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Israel rubber-stamps UAE peace agreement

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Israel’s Knesset on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favor of the U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Israeli lawmakers voted 80 to 13 to approve the historical deal, paving the way for peace and an economic relationship between the two nations. The UAE is the third Arab country to recognize the State of Israel, following the leads of Egypt and Jordan, who recognized it in 1979 and 1994 respectively.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and the Jerusalem Post, has unanimously okayed the agreement.

This agreement between Israel and the UAE, alongside a separate agreement between Israel and Bahrain, are together dubbed the Abraham Accords. Both were brokered by the U.S. and when it was announced that all three Middle Eastern countries had agreed to the Accords, they celebrated it at the White House back in September.

The Abraham Accords were a much-needed foreign policy victory for President Donald Trump in his re-election bid, who, according to the polls, has been struggling to beat his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

It has been heavily predicted by experts that this Israel-UAE agreement will help bolster the economies of these two influential countries, hopefully impacting the wider regional economy in a positive manner. Additionally, the agreement opens the door for increased security cooperation between the two countries, which could potentially impact the balance of power in the region on a dramatic scale.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

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Former senior Army officer indicted for sharing defense secrets with woman in Ukraine he met on dating website

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The Justice Department (DOJ) accused a former senior Army officer assigned to U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) of giving out classified defense secrets to a woman he met on a foreign dating website in an indictment unsealed Monday night. According to the indictment, David Franklin Slater, who had retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, allegedly sent information labeled SECRET from approximately February to April 2022.

Slater was working as a civilian employee for STRATCOM, which oversees U.S. nuclear forces, where he held a Top Secret security clearance and had access to sensitive briefings about Russia’s war against Ukraine. The individual receiving the information claimed to be a woman from Ukraine.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reports:

The woman called Slater her “secret informant love” and her “secret agent,” according to a transcript of their exchanges included in the indictment.

She frequently asked him to provide “sensitive, non-public, closely held and classified” defense information, the DOJ said in a press release. Some of that information pertained to military targets related to Russia’s war in Ukraine and U.S. information on Russian military capabilities.

“American Intelligence says that already 100% of Russian troops are located on the territory of Ukraine. Do you think this information can be trusted?” the conspirator asked on March 7, 2022, the first request mentioned in the indictment.

Others followed on a regular basis.

“By the way, you were the first to tell me that NATO members are traveling by train and only now (already evening) this was announced on our news. You are my secret informant love! How were your meetings? Successfully?” the conspirator messaged Slater on March 15, 2022.

Another request for classified information in March was signed, “You are my secret agent. With love.”

In each of the cases, Slater provided the requested secret information, the indictment alleges.

“Sweet Dave, the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!” the conspirator told Slater in on April 12.

Authorities arrested Slater on Saturday, according to a press release accompanying the indictment. The DOJ charged Slater with one count of conspiracy to disclose national defense information and two counts of unauthorized disclosure.

He was set to make his first court appearance on Tuesday; if convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000, according to the DOJ.

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