Belgium-Iran Prisoner Swap

In a surprise announcement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for snap elections this week, breaking apart the coalition he built with the far-left United We Can party.

On Monday, Sánchez brought forward a national election expected in December to July 23 after the conservative Popular Party, or PP, and far-right Vox movement dramatically increased their vote share in local and regional elections on Sunday.

Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, or PSOE, has led a minority government with United We Can since 2019, but arguments with his coalition partners have increasingly dominated headlines. United We Can’s leadership is also engaged in a separate feud with Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, who has started her own political movement, Sumar.

Calling for earlier elections was a needed wakeup call for the feuding parties. United We Can’s leader, Ione Belarra, summarily announced a reboot of negotiations with Sumar on an electoral

Iran freed a Belgian aid worker imprisoned in Tehran for 455 days on charges of spying, in exchange for Belgium releasing a former Iranian diplomat who was convicted in 2021 of a thwarted bomb plot, officials from both countries said last Friday.

The aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, was flown late Thursday from Tehran to Muscat, the capital of Oman, where the exchange took place, Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, said.

“At this moment, our compatriot Olivier Vandecasteele is on his way to Belgium,” De Croo said in a video address from Brussels, confirming that the government had secured Vandecasteele’s release. He added that Vandecasteele had undergone medical examinations to assess his health after more than a year “under very difficult conditions.”

Vandecasteele had worked in Iran for five years until he lost his job in March 2021 and left the country. When he returned to retrieve some belongings in February of last year, he was arrested by Iranian authorities, who sentenced him to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges of espionage, money laundering and currency smuggling. The Belgian government had called Vandecasteele’s imprisonment arbitrary.

In exchange for Vandecasteele being freed, Oman negotiated the release of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat who was arrested in Germany in 2020 on accusations of plotting a bomb attack at a meeting of Iranian opposition leaders in France in 2018. The attack was thwarted, but he was later convicted in Brussels in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In a statement posted to Twitter earlier Friday, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, thanked the Omani government for brokering the exchange and sending Assadi, “the innocent diplomat of our country, who was illegally detained in Germany and Belgium for more than two years against international law,” back to Iran.

Belgium’s parliament approved a much-criticized treaty with Iran in July of last year that allowed for prisoner exchanges between the two countries. Critics of the treaty said that the country was surrendering to a form of blackmail from Iran, which puts foreigners more at risk of being taken hostage.

On Friday, Belgian authorities said they had not used the treaty in negotiating Vandecasteele’s release, according to the Belga news agency. Still, analysts say, Iran has made a practice of using Westerners as pawns. (© The New York Times)

Cholera in Kenya

refugees have been affected so far “and there is an imminent risk of outbreaks of other gastro-intestinal diseases.”

The Dadaab camps host more than 300,000 people, and with a worsening drought in neighboring Somalia, the numbers are on the rise, consequently straining water and sanitation services.

Plans are in the works to open another refugee camp to accommodate the overflow.

“All efforts to ease the overcrowding must include significant investment in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector to ensure a minimum standard of living for refugees in all the camps,” said Hassan Maiyaki, MSF country director in Kenya.

In 2016, the Kenyan government had announced plans to close down the Dadaab camps, citing insecurity because of reports that extremists from Somalia’s al-Shabab group were hiding there and the camps were a conduit for smuggling weapons.

The United Nations urged Kenya to reconsider that plan and continue to offer refuge to victims of violence and trauma.

The discussion on the closure has since then been on and off, with several ultimatums given to the UN refugee agency, the latest being in 2021.

Rav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l

for those who needed support and was the destination for those who needed guidance – whether in halacha, hadracha or even in Israeli politics. He told people to encourage and persuade their children as opposed to forcing their children to do what’s right.

Outside the charedi world, Rav Gershon was respected for promoting a peaceful coexistence and easing tensions between charedi and secular Jews in Israel.

HaRav Baruch Dov Povarsky spoke at the levaya, “Like Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Edelstein did not want leadership, but accepted it when it was thrust upon him. His humility, devotion and wisdom are a guiding light for generations to come.”

Rav Gershon’s son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Edelstein, recalled how his father didn’t share a chumra he had made for himself over Pesach “Our father did not want to pressure us, or anyone else, into devoutness. Make no mistake: He wanted us to be devout, but from within, not from without.”

Meir Tamari, Hy”d

past year, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank, in the wake of a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.

Herzog Heads to Azerbaijan

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of people joined in the levaya of HaRav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l, who passed away at the age of 100.

The levaya began in the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, which he led for the past 23 years. Rav Gershon was buried in the cemetery in Bnei Brak.

One of the gedolei hador, Rav Gershon was revered for his approach in chinuch and his humility. He was a beacon

Meir Tamari, 32, was shot and killed in an attack near Hermesh on Tuesday.

Tamari was driving when he was shot by someone in another passing vehicle. He managed to drive to Hermesh, which is west of Jenin, and then was treated by medics. Unfortunately, the father of two did not survive the multiple gunshot wounds.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops launched a manhunt for the gunmen, closing off several roads in the area.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, loosely linked to the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

“We affirm that this operation and others will not be the final response to our martyrs,” the terrorist group’s statement read.

Tamari had moved to Hermesh four years ago after getting married to his wife, Tal. He is survived by Tal and their two young children, aged one and three.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been elevated for the

While meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Baku on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog stressed the threat that Iran poses to regional stability.

In his public remarks after the meeting, Herzog said he and Ilham Aliyev spoke in depth about “the entire global and regional security structure that is endangered and threatened by Iran.”

The Israeli leader added, “Visiting Azerbaijan is a dream come true for me and for my nation.”

For his part, Aliyev said that the March opening of Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tel Aviv created “more opportunities to have a closer interaction.”

Aliyev lauded the defense cooperation between the countries, saying that Baku “has access to modern Israeli equipment in this area for many years, which helps us to modernize our defense capability, and to be able to protect our statehood, our values, our national interest, and our territorial integrity.”

Israel is one of Azerbaijan’s leading arms suppliers. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel provided 69 percent of Baku’s major arms imports in 2016-2020, accounting for 17% of Jerusalem’s arms exports over that period.

Israel stepped up its weapons shipments to Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan emerged victorious in that six-week war with Armenia, which claimed the lives of more than 6,000 soldiers and resulted in Baku regaining control over disputed territories.

Herzog’s visit is the latest step in an ongoing and very public expansion of bilateral ties with Azerbaijan, a Shiite-majority country closely allied with Turkey that has seen its partnership with Israel flourish in the wake of Israeli support during its 2020 conflict.

Azerbaijan is located on Iran’s northern border. Israel buys more than 30 percent of its oil from Baku. Aliyev said that he hopes for a more diverse trade between the two countries.

Herzog and his wife, Michal, were received by an honor guard at the Zugulba presidential palace, with the playing of Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva.”

Israeli Dies When Boat Capsizes in Italy

Ten other Israelis survived the disaster and were taken home by a military plane.

Italian media reported that most of those on board were former or current intelligence personnel from at least two countries. Eighteen of the 20 survivors of the disaster were former or current agents and were hastily evacuated from hospitals and hotels “so as not to leave a trace,” according to the Italian reports.

Two of the other victims were Italians — a 62-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman — who both worked in the intelligence services, Italy’s security services said.

“The two employees, belonging to the intelligence department, were taking part in a convivial meeting organized to celebrate the birthday of one of the group,” it said in a statement.

The fourth victim was a 50-year-old Russian woman, the partner of the boat’s captain.