Iran to Conduct Massive Military Exercise

November 9, 2021

Iran's national fuel network & Israel's reconnaissance balloon

Iran's national fuel network & Israel's reconnaissance balloon -  VFI NEWS - Nov 5, 2021

Israel Needs to 'Be Ready' for War, IDF Officer Says as Large-Scale Drill Ends

Iran Increases its Stockpile of Highly Enriched Uranium

Taliban Making ‘Kill List’ of Gay Afghans

Go Through the Gates (Isaiah 62:10) by Barry & Batya Segal

Colombia to Open Jerusalem Trade Office in Nod to Israel's Sovereignty

Israeli Election Avoided as State Budget Passes into Law after 3.5 Years

Minimum Wage to Increase Gradually to NIS 6,000 By 2025

Max Fried Pitches Atlanta Braves to First World Series Win in 26 Years

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Iran is planning a large-scale military exercise in the Gulf of Oman, from north of the Indian Ocean and including parts of the Red Sea, Channel 12 News reported.

The exercise will begin on Sunday, November 7, and according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency, it may include the use of "new equipment."

Iranian sources said that they will not hesitate to increase their country's military abilities, including the power of its missiles. They also said that Iran's defensive abilities will never be negotiable.

Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Coordinating Deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said ahead of the exercise that the Iranian forces will "show the power of the Islamic Republic in far-off waters, and warn the enemies that any act of aggression will trigger a crushing response."

Earlier this week, the Iranian government published footage of what they said was a foiled attempt by the US to take over an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. US sources denied the report, Channel 12 noted.

On Saturday, November 6, Russia's RIA news outlet reported that the foreign ministers of both Russia and Iran support a return to the original nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 and abandoned by former US President Donald Trump. Under that agreement, Iran agreed to cease its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of the sanctions against it. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you protect Israel and Your children from Iran.”

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

As the IDF’s large-scale Home Front Command and National Emergency Authority (RAHEL) drill simulating a large-scale conflict with Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group comes to a close, officers warn that both citizens and soldiers need to be ready for any type of emergency to hit the home front.

“The home front needs to be ready, and so do we. Whenever something should happen we all need to be ready: the citizens and the army,” said Northern Command training officer Lt.-Col Yaniv Friedman.

Along with the Home Front Command and RAHEL, all security and various governmental bodies, as well as Israel Police and Magen David Adom, participated in the drill that ended on Wednesday night, November 3.

“The drill became more complicated as days went on, just like we expect war to become,” Friedman said. “We know that there are not only soldiers but also reservists who need to be drilled in order to protect the State of Israel.”

It is the Home Front Command which is responsible for alerting the public of any rockets that have been fired from Israel’s enemies, using sirens and push notifications from their app.

In May, over 4,000 rockets and other projectiles were fired into Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A soldier and twelve Israeli citizens were killed. Should a war break out with Hezbollah, tens of thousands of rockets are expected to be fired from Lebanon, with some 2,000 fired toward Israel every day. (JPost / VFI News)

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”  - Deuteronomy 20:1

Iran said on Thursday, November 4, it has significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, in an announcement that comes ahead of the resumption of talks on its return to the 2015 deal with world powers.

"We have more than 210 kilograms (463 pounds) of uranium enriched to 20 percent, and we've produced 25 kilos (55 pounds) at 60 percent, a level that no country apart from those with nuclear arms are able to produce," said Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, according to the IRNA news agency.

In August, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran has established a process to accelerate the production of highly enriched uranium at its Natanz enrichment plant.

The move brought Iran closer to the 90 percent purity level needed for use in a nuclear weapon.

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal it signed with world powers because US President Donald Trump and the GOP withdrew from the agreement in May of 2018. In April, the Islamic Republic announced it would begin enriching uranium to 60% purity, a move that would take the uranium much closer to the 90% suitable for a nuclear bomb.

Despite its scaling back of its compliance with the deal, the previous Iranian government, headed by former President Hassan Rouhani, had been holding indirect talks with the Biden administration on a return to the agreement.

However, the negotiations were adjourned on June 20, two days after Ebrahim Raisi won Iran's presidential election. On Wednesday, November 3, an Iranian diplomat said that the negotiations will restart on November 29 in Vienna. (INN / VFI News)

The Taliban is a radical Sunni Islamist organization that considers gay identity haram or an affront to its interpretation of Islam. Jihadists in nearly all terrorist organizations have engaged in brutal killings of people suspected of being gay or lesbian; some jihadists support forcing gay people into gender reassignment surgery, essentially imposing a transgender identity.

While extremely hostile to LGBT people, Afghanistan has been typically permissive of a traditional practice known as bacha bazi, in which tribesmen rape young boys. The practice was common enough under the previous Afghan government that Taliban jihadists used small children as bait to attract and then kill Afghan security officers. The Afghan government’s acceptance of bacha bazi did not stop the widespread persecution of LGBT individuals, particularly gay and lesbian people.

Leading Taliban jihadists have insisted for months that they aspire to run an “inclusive” government and respect the human rights of women, which they rampantly violated while in power before America’s 2001 invasion of the country. Spokesmen for the terrorist group have specified that they have no intention, however, of respecting the human rights of people they believe to be homosexual.

“We now know for sure the Taliban has a ‘kill list’ circulating, identifying LBTQI+ persons,” Kimahli Powell, who runs the Canadian NGO Rainbow Railroad, asserted. The director appeared to suggest that Rainbow Road was among the organizations whose attempts to help imperiled Afghans escape the Taliban were used to persecute LGBT people. The organization confirmed it had received 700 evacuation requests from Afghanistan this year, most of them, presumably, after the Afghan government fell.

“[Some] individuals who have reached out to us have told us about how they’ve received a mystery email from someone claiming to be connected with Rainbow Railroad asking for their information and passport,” Powell explained. “That’s how we know the information has been leaked.”

Taliban jihadists have attacked the homes of some of these individuals. In one instance, Powell detailed, a person seeking aid from Rainbow Road received a visit from individuals suspected to be Taliban jihadists who proceeded to beat the person and burn their passport, making their departure from Afghanistan “infinitely harder.”

The Advocate reported on a separate gruesome incident in Kabul in which the Taliban killed a 24-year-old gay man. The man’s boyfriend shared the story under a pseudonym.

“I go to my home and he went to his. He said they found him. Two cars came, with Taliban in them. They said, ‘Where is his home?’ and beat him so much,” the man said. “They took him away – nobody knows where – and then they kill him.”

“Afterwards they said they brought the body and cut his body into pieces to show the people that this is what we do with gay people,” he concluded. (Breitbart / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you protect all people from persecution and harm at the hands of the Taliban.”

Colombia plans to open a trade and innovation office in Jerusalem on Tuesday, November 9, that would be a satellite of its Tel Aviv embassy, a move that signals President Ivan Duque’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over its capital city.

Arriving in Israel on Sunday, November 7, for a three-day visit, Duque will be present for the celebratory opening. Among his first stops in Israel was Jerusalem’s Old City, including a visit to the Western Wall, where he donned a kippah to pray and placed a note between the crevices.

Duque, who arrived in Israel on Sunday for a three-day visit, will be present for the celebratory opening. Among his first stops in Israel was Jerusalem’s Old City, including a visit to the Western Wall.

Duque made clear last year his commitment to Jerusalem when he first announced plans to open the trade office, during an address to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The move is seen as a partial victory for Israel’s campaign to push the international community to recognize Jerusalem as its capital, particularly in the wake of the US relocation of its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. Only three countries have followed suit: Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo.

Most countries refuse to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, nor do they view it as part of sovereign Israeli territory. As a result, most embassies in Israel are located in Tel Aviv, including Colombia’s. Equatorial Guinea and Malawi have also pledged to open embassies in Jerusalem.

The Czech Republic and Hungary took a small step toward recognition by opening diplomatic offices, and Colombia now follows.

Israel’s ambassador to Colombia, Christian Cantor, told reporters last week that Bogotá was a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people, and that Colombia plays a positive role in helping ties between Israel and Latin America.

In a video interview with the American Jewish Committee last year, Duque spoke of his strong feelings for Israel: “Colombia is the No. 1 ally of Israel in Latin America,” he said. It was a phrase Duque repeated when he landed in Israel after visiting the United Arab Emirates.

Duque is scheduled to meet with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and will participate in several economic events, to increase bilateral ties. The six ministers will meet their Israeli counterparts. (JPost / VFI News)

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

The Knesset passed the 2021 state budget into law in a 61-59 vote at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning, November 4, giving Israel a new budget for the first time since March 15, 2018.

By the afternoon, it looked like the 2022 state budget would also be passed by the evening. But then Labor MK Emilie Moatti made a mistake in her vote on a budget clause on funding for school buildings, resulting in a 59-59 vote, and the Finance Committee had to be reconvened to correct the error.

The Likud celebrated the win. MK Miki Zohar said Bennett’s prediction that the coalition would win every vote was proven false.

When the vote on the first budget was announced, coalition MKs applauded and embraced each other in joy. The MKs went to sleep for a few hours and resumed voting on Thursday, passing the Economic Arrangements Law.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett praised the budget’s passage, writing on Twitter that he was proud that Israel finally had a budget.

The budget needed to pass into law by November 14 to prevent the Knesset from being automatically dispersed, which would have initiated elections in February.

According to the coalition agreement, now that a budget has been passed, if elections are initiated for the remainder of the term, the caretaker prime minister will be Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and not Bennett.

The Knesset then passed in a 61-57 vote the Economic Arrangements Law which includes key reforms, including raising the retirement age for women, a congestion tax in the Tel Aviv area and a controversial reform in kosher certification.

Bennett told reporters in the Knesset that the 2022 budget would pass and that after that, his government would serve all sectors of the population. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we thank You for allowing our leaders to agree on a plan for Israel and Your people.”

The Israeli government is set to gradually increase the monthly minimum wage to NIS 6,000 ($1,912), or about NIS 33 ($10.5) an hour by 2025, according to a joint announcement on Wednesday, November 3, by the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Israel, and major labor organizations such as the Histadrut (Israel’s national trade union) and the Manufacturers Association of Israel.

The minimum wage in Israel stands at a monthly NIS 5,300 ($1,500), or NIS 29 ($9.2) an hour. It will rise to NIS 5,400 by April 2022, and increase every year until 2025 when it will hit NIS 6,000 by December, according to the announcement.

The parties also announced steps designed to increase employer flexibility in allowing more public and private employees to work remotely in the long term where necessary, add an extra paid vacation day for public sector workers for an annual 13 days of time off, and stabilize labor processes in the public sector. 

These steps will “help reduce [wage] gaps and strengthen the status of low-wage workers, promote managerial flexibility in the private and public sectors, and provide stability in labor relations in the economy,” they said in a statement Wednesday.

At the same time, the unions agreed not to allow labor strikes for a year while several collective bargaining deals are being hammered out.

The country is often hit by labor strikes and disputes waged by workers in various sectors that can cost the economy millions. Last month, thousands of workers in state-supervised kindergarten and daycare centers held a strike over wages and working conditions, followed by medical interns who were protesting against 26-hour shifts. In August, aviation workers held a brief strike. And last year, a nearly three-week strike by social workers ended after the Finance Ministry agreed to gradually increase wages and work to improve their often dangerous working conditions. That dispute was preceded by a nurses’ strike over manpower shortages.

Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron said in the statement Wednesday that the new agreements were “important news for the economy at this time. This is especially true in times when the economy is going through — and fortunately is coming out of — a severe economic crisis [brought on by the pandemic]. The industrial stability that is expected to be created… both in the private sector and in the public sector, is essential in its support of the various economic processes in the economy.”

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said the steps “will lead the economy forward and create labor stability.” (TOI / VFI News)

“Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” - Proverbs 14:21

Jewish ace pitcher Max Fried delivered his Atlanta Braves to their first World Championship since 1995 with six shutout innings in Tuesday’s, November 2, Game 6 of a World Series heralded as the most Jewish in baseball history.

The 27-year-old lefty held the Houston Astros to four hits, overcoming a potentially serious injury to strike out six without surrendering a run or a walk.

The game contained what might have been the most Jewish play in any Major League Baseball matchup ever: In the bottom of the second inning, Astros star third baseman Alex Bregman stepped up to the plate and sliced Fried’s second pitch to right field, where Braves outfielder Joc Pederson easily caught it for out number two. 

To most fans, the sequence was a mundane flyout with no significance. But to Jewish fans, the play showcased three Jewish players performing on the sport’s biggest stage. (JPost / VFI News)

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.

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