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Israeli Prof. Appeals to Netanyahu to ‘Rescue Him from Biden’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, on February 23, 2023. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, on February 23, 2023. (AFP)
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Israeli Prof. Appeals to Netanyahu to ‘Rescue Him from Biden’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, on February 23, 2023. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, on February 23, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli professor Gal Luft has appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to “rescue” him from being imprisoned in the US.

The Larnaca District Courthouse held on Friday a session to look into the American authorities' request to extradite Luft to be brought to trial in the US over breaching the law of selling oil and weapons.

Luft said the prosecution is politically motivated over incriminating information he has in a corruption case against Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden.

Luft, 56, an energy security and diplomatic expert, serves as the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).

He was arrested at the Larnaca International Airport, in Cyprus, after Interpol issued an arrest warrant against him on suspicion of arms trafficking to Libya and China.

Luft went on to deny suspicions leveled against him, stressing that he has “never been an arms dealer” and further claiming that the US Justice Department is “trying to bury me to protect Biden” and his family.

He added that he was being targeted for information handed in 2019 as part of Hunter Biden’s alleged corruption case.

After his arrest, Luft sent letters to Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and the International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Justice and asked them to intervene to rescue him.

Speaking to the Ynet studio on Sunday, Luft's attorney Mordechai Tzivin said: “When there is a political motive, Interpol does not extradite, or when there is a danger to someone’s life. I don't want to say that he is in mortal danger, but he is indeed in great danger.”

Tzivin expressed concern about handing over his client to the US.

The Cypriot court on Friday decided to release Luft but keep him under house arrest and made him turn over his passport.

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Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
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Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran

Iran’s supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran’s proxies, warning that if his country chose to “take action,” it would not need them anyway.
Ali Khamenei told a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran, “They keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake. If one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force,” according to his website.
Khamenei then attacked the United States and its ally Israel over developments in Syria, and hinted at internal criticism of Iran's regional role.
“Their plans in Syria led to unrest and chaos, and now the United States, the Zionist regime, and their allies, feeling victorious, have resorted to extravagant claims and nonsensical talk, like the followers of devil,” he said.
The Iranian leader then quoted an American official as saying that Washington will “provide assistance and support to anyone causing unrest in Iran.”
Such statements, he said, are an example of the enemies’ boastful rhetoric. “The Iranian nation with their strong steps will trample underfoot any US mercenary who accepts this role,” he added.
Khamenei then addressed the Israelis saying, “You Zionists haven’t won; you’ve been defeated. Yes, you were able to advance a few kilometers in Syria where there wasn't even one soldier with a gun to stop you. That’s not victory. Indeed, the courageous, devout, young people of Syria will definitely expel you from there.”
He added, “You wretched people! Where have you won? Have you won in Gaza? Have you destroyed Hamas? Have you freed your own prisoners? Is this victory to kill over 40,000 people without being able to achieve even one of your goals? Despite killing Hassan Nasrallah, have you managed to eliminate Hezbollah in Lebanon?”
Khamenei also affirmed that Iran has not lost its proxies in the region.
“Iran doesn’t have proxy forces. Yemen fights due to their faith. Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so,” he said.
IRGC commander Hossein Salami, five days after Assad's fall, had denied that Iran had lost its regional arms. “Some suggest the Iranian regime has lost its arms, but this is not true. The regime still has its arms,” he said.