Today’s Top Stories
1. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley got into a war of words with UNIFIL’s commander over the mandate of the peacekeepers working in Southern Lebanon. The US and Israel want the UN Interim Force in Lebanon to prevent the spread of Hezbollah’s illegal weapons.
Haley accused UNIFIL’s commander, Maj.-Gen. Michael Beary, of turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s rearming after he said there was no proof of illegal weapon transfers:
The Irish general told The Associated Press that his force has no evidence of weapons being illegally transferred and stockpiled in the area, and that “if there was a large cache of weapons, we would know about it.”
But Haley said there’s plenty of evidence including Hezbollah’s own boasts and Beary displayed “an embarrassing lack of understanding of what’s going on.”
“He seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind to what Hezbollah is doing,” she said, adding that his view of the situation “shows that we need to have changes” in the mission.
Meanwhile, France said there’s no need to change UNIFIL’s mandate.
And former Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor weighed in on UNIFIL and other issues ahead of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Israel. As this roundup was published, Guterres was due to land. More on his visit at Ynet and the Times of Israel.
2. The Trump administration will continue full-funding for the UN relief agency responsible for Palestinian refugees despite Israeli calls for its dismantling, Foreign Policy reports.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has privately assured the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, that the United States, which provides more than $300 million to the agency each year, will maintain its current levels of funding to the organization . . .
The moves run contrary to the administration’s push to rein in spending on U.N. relief programs elsewhere. It reflects growing concern that the imposition of sharp cuts to Palestinian relief programs could thwart the White House campaign to restart Middle East peace talks, and inject further political instability in a region that stands permanently perched on the brink of political upheaval.
Canada announced it will provide $25 million.
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3. Frankfurt became the first German city to ban the ‘anti-Semitic’ BDS movement. The Jerusalem Post explains:
Uwe Becker, the deputy mayor and city treasurer for Frankfurt, who initiated and is steering the legislation to passage, told The Jerusalem Post: “The BDS movement does not only strongly resemble the ‘Don’t Buy from Jews’ argumentation of former times of the National Socialists, but the movement is built on the same toxic ground and it is poisoning the social climate in the same dangerous way.
“BDS strongly attacks the fundamental basis of the legitimacy of the Jewish state and takes a detour via anti-Zionism to spread antisemitism,” Beck added. “That’s why we decided to ban any municipal funding or the renting of rooms for any activities of groups or individuals who support the antisemitic BDS movement. We also instructed our city-owned companies and called upon private landlords to act in the same way.”
4. Washington Post: Israel ‘Suppressing Its Majority Population?’ What’s behind David Rothkopf’s grossly inaccurate slur of a throwaway line?
5. Demolition Job: Balance and Relevant Facts Go Missing: As Israel demolishes illegally built Palestinian buildings, The Independent’s Bethan McKernan is narrowly fixated on an anti-Israel narrative at the cost of balanced reporting and the inclusion of relevant facts.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Top incremental news of the weekend:
At the end of their meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the best Mr. Trump’s senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and his special envoy, Jason D. Greenblatt, could manage was a two-line statement saying that the Palestinians had agreed not to bolt from the American-led process.
• It’s not clear to me how significant this is, but Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told a group of Jewish community leaders that she’s open to the idea of an Aussie diplomatic presence in Jerusalem. The Australian picked up on the Australian Jewish News‘ scoop.
She said that the biggest stumbling blocks to Australia moving the embassy to Jerusalem are financial and security.
But, Bishop said, if she could overcome the cost and security issues to open some sort of diplomatic presence, she would consider it.
Around the World
• Reuters: Iran dropped national team captain Masoud Shojaei from qualifiers after playing against an Israeli team. Last week, Iran denied Western reports that Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi were banned for playing for their Greek team, Panionios, against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
• Reykjavik once voted to boycott Israel. Now it’s getting food delivered by Israeli drones.
• If you’re not up to speed on the murder of Sarah Halimi, the Jewish community’s outrage over the way French police, prosecutors and judges have handled the case, and the political ramifications, you must see the Jewish Chronicle.
• A peer-reviewed journal published Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Then they realized who he was and retracted. The former Iranian president — and notorious anti-Semite and homophobe — was published in the Institute of Transportation Engineers Journal’s August issue. Details at Tablet.
• Students in an Atlanta private school were suspended or expelled for playing ‘Jews vs. Nazis’ beer pong.
• A synagogue sharing premises with and a church in New York City were vandalized with a swastikas and white supremacist symbols.
Commentary/Analysis
• Iran’s on my mind:
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Obama chose dishonor, and Israel will have war
– Giora Eiland: Iran, not so far away
– Dore Gold: Thwarting a new Iranian empire
– Jonathan Spyer: And the winner in Syria is . . . Iran
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi: On Kremlin friendship
– Yaakov Katz: Why Israel has nothing to learn from Europe in fighting terror
– Jonathan Tobin: Beware the illusion of momentum
– David Ignatius: Could this be a game-changer for Middle East peace?
– Bruce Bawer: Anti-Semitism in Europe: New official report
– Dr. Gideon Elazar: China projects its power in the Red Sea
– Maajid Nawaz: We Muslims are totally self-unaware cry-bullies in the school playground
Featured image: CC BY Sjoerd Lammers Photography; Haley CC BY-ND United States Mission Geneva; Beary CC BY Irish Defense Forces; Frankfurt CC BY-NC-ND barnyz; Ahmadinejad CC BY Wikimedia Commons/Agencia Brasil;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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