Israel: 84% Enrichment Means it’s Now or Never to Stop Iran

Fri., February 24 — Global Alertness Required | VFI News

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Israeli Nuclear Expert: Iran Can Create Nuclear Bomb with 84% Uranium

Iran’s New Underground Air Base Seen Preparing to Host Advanced Russian Fighter Jets

Iranian Foundation Offers Land to Salman Rushdie's Attacker - State Media

Israel Prepares for Terror Attacks, Gaza Rocket Fire after Nablus Raid

US Backs UN Security Council Condemnation of Settlements

Palestinian Waste Fires Are 'Killing Us Slowly,' Warn Israelis in West Bank

Israel's Economy Expanded by 6.5% in 2022

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The world must understand that these are the last moments by which to stop Tehran from producing nuclear weapons, now that the International Atomic Energy Agency detected Iranian uranium enrichment at 84%. 

“It is now or never” to stop Iran, Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Monday, February 20, in a public interview conducted for the Conference of Presidents of Major  American Jewish Organizations. 

He spoke just one day after reports in American and British media revealed that Iran was close to weapons-grade uranium enrichment at 90%. The development “is worrying,” he said. Iran had previously been understood to be enriching uranium at 60%. 

“We are trying to convince everyone that in order to prevent a confrontation with Iran, you need to have a credible military threat” either by Israel, the US or the global community, he said. 

News that Iran was on the edge of weapons-grade enrichment did not surprise Israel, said Hanegbi who underscored that the Jewish state had long attempted to alert the global community to the growing danger from Tehran. 

Initially, there were those who believed Iran’s uranium enrichment could be for civilian use, Hanegbi said, but the fact that Tehran has enriched uranium at 84%, which is only used for weapons production, leaves no doubt as to its motives. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we ask that You help the global community realize the significance of Iran’s nuclear activity, and that we all work in unison to prevent a nuclear war from occurring.”

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.

Israeli nuclear physicist Dr. Naama Charit Yaari told Israeli media in an interview on Monday, February 20, that the bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima, Japan that ended World War II had uranium with 80% purity, and if the Americans had had time to reach 93% or 94%, the damage would have doubled. 

“If the report by the IAEC about finding in Iran uranium enriched to the level of 84% is indeed accurate, then in theory, the Ayatollah regime already has nuclear fuel suitable for making a bomb. It will be less effective than a quality bomb, but certainly possible,” said Charit Yaari.

Dr. Charit Yaari is Israel’s representative in the UN Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that works to prevent experiments on nuclear weapons and not where they work on uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) revealed this week that Iran has enriched uranium to the highest level ever – to 84%, which is close to the weapons’ grade of 90% – but the Iranian government quickly denied it for an unknown reason. 

“So far, we have not made any attempt to enrich above 60%,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said on Monday, according to the Iranian state media. “The presence of particles above 60% enrichment does not mean production with an enrichment above 60%,” Kamalvandi added. 

Not surprisingly, the Iranian regime has not produced the necessary documents to announce its plans to raise uranium-enrichment levels at two of its nuclear facilities in Fordow and Natanz. (JPost / VFI News)

“Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.” - Psalm 21:11

An analysis of images from a newly revealed underground air force base in Iran named “Eagle 44” reveals that the site is likely being prepared to host advanced Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, American media reported Saturday, February 18. 

The first clue that Eagle 44 was being prepared as a base for the Su-35s was seen in the promotional video and photos released by Iran. In them, a poster is seen with the silhouettes of fighter jets. All the silhouettes are of aircraft currently in the Iranian air force, except for one, which is of the Sukhoi.

In addition, satellite imagery of the site shows that the Iranians have built a full-scale mock-up of the Su-35, which was likely being used to ensure the base could accommodate the larger dimensions of the Russian jet.

Iran said last year it was looking to buy the jets as it dramatically stepped up defense coordination with Moscow in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. 

Iran has become a major weapons supplier to Russia, particularly of its killer drones. It is believed Russia is willing to supply Tehran with 24 of the fighters after a deal to supply the same number to Egypt fell through.  (TOI / VFI News)

“Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.” - Psalm 55:11

An Iranian foundation has praised the man who attacked novelist Salman Rushdie last year, leaving him severely injured, and said it will reward him with 1,000 square meters of agricultural land, state media reported on Tuesday, February 21, through its Telegram channel. 

Rushdie, 75, lost an eye and the use of one hand following the assault by Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old Shi'ite Muslim American from New Jersey, on the stage of a literary event held near Lake Erie in western New York in August. 

"We sincerely thank the brave action of the young American who made Muslims happy by blinding one of Rushdie's eyes and disabling one of his hands," said Mohammad Esmail Zarei, secretary of the Foundation to Implement Imam Khomeini's Fatwas. 

"Rushdie is now no more than living dead and to honor this brave action, about 1,000 square meters of agricultural land will be donated to the person or any of his legal representatives," Zarei added. 

The attack came 33 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, called on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie a few months after The Satanic Verses was published. Some Muslims saw passages in the novel about the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we hope that violent acts will not be encouraged or even rewarded by any and all nations onwards, and that malevolent people will be prevented from acting on their destructive impulses.”

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The defense establishment is preparing for possible revenge attacks and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip after 10 Palestinians were killed and over 100 others were injured in armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Nablus on Wednesday, February 15. 

Leaders in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Lion's Den movements were among those killed. A senior Israeli security source noted that tensions have been high since last year and that there is a possibility that the raid could be the spark that ignites an escalation. 

Over 100 security personnel were involved in the operation in Nablus, according to a senior security source. During the operation, Palestinians on motorcycles and in cars fired at Israeli forces throughout the city. The source stressed that the Palestinians killed in the clashes were armed and firing at Israeli forces and that the circumstances of the reported deaths of two elderly Palestinians were still being clarified.

Two firearms and ammunition were seized during the raid as well. No Israeli personnel were injured in the clashes.

The defense establishment is preparing for possible ripple effects from the operation such as revenge terrorist attacks in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the interior or rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. 

After the operation, Israel Police raised the level of alert throughout the country and reinforced forces near the Seam Line, in Jerusalem and in central areas, in light of the concerns of possible revenge attacks.  (JPost / VFI News)

The UN Security Council on Monday, February 20, published a statement expressing its "dismay" over Jewish settlement activity in Judea and Samaria during a briefing on the situation in the Middle East. 

The statement, which received the support of all 15 members of the Security Council, including the US, reads: “The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.” 

The statement is non-binding, unlike a resolution which was proposed last week, which would have demanded that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory." That resolution was shelved at the behest of the Biden Administration. 

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in explaining the Biden Administration's support for the non-binding statement in an address which condemned both the recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem in which 11 Israelis have been murdered and Jewish "settlement" activity, appearing to draw a moral equivalence between the murder of civilians and the building of homes by Jewish people in the disputed region of Judea and Samaria. 

The ambassador called on "all parties to take steps to restore and maintain calm." She did not mention the fact that the Israeli government has agreed not to legalize any additional outposts in Judea and Samaria in the coming months as part of an agreement with the Biden Administration not to engage in any further unilateral actions. 

Nor did she specify that the nine that were authorized, such as Beit Hogla, have been awaiting legalization for years. (INN / VFI News)

“The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.” - Proverbs 10:30

Israelis living in the West Bank warned that illegal waste fires are "killing us slowly," during an emergency discussion concerning illegal waste fires at the Knesset's Interior Affairs Committee on Monday, February 20. 

"I didn't imagine that I would have to fight to get clean air, our house is closed all the time. My children have an aggravation of hives and tingling in the throat, and the neighbors' children have asthma. I don't want to get into a situation of severe and serious illnesses. This is an anxiety that accompanies me every day," said Reut Schechter, a mother of five whose family was one of the first to move into the settlement of Kedem Arava. 

"We have been suffering from these fires since our first day, and recently it has increased to the extent that there are fires all day long. The fires can be for days in a row, several days in a row. We report and the feeling is that there is no response. The suffering is daily - you cannot play outside, do sports or go on a walk."

"We literally leave the children at home and the distress is very, very great. I am a victim of terrorism, my father was killed in a shooting attack when I was a child, but the feeling is the same - a feeling that we are simply being killed, amid great suffering and no one cares." 

Trash burning in the West Bank Trash burning is common in Palestinian towns and cities throughout the West Bank and in many areas across Israel. 

The chairman of the committee, MK Yakov Asher, noted that plastics and metals are burned in the fires as well and called for heavier enforcement at the crossings through which waste passes and to formulate relevant legislation on the matter. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we ask that all Israeli citizens live in a healthy and safe environment, without being in constant fear for their well-being. We trust that steps will be taken and living conditions will be improved throughout the country.”

The Israel Bureau of Statistics published its annual report on Israel's economy. The country's GDP rose by 6.5%, after last year's even more impressive rise of 8.6% followed a 1.9% decrease caused by the COVID-19 crisis. 

GDP per capita rose by 4.4% compared to 2021, while the population in Israel increased by 2% in the same time frame, according to the report. The GDP per capita in 2022 amounted to NIS 3,184, at current prices. 

For comparison, the OECD forecast predicted the average increase of GDP per capita at only 2.6% for its member countries. 

The increase in the export of goods and services was measured at 7.9%, while the import of goods and services saw an increase of 11.2%. 

The product of the public and community services industry, estimated based on salary payments in the government, local authorities and non-profit institutions (most of which are financed by the government) increased in 2022 by 2.7% after an increase of 5.1% last year. 

The business product at basic prices (equal to the domestic product, at market prices, minus the taxes paid on products plus subsidies on the products received by the manufacturers) increased in 2022 by 7.3%. (JPost  / VFI News)

“Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.” - Psalm 112:3

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