Today’s Top Stories
1. An estimated 40,000 Syrian civilians are starving to death in the besieged city of Madaya. The most recent aid convoy was delayed, and Assad supporters have taken to social media to cruelly taunt Madaya with photos of food. Vice takes note of Hezbollah’s role in the siege while the Christian Science Monitor reports that the Lebanese public is disturbed by Hezbollah’s tactics.
For the past six months, Hezbollah fighters have helped Syrian troops mount a siege on Madaya, west of Damascus and 7.5 miles from Lebanon’s eastern border, using checkpoints, snipers, and landmines to hem in the population.
The last food deliveries to reach Madaya were on Oct. 18. With food stocks depleted, starving residents have been forced to eat grass, leaves, and water flavored with spices.
Tweeted photos of starving children on #Madaya were pretty disturbing. Tweet of the day goes to Dutch journalist Remco Andersen.
Woke up to more pictures of children starving to death in #Madaya due to siege by Hezbollah. Hezbollah, valiant defenders of the oppressed.
— Remco Andersen (@RemcoAnd) January 10, 2016
2. Nashat Milhem killed in gunfight with Israeli security forces. He had been hiding in the northern Israeli Arab town of Arara with the help of people in the community, but he eventually made a mistake. Palestinians lauded the Tel Aviv terrorist as a hero and martyr.
3. Palestinian terrorist Omar Nayef Zayed has evaded extradition by hiding in the PA consulate in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. He escaped from Israeli custody after murdering a yeshiva student in 1986. After learning he was living in Bulgaria, Israeli formal requested his extradition, but the PA consulate will not comply with the warrant, Palestinian officials said.
4. New York Times Admits Leaving Out Context: Reporter surprised that not one, but four of the people interviewed said they were taken out of context.
Israel and the Intifada
• Israeli security busted a Hamas terror cell in eastern Jerusalem plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Netanyahu. Police also broke up another Hebron-based Hamas terror cell planning a highway shooting attack.
• On Saturday morning, soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint shot and killed two Palestinians trying to stab them. On Thursday night, three Palestinians trying to stab soldiers at the Gush Etziyon Junction were shot and killed. Two hours later, another Palestinian trying to stab soldiers south of Hebron was shot and killed.
• Hoax photo of ‘Tel Aviv shooter’ fools social media.
• Press freedom, Palestinian style: Mahmoud Abbas appointed a Fatah spokesman to “supervise” the PA’s official news agency, Wafa, and the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. (which includes Palestine TV and the Voice of Palestine radio station). The Jerusalem Post explains this was in response to a 45-minute interview on Palestine TV in which PA official Jibril Rajoub criticized the PA leadership:
Following the interview, Abbas and some of his aides expressed outrage with Palestine TV for providing Rajoub with a platform to sound his criticism of the PA leadership.
The appointment of Assaf is seen by top Fatah officials as part of Abbas’s effort to tighten his grip on the PA’s official media outlets and silence his critics.
• The Knesset’s mulling a bill that would label products from countries that label Israeli products. According to the Jerusalem Post:
Moalem-Refaeli’s bill would require products imported from countries that label Israeli goods, or wares from parts of Israel, to be labeled “Attention: This product is manufactured in a country that chose to label goods from the State of Israel” in Hebrew.
• Members of the American Historical Association rejected a resolution condemning what it called excessive Israeli restrictions on Palestinian higher education. See New York Times coverage and important background (written before the AHA vote) at the Times of Israel.
• Vandals destroy crosses at Israel Christian cemetery. AFP coverage.
• Worth reading: PBS Frontline interviews Israel’s former ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, about the Obama-Netanyahu relationship.
Mideast Matters
• US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah financier Ali Youssef Charara and his telecommunications company.
• Israeli medics, Syrian war victims forge unlikely bond
Around the World
• According to Kuwaiti media reports picked up on by the Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Netanyahu will join forces with moderate Arab states to foil Barack Obama’s bid to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN Secretary General.
• Report finds sharp spike in anti-Semitic incidents across France.
• A pair of far-right Czech politicians were charged with supporting century-old blood libel.
• French auction house pulls portrait equating Marwan Barghouti with Nelso Mandela.
Commentary/Analysis
• Lead Screed goes to UCLA Professor Saree Makdisi, who argues in a Los Angeles Times op-ed why Israeli schools deserve to be boycotted. Spoiler alert:
One must conclude that Israel’s educational system is intended to consolidate the nation’s putative Jewish identity and further dispossess the Palestinians.
• BDS: A weapon of Islamic warfare
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Horovitz: Nashat Milhem: An aberration or the first of a new and terrible trend?
– Avi Issacharoff: After Tel Aviv shooter killed, difficult questions for police and Israeli Arabs
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Authority, Hamas, responsible for torture
– Yossi Yehoshua: Hamas set on carrying out attacks from West Bank
– British MP Andrew Percy: How not to help Palestinian children
– Prof. Alan Eppel: The imperial mindset, the BBC, and Israel
– Jonathan Tobin: Not too late for Obama on Iran
Featured image: CC BY Robert Couse-Baker; Netanyahu CC BY IsraelinUSA; Obama CC BY-NC-ND NASA HQ Photo; Makdisi via YouTube/Western University;
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