Shalom and good evening, this is TV7 Israel
News broadcast to you from Jerusalem;
And in today’s top stories;
The Israeli Supreme Court announces its decision
to reject all petitions against Premier Benjamin
Netanyahu and the coalition agreement; heralding
the imminent formation of Jerusalem’s national
emergency government.
U.S. President Donald Trump has vetoed a resolution
that would have limited his ability to wage
war against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened
the United States with a “crushing response”
if it would move ahead with plans to extend
an international embargo on Iran’s trade
of conventional weapons.
The 
Israeli Supreme Court issued a statement late
last night, announcing its decision - within
its constitutional capacity as the country’s
High Court of Justice - to reject all of the
petitions that sought to disqualify Premier
Benjamin Netanyahu’s right to form a government,
as well as the petitions against the coalition-agreement
that effectively brought’ about an end to
over 480 days of Jerusalem’s political deadlock.
The court’s statement reads: “The legal
conclusion that we have reached in no way
detracts from either the severity of the charges
about ethical breaches that are pending against
Netanyahu or the inherent difficulty in the
tenure of a prime minister who has been charged
with crimes.
But this outcome is derived from the law and,
having said so—we must also cite that he
continues to enjoy the presumption of innocence.”
The statement further reads: “The court’s
role is limited to examining grounds for judicial
review that are stipulated by the law.
As such, when the court refrains from intervening
on one appointment or another, one should
only deduce, that the decision about the appointment
is not against the law.”
It is important to mention that the ruling
rejecting the petitions, against Netanyahu
and against the coalition agreement, were
made unanimously by a panel of eleven justices,
headed by Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.
Consequently, the Israeli parliament – or
Knesset in Hebrew - push through the final
laws and amendments respectively that were
necessary to legally accommodate the coalition
agreement for a national Emergency Government.
Subsequently, members of Parliament Speaker
Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party have
signed a document in which they formally endorse
Benjamin Netanyahu as their candidate for
Prime Minister, which will be submitted shortly
to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
The Israeli head of state is now legally required
to grant Netanyahu fourteen days to form the
agreed-upon National Emergency Government.
Meanwhile;
Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and
White parties issued a joint statement, in
which they announced that they concluded the
establishment of the government.
The statement further announced that “The
swearing in ceremony will be held next Wednesday,
May the 13th.”
Turning now to Washington, where;
U.S. President Donald Trump has vetoed a resolution
that would have limited his ability to wage
war against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Amid the Trump Administration’s maximum
pressure campaign against the Ayatollah regime,
in response to Tehran’s expansionist foreign
policy that declaratively aims ‘to export
by “all means attainable” the ideology
of the Islamic Revolution to the rest of the
world’; the U.S. congress, which is controlled
by the Democratic party, managed to pass a
restraining resolution – titled S.J.
Res. 68 – through both the House of Representatives
and subsequently through the Republican-controlled
Senate.
The Resolution in question sought to oblige
President Trump to withdraw all American forces
that are engaged in hostilities against the
Islamic Republic unless the U.S. Congress
would officially declare war or alternately
authorize specific use of military force.
It is important to recall that the bill, which
was initially introduced by Democratic Senator
Tim Kaine, sought to rebuke President Trump
for his decision to authorize a strike that
killed the commander of the Islamic Republic’s
Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, major general
Qassem Soleimani.
The targeted assassination of the Iranian
general, who was responsible for the killing
of countless people (including Americans and
Europeans), consequently sparked Iranian retaliation
that seemingly stoked prospects of a wide-scale’
war.
Nevertheless, in spite of repeated (Iranian-orchestrated)
attacks against U.S. installations across
the region – including three Katyusha rockets
that were fired in the direction of a base
hosting U.S. forces adjacent to the Iraqi
airport in Baghdad yesterday – President
Donald Trump refrained from escalating the
situation militarily.
Instead, the Trump Administration persistently
uses its financial power to subdue the Ayatollah
Regime and its supporters.
In line with this policy, U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo has once again cautioned
the international community from doing business
with Iranian entities, as many of them are
funding the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards.
During a State Department press briefing last
night, the top American diplomat also seized
the opportunity to praise Germany for its
decision to designate the Iranian Lebanese-proxy
Hezbollah ‘a terrorist organization.’
“Last week, the United States sanctioned
an individual and his company who were doing
business with the IRG(C) Quds Force for years,
generating revenue and resources for their
terror campaign.
Anyone conducting business with Iranian entities
should exercise extreme caution to ensure
that they are not working with the IRGC.
And I’d like to take this moment to commend
our German friends for banning Hezbollah and
taking strong action against suspected Hizballah
supporters.
I hope that all other EU member states will
follow.”
In response to a question about Israeli reports
vis-à-vis an Iranian military scale back
from Syria, Secretary Pompeo noted that while
the United States has nothing to add, it is
aligned with Washington’s foreign policy
which demands an Iranian departure from Israel’s
northern war-torn neighbor.
“I don’t have anything that I can add
to with respect of what the Israeli defense
– I think it was an Israeli defense official
that said that.
But we have been very clear to the Assad regime
all along, and to the Russians in Syria: The
Iranians need to leave.
They need to leave not only the southwest
corner that has a direct and real impact on
Israel and risks to the Golan, but more broadly
throughout the country.”
Secretary Pompeo further highlighted Iran’s
responsibility for many of the atrocities
that occurred during the years-long conflict
in Syria – as well as the consequences there-of.
“The very terror regime that we talk about
in the Islamic Republic of Iran has got a
campaign that supports what Assad has done
that has brutalized and destroyed the lives
of hundreds of thousands, caused six or seven
million people to have to flee Syria.
The Iranian regime is responsible for that
in the same way that the Syrian regime is.
We hope that they’ll rethink that and get
back to doing what Iran needs to do, which
is to take care of its own people in this
very difficult time inside the Islamic Republic
of Iran.
We think those resources could be much better
used to support the Iranian people.”
Turning now to Tehran, where;
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened
the United States with a “crushing response”
if it would move ahead with plans to extend
an international embargo on Iran’s trade
of conventional weapons.
The embargo in question is due to expire in
October of this year; yet under the relevant
United Nations Resolution 2231 – if the
Islamic Republic is in breach of its nuclear-related
commitments, an extension of the arms embargo
– among others - is possible.
It is important to explain that the U.N. resolution
in question is also the only legal document
that technically backed the so-called 2015
nuclear deal with Iran, which was never signed
by any of the parties involved.
This is why the Iranians insist that the Trump
Administration is no longer a party to the
deal, consequently, has no legal grounds to
thwart Tehran’s aspirations to acquire conventional
weapons.
"The Americans have woken up and realized
they have made a big mistake by leaving the
nuclear deal.
They know it was a foul move to tear up the
JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).
They see that they are stuck, they can't go
back and there is no way forward."
President Rouhani further stressed that unless
the United States lifts all of the sanctions
it imposed on Iran and compensates for what
he views as ‘America’s mistakes’, the
Islamic Republic will not accept Washington’s
renewed involvement.
"For the Americans, there is no JCPOA (to
go back to).
It is over.
Unless they (U.S.) come back and make a request
and we (Iran & P4+1) consider it and decide
to accept it, only if America compensates
for all of its mistakes.
If America wants to return to the deal, it
should lift all the sanctions."
Thank you for watching us.
As part of TV7’s global prayer initiative,
I would like to encourage you to join myself
and the team here in Jerusalem to pray today
for the peace and salvation of Nigeria, alongside
our ongoing prayers for the peace of Jerusalem,
the peace and salvation of Israel, as well
as for all those who are impacted by the corona
contagion world-wide.
I am Jonathan Hessen, have an Erev Tov, and
we will see you again tomorrow at the same
time.
