The United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a report Thursday that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium had reached more than 15 times the limit set out in the 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

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The announcement comes a day after Director General Rafael Grossi pledged the International Atomic Energy Agency would "never abandon" its attempts to get the regime to clarify the previous presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites there.

The stock of enriched uranium amassed by Iran in breach of the agreement is growing to the point that its most highly-enriched material is most of the way to a common bomb yardstick.

The report showed Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity had almost doubled, increasing by 15.5 kg to 33.2 kg (46 to 110 pounds). A senior diplomat said that is around three-quarters of the amount needed, if enriched further, for one nuclear bomb according to a common definition.

That definition – 25 kg of uranium enriched to 90% – is a theoretical yardstick and how much is needed in real life would depend on further processes the material would still have to go through to make an actual bomb, the senior diplomat cautioned.

That total stock of enriched uranium now stands at 3.2 tons, an increase of 707.4 kg on the quarter, the report showed. That is still less than the more than five tons the Islamic Republic accumulated before the 2015 deal but the highest purity it achieved then was 20%.

The report is one of two that are usually issued together, the other one being on unresolved issues around nuclear material that the IAEA suspects Iran failed to declare to the Vienna-based UN agency.

The IAEA has found particles of processed uranium at apparently three old sites that Iran never declared. The agency has been seeking answers from the regime on how the traces got there - a topic often referred to as "outstanding safeguards issues" – but has repeatedly said Tehran has not provided satisfactory answers.

That issue is one of the main remaining obstacles to reviving the JCPOA, diplomats said.

Iran wants the IAEA investigation ended as part of an agreement but Western powers have argued that the issue is beyond the scope of the 2015 deal, to which the IAEA is not a party.

Grossi will travel to Tehran on Saturday hoping to agree on a "process" that would lead to the end of the investigation, potentially clearing a way for the wider agreement, diplomats said. The second report is being withheld until then.

The chief "will travel to Tehran for meetings with senior Iranian officials on Saturday. They will discuss outstanding safeguards issues with a view to address[ing] them," the IAEA said in a statement.

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday he spoke with Grossi ahead of his trip about the unexplained traces. Israel opposes a deal revival with its arch-foe Iran, which it sees as an existential threat were it armed with nuclear weapons.

Former US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the pact in 2018 and reimposed tough economic sanctions. That led Iran to breach many of the deal's restrictions, which were designed to make it harder for the regime to obtain the fissile material for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any such ambition.

Three Iranian officials close to the talks said a wide array of sanctions, including those keeping Iran from exporting its oil and those on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, were to be removed if the 2015 pact was revived.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed Russia's incursion into Ukraine on Thursday.

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Speaking at a graduation ceremony for members of an IDF officers training course, Bennett said, "These are difficult, tragic times, and our heart is with the citizens of Ukraine who have found themselves in this situation through no fault of their own."

Bennett said that Israel was serving as an "anchor" of strength, stability, security and hope in a region "full of threats and challenges."

"Every Israeli always knows they have a home to come back to, that there is someone who will look out for them in times of trouble," the prime minister said.

Bennett urged Israelis in Ukraine to "leave now."

"Our people are waiting to receive you at border crossings in the west of the country. In addition, every Jew, anywhere in the world, knows that we are waiting for them here and that Israel's door is always open," he said, adding that Israel would join humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of Ukrainian citizens.

Bennett told the newly minted IDF officers that they were beginning their roles as officials as "our world order is changing. The world is much less stable, and our region is also changing from day to day. These times teach us that wars fought between armies are not, unfortunately, a thing of the past."

By Thursday evening, Ukrainian forces were battling Russian invaders around nearly all of the country's perimeter on Thursday after Moscow mounted a mass assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.

Missiles rained down on Ukrainian targets. Kyiv reported columns of troops pouring across the borders with Russia and Belarus stretching from the north and east, and landing on the coasts from the Black Sea in the southwest and Azov Sea in the southeast.

Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in #2WW years. As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history. has embarked on a path of evil, but is defending itself & won't give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks.

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2022

Fierce fighting was taking place in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, Kherson and Odessa in the south, and at a military airport near the capital Kyiv, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said troops were trying to fend off Russians attempting to capture the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, just 90 km (60 miles) north of the capital. Regional officials said Ukrainian authorities had lost control of some territory in the Kherson region near Russian-occupied Crimea.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn televised address, explosions and gunfire were heard throughout the morning in Kyiv, a city of 3 million people.

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The highway out of the city choked with traffic as residents fled.

"Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the WW2 years," tweeted Zelenskyy.

"Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won't give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks," Zelenskyy's tweet continued.

A senior US defense official says Thursday's attack by Russia appeared to be the first phase in what will likely be a multiple phased, large-scale invasion.

The official said it began around 9:30 p.m. US eastern time, with land- and sea-based missile launches. The official said that roughly more than 100 missiles, primarily short-range ballistic missiles, but also medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles and sea-launched missiles, were launched in the first few hours of the attack.

The official said it was not clear how many Russian troops were in Ukraine now, and the main targets of the air assault have been barracks, ammunition warehouses, and 10 airfields. The official said Russian ground forces began to move in to Ukraine from Belarus around 5 a.m. Eastern time.

As the fighting intensified, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Thursday that civilians and critical infrastructure such as water and power systems in Ukraine must be protected from attacks in line with the rules of war.

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A lifting of sanctions on Iran will result in the flooding of the Islamic Republic with billions of dollars, which will go to buying "more rockets, more UAVs, more terrorist cells, more cyber attacks and malign activities," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Tuesday.

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Speaking at a conference at the Institute for National Security Study, Bennett said such weapons would not only be used against Israel but "also against our American allies in the region and other allies."

Addressing the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna between Tehran and world powers, he said: "We are following the nuclear talks in Vienna, and we hope that they conclude without an agreement. But even with an agreement, our assessment is that the Iranians will continue to be Iranians. We already see it now.

"While Iranian foreign ministry officials are negotiating in Vienna with the superpowers, the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard [Corps] is behaving like the neighborhood bully and attacking the UAE and other places. This is the definition of negotiation under fire. This is blackmail."

Bennett added that "the campaign to weaken Iran has begun. This campaign is being conducted in multiple fields: nuclear, economic, cyber, overt and covert operations –both by ourselves and in collaboration with others."

Negotiations between Tehran and superpower on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – at the end of December.

The latest round of talks, the eighth, opened 10 days after negotiations were adjourned for the Iranian negotiator to return home for consultations. The previous round, the first after a more than five-month gap caused by the arrival of a new hardline government in Iran, was marked by tensions over new Iranian demands.

"If we work hard in the days and weeks ahead, we should have a positive result," Enrique Mora, the European Union diplomat who chaired the talks, said after the opening session. But "it's going to be very hard – difficult political decisions have to be taken."

Iran's accord with world powers – Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China – granted it sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal and imposed sweeping sanctions on the regime, including against its oil sector – the lifeline of its economy. Iran's crude exports plummeted and international oil companies scrapped deals with Tehran, weakening its economy.

The other signatories struggled to keep alive the agreement. The US is participating only indirectly in this year's talks to restore the deal, which President Joe Biden has signaled he wants to rejoin.

 JNS.org contributed to this report.

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In a telephone meeting with senior health officials on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett instructed that rapid testing be administered at entrances to nursery homes – including those vaccinated – to prevent outbreaks in the facilities.

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Earlier in the day, an infection outbreak was reported in an elderly care home in the central Israeli town of Savyon, where 25 people tested positive for the virus, amid "high suspicions" that the infections were caused by the Omicron variant. All residents and staff members will be tested for COVID on Sunday.

Bennett also instructed officials to prepare for a possible sixth coronavirus wave and purchase an additional 50 million antigen test kits and conduct an equipment assessment across hospitals.

On Saturday, confirmed Omicron cases in Israel reached 1,118, more than triple the 341 cases reported on Tuesday. Of the 1,118 carriers, 723 have recently returned from abroad.

The Health Ministry also said that another 861 infections were suspected to be Omicron cases, pending test results.

On Friday, 1,775 new carriers were reported, the highest caseload in over two months when 1,816 new cases were reported on Oct. 12.

The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, reached 1.4, the highest in almost half a year, when an "R" number of 1.38 was reported on April 12. An infection rate of over 1 shows that morbidity is increasing.

Nevertheless, despite the rise in the infection rate, the number of serious cases has not increased significantly so far. Forty new serious cases were reported in the past seven days, a 73.9% increase from the week before.

One more city – Rishon LeZion – was designated as "red" due to high infection rates. There remain seven "orange" localities with slightly lower morbidity.

While in "green" and "yellow" communities studies will continue uninterrupted, in "red" and "orange" cities that have a vaccination rate of less than 70% learning will continue via Zoom or outdoors.

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Of the 38,670 Israelis who were screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 223 tested positive, according to Health Ministry data published Sunday morning. The infection rate stands at 0.63% and the reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, at 1.09.

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There are currently 5,778 active cases in the country with 145 patients hospitalized. Of those, 100 are in serious condition.

Israel has reported 1,349,818 coronavirus cases, including 8,210 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Thus far, 4,120,329 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,789,014 received two jabs and 6,400,940 got one dose.

The Health Ministry also said that 20 more Israelis tested positive for Omicron on Saturday, bringing the country's total caseload to 55. According to data, 42 of the 55 individuals were either vaccinated against or recovered from the coronavirus. In addition, 51 others were designated as possible Omicron carriers, pending confirmation through testing.

Against the backdrop of the alarming rise in Omicron cases in Israel, and worldwide, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed at a government meeting on Sunday that "we cannot contain Omicron forever, which is why Israelis need to go out and use these crucial days to vaccinate their children, most of whom are not vaccinated, not even with the first dose. Omicron hurts children as well, we see it from other countries and in Israel. I call on parents: the way to protect your children is to vaccinate them and provide them this protection. Do not waste a moment, take them already today to get vaccinated."

Bennett also said the Health Ministry will immediately begin an emergency campaign to increase the vaccination rate in schools across Israel.

"We will also consider administering a fourth vaccine dose for the at-risk population," he said. "I understand that people are tired of hearing about COVID and talking about it, but the truth is that the situation in Israel is significantly better than almost everywhere else in the world. We came prepared for this battle, and if we all join in, we will overcome Omicron just as we overcame Delta."

The premier is striving to promote a series of restrictions on unvaccinated Israelis and other measures to curb Omicron that include reinstating the "green pass" vaccination certificate mandate in malls, increasing its enforcement in workplaces, as well as getting unvaccinated individuals who return from abroad and test positive for COVID to finance their own stays at quarantine hotels.

Last week, Bennett also spoke with the heads of major Israeli health maintenance organizations in order to increase national vaccination efforts. Among the attendees were also Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, and Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka.

"Our national strategy at this stage is two-fold. First, to containt the Omicron strain from entering Israel as much as possible, and second, raise the immunity level of Israelis," he said. "The transmission rate of the virus is extremely high, as we see from data from the world. I am concerned about this, and committed to doing everything possible to contain the spread of Omicron in the country" as much as possible.

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Meanwhile, Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss is advancing restrictions at Ben-Gurion International Airport, including adding the entire European continent onto the government's no-fly list.

She told Channel 12 news that morbidity in Europe was "widespread" and that the "list of 'red' countries that we know have a high infection rate should definitely be expanded."
In related news, evidence from South Africa suggests that Omicron is less likely to lead to serious illness than the Delta variant, although the spread of the new strain gives cause for concern.

In a weekly online press briefing, the World Health Organization's Africa branch said the continent recorded 107,000 extra cases in the week to Sunday, compared with 55,000 in the previous week.

The new surge infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said on Friday.

However, in South Africa, which discovered the new variant last month, "severe cases remain low," the WHO said in a statement.

"At the moment, virtually everything points toward it being a milder disease," Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute, told Associated Press. "It'' early days, and we need to get the final data. Often hospitalizations and deaths happen later, and we are only two weeks into this wave."

The WHO reiterated its objections to travel restrictions, which it said had been issued by more than 70 countries and were overwhelmingly aimed at southern Africa, even though countries in the region were "transparent with their data."

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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The government announced Thursday it was halting the use of a controversial phone tracking technology to trace possible cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, days after it was authorized as an emergency measure.

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Earlier this week, lawmakers announced a package of emergency measures to contain the new strain, including travel restrictions and authorizing the Shin Bet security agency to use phone monitoring technology for the contact tracing of people infected with Omicron.

To be extended, the tracking would have required parliamentary legislation.

But late Thursday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office said the "cellular monitoring" would expire at midnight and not be extended.

The reversal came following days of public criticism of a practice whose use in the past has been criticized by civil liberties groups and challenged in court. Several lawmakers voted against the use of the technology, and a government ombudsman argued that it was ineffective.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Twitter that "from the beginning, I noted that the use of this tool would be limited and brief  –  for a few days, in order to get urgent information to halt infection with the new, unknown variant."

He said that "alongside protecting health, we must protect privacy and human rights, even in a time of emergency."

Rights groups have decried the use of the technology, which can track where a person has been and whom they have met with, as a violation of privacy rights. The Supreme Court ordered the government limit its use of the technology earlier this year.

On Thursday, the court rejected a petition by a rights group against the reintroduction of phone tracing, noting the limited scope of its authorization and the uncertainty surrounding Omicron.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel welcomed Thursday's decision and expressed "hope that this is the last time the Shin Bet will be used to monitor the citizens of the State of Israel."

The Health Ministry has confirmed three cases of Omicron and said on Thursday that nearly three dozen other possible cases were being tested.

Also on Thursday, Bennett held an Omicron situation assessment, which was attended by Horowitz and other senior health officials.

At the meeting, officials decided decided, among other things, that Israelis who return from abroad and do not take a second PCR test on the third or seventh day after their arrival will be subject to fines.

The Health Ministry and the Israel Police will synchronize their data systems so that fines of up to 2,500 shekels ($800) can be issued automatically.

The decision will come into effect in a few weeks, when the technical preparations necessary for its implementation are completed.

In addition, the Health and Education Ministries, in cooperation with local authorities, will run a special children's vaccination program that will include early coordination between the coronavirus control center, local authorities, schools, parent-teacher committees, health funds, and the district physician; the sharing of vaccine safety-related information in the education system; and education on the safety of the vaccines in local communities ahead of  "vaccination days" when mobile vaccination units are set to arrive at schools and community centers.

The pilot programs will launch in several local authorities next week. At the same time, Bennett ordered preparations be made for the campaign's immediate expansion to all authorities and schools in Israel.

It was also decided to continue efforts to find ways to encourage vaccination.

Several proposals for changing future guidelines at Ben-Gurion International Airport were also presented at the meeting. The Health and Transportation Ministries and the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command were set to present their recommendations at a later date.

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ANALYSIS: Following a several-month-long hiatus, Iran has returned to negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving its cratered nuclear deal with world powers. But Tehran is not slowing down the advances in its atomic program, further raising the stakes in talks crucial to cooling years of tensions boiling in the wider Mideast.

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The case in point? Iran's underground nuclear facility in Fordo.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations body charged with monitoring the Islamic Republic's program, acknowledged Wednesday that Iran began feeding a cascade of 166 advanced IR-6 centrifuges with uranium there. The agency said Iran plans to enrich uranium there up to 20% purity – a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Tehran's diplomatic mission to Vienna sought to downplay the acknowledgment on Twitter as "an ordinary update in line with regular verification in Iran." However, even in clinical language, the announcement offers a stark contrast to what existed under the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The deal halted all enrichment at Fordo, which sits under a mountain near the holy Shiite city of Qom, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran. The accord also called for Fordo to become a research-and-development facility.

The deal focused on Fordo because the site has long been a major point of contention for the West. It is about the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to lead US officials to suspect it had a military purpose when they exposed the site publicly in 2009.

Then-President Barack Obama, alongside the French and British governments, dramatically announced to the world Iran had built the site after years of tensions over Tehran's program.

"As the international community knows, this is not the first time that Iran has concealed information about its nuclear program," Obama said at the time.

Iran asserted Fordo's secret construction came as part of its "sovereign right of safeguarding … sensitive nuclear facilities through various means" as it faced the threat of military attack. But burying the facility under some 80 meters (260 feet) of dirt and rock while not informing international inspectors as required only heightened Western concerns. US intelligence agencies and international inspectors believe Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.

Now, just days into the new negotiations in Vienna, Iran has acknowledged the higher enrichment there with advanced centrifuges also barred by the accord. It may be another hardline negotiation tactic like the others embraced by the diplomatic team under new President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said he wants to see the economic sanctions pummeling Iran's economy lifted.

But pressing too many demands too fast while advancing Iran's nuclear program may alienate Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia, the other parties to the accord. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Thursday that Iranian negotiators also handed over two new documents of demands.

It also makes re-entering the deal that much more politically complicated for US President Joe Biden. His negotiators remain outside of the room where the talks are going on due to his predecessor former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing from the deal in 2018, sparking years of wider tensions in the Mideast that continue today.

A breakdown in the talks or further advances by Iran raises regional risks. Already, Tehran finds itself locked in a wider shadow war with Israel. Iranian officials blame Israel for attacks on its Natanz nuclear site, as well as the gunning down of a scientist identified as the founder of its military nuclear program.

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Israeli leaders have said they would still prefer a diplomatic solution reaching a "longer, stronger" deal that includes Iran's missile program and its support of regional militias. But they insist any diplomacy must be accompanied by a credible military threat.

Israel has not shied in the past from conducting airstrikes to halt its neighbor's nuclear ambitions, whether in Iraq in 1981 or Syria in 2007. It remains unclear, however, what that line in Tehran would be for Tel Aviv.

What also remains unclear is how Israel could strike a target as deep as Fordo. After the facility's discovery, the US rushed to finalize its Massive Ordnance Penetrator – a 13,600-kilogram (30,000-pound) bomb able to penetrate deep into the ground before exploding. That bomb remains in American hands, however, and it is unlikely Israeli air force fighters could even carry it given its mammoth size.

But, if Iran is right, Israel was able not once but twice in a year to cause explosions at its Natanz nuclear site. One such blast targeted Natanz's underground enrichment halls as well.

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Is there a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? World-renowned French Jewish  intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy believes that not only does one exist, but that it will be implemented in his lifetime.

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"What gives me hope is the Abraham Accords," he told Israel Hayom. "This is such a secular miracle, it was an unexpected achievement that made it seem that everything is possible. 

"Even three years ago, nobody would've bet on something like the Abraham Accords happening. Thanks to a small group of men of goodwill and true vision in Israel, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates, this became a reality. Sometimes the biggest thunderstorms that make our history are due to a handful of women and men. 

"I hope the same will happen between Israel and the Palestinians. One day we will be taken by surprise to discover that a few Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, and French people found a solution. Remember what I tell you, for I believe it may happen one day".

Lévy, 73, is a journalist, philosopher, filmmaker, lecturer, and former war correspondent who was a leading member of the Nouveaux Philosophes (New Philosophers) movement in France in 1976.

He has visited Israel on many occasions and spoke fondly of time spent there. 

"Every time I come to Jerusalem, I feel inspired. I feel moved to the bottom of my soul. I am intellectually and spiritually well when I am there. I like every piece of land and every piece of the sky in Israel. I love every grain of sand in the desert, and the road that led me 54 years ago to the house of [former Prime Minister] David Ben Gurion in the Negev. I love the lake of Tiberias; I love to be in Safed. I feel at home everywhere in Israel.

"All my life I've witnessed the struggles of Israel for its existence. My friends there have sometimes asked me what I thought and even when they didn't, I would say and write it. At its core, Israel is one of my key concerns. 

"We share the same age, and my life has been intermingled with the life of Israel. I've met so many prime ministers, from Menachem Begin to Yitzhak Shamir, Ehud Barak, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I knew them all. Shimon Peres was my very dear friend. I was very close to him, we first met at the end of the 1960s or maybe the early 1970s, he was always a mentor to me. Today I feel close to your new president, Isaac Herzog. I was very happy when the Knesset elected him. I feel like he and I are on the same page."

Q: What do you think about our new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett? 

"I think it's a good change, I was in favor of this. I don't dismiss Netanyahu's achievements, but I was happy to see the change. In my opinion, Bennett's coalition is yet more proof of the solidity and vibrancy of Israel's democracy. Israel is a model of democracy."

Lévy is slated to arrive in Jerusalem at the end of the week. He will be the guest of honor at the annual Jerusalem Film Festival, where he will also present his documentary The Will to See: Dispatches from a World of Misery and Hope. The film will be screened in English at the Jerusalem Cinematheque on Nov. 28 at 8 p.m.

The piece covers wars and humanitarian crises in such high-conflict locations as Somalia, Ukraine, Kurdistan, and others. The documentary is based on Lévy's book of the same name. Work on the project began on the eve of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. 

"I risked my life, and the life of my team, for an entire year to make this film and to be a witness for the dangers of humanity. Petty politics are insignificant to me," Lévy said. 

Q: What is your impression of the direction in which humanity is headed? 

"I'm not optimistic, because America is going backward so quickly. What happened in Afghanistan, in Somalia, in most of the parts of the world where I was, with the hatred and the vitriol of the West, makes me unhappy and sometimes hopeless.  

"When I was young, the West seemed to be more in line with its values. During the Cold War, for example, there was a creed in parts of the Western population, a creed in our own values. This creed seems to have diminished now.

"The West gave the world the worst and the best inventions. It created Stalinism and Communism but also created the cures for these diseases. The West invented modern racism, but there were also Westerners who initiated the fight against it. This is also the European culture, which creates ideas, but is also capable of self-criticism."

Q: A recurring theme of your documentary is poverty and war.

"The two are completely interconnected. War creates poverty, poverty creates war. My entire life I've witnessed the connection between them. Somalia, for example, which Western media has barely bothered to reach in the past 20 years. It's like the chicken and the egg, does poverty come before war or war before poverty?"

Q: Perhaps there is an economic solution to this? 

"Even if the biggest billionaires decided to donate huge sums to cure hunger in third world countries, I'm not sure that would end war completely. This, of course, is a dream-like scenario. Perhaps, we can get rid of poverty, but human beings have a lot of extreme violence towards another, which is something illogical, rooted in the deep mysterious parts of the human psyche, that precede civil prosperity and financial motives."

Q: Some say war is a lucrative business.

"I don't know if anyone profits from war. Perhaps a few arms dealers. I don't see how anyone can become richer in a social disaster. In the long run, it makes everyone poorer. 

"I'm of the opinion that peace is the best way to make the world prosperous. Peace agreements, conflict resolution, real exchanges between people – for me this is the best way to enrich people, help the poor, raise the middle class, everyone.

"In the 20th century in Europe, wars were times of immense misery. So no, I don't think that there are those who benefit. War is bad for everyone. 

"I know well what war is, I've seen a lot of them. In the Middle East, in South Africa. I traveled to Colombia during the war on the Falkland Islands in 1982 and to Asia during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil in Sri Lanka. Every time I saw war, I saw poverty. It is never a way to get rich."

Q: Two weeks ago, Scotland hosted a global climate event. Is climate change rightfully a key concern for humankind? 

"As a therian, I'm not sure that there is one solution to the matter. But in my opinion, genocide is the worst thing. Genocide against Armenians, genocide in Darfur [in Sudan], genocide in Rwanda, of course, genocide against Jews during the Holocaust, genocide against Nigerian Christians in Nigeria today, genocide is really the worst of the worst.

"And I am very concerned about climate change. I am a good militant of ecology. I think that the world should immobilize in favor of stopping climate change at all costs. But I would be very concerned that those preoccupations could overshadow the misery, the crime, the massacres, and sometimes genocides, which have nothing to do with climate change.

"So, we have to think about all of these at the same time, climate change and warmongers and massacres. We have to do both and be very careful that one concern does not overshadow the other.

"The COVID crisis was another revelation of this huge inequality between people. That the biggest injustice is to be born in one place instead of another. If you are born in the south of the globe, in a place where climate change is on the rage, your chances to survive are close to zero. This is terrible and COVID has highlighted that.

"When I began editing the movie, I had an idea to ask big vaccine laboratories to donate doses to countries which are mentioned in this film, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Bangladesh, etc. It didn't work, but the idea is still there.

"I am a strong advocate of vaccine distribution in all of these countries. And I would be very happy if someone, a big laboratory, for example, took the initiative.  I would be very happy to help, to share the access that I have in these countries at least, to contribute.

"I would be very happy to do that because it is an obscenity seeing France or America advising the third vaccine shot knowing that in Nigeria, they still haven't had the first one. It's an obscenity."

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Lévy was born in Algeria in May 1948, nine days before the establishment of the State of Israel. His parents, Andre and Dina Lévy moved to France shortly after his birth. Lévy's father founded a successful timber company, which he bequeathed to his son after his death in 1995. Lévy sold it two years later for an estimated value of $750 million.

Growing up, he attended the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand school in Paris, whose graduates include writer Voltaire, novelist Victor Hugo, and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Lévy received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Ecole Normale Superieure. 

In 1971, he became a war correspondent covering the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan. His experience in the South Asian country was the source of his first book, Bangla Desh: nationalisme dans la révolution (Bangladesh: Nationalism in the Revolution).

"French novelist Andre Malraux, whom I admired, said in an interview in 1971 that what was happening in Bangladesh was terrible, and that a genocide was taking place 26 years after World War II. Malraux and I drove to Bangladesh, even though he was already in his 70s. He was a great humanitarian activist who risked his life for the values in which he believed," Lévy said. 

Over the years, Lévy received honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Bar-Ilan University. He considers himself a fighter for Israel and a harsh critic of Europe's discriminatory treatment of Israel and the Jews. He has previously argued that it stems from the guilt Europeans carry after the Holocaust. 

As an ardent Zionist, he was one of the first to warn against the resurfacing of antisemitism in Europe in the early 2000s, as well as the danger of radical Islam. 

"I am probably one of the only French men to first underline extreme Islamism as one of the most radical dangers of our time. I devoted a book to it in 1994. For almost 30 years I have tried to sound the alarm, to alert and do my job as an intellectual whistleblower about the huge danger of radical Islamism to democracy, to civilization, and to the world. For me, it's nothing new."

Q: What is your opinion of left-wing French Jewish journalist Eric Zemmour, whose remarks about Arabs and Blacks have more than once stirred controversy? 

"I think Zemmour is just a bubble, he won't last long. The whole thing is a ploy to attract attention and it will soon deflate. I am sure of one thing – he's doing a very dirty job. 

"Firstly, he encourages a lot of antisemitism by rehabilitating the Vichy regime, by casting doubt on the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus, and by questioning the Sandler family's loyalty to France, the relatives of the victims murdered by the terrorist Mohammed Merah in Toulouse [in 2012].

"Secondly, the creed of Zemmour is that it's impossible to be a loyal French citizen and a committed Jew at the same time. For him, one can only be French and must get rid of one's Jewishness. His message is to send the Jews back to the reality of the 1930s when one was only allowed to be Jewish in a minimal and sort of secretive way. For me, as a French Jew, I demand to be allowed to be proud of my Jewishness and of the State of Israel without having my loyalty to France questioned."

Q: What state do you think the Jewish world is in now?

"Thank God, there are many Jews in places like France, America and South Africa, who are loyal citizens to their countries, and who are committed Jews. This is still new, it was difficult before WWII, and not very easy during the 19th century. But today, the Jews in the Diaspora have achieved their religious rights. Of course, there is a rise in antisemitism, but you also see new strength and Jewish pride that grasped the right to be strongly Jewish, as I am. And also, to be loyal to their countries. This is progress."

Q: In your documentary, you can be seen speaking to Kurds who fight against the Islamic State, and you tell them that you are Jewish.

"True, however, when we began editing the movie, I realized that the boy who translated did not want to tell his friends that part and instead said I was a Christian. It shows you the degree of antisemitism in such a miserable place. When I realized this, I was filled with sadness, because the boy who translated was nice to me. This is a rotten place in humanity's heart. 

"For me, these youngsters are innocent and aren't responsible for what their parents did. That's why their innocence and the inability to pronounce the word 'Jew' makes me sad."

Q: You say your Jewish identity is important to you. Will you celebrate the upcoming holiday of Hannukah? 

"I am a committed and devoted Jew; I study the religion. But I would not say I'm a great practitioner of the sacred dates. I don't celebrate holidays or have feasts with my family, except if I'm with friends who do. My Jewishness is someplace else, it's in the books which I try to study as much as I can."

Q: What is your take on the young generation? Would you say social media has made them more self-centered?

"No, I don't think so. Can the internet be a source of stupidity and fake news? Of course. But it can also be a source of knowledge. And when it's used well, it can be a source of information and I know more youngsters who use it this way. So, I am not as pessimistic. 

"Working on my film, I saw that many in the audience were young people and they followed it from the start to the end and they even tried to read more in books, newspapers, and the internet. So no, I believe that the new generation, with the tools that they have, if they are a kid with goodwill, they might even do better."

Q: What do you do in your spare time? 

"I love life, I have my pleasures, of course. I don't drink wine, but I do enjoy an occasional good movie, to spend time in the company of good friends. But most of my time is devoted to learning, studying and writing, and I love to be outdoors, in the sun."

Q: Are you considering retirement? 

"No, never. When you see my film, I have done as much as I would have done if I were half my age. For me, I'm like the Jews of the remote past. Age does not matter."

The post 'Israeli-Palestinian conflict will soon be solved by a few exceptional people' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The coronavirus reproduction rate continued to rise in the past 24 hours and currently stands at 1.09, according to Health Ministry data published Wednesday. Of the 88,514 Israelis that were screened for the virus on Tuesday, 603 (0.74%) tested positive.

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There are currently 6,505 active cases in the country with 174 patients hospitalized. Of those, 124 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 4,056,586 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,768,276 received two doses and 6,276,292 got their first jabs.

Israel has reported 1,340,320 coronavirus cases, including 8,178 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his son David as he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine today.

"I call on all Israeli parents to come and have their children vaccinated. It is safe and it safeguards our children."https://t.co/aiFv5ylXhr pic.twitter.com/NRAQ1NcFSh

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 23, 2021

Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his nine-year-old son David to the Clalit Health Services clinic in Herzliya to receive his first vaccination dose, as Israel launched a national vaccination campaign in the morning for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

We have begun a nationwide campaign to vaccinate children in order to protect them. This safeguards both parents and children, and all of Israel. I call on all parents to have their children inoculated, Bennett said.

Speaking at a Coronavirus Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the ministry's Director of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss also encouraged parents to vaccinate their children.

"More than 3 million children [aged 12-15] have already been vaccinated and there were no reports of side effects. The risk of getting infected is much higher than getting vaccinated," she said.

Elroi Preiss also pointed out that "a small percentage of children" also develop the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS).

"It is a severe syndrome that appears a few weeks after the child recovers from the virus. Loss of taste is evidence of an effect on the brain, and there is evidence that the coronavirus enters the brain and affects it."

Despite the rising morbidity rate, the committee decided not to reimpose restrictions on public life. Nevertheless, it extended the "green pass" vaccine certificate mandate for indoor gatherings for another two weeks.

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The post In troubling trend, number of COVID cases inches up appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Several months prior to the arrest of Israeli tourists Natalie and Mordy Oknin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made several unsuccessful attempts to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Israel Hayom has learned from political sources. 

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Officials on behalf of Erdogan reportedly met with Israeli representatives in the United States several times, suggesting, among other things, a meeting between Erdogan and Bennett. Attempts to coordinate the proposed meeting reportedly took place ahead of the UN General Assembly in September, but the meeting did not occur due to Erdogan and Bennett's conflicting schedules. 

Turkey reportedly made another request for a meeting a few weeks ago, when Erdogan's advisers suggested the two meet at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow. 

According to sources, Israeli officials wanted to avoid directly rejecting the request, and therefore, used diplomatic excuses to prevent the meeting – which they felt went against Israel's interests – from taking place. 

The requests from Erdogan's office come after earlier reports of contact between Israeli and Turkish officials as part of efforts to improve ties. 

Turkey's international standing has been in poor shape for several years. Its relations with the United States hit a wall and its ties with the European Union – which rejected its membership request – have been strenuous. 

As for Israel, ties between Ankara and Jerusalem have been at a low ebb for many years. In Jerusalem, Erdogan is viewed as a leader with antisemitic views. He has allowed Hamas to operate freely in the country. 

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