Amended agreements with African leaders allow state to circumvent High Court ruling that restricted state policy on holding, deporting illegal migrants • Unlike in original agreements, migrants can now be deported to Africa from Israel forcibly.

By Akiva Bigman, ISRAEL HAYOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signed a series of diplomatic agreements that will allow the state to circumvent a recent High Court of Justice ruling and allow for the continued deportation of illegal infiltrators, Israel Hayom has learned.

Netanyahu took advantage of his recent trip to New York, where he delivered an address to the U.N. General Assembly, to meet African leaders. During their meetings, Netanyahu amended Israel’s agreements with the leaders so as to allow illegal infiltrators to be deported from the country, forcibly if necessary. This would allow the state to continue its deportation procedures and constitutes an important tier in the government’s efforts to find a solution to the issue of migrants residing in the country illegally.
Read more…

Israel is concerned about Iran being emboldened by another victory in Iraq at the same time that a Hamas delegation is in Tehran.

BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

On Sunday, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi began a historic visit to Saudi Arabia, where he is meeting the king of Saudi Arabia and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

It came at the same time that Iraq is strengthening its control over disputed areas seized from the Kurdistan Regional Government over the last week. The intentional weakening of the Kurdistan region comes less than a month after it held an independence referendum and has wide implications for the region. This affects Israel as well because of Jerusalem’s opposition to Iranian hegemony.
Read more…

Culture Minister Miri Regev says President Rivlin crossed a red line in his attack on the government today.

By Hezki Baruch, INN

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev responded harshly Monday to the accusatory speech given by President Reuven Rivlin at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session.

Rivlin slammed the government for attempting to weaken the Supreme Court and attacking the media, the “gatekeepers of democracy.” He aimed thinly veiled criticism at the prime minister, with whom he does not get along.

“[We have] a president who scorns politicians, belittles the will of the people and harms the heart of democracy,” Regev said. “Rivlin attacked the state today in a way no president before him ever did.”
Read more…

DEBKA

Iran has transferred elements of its elite 65^th Brigade to Syria. On arrival on Saturday Oct. 21, they assumed command of the Syrian Malik Ashtar commando brigade.

Tehran announced Saturday, October 21, that elements of its Special Operations 65^th Brigade (which compares itself to US Green Berets), had been deployed to Syria to bolster the Assad regime’s depleted frontline forces. The transfer took place during Iranian Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri’s three-day visit to Damascus when a series of accords boosting their military cooperation accords were signed.

Read more…

Fresh round of talks in Astana and Russian-hosted opposition mini-conference next month are indicative that the Kremlin has a free hand in molding the shape of things to come

By Sam Moubayid, ASIA TIMES

By the end of this year, Syria will be free of Islamic State, apart from small pockets that will disappear with time. Russian President Vladimir Putin will have achieved what he set out to with his Syria intervention back in September 2015: to rid the country of armed jihadist groups, while empowering his allies in Damascus.

This month alone, major progress has been achieved, as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces overran al-Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic State, and government troops made steady progress on two other cities along the Euphrates River: Deir ez-Zour and al-Mayadeen. It is only a matter of time before they also retake the last standing ISIS stronghold of Albukamal, on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Read more…

By Rudaw

DOHA, Qatar – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says that the recent movement of Iraqi forces into areas in northern Iraq was aimed at bringing Iraqi control to areas it held before the ISIS war and that Washington has urged the Iraqis and Peshmerga to avoid confrontation, adding that many Kurdish rights and expectations have not been met by Baghdad and that Prime Minister Abadi has promised to commit to the constitution.

“So a lot of this movement that you’re watching and reporting on is really the Peshmerga forces repositioning to locations that they were prior to that fighting and Iraqi forces needing to relocate to locations prior to the fighting as well, and respect what have been the agreed-upon boundaries between the autonomous Kurdistan region and the rest of Iraq.” Tillerson said in Doha. Read more…

Senior administration official dismisses report on comprehensive peace plan and potential U.S. pressure on sides, saying it “would be more newsworthy if we weren’t working toward an enduring peace” • U.S. official: Egypt has strong desire to help peace efforts.

By Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

The White House on Sunday dismissed a Channel 2 News report that the U.S. was finalizing a comprehensive regional peace plan that would depart from previous administrations’ initiatives, saying the report did not properly reflect ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Hamas strongly denies report the Gulf nation is unhappy with terror group’s rapprochement with Egypt

By Dov Lieber, TOI

Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh (C-R) meets with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Khalid Fawzi at the latter’s office in Gaza City on October 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

The Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, Muhammad al-Amadi, arrived overnight Monday in the Palestinian enclave, where he is expected to clarify his country’s stance on the ongoing Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian media reported.

Amadi arrived in the Strip accompanied by four other members of the Qatari committee for the reconstruction of Gaza, the Hamas-linked Palinfo news site reported.

The Qatari envoy, the report said, is expected to attend a ceremony Monday for the launching of services from the Palestinian Wataniya Mobile company. He will reportedly be joined by Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO of the Qatari international telecommunications company the Ooredoo Group. Wataniya Mobile is a member of the Ooredoo Group.
Read more…

Report claims US peace plan focuses on ‘regional normalization’ between Israel and Arab world, makes no demands of either Israel, PA

By David Rosenberg, INN

The Trump administration is preparing to unveil its much-anticipated Middle East peace plan, one which is expected to include a radically different approach from other plans promoted by world leaders seeking to broker a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

According to a report by Channel 2 Sunday night which cited senior US officials, the new Middle East peace plan now being drawn up by the Trump administration will not focus solely on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but will look to lay the groundwork for “regional normalization” between the Jewish state and the Arab world at large – deemphasizing final status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Read more…

Two years after the Kurds fought against the Islamic State, America turned its back as they sought independence

By Bernard-Henri Lévy, TABLET

What has just transpired in Iraqi Kurdistan is heartbreaking.

Here is a people who, for decades, have been fighting every form of tyranny that the terrible 20th century spawned in that part of the world.

Here is a small but great people who, in the very midst of the complex Middle East, embody an exceptional strain of enlightened Islam that is open to universal values, welcoming to minorities, and inclined toward secularity and democracy.
Read more…

https://www.scribd.com/document/362240822/Kurdistan-Update-10-22-17

Prospects for a high-profile D.C.-meeting promoting unambiguous and aggressive American support for an independent Kurdistan continue to brighten, as potential supporters emerge; the issuance of a letter by four House members will prompt efforts on Monday-a.m. to link their offices with others who are like-minded. Again, EVERYONE receiving these “Blast” e-mails is cordially invited to pitch-in, for TIME-IS-TIGHT!
Read more…

If the U.S. allows the Kurds to be defeated, the entire region will take notice of U.S. abandonment of an ally in time of need.

By: Joseph Puder

Iranian supported Iraqi-Shi’ite militias along with the Iraqi army have converged on Kirkuk, bringing the oil-rich city under Baghdad’s control. A fresh new conflict in Iraq is ready to erupt, and it will test the U.S. administration’s commitment to its allies, especially the Kurds. The Kurds have been loyal and supportive American allies. The fresh conflict will confirm whether the Trump administration is merely high on bluster but short on action, or conversely, that it is true to its word regarding support for its allies, and countering Iran’s imperialistic and terroristic ambitions. Suppressing the Kurdish aspirations for independence, which includes Kirkuk, would place the U.S. on the side of Iran and Turkey, who along with the Shi’ite Iraqi government and the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, have ganged up against the Kurds.
Read more…

JNi.Media

Ofer Vinter exposing a tunnel in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 War
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon announce his choice for his next military secretary, but according to Ha’aretz pundit Yossi Verter, so far the PM has rejected three brigadier generals suggested by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot: Yehuda Fuchs (Gaza Division), Yaniv Asor (Golan Division) and Uri Gordin (Reserve Paratroopers Brigade). Netanyahu cannot directly pick his choice for MS, since the position is under the control of the Chief of Staff. So, until Eizenkot comes up with the man Netanyahu wants, things will remain at a standstill.
Read more…