotiations to conclude with Beirut to determine whether the field falls under Lebanese sovereignty.

The Israeli provocations have prompted a response from Hezbollah, with the resistance movement's secretary-general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, stressing that they would prevent the Israeli occupation from exacting its plans to extract natural gas from the Mediterranean, including by force.

Israeli media had previously reported that the IOF was anticipating Hezbollah's possible response to the placement of the new Energean platform in the Karish field, a contested maritime zone, to extract gas. The new platform was installed on 5 June, at a distance of 80km away from Haifa, by the British-Greek exploration company Energen.

The Israeli occupation said it was prepared to defend the facility they claim to be theirs, deploying naval forces to the area, including a sea-borne version of the Iron Dome SAM battery, the Israeli government-funded Kan TV channel said. The IOF worked on securing the area by means of naval vessels situated both above and below the surface of the sea, including submarines. These preparations, according to the Israeli channel, come in light of the Lebanese warnings against any Israeli "aggressive action" in the disputed waters.