Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel’s watching this development carefully: Egypt relinquished control of two islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia. The move settles an Egyptian-Saudi maritime dispute and paves the way for the two countries to build a bridge linking Saudi Arabia to Sharm El-Sheikh, which is at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
It’s not clear what the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands means for Israeli shipping and naval operations.
Saudi Arabia allowed Egypt to take control of the islands in 1950 and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser blocked Israeli ships from crossing through the Straits of Tiran in May 1967. Israel used the blockade as one of its casus belli in launching a pre-emptive strike against Egypt in the Six-Day War. Israel occupied the islands from 1967 until the full implementation of the Camp David Accords – the Israel-Egypt peace treaty – in 1982.
Following the Israeli withdrawal from the islands, Egypt regained control. The Multinational Force Observers (MFO) – a US-led force established as a part of the Camp David Accords to monitor the Israel-Egypt peace agreement – set up an observation post on the island of Tiran in order to ensure the freedom of movement of Israeli vessels through the straits. The MFO still maintains presence on the island.
2. Haaretz investigated Panama Papers leaks, uncovering an “exclusive club that lines the pockets of Palestine’s political and financial elite.”
3. Hamas is using bizarre “exorcism” rites in Gaza schools to brainwash Palestinian kids. A video of one such exorcism drew revulsion from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. Newsweek’s Apartheid Headline and a Journalist’s Response: Reporter Mark Schulman confirms magazine’s priority was to misuse “apartheid” in the headline as a means to get readers to the story.
5. Foreign Policy Mag Labels Hamas “Palestinian Resistance Group”: Calling Hamas a “resistance group” whitewashes attacks on Israeli civilians, indiscriminate rocket fire, human shields, brainwashing kids, and more.
6. Join HR For a Field Trip to Israel’s Northern Border: Are you in Israel for the Passover holiday? Join us for a special, full-day trip to the Lebanese border with Mideast expert Yisrael Ne’eman.
When: Tuesday, May 3 (bus leaves at 8:00 AM prompt).
Where: Bus departs HR’s Jerusalem headquarters (58 King George St).
Cost: $130 per person, including mehadrin packed lunch ($115 per person, without lunch).
Space limited: Advance registration required.
Click for more info and to register.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Police arrested a Palestinian armed with a knife at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate who planned to stab Israelis. Palestinian indicted over plot to attack a Jerusalem shopping mall.
• Say it ain’t so, Hamas! The party banned a national unity conference, sending security goons to break up a gathering of activists, academics and journalists.
• Jerusalem Post: A top Hamas official denounced the organization for failing to improve the lives of Gazans after a decade in power.
• The PA arrested 3 missing youths, foiling what it said was a ‘large-scale attack’ against Israelis. The teenagers, reportedly members of Hamas, “had a large quantity of weapons with them, including several hand grenades and a ‘Carl Gustav’ sub-machine gun.” More at the Times of Israel.
• Palestinians threaten to smash Temple Mount security cameras
Israel wants cameras installed everywhere in the compound, including in the mosques, to document alleged hoarding of stones and weaponry by Palestinians in preparation for clashes with Israeli security forces. Jordan, the custodian of the shrine, only wants cameras in open areas to show alleged violations by Israeli security forces.
• Reporter Emily Harris of NPR visited the Israeli soldiers monitoring the Gaza border. One quibble about this otherwise nice dispatch: I can’t imagine anyone in the IDF spokesperson’s unit referring to Hamas infiltrators as militants.
In 2014, the commander says, “A tunnel came out right here.” He points a few yards away. “Eight Hamas militants came out during the war. They can be anywhere.”
• Memo to Reuters and bureau chief Luke Baker: You omitted to mention that Israel has the right to demolish illegally-built structures in Area C because PLO leadership agreed to it in the Oslo accords.
• Lebanon’s debating whether school curriculum should continue defining Israel as “the enemy,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
• Jerusalem’s first female bomb disposal expert follows father’s footsteps
Around the World
• Israel warns German banks over anti-Semitic BDS accounts. More at the Jerusalem Post:
The financial industry in Germany, where scores of banks provide accounts to hardcore BDS groups, is on a collision course with Israel and a growing number of anti-BDS laws in the US.
• Labour councillor Aysegul Gurbuz was suspended over claims she called Hitler ‘the greatest man in history,’ among other ugly tweets, the Mail on Sunday reports. Gurbuz shut down her Twitter account amid the latest anti-Semitic scandal to hit Jeremy Corbyn’s party.
Miss Gurbuz last night denied she had written the tweets and claimed her sister may have posted them.
• Vulgar anti-Israel graffiti was found defacing London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) after a visit by Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev.
Commentary/Analysis
• The Panama Papers leak shows that despite the odds, investigative Arab journalism persists. The Columbia Journalism Review looks at the heavy lifting done by a network of reporters “working secretly in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and Yemen.”
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Amos Harel: All indications are that the intifada is waning
– Corinne Blackmer: Why I am a proud queer Jewish ‘pinkwasher’
– Judith Bergman: Telling the truth about Israel
– Dan Gross, Alex Rudo: What anti-Zionism means on campus
– Denis MacEoin: Open letter to the Edinburgh University Students’ Association
– Yoram Ettinger: Forgotten Jewish refugees
– Jonathan Freedland: Palestinians and Israelis are giving up on themselves
– Efraim Inbar: Iran’s entrenchment in Syria threatens Israel
– Boaz Bismuth: Israeli-Turkish rapprochement hinders Kurdish independence
– Yoel Guzansky, Ron Tira: How Iran’s strategic drift emboldens its enemies
– Eyal Zisser: Arab TV channels reap what they sow
– Times of London: Jeremy Corbyn and the longest hatred (staff-ed)
Featured image: CC BY Henrik Wieduwilt with modifications by HonestReporting
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