Top Israeli Delegation to Visit Washington to Discuss Nuclear Deal

Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during an event at the home of the US ambassador to Israel (File photo: Getty Images)
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during an event at the home of the US ambassador to Israel (File photo: Getty Images)
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Top Israeli Delegation to Visit Washington to Discuss Nuclear Deal

Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during an event at the home of the US ambassador to Israel (File photo: Getty Images)
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during an event at the home of the US ambassador to Israel (File photo: Getty Images)

A high-ranking Israeli delegation will head to Washington within the coming weeks to meet with their US counterparts and discuss the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

The delegation will include army chief Aviv Kochavi, head of Mossad Yossi Cohen, and Chief of Staff for National Security Meir Ben Shabbat. They will discuss the dangers of the nuclear deal on Israel, the US, and the allies in the Middle East and Europe, according to informed sources in Tel Aviv.

The delegation will travel later this month for consultations with the US military and security leadership, including White House officials.

They will present evidence that Iran is moving forward in its military nuclear and ballistic missile projects, aiming to dominate the region. They will also display updated images of the latest operations.

Israel wants to convey its message that an agreement with Iran leads to easing the sanctions, encouraging Tehran to boost its powers against US and Western interests in general, and it will harm Israel and Arab allies of Washington.

The visit is evidence of a change in the position of the Israeli security establishment on Iran.

The security services, with all their apparatuses and most of their generals, opposed the position of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for more than 12 years, and opposed a war against Iran in 2010 and 2011.

Despite the strong opposition, Cohen agrees with Netanyahu and Kochavi, and announced that he had given instructions to draw up a war plan to destroy the Iranian nuclear project.

Speaking at an event commemorating the Holocaust, Netanyahu warned Israel's allies against signing an agreement allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

The nuclear deal with Iran is being discussed again, said the prime minister, warning that such agreements are worthless, and they will not force Israel into agreeing to anything.

“Only one thing is necessary for us, which is to prevent anyone seeking to destroy us from implementing their plan.”

Sources in Tel Aviv said that Israel is taking several steps to fail the Iranian projects.

Recently, a number of media outlets reported that Israel has a number of covert operations against Iran similar to the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, stealing of the nuclear archive from Tehran, and the attack against Iranian ships.

Military sources criticized this leak saying such moves are “not beneficial for countries defending their presence.”

However, a number of observers support the leaks saying they are "a message to the enemy", indicating that the recent attack on the Saviz ship in the Red Sea, which was attributed to Israel, was done deliberately at the launch of the Vienna talks discussing the Iranian nuclear program and US sanctions.



European Court Rules Against Greece over Migrant’s Illegal Deportation

FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
TT

European Court Rules Against Greece over Migrant’s Illegal Deportation

FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

The European Court of Human Rights, in a landmark ruling Tuesday, found that Greece had illegally deported a woman back to neighboring Türkiye and described the use of summary expulsions or “pushbacks” as systematic.
The decision at the court in Strasbourg, France could impact how Europe handles migrants at its borders, at a time when Greece and several European Union member states are seeking tougher immigration controls, The Associated Press reported.
A Turkish woman — identified only by her initials A.R.E. — was awarded damages of 20,000 euros ($21,000) after the court ruled that she had been improperly expelled in 2019 after crossing the Greek-Turkish border, having been presented no opportunity to make an asylum claim.
“The court considered that there were strong indications to suggest that there had existed, at the time of the events alleged, a systematic practice of ‘pushbacks’ of third-country nationals by the Greek authorities, from the Evros region (on the Greek border) to Türkiye,” the decision said.
Citing a lack of evidence, the court rejected a second claim made by an Afghan man, who said he had been illegally returned to Türkiye from the Greek island of Samos in 2020 when he was 15.
Greek government representatives at the hearings had denied the allegations, challenging the authenticity of the evidence presented and arguing that Greece's border policies comply with international law.
The UN refugee agency has urged Greece to more thoroughly investigate multiple pushback allegations, while several major human rights groups have described the alleged irregular deportations as a systematic practice.
Greece’s National Transparency Authority, a publicly-funded corruption watchdog, said that it found no evidence to support the pushback allegations following a four-month investigation in 2022.
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court based in Strasbourg, France, that adjudicates human rights violations by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a body older than the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community.