NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT MONDAY 9/23/2019

The Israeli political maneuvering to form a new government with 55 members of Parliament recommending Benjamin Netanyahu to President Reuven Rivlin as the next Prime Minister and 54 recommending Benny Gantz.

Both numbers short of a 61 seat majority.

The math changed in recent hours with the Balad faction of the Joint Arab List (three seats) withdrawing support for Gantz who previously had the support of 57 members.

This move made it likely President Rivlin would give Netanyahu the first attempt at forming a new government.

The Joint Arab List endorsement of Gantz Sunday created a firestorm giving Netanyahu an emotional issue to increase his political momentum and the withdrawal may have been a deliberate move to defuse the issue.

 But now (Monday)  Mr. Netanyahu is pushing for a "unity government" where Mr. Gantz's Blue and White Party will join Netanyahu and his allies (including religious parties) in a government and President Reuven Rivlin is also said to be involved in applying pressure for such a "unity government"

Benny Gantz meeting in Jerusalem Monday afternoon with outgoing US "Deal of the Century" envoy Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador David Freidman.

"....very high degree of probability"

is what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now saying with it likely that Iran was behind the early Saturday morning September 14th attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

LATER IN THE DAY MONDAY FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE UK ISSUING A JOINT STATEMENT BLAMING IRAN FOR THE ATTACKS.

IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER JAVAD ZARIF SAYING  MONDAY THAT THERE CAN BE NO NEW NUCLEAR DEAL UNLESS FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE UK COMPLY WITH THE EXISTING JCPOA NUCLEAR DEAL.

ZARIF SAYS THOSE THREE NATIONS ARE ECHOING US POLICY ON IRAN INSTEAD OF PROVIDING ECONOMIC SUPPORT TO IRAN UNDER THE JCPOA.

Iranian backed Houthi rebels who have been involved in a brutal war with a Saudi military coalition in Yemen say they were involved in the attacks.

Five members of a Houthi family reported killed in Saudi coalition airstrikes in Yemen.  More from "ANI" in India.....LINK

Two rockets landed in the "Green Zone" of Baghdad Monday night.    They came down around a kilometer (.6 miles) from the US Embassy.

A nuclear test off the coast of South Africa 40 years ago Sunday (September 22, 1979)  has been cited in speculation over the years as evidence that the South African government during the apartheid era was involved in a nuclear weapons program.

But "Foreign Policy" magazine reporting over the weekend that Israel was the prime suspect when a US spy satellite detected the nuclear explosion.

Then President Jimmy Carter decided for the sake of the Camp David Peace Accord between Israel and Egypt to overlook the matter and not attribute the explosion to Israel with an investigation designed to say no nuclear explosion occurred at the time.

More from "Foreign Policy"......LINK

A major business failure in the UK.   The Thomas Cook travel firm going under over the weekend.   Over 20-thousand employed by the company and some 150-thousand travelers said to be stranded around the world.

The British government arranging charter flights to bring vacationers home.

Hundreds of arrests reported in Egypt following anti-government protests over the weekend.

Nine arrested in Spain's Catalonia in early Monday morning raids accused of rebellion and terrorism.     The nine said to be part of Catalonian separtist organization.

"How dare you, you stole my dreams  and my childhood!"

Just some of what the Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg had to say at a United Nations forum on climate change today.    World leaders accused of failing on climate.

Amd that reminds me that when I was young around 1970 I was told in the media that the air would not be breathable in 10 to 15 years.

President Trump walked into the climate summit of the UN by surprise today to hear Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocate for action on climate change hailing India's "renewable energy".

President Trump meeting world leaders at the United Nations Monday among them Pakistan's Imran Khan and New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern.

And back to the United Kingdom and the story of a man on trial accused of stirring up racial hatred.     He explains to the jury that the "country is in a mess".   The BBC spins its tale of what's going on......LINK

And that's the way it really is Monday September 23rd, 2019.