Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd. has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $1.65 billion (approximately €1.375 billion) to build and operate the International Flight Training Center for the Hellenic Air Force, the company announced Sunday.

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The deal is part of an agreement between the Israel's Defense Ministry and the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense.

Under the contract, Elbit Systems will supply the Hellenic Air Force with new M-346 training aircraft and will maintain the entire training fleet, comprised of dozens of M-346 and T-6 training aircraft, for a period of approximately 20 years.

In addition, Elbit Systems is contracted to provide its latest advanced Embedded Virtual Avionics (EVA) onboard the training aircraft, deliver networked flight simulators and an array of Ground-Based Training Stations (GBTS) as well as command and control systems to enable efficient management of the flight training operation.

Bezhalel Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, said: "We are honored to have been awarded this contract to provide such an important capability to the Hellenic Air Force. This contract award attests to the leading position we hold in the area of pilot's training solutions, providing tested know-how and proven technologies that improve operational readiness while reducing costs."

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a Twitter post that he welcomed the deal and was "certain that improving Israeli and Greek capabilities will deepen the diplomatic and security, as well as economic, partnership between the two countries."

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday called on Israel to refrain from all oil and gas exploration activity in a maritime area claimed by Beirut.

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Aoun conveyed the demand during a meeting with a senior American official assisting in negotiations concerning the demarcation of a maritime border between Lebanon and Israel in the Mediterranean.

"These negotiations have the potential to unlock significant economic benefits for Lebanon," said US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale in a statement after the meeting with the Lebanese president.

"This is all the more critical against the backdrop of the severe economic crisis the country is facing. As needed, international experts can be brought in to help inform all of us," Hale added.

In early October 2020, Lebanon and Israel began unprecedented negotiations over a disputed maritime area comprising 860 square kilometers that is thought to contain gas-rich territory.

The negotiations, launched under the auspices of the UN and the United States to delineate the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel with the aim of removing obstacles to hydrocarbon prospecting, came to a standstill in November following a dispute between the two sides.

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Tensions boiled over once again this week when Lebanon's Public Works and Transport Minister Michel Najjar signed a document Monday unilaterally expanding Beirut's claims in the maritime border by some 1,400 square kilometers.

In response, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz accused Lebanon of trying to sabotage the stalled negotiations, saying that "It seems that Lebanon prefers to blow up the talks instead of trying to reach agreed-upon solutions."

"Unfortunately, this won't be the first time in the past 20 years that the Lebanese changed their naval maps for propaganda purposes," he continued. "Obviously, unilateral Lebanese steps will be met in kind by Israel."

In related news, Lebanon's caretaker energy minister on Thursday blamed the country's fuel crisis on profiteers who smuggle gasoline into neighboring Syria.

At a cabinet meeting to discuss the issue, Raymond Ghajar said the gap in gasoline prices between the two countries meant smugglers could make huge profits.

"The price of 20 liters of gasoline in Lebanon is 40,000 Lebanese pounds while the official price in Syria stands at 140,000 Syrian pounds and at 240,000 in the black market," Ghajar said in a cabinet statement.

"The Syrian market's needs for gasoline drive Lebanese smugglers to sneak gasoline into Syria to achieve huge profits."

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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In one of the first public undertakings between Morocco and Israel since Rabat and Jerusalem normalized relations last year, Morocco is scheduled to participate in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market, to be held in Tel Aviv from June 15-16.

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The ITIM expo is expected to draw businessmen, hoteliers, airlines and other travel industry professionals from across the globe a two-day event that will include both virtual and in-person seminars.

According to the IMTM website, the event is "[d]esigned to connect professionals from all levels of business and service in tourism and travel, the event will offer an extended virtual showcase that concludes with an in-person exhibition at The Expo Center, Tel Aviv."

Hundreds of exhibitors from some 50 different countries are expected to participate 27th annual event, including representatives from Dubai, Uzbekistan, Slovenia, Portugal, the Philippines, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic.

The exhibition was forced to hold a virtual meeting in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, helping nearly 30,000 industry professionals to "directly connect and communicate with vendors and clients."

In January, Israel and Morocco signed an agreement to set up direct flights between the countries, following the official resumption of relations concluded a month earlier.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Qatar has pledged $60 million to help construct a natural gas pipeline running from Israel into the Gaza Strip, the Qatari government said Thursday. The project aims to ease Gaza's long-term energy crisis.

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Natural gas currently flowing through a pipeline in Israel from the eastern Mediterranean will be transported via a new extension into Gaza, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced on its website. 

The eastern Mediterranean has become one of the world's major offshore drilling zones, with lucrative deepwater gas fields recently discovered in Israel's territorial waters.

The European Union also has pledged over $24 million to fund the pipeline on the Gaza side of the border, the ministry added.

The statement did not give a date for the pipeline's completion, but the official confirmation of funding after weeks of anticipation signals a diplomatic breakthrough between the many parties to the project: Europeans, Israelis, Palestinians and Qataris.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh praised Qatari and European support, saying the project would "solve the electricity problem absolutely," according to the Qatari statement.

Qatar has become a major donor to the Palestinians, providing $20 million to Gaza each month since 2018. The money has helped Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provided monthly $100 million stipends to scores of impoverished families. Qatar has provided additional funds for development hospitals like roads and hospitals.

Qatari aid, delivered with Israeli consent, has provided some relief to the local economy and is seen as a factor in preventing simmering tensions between Israel and Hamas from boiling over into renewed conflict.

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The US is making a mistake by leaving the Middle East to its own devices and this could lead to a conflagration between Israel and Iran, wrote former Turkish MP Aykan Erdemir and former US Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman in an article for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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Erdemir and Edelman say an increasing number of states and non-state adversaries will fill the void in the region if the US keeps disengaging, posing a threat to the US and its allies.

The authors warn that Iran's shipments to Hezbollah of advanced weaponry could "potentially leave Israel little choice but to undertake a major military effort in Lebanon against the terrorist organization."

"As during the Cold War, the Eastern Mediterranean is re-emerging as a prime arena for regional and great power competition", the authors concluded.

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An Italian delegation led by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday to sign a series of agreements on bilateral cooperation with Israel.

Israeli Ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar, who arrived earlier to prepare for the visit, joined the delegation's convoy to Jerusalem, where Di Maio inked several agreements. Di Maio also met with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, President Reuven Rivlin, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and Opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Di Maio discussed matters of security, strategy, and diplomacy, as well as joint ventures with Israel to fight the COVID pandemic and promote the Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline.

One of the deals signed Thursday paved the way for business cooperation between auto parts giant Adler and Israel's Sonovia, which produces antimicrobial textiles. Under the agreement, Sonovia will develop an anti-viral, anti-bacterial textile for Adler, which will be put into use in the factory's production facilities in Europe.

Liat Goldhammer, CTO of Sonovia, said, "The cooperation between Sonovia and Adler will allow us an opportunity to make progress in everything having to do with creating a safer, healthier environment."

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The deal has chiseled away at the monopoly held by Houston-based Noble Energy and Israel's Delek Group, which discovered and developed the fields, bringing prices down. The country is on track to phase out coal and derive nearly all its electricity from cleaner-burning gas and solar power by 2025, and is exporting gas to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.

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But the financial benefits have yet to trickle down to Israeli consumers, who continue to pay stubbornly high electricity costs even as oil and gas prices have plunged in recent years.

As the scramble for natural gas creates new alliances and rivalries across the eastern Mediterranean, Israel's experience shows that while big gas discoveries can yield geopolitical clout they don't always deliver the riches promised by politicians.

The government says the gas reserves have turned Israel into a regional player and solidified ties with two Arab neighbors. Israel has also teamed up with Cyprus and Greece for a planned $6 billion pipeline to Europe, strengthening its position as it prepares to hold rare talks with Lebanon this week over their disputed maritime border.

But the so-called EastMed pipeline has heightened tensions with Turkey and is fraught with political and logistical challenges. It could prove infeasible if gas prices remain low and Europe accelerates its shift to renewable energy.

At the time of the 2015 gas deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "hundreds of millions of shekels for education, welfare, health and for every Israeli citizen," but a hoped-for sovereign wealth fund has yet to materialize because revenues have been lower than expected.

Israel's revenues from oil and gas royalties have hovered around $250 million a year since 2015, less than 1% of the country's most recent national budget, of around $135 billion.

Prior to the 2015 gas framework agreement, a partnership between Noble and Delek was the main developer of the Tamar field, which went online in 2013, and Leviathan – one of the largest gas fields discovered in the Mediterranean – which went online last year.

The gas deal required them to sell two smaller fields, which were acquired by the Greek firm Energean in 2016. Delek must sell its share of Tamar next year, and Noble – which was recently acquired by gas giant Chevron – is required to reduce its holdings.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a driving force behind the 2015 agreement, says the restructuring of the industry has brought new contract prices down from more than $6 per million British Thermal Units to less than $4 per mmBTU.

"The reality is very clear. Prices today are much lower than they used to be before the framework," he said, adding that he expects a further drop of up to 25%.

That's true for new contracts, but the price Israeli consumers pay is still largely determined by a 2012 contact between Tamar and the state-run Israel Electric Corporation, in which prices are tethered to the US consumer price index and have steadily risen since 2015 to more than $6 per mmBTU, even as global prices have plunged.

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Orit Farkash-Hacohen served as the head of the Public Utilities Authority at the time the framework was being negotiated and was sidelined after arguing that the pricing mechanism was unfair to consumers. She had suggested prices be pegged to an international basket instead, and that Israel push for the change as part of the 2015 agreement.

Israel's antitrust commissioner resigned in protest after arguing that the 2015 deal would not bring competition to the market, and thousands took to the streets in demonstrations. Netanyahu was eventually able to push it through by citing national security considerations.

Farkash-Hacohen supports much of the framework, but faults the government for not renegotiating the main contract between the gas companies and the IEC.

"When you're dealing with an electricity monopoly you regulate its prices in order for it not to misuse its power," said Farkash-Hacohen, who was recently appointed tourism minister.

"In that sense it was a missed opportunity that unfortunately affected the cost of living of the people of the state of Israel."

Gabriel Mitchell, an energy researcher at Israel's Mitvim Institute, says Israelis are paying prices that are "wildly above" those available on the international market.

"One of the big issues that we're seeing now in 2020, with everything that's happened post-coronavirus and with the collapse of global energy prices, is that the average Israeli is paying somewhere between two and three times the amount for a unit of energy than is available on the global market," he said.

He and other critics point to the IEC's recent purchase of liquified natural gas on the international market for a lower price than it is getting from Israel's own fields.

The US Henry Hub price, seen as an international benchmark for natural gas purchases, has averaged around $2.75 per mmBTU over the past five years and fell below $2 after the pandemic caused a global drop in demand.

The price of the Tamar gas has steadily risen during the same period, and Israelis have seen little change in their electricity bills since 2015, with tariffs hovering around 14 cents per kilowatt hour.

When asked about the high prices enshrined in the Tamar contract, Chevron, which completed its acquisition of Noble last Monday, said it "firmly believes in the sanctity of contracts."

"These are very early days and as we continue to build relationships with all of our stakeholders in Israel, we are confident that they will see Chevron is committed to building trusted and mutually beneficial relationships," it said in a statement.

The Israeli government says the shift from coal to natural gas has been good for the environment. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal or oil, cutting down on air pollution. But the drilling and transport of natural gas results in the leakage of methane, which has 86 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In January, Israel began exporting gas to Egypt under a 10-year deal valued at $15 billion. In 2016, Noble and Delek reached a $10 billion agreement to export gas to Jordan over 15 years.

Israel's excess gas revenues were supposed to flow into a sovereign wealth fund for investment abroad, a path to riches used by other big exporters. The fund was supposed to be launched in 2018, but has yet to reach the 1 billion shekels ($290 million) required to begin investing.

Authorities hope to launch the fund next year. That's also when Delek is set to sell off its share of Tamar and when the IEC is eligible to renegotiate its costly Tamar contract. That should bring prices down, but Farkash-Hacohen says it should have happened much earlier.

"Why were they given full immunity of prices, and secondly, such a long period of time to divest their ownership?" she said.

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In unusually harsh language, Walid al-Moallem said "the Turkish regime reigns supreme" when it comes "to sponsors and financiers of terrorism."

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He said in a prerecorded speech to the first-ever high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic that the cutoff of water supplies endangered civilian lives, especially during the coronavirus crisis.

The nine-year Syrian conflict, which initially began as a civil war, later became a regional proxy fight. Turkey, which now controls a zone in northern Syria, has backed opposition fighters against Syrian President Bashar Assad, Syrian Kurdish fighters and the Islamic State extremist group.

Al-Moallem also accused Turkey of moving "terrorists and mercenaries -- referred to by some as 'moderate opposition' -- from Syria to Libya," violating Syria's sovereignty, using refugees "as bargaining chips against Europe" and laying claim "by force to energy resources in the Mediterranean."

"The current Turkish regime has become a rogue and outlaw regime under international law," the Syrian minister said. "Its policies and actions, which threaten the security and stability of the whole region, must be stopped."

Turkey's UN Mission said it "rejects Syrian regime's delusional statement, ridden with ludicrous allegations, in its entirety."

"It's shameful and unacceptable that the murderous Syrian regime which lost its legitimacy long ago continues to misuse [the] UN General Assembly general debate to distort the facts," said a mission spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The Syrian regime is responsible for death, mutilation, abduction, starvation and enforced disappearance of millions of Syrians," the spokesperson said. "Its crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law, and the war crimes have been documented in countless UN reports."

Al-Moallem declared that the Syrian government "will spare no effort to end the occupation by all means possible under international law" of American and Turkish forces.

US troops are deployed in the country to fight the Islamic State.

"The actions of these forces, taken directly or through their terrorist agents, secessionist militias, or manufactured and illegitimate entities, are null and void, with no legal effect," he said.

Al-Moallem, who is also deputy prime minister, denounced US sanctions, saying they are blocking the delivery of life-saving medicine and equipment during the pandemic.

He called the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act passed by the US Congress an "inhumane attempt to suffocate Syrians, just like George Floyd and others were cruelly suffocated in the United States, and just like Israel suffocates Palestinians on a daily basis."

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Al-Moallem called on all countries affected by unilateral sanctions "and those that reject such measures to close ranks against them and alleviate their impact on our peoples ... through cooperation, coordination, and concrete political, economic and commercial means."

On the political front, he said Syria's government hopes a committee given the responsibility of drafting a new constitution for the country "will succeed." But, he said, this will be possible only "if there is no external interference whatsoever in its work and by any party."

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Despite the saber-rattling, there's doesn't appear to be a real appetite for war. But neither nation is ready to back down and look weak.

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Greece and Turkey have a jumble of air and naval assets in the Mediterranean as France, the US and the United Arab Emirates take part in tit-for-tat military drills. The risks of a mishap that could spark conflict have increased exponentially. The danger was illustrated earlier this month when a Greek frigate accidentally collided with a Turkish warship in waters off Crete.

Here's a look at what's driving the conflict:

POWER PLAY

On the surface, it appears as a squabble over who's entitled to potentially abundant hydrocarbons lurking beneath the seabed in the eastern Mediterranean.

Greece says Turkey's bid to prospect for oil and gas in waters off Crete that it says falls within its exclusive economic zone is a clear violation of its sovereign rights and of international law.

Ditto for the small, ethnically divided island nation of Cyprus, which has accused Turkey of "pirate behavior" and "gunboat diplomacy" for sending warship-escorted vessels off its shores – even in areas that were licensed out to major energy companies like France's Total for exploration.

TURKEY'S STRATEGY

Turkey says it's doing what it must to protect its own rights to energy reserves, but analysts say it goes much deeper than that.

Turkey's assertiveness is in line with a strategic ambition to become a global player – and a leader in the Islamic world whose power and influence can shape the region according to its vision.

"So, it's not about energy," says Ian O. Lesser, a political analyst with the US think tank the German Marshall Fund. "It's about a broader and increasingly animated Turkish vision of its own interests in the region."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is contending with political challengers and a weakened economy. Ankara also wants to push back against what it sees as a hostile, energy-based partnership between Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt that aims to exclude Turkey, says Lisel Hintz, professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International studies.

A maritime border deal that Turkey signed with Libya earlier this year partly aimed to show that no regional energy plans could proceed without Ankara's input.

ROCKING THE BOAT

Turkey's aggressive military posture in the eastern Mediterranean is seen as destabilizing the region and it isn't winning it any friends.

"You'll find few supporters, if any, on either side of the Atlantic ... for the Turkish posture at this time," Lesser says.

European Union members Greece and Cyprus have repeatedly invited Turkey to join these energy partnerships as long as Ankara gives up its bullying tactics and plays by the rules.

But according to Lesser, Turkey appears to be in no mood to take part in something that they feel would hem the country in and undercut its broader claims in the region. German-led diplomacy to get the two sides to pull back their forces and start talking has had so far less than stellar results.

A RATTLED EU

The 27-nation bloc has vacillated between appeals for calm and talk of tougher sanctions against Turkey.

But it's unclear whether EU diplomacy or entreaties from Washington, whose own credibility has waned with Ankara, will succeed in reining in Turkey.

"The relationship with Turkey right now is at such a dysfunctional level with key European partners and also across the Atlantic, it's very hard to engage in this kind of diplomacy with Ankara," Lesser said.

Four million Syrians living in Turkey affords Ankara powerful leverage against Europe, which doesn't want to see a fresh migrant influx, Hintz said.

TAKE IT TO COURT

Is there a legal way out of this wrangle? All sides claim international law is on their side regarding what their maritime borders are and how much of the eastern Mediterranean sea they can claim as having exclusive economic rights, so a court date to settle this would seem reasonable.

But Turkey has been reluctant to go down the legal route because it doesn't have a strong case since many of its claims "fly in the face of established international law," according to Lesser.

"If they go a straight legal judgment route, they probably feel that they're in a weaker position and they may be right about that," he says.

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With its latest eastern Mediterranean gambit, Turkey risks overstretching itself given its military presence in Libya, and Syria.

But some operational successes in both those countries may have emboldened Ankara to pursue its interests "at a manageable cost with predictable outcomes," especially in areas such as around Greece and Cyprus where Turkish public opinion is solidly behind Erdogan, Lesser says.

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"The ones who throw Greece in front of the Turkish navy will not stand behind them," he said.

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Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, "Greece is responding calmly and with readiness both on a diplomatic and on an operational level. And with national confidence, it does everything needed to defend its sovereign rights."

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