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Rabbi Yehuda Lave

Avoid Extremes to your Personality

Rabbi Eliezer Kamarner said, "When a person's heart breaks into a thousand pieces, and he is afraid he will become depressed, he should search for his positive qualities and praise himself. At other times, when he fears he might become conceited, he should search for his mistakes and faults."

A Balance in your personality is what you desire.

Love Yehuda Lave

Anemone Festival 2017

One a year in the spring for about three weeks around this time of the year (Tubi Shavat on Saturday the 11th of February, 2017 this year), the carpet in the north Negev (still the South of Israel) comes alive in a blaze of red poppies called anemone. There is a festival of celebration, part spring coming and part the beauty of the flowers. This year I went with Nefesh on a trip to see the beauty and we also stopped at the holocaust museum in Yad Mordachi near Ashkelon and then on to the Drom Adom (Red South) festival of the flowers.

Top Iranian Official: We Can Bomb Tel Aviv in 7 Minutes

A senior Iranian official threatened to target Israel immediately if the US attacks the Islamic Republic.

A senior member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and a former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) official warned that Tehran has prepared its forces for war and attained "great achievements" in its ballistic missile development program. If attacked by the US, Iran will immediately retaliate by firing a missile at Tel Aviv, he asserted.

"And only seven minutes is needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv," Mojtaba Zonour, a former adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader's Representative at the IRGC, said on Saturday evening, according to Iran's Fars News.

In 2015, Zonour stated that "the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has Divine permission to destroy Israel."

"The Noble Koran permits the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy Israel," he said, adding that "even if Iran gives up its nuclear program, it will not weaken this country's determination to destroy Israel."

Iranian officials and military commanders have repeatedly vowed to obliterate the Jewish state.

Threats to Raze US Military Base

Zonour further threatened that the "slightest aggression" by the US will lead to Iran "razing to the ground" the American military base in nearby Bahrain.

"The US army's fifth fleet has occupied a part of Bahrain, and the enemy's farthest military base is in the Indian Ocean, but these points are all within the range of Iran's missile systems and they will be razed to the ground if the enemy makes a mistake," he stated ominously.

His remarks came after President Donald Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and after US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn officially "put Iran on notice" following the Islamic Republic's most recent illicit missile test.

On Saturday, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, warned Washington to "avoid hostile action or wait for a harsh response."

"If the enemy makes a mistake, our roaring missiles will hit their targets," Hajizadeh told reporters on the sidelines of massive military drills dubbed Modafe'an Harim-e Aseman Velayat (Defenders of the Velayat Skies) in Semnan province in northern Iran.

"Knowing the capabilities of our Armed Forces, I am to ensure you that foreign threats cannot do us any harm," he boasted.

He blamed Washington for needlessly attacking Iran over its missile tests as "a pretext to show their animosity towards us; we are making round-the-clock efforts to defend our country's security and if the enemy dares to make any mistake our roaring missiles will land on them."

By: United with Israel Staff

Report: Obama Agreed to Iranian Missiles that Could Hit Israel

Analysis of Iranian statements shows that the US, under Obama, allowed Iran to develop missiles that could reach Israel.

According to Iranian officials, the Obama administration gave unwritten consent in the nuclear talks for Iran to develop ballistic missiles with a range of only 2,000 km, capable of striking Israel but not Europe, MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) reported.

Last week, Iran conducted a failed test of a new ballistic missile, the Khorramshahr. According to reports, the missile exploded after a 965-km flight.

While Iran claims that its missile program is defensive, missiles with a 2,000-km range are strictly offensive and strategic.

In the years that preceded the US-Iran nuclear talks, Iran developed ballistic missiles with ranges of 2,500-5,000 km that threaten Europe and even the US.

Dr. Hassan Abbasi, theoretician of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and director of the IRGC Center for Borderless Security Doctrinal Analysis, said in 2004: "We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization and for the uprooting of the Americans and the English.

However, after US-Iran negotiations began, and at the end of their first stage in Geneva in November 2013, Iranian officials began reporting that Iran's missile program was restricted to a 2,000-km reach.

Iran's Primary Target: Israel

Indeed, IRGC commanders stressed that the most important goal for the regime was the capability to strike Israel.

IRGC Aerospace and Missile Division director Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, following a 2016 missile launch, "For us, Israel's evil is totally clear, and the 2,000-kilometer range of our missiles [is intended] to confront the distant Zionist regime."

Additionally, Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said on August 18, 2015, in response to a reporter's question on the manufacture of missiles with a range greater than 2,000 km, "We do not produce missiles with ranges greater than 2,000 km."

The question then stands – is US permission for Iran to develop missiles with ranges that can hit Israel a secret annex to the JCPOA or simply unwritten consent?

IRGC officials have hinted that restrictions on the range of Iranian missiles to reaching Israel but not Europe were part of the Iran nuclear deal.

For instance, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari referred to the IRGC's November 2, 2015, consent to UN Security Council Resolution 2231, saying, "One of the points in this resolution was the matter of restrictions, which some military elements feared. Therefore, we held meetings in [Iran's] Supreme National Security Council, and also went to the Leader [Khamenei]. The [Iranian] negotiating team told the Westerners that we do not agree to these restrictions. They [the Westerners] said that these issues must be included in the resolution. Even when I met with the Leader, he said that there were no restrictions on developing defensive capabilities. The only restriction relates to nuclear missiles, which, obviously, we never wanted."

The next day, on November 3, 2015, Iranian Army Chief of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi referred to Jafari's remarks, saying, "I confirm statements by the IRGC commander that Iran's missile activity is not restricted. We will follow two restrictions: The first is mentioned in the JCPOA, in the matter of no nuclear planning, and the second is the range of 2,000 km, which has already been noted previously by all elements in Iran."

These statements indicate that although the permission given to Iran to develop missiles capable of striking Israel is likely not a secret annex of the JCPOA, it still constitutes unwritten consent that is an integral part of the nuclear deal.

It is convenient for both sides not to publish this understanding in written form – for Iran, because it rejects any public reference to its missile program, which it defines as defensive but is in fact offensive; and for the Obama administration, because there would be repercussions if it were revealed that it had given Iran permission to develop missiles capable of striking Israel.

By: United with Israel Staff