Israel’s Olympic delegation has made their country proud by winning three medals on Saturday in the 2024 Olympic Games, including on by Israeli windsurfer Tom Reuveny who clinched his home country’s first gold medal in Paris.

Reuveny, 24, secured Israel’s first ever Olympic gold medal in men’s windsurfing and fourth gold medal overall in the country’s Olympic history. Second place went to Australia’s Grae Morris and the bronze medal was given to Luuc van Opzeeland from the Netherlands.

“It feels pretty amazing. It hasn’t sunk yet,” Reuveny said after his historic win. “I need some time to understand what just happened today but I’m pretty happy of my performance this week and I’m super proud of myself.”

Standing on the podium to receive his gold medal, it was the first time that Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” was played at the Paris Olympics. The coach of the Israeli men’s windsurfing team is Olympic gold medalist Gal Fridman, who won Israel’s first gold medal 20 years ago at the Olympic Games in Athens.

Reuveny’s brother is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as Israel wages its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip who orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. He said winning an Olympic gold means far more to him now amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. “My brother has been a combat soldier since the war began … it’s much bigger than me to win this event and it feels amazing,” he told Reuters.

“It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying over lost people, dead people,” he added. “It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and its all for this moment.”

Two more Israeli athletes won Olympic medals on Saturday, including Sharon Kantor, 21, who took home a silver in women’s windsurfing, shortly before Reuveny’s race. Reuveny and Kantor were originally scheduled to compete in the finals on Friday, but their races were postponed due to the weather. Kantor came in second place to Marta Maggetti from Italy and the bronze medal was awarded to Emma Wilson from Great Britain.

“We are in a tough year and a tough position … in this situation to represent Israel is a big honor for everyone and we all understand our roles: to give a bit of joy,” said Eli Zuckerman, head coach of Israel’s Olympic sailing team, according to Reuters. “I’m very happy that we succeeded,” he added. “I think the athletes are also very happy and very proud to do it while our country is in such a complicated situation.”

Kantor took to Instagram to share some of the emotions she felt after her win on Saturday.

“I’m writing it with tears in my eyes,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “This campaign was a roller coaster for me. I feel like I am 12 years old and that maybe I do not understand what history was made yesterday, especially in this horrible moment in Israel. Thank you for every message, every hug, every smile. The fans that were on the shore alongside the love and support from Home gave me the best feeling to go into the water.” She concluded the post by writing in Hebrew “Am Israel Chai” (“Long Live Israel”).

Israel has previously won a total of three medals in windsurfing — all achieved by the coaches of this year’s team in the Paris Olympics. Kantor’s coach won a bronze at the Olympics in 2008.

Also on Saturday, Ukrainian-Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, 27, won a silver in artistic gymnastics in the men’s floor exercise. Dolgopyat, who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, became the first Israeli to win a medal in back-to-back Olympics when he took home the silver on Saturday by scoring 14.966 in his performance. The gold medal went to Filipino gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo, who had a score of 15.

Israel had a three-day winning streak in the Paris Olympics that began on Thursday, when Peter Paltchik won a bronze medal in men’s judo and Inbar Lanir won a silver in women’s judo. On Friday night, Israeli judoka Raz Hershko won silver after losing 1-0 to Brazil’s Beatriz Souza in the final match of the women’s over 78-kg category.

Israel has won 19 Olympic medals in its history, including six so far in this year’s Olympic Games, making it already Israel’s best performance in Olympic history.

The post Israel Clinches Three Olympic Medals in One Day, Including First Gold, for Total of Six Medals in Paris first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

JNS.org — Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah could attack Israel as early as Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 countries on Sunday.

Three sources briefed on the conference call confirmed the top American diplomat’s remarks to Axios reporter Barak Ravid.

Blinken convened the meeting with the G7 allies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom — to coordinate ahead of the expected offensive by Iran and its terror proxies against the Jewish state.

He stressed that reducing the impact of the expected Iranian drone and missile strikes offered the best hope of preventing an all-out war, according to the report.

While Washington believes Iran and Hezbollah will retaliate against Israel for the targeted killings last week of senior Hezbollah member Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, it is unclear regarding what form that retaliation will take, said Blinken.

Nor, he added, does Washington know the exact timing of the expected attack. However, he emphasized that it could start as soon as the next 24 to 48 hours, meaning as soon as Monday.

Washington was attempting to “break the escalatory cycle” by limiting the attacks by Iran and its proxies and also by restraining Israel’s response to them, said Blinken according to Axios.

“Blinken asked the other foreign ministers to apply diplomatic pressure on Iran, Hezbollah and Israel to maintain maximum restraint,” the report continued.

He also stressed to the G7 allies that the bolstering of US forces in the Middle East region was for defensive purposes only.

“We express our deep concern over the heightened level of tension in the Middle East which threatens to ignite a broader conflict in the region,” the G7 ministers said in a statement.

“We urge all involved parties to refrain from perpetuating the current destructive cycle of retaliatory violence, to lower tensions and engage constructively towards de-escalation. No country or nation stands to gain from further escalation in the Middle East,” it continues.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), arrived in the Middle East on Saturday for a previously planned trip the focus of which has now shifted to mobilizing a multilateral defensive force to shield Israel.

Kurilla was expected in Israel on Monday. Israeli officials told Axios that Kurilla will meet with the Israel Defense Forces to finalize preparations ahead of the possible Iranian and Hezbollah attacks. He was also scheduled to visit the Gulf states and Jordan.

Biden to convene national security team

US President Joe Biden plans to convene his national security team in the Situation Room on Monday to discuss the developments in the Middle East, according to the White House.

The president will also speak with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the White House said. Amman played a pivotal role during Iran’s April 13 onslaught on Israel.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi visited Tehran on Sunday to discuss the security situation. According to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Safadi met with acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri and passed along a message from King Abdullah II to the Iranian president.

“I didn’t come here to convey a message from Israel or to receive a message for Israel. I came here to express concern about regional escalation,” Axios quoted Safadi as saying after his meeting in Tehran.

Underscoring the regional tensions, the visit marks the first diplomatic trip to the Islamic Republic by a high-level Jordanian official since Safadi’s predecessor, Nasser Judeh, led a government delegation to Tehran in 2015.

Iranian officials have told Arab diplomats that Tehran is determined to strike Israel even if doing so sparks a regional war, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the chiefs of Israel’s security agencies on Sunday evening for a situation assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Channel 12 News reported, noting that the government is still creating a “definitive picture” of the assault it could be facing.

The report said that Israel’s defense establishment was considering the possibility of “preventive actions or attacks … in Lebanon or perhaps in other places where necessary.”

A source in Jerusalem told NBC News earlier on Sunday that the government is bracing for a combined attack by Iran and Hezbollah lasting “several days,” with missile attacks from the north and east.

The post Blinken to G7: Iran, Hezbollah Could Attack Israel Within 24 Hours first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran is not looking to escalate regional tensions but believes it needs to punish Israel to prevent further instability, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

“Iran seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime [Israel],” Nasser Kanaani said, adding that action from Tehran was inevitable.

Kanaani called on the United States to stop supporting Israel, saying the international community had failed in its duty to safeguard stability in the region and should support the “punishment of the aggressor.”

Iran‘s foreign ministry called in ambassadors and heads of missions residing in Tehran for a meeting with acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Monday to reiterate Iran‘s will to respond to Israel.

An emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be held on Wednesday at Iran‘s request to discuss the killing of Haniyeh and Iran‘s response, said Kanaani.

Tehran and Iran-aligned groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah have accused Israel of killing Haniyeh on July 31 in the Iranian capital. His death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel nears its 11th month.

Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ top Commander Hossein Salami on Monday repeated the elite group’s threat that Israel “will receive punishment in due time.”

The post Iran Says It Does Not Want Regional Escalation but Must ‘Punish’ Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.