Israel Calls up IDF Troops & Readies for War

 

Lest we forget, elections recently held and soon to be held in the countries that immediately surround Israel have not gone the way of Israel's best interests.  Egypt in particular has now elected a much more aggressive government in the way of the Muslim Brotherhood influence that is more aligned with Hamas and Hezbollah mentality than Mubarak was.  The change in relations continues to lay the stage for conflict between Israel and Egypt.  As of today, things are taking an even further turn for the worse with emergency orders and the build up of troops along the border

Middle East War?

In terms of Egypt, Israel is worried due to rising Islamic influence in the country following the fall of Mubarak, especially the ascendency of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a popular backlash against the Camp David Accords which have kept the peace between Cairo and Jerusalem since 1979.
Amr Moussa, a popular Presidential candidate in Egypt, has publicly stated that while Egypt still honors its peace with Israel, the accords are “dead.”

From the Inquisitr

Six army battalions called up under emergency orders to meet growing threat on Egypt, Syria borders

The IDF has issued emergency call up orders to six reserve battalions in light of new dangers on the Egyptian and Syrian borders. And the Knesset has given the IDF permission to summon a further 16 reserve battalions if necessary, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

An IDF spokesperson said intelligence assessments called for the deployment of more soldiers.

According to 2008′s Reserve Duty Law, combat soldiers can be called for active reserve duty once every three years, and for short training sessions during the other two. Rising tensions between Israel and Egypt and the ongoing unrest in Syria caused the army to ask the Knesset for special permission to call up more soldiers, more often.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the request recently, enabling the IDF to summon up to 22 battalions for active duty for the second time in three years. Already, the army has called up six of them.

“This signifies that the IDF regards the Egyptian and Syrian borders as the potential source of a greater threat than in the past,” the former deputy chief of staff, Dan Harel, said on Wednesday night.

“The army needs a better ‘answer’ than in the past to the threat,” he said, citing Egypt’s deteriorating control over the Sinai, marked by an upsurge in Bedouin smuggling of weapons and other goods. He also spoke of the growing threat of terrorism from Sinai, as exemplified by an infiltration last August in which eight Israelis were killed.

The Syrian situation was also highly combustible, Harel said, “and it could explode at any moment… and pose a direct challenge to us.”

Maariv said the army had to decide whether to cancel training sessions for enlisted soldiers or to summon additional reserve units, and it chose the latter; canceling training would mean soldiers would not be prepared in the case of an all-out war.

The IDF spokesperson said all the letters summoning soldiers for reserve duty were sent after the IDF received the approval of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for the larger call-up.

One of the reservists summoned told Maariv he hadn’t expected his call-up letter until next year. Leaving home for more than three weeks is something you have to prepare for, he noted.

Activists from the Reserve Soldiers Forum said they were disappointed time and again by the way the IDF treated its reserve soldiers. The law was supposed to help reservists, but it has been repeatedly bypassed and ignored, they said. “At the end, all that will remain of the law will be its title.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah warns against ‘settlement’ building in Jerusalem

Monarch reacts to plan for 1,100 hotel rooms in Givat Hamatos neighborhood

Jordan’s King Abdullah criticized Israel on Wednesday for plans to build some 1,100 hotel rooms in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Matos, Israel Radio reported.

 

Abdullah warned Israel, according to the report, that its policy of taking unilateral steps in Palestinian-claimed land would increase tensions and destabilize the region.

A day earlier, the Palestinian Authority and left-wing group Peace Now criticized the announcement by Jerusalem’s City Hall of the hotel plans.

The municipality had already approved the construction of 2,610 housing units in Givat Hamatos, which is located between the neighborhoods of Talpiot, Beit Safafa and Gilo, and another plan to build an additional 1,400 housing units is currently awaiting final approval.

On Monday, the city submitted its plans for the hotel rooms to the Planning and Building Committee. The rooms are to be built in an existing delapidated building, Israel Radio said.