Today’s Top Stories
1. Palestinians began marching on the Israel-Gaza border hours before a ceremony inaugurating the US embassy in Jerusalem.
According to the latest liveblogs from the Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and i24 News, between 35,000-50,000 Palestinians are rioting along the Israel-Gaza border. Flaming kites managed to start fires in at least five different Israeli fields. Last I looked at the liveblogs, 37 Palestinians were reported killed, including three Hamas operatives trying to plant a bomb along the border fence. The Israeli Air Force also struck five Hamas targets near Jabaliya
The Shin Bet says Iran is funding the chaos. According to a Ministry of Strategic Affairs message seen by HonestReporting, the Palestinians intended to breach the border at 3:30 PM local time. Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank clashed with soldiers near the Qalandiya security barrier and Bethlehem.
Follow the liveblogs as the situation unfolds.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
2. The inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem was underway as this roundup was published with 800 dignitaries from the US, Israel and local diplomatic corps attending. President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the gathering by a video link.
3. The Israeli cabinet approved an NIS 2 billion ($560 million) Jerusalem “sovereignty plan” to strengthen Israeli jurisdiction over eastern Jerusalem. According to the Times of Israel and Haaretz, we’re talking about a contentious land regulation proposal, developing public spaces, business infrastructure and public transportation, encouraging Palestinian schools in the city to use Israeli curriculum, building a cable car from western Jerusalem to the Western Wall and more.
According to the “Land Regulation” proposal, one of the programs authorized by cabinet ministers, Israel will attempt to establish full administrative control over territory in the eastern part of Jerusalem by settling land disputes between Palestinian neighbors and demarcating property boundaries.
Israel currently has no accurate record of land ownership claims in East Jerusalem, the Justice Ministry says, due to it never before forcing Palestinian residents to present certifiable documents of ownership . . .
Critics of the plan, however, say it is a tacit land grab, with the government attempting to establish swaths of land with no proven property claims in order to advance building projects in the eastern part of the city.
In the News
• It’s going to take weeks, perhaps months, for Israel to get the Kerem Shalom crossing repaired after Palestinians destroyed fuel lines and other infrastructure on their own side of the crossing. The Times of Israel takes a closer look at why Hamas allowed Gazans to lay waste to a crossing where Israel transfers needed fuel, food, medicine and more to the Strip.
The official said that during the attack on Kerem Shalom, Israeli officials watched as rioters ran back and forth between the crossing and a Hamas position a few hundred meters away.
“Then we saw about 10 Hamas people standing at the gates of Kerem Shalom,” he said.
According to the officer, the Hamas members were wearing civilian clothes but directed the events with walkie-talkies, “giving orders — what to do, where to go.”
• Dr. Mordechai Kedar discussed the embassy move with Sky News.
"History shows Jerusalem was never capital of any Arab or Islamic state" – Israeli scholar Dr Mordechai Kedar defends the controversial US embassy move pic.twitter.com/XMftA9r0I1
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 14, 2018
• The Beitar Jerusalem soccer team wants to rename itself “Beitar Trump Jerusalem” in honor of the US embassy move. But the Jerusalem Post notes this qualifier:
Despite Beitar’s announcement to officially change the club’s name, it will require approval from the Israel Football Association, a process which is far from straightforward. In addition, Donald Trump has been a registered trademark in Israel since 2008, and should Beitar try to add it to its name, it may be sued, as it hasn’t received permission to use it.
• Since when did the Irish Times ever acknowledge that Jews have rights to the land of Israel too? This photo caption’s a case in point. The unnamed “Palestinian Jews” shaking hands happen to be David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir.
• Israel’s tough posture in Syria is creating cracks in the Russian-Iranian relationship. The Wall St. Journal (click via Twitter) explains:
Now, as Mr. Assad regains control of much of the country, Russia and Iran’s interests have begun to increasingly diverge. In particular, Russian analysts said, Moscow has grown concerned over Iran’s attempt to use Syria as a beachhead to threaten Israel and boost its power over Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories.
• This is just satire.
Around the World
• The student council of Germany’s Heidelburg U. voted to label the BDS movement as antisemitic, meaning “BDS groups and affiliated groups will not be supported with rooms or finances,” reports the Jerusalem Post.
• Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who previously investigated Labour party antisemitism, has called Ken Livingstone to be expelled from the party. Of the ex-London mayor’s claims that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist, Chakrabarti said it was an “insult” that the party only suspended him.
• Worth reading. As for what the phenomenon of spies hacking journalism means for Israel, all I can say is use your imagination…
My wrestle with a journalistic dilemma that has disturbed me for a while: When Spies Hack Journalism https://t.co/iQA8DqLcgH
— Scott Shane (@ScottShaneNYT) May 12, 2018
Commentary
• Memo to Atef Abu Saif: There was no pre-1948 British policy to actively replace Palestinians with Jews. And Palestinian living conditions improved in the West Bank in 1967 when Israel took over and invested in the territories. If you want to be a human shield for Hamas in not-so-peaceful “protest” that makes a mockery of the two-state solution, I’m not going to pretend to have sympathy for you if you have to face unpleasant consequences later.
• Here’s what else I’m reading about the embassy move, Naqba day, Gaza and the Palestinians today . . .
– Col. Richard Kemp: Expected upsurge in Gaza violence
– Jeff Jacoby: The Palestinians’ real ‘nakba’
– Charles Bybelezer: To create better future, Palestinians must overcome destructive past
– Ron Prosor: The day Jerusalem won
– Eugene Kontorovich: America recognizes one Jerusalem (click via Twitter)
– Naftali Bennett: Don’t think the US embassy belongs in Jerusalem? Get over it.
– New York Daily News (staff-ed): Israel’s capital is finally recognized by the US
– The Australian (staff-ed) US embassy move is a breakthrough for Israel
– Yossi Klein Halevi: Israelis and Palestinians need to honor a two-story solution in the Middle East
– Yigal Carmon: Why the peace process failed
– Yael Patir: Most US Jews oppose embassy move
– Charles Moore: Israel at 70 is a better and less corrupt place than almost all of Britain’s former colonies
• Here’s what else I’m reading about everything else today . . .
– Seth Frantzman: Iran just overplayed its hand in Syria
– Anshel Pfeffer: Israel doesn’t want war with Iran – it prefers crisis in Tehran
– Moshe Arens: No longer alone facing Iran
– Hillel Frisch: What might an Israel-Iran war look like?
– Konrad Yakabuski: On Israel, Trudeau is Harper’s pupil
– Reuven Brenner: The roots of antisemitism (click via Twitter)
– Golan Yarok: Another LSE lecturer caught lying
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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