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US call delayed Israeli ‘response’ to Iran attack – media
“Diplomatic sensitivities” prevailed over the original plan, a government source has said
Israel planned to retaliate against Iran immediately following Tehran’s drone and missile attack on Saturday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to hold off after speaking with US President Joe Biden, Israeli media have reported.
According to the public broadcaster Kan, the war cabinet in West Jerusalem had already approved a range of responses – depending on the scope of the Iranian attack – that would have taken place as early as Sunday.
“The response won’t be what was planned any longer, diplomatic sensitivities won out,” the outlet quoted a senior source within the government. “There will be a response, but it seems it will be different from what was planned.”
There is still an understanding that Israel will respond, Kan quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as saying, but the delay suggests that it will be weaker than originally envisioned.
Iran launched a barrage of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles against Israel on Saturday. According to Tehran, the strike was lawful retaliation for the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria earlier this month, which killed seven high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Tehran’s actions “will be met with a response.” However, the Israeli outlet Mako reported on Monday evening that West Jerusalem was still working on a plan that would be acceptable to the US, “comply” with the rules set by Washington, and calibrated in such a way as to “not degenerate the region into a war.”
Most of the Israeli leadership supports an attack on Iran, according to the outlet Ynet, but some notable politicians – such as Shas party leader Aryeh Deri – have spoken against an escalation.
Iran has been preparing for a possible Israeli attack, most likely against Tehran-linked assets in Syria, while warning West Jerusalem against such a course of action.
“The smallest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response against all its perpetrators,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said.
https://www.rt.com/news/596150-israel-response-iran-us-call/
US promises not to kill Assange – reports
Washington has reportedly signed assurances that the death penalty will not be sought for or imposed on the WikiLeaks founder
Washington has allegedly agreed to a set of conditions regarding the potential trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he is extradited to the US to face espionage charges, several media outlets reported on Tuesday.
The signed guarantees, which have been shared on X by New York Times correspondent Megan Specia, apparently assure that the 52-year-old Australian national would be able to rely on the US Constitution’s first amendment, which protects free speech, would not be prejudiced at trial because of his nationality, and would not face the death penalty if convicted.
It’s noted, however, that while these assurances are “binding,” the decision on the “applicability of the First Amendment” would be “exclusively within the purview of the US courts.”
Washington’s promises come after the British High Court in London ruled last month that if the US failed to provide these guarantees, then Assange would be able to appeal against his extradition to the US to stand trial for publishing classified military documents.
US has filed assurances in Assange extradition case, which were requested by a British court before it makes a final decision on his ability to appeal. Next step is a hearing on May 20. More on what those assurances are all about in our earlier story here:
https://t.co/420CMZP0Wp
Assange has been held in London’s top-security Belmarsh Prison for the past five years. He was initially arrested by British police in 2010 for sexual-offense allegations that he denied. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and was granted asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He was arrested again in 2019 when Ecuador revoked his asylum, and has remained in Belmarsh ever since.
The US, meanwhile, continues to demand that he be extradited to American soil to stand trial on 17 counts of espionage, over the publication of classified Pentagon military documents in 2010 that detailed alleged US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited and convicted.
His legal team as well as his supporters have claimed that the case against him is political in nature and is being waged by the West as revenge for exposing its alleged war crimes.
His attorneys have also been insistent against the sought extradition of Assange to the US, arguing that it would put his life and well-being at risk, and have previously dismissed any assurances given by Washington as meaningless, claiming it would be impossible to rely on them if their client is actually extradited.
https://www.rt.com/news/596148-us-assange-death-penalty/
Kiev demands Israel-style security guarantees
The US must defend Ukraine like it did Israel last weekend, a spokesman for President Vladimir Zelensky has said
Kiev wants security guarantees from its Western backers similar to the level of protection that the US provides Israel, President Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, said on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian government is negotiating a series of treaties intended to seal the country’s pro-Western alignment until it is granted full NATO membership. Officials in Kiev say the deals will secure long-term military assistance from the US and its allies, regardless of political changes that might otherwise prompt donors to cut the aid.
“An agreement between the US and Ukraine must work no worse than the American memorandum with Israel, the effectiveness of which was confirmed by joint actions of the allies during the deflection of the mass attack on Israel by Iran,” Yermak wrote on social media.
Tehran launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel last weekend in retaliation for the April 1 airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, which it blamed on the Jewish state.
The long-anticipated move resulted in only “minor damage,” according to Israel, as the US, UK and France used their military assets to help stop most of the Iranian projectiles
The interceptions cost Israel $550 million, according to local defense experts.
Western officials have made it clear that Kiev should not expect the kind of intervention that Israel enjoyed last week.
“Putting NATO forces directly in conflict with Russian forces – I think that would be a dangerous escalation,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Monday. Instead of “Western planes over [its] skies trying to shoot things down,” Ukraine requires air defense systems, he explained.
Kiev has been urging the US for months to move forward with the appropriation of over $60 billion in aid, which is being blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson. The discussions that Yermak participated in covered “the action plan right after the US Congress takes a decision on military aid for Ukraine,” he said.
READ MORE: US won’t fight for Ukraine – White House
Some US media have speculated that Johnson may yield to pro-Kiev pressure and submit the Senate-approved bill to a vote following the Iranian attack. The bill includes funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
https://www.rt.com/russia/596090-yermak-us-security-israel/
still keep thinking about the article posted way back that said they made him take the covid vax
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/11/16/assanges-father-says-his-son-has-been-vaccinated/
Assange’s Father Says His Son Has Been Vaccinated
not the article but an article
Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, has told a French interviewer that his son has been given a Covid-19 vaccine in Belmarsh Prison.
“He has been vaccinated, of course,” Shipton told the show Thinkerview, live-streamed on Monday. “So he has no choice in this. No choice about anything. He has no control over his body.”
Shipton said every medicine Assange accepted in prison would go on his record and wind up in court. Likewise any medicine he refused would also be reported.
>This coverup exists to conceal the humiliating failures of the Biden Administration in Niger
sounds very Benghaziesque
if they are allowed to die, then the coverup is nearly complete