Today’s Top Stories
1. Israeli commandos rescue Syrian rebel fighters wounded in fighting as journalist gets first-hand access to the IDF.
It is unclear how the two enemies arrange the rescue. All that has been disclosed is that word reaches Israeli forces that casualties have been dumped at the border, intelligence establishes that it is not a trap, and the commandos are sent in.
In the three years that Israel has been running these operations, it has saved the lives of more than 2,000 Syrians – at least 80 per cent of whom are male and of fighting age – at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7 million).
2. ISIS gains foothold in Gaza, but according to the Daily Beast, Hamas is not too happy about it. The Times of Israel reports that Hamas has been arresting ISIS supporters regularly, only to let them go just as quickly because of some shared interests.
This only continues Hamas’s unspoken and contradictory policy towards the Islamic State and the global jihadi movement. On one hand, Hamas must work against these operatives and prevent their actions, while on the other hand, they often work side-by-side and even assist one another.
For instance, high-ranking members of Hamas’s military wing make a point of bringing injured IS fighters from Sinai into the Gaza Strip for medical treatment. Meanwhile, the Islamic State in Egypt helps Hamas smuggle weaponry and vast sums of money into the Strip.
3. In a segment debating Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from the US, CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield suggested that the same logic could be applied to Jews, since there was a history of terrorism committed by Jews in the US.
“From a period of 1980 to 1985 there were a reported 18 terror attacks committed in the United States by Jews, 15 of them committed by the Jewish Defense League,” Banfield said. ‘The head of the Jewish Defense league was in jail awaiting trial…accused of trying to bomb a mosque in Culver City, trying to bomb [US Congressman] Darrel Issa’s office, an Arab-American.”
“Are you really saying to me that there’s an international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world?” Jeffrey Lord asked in response. “There are no Jews coming to [the US] to destroy America.”
Israel and the Wave of Terror
• President Reuven Rivlin in the Washington Post: it is in Israel’s interest to improve conditions for Arab Israelis.
Israel must take steps to improve the situation independent of the geopolitical territorial debate — steps that every sensible person understands serve simultaneously Israel’s moral and practical interests. Without resolving the question of whether or not Israel today has a Palestinian partner for peace, it is self-evident that the building of the new Palestinian city, Rawabi, is in Israel’s interest. Likewise, it is clear that cultivating channels of communication and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen, educators and cultural figures improves our situation. Is there anyone who does not see the value and importance of the majority of the Jewish population being able to speak Arabic (a plan for which I am pleased to see has been brought before the Knesset)? When it comes to all these possibilities, we should have started yesterday.
• Opinions differ over how to quell the wave of terror. Some advocate more military action in Palestinian cities while others call for greater cooperation with Palestinians not involved with violence. The Israeli military, it appears, prefers the latter option.
• The BBC ruled that one of its programs breached standards of accuracy because it gave the impression that only Israelis have been killed in the current wave of Palestinian violence.
• New York Times looks for lessons from Israel’s failed war with Hezbollah for the international fight against ISIS.
Nine years ago, after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a risky cross-border raid, Israel declared it would crush the organization once and for all.
Instead, the ensuing war provided a textbook case of how overwhelming firepower can fail to defeat a determined or ideologically driven guerrilla force in the absence of a coherent and well-executed strategy — a cautionary tale, Middle East analysts say, for the powers now lining up to fight the Islamic State.
In 2006, Israel, wielding the region’s most powerful military and solid American support, leveled whole city blocks and village centers along with Hezbollah bunkers and offices. But Hezbollah remained standing, and soon it accumulated more political and military power than ever.
Around the World
• New York Times looks at the insular social media world created by ISIS to attract international support.
Twitter remains the major gateway for those infatuated by the Islamic State, though YouTube, Facebook, Ask.fm, Tumblr, Instagram and other sites have a place in the group’s online ecosystem. As Twitter has more aggressively suspended the accounts of overt supporters, they have often migrated to Telegram, Kik, WhatsApp and other services that allow private communications, said Humera Khan, executive director of Muflehun, a nonprofit that studies radicalization and how to counter it.
Ms. Khan said that more sophisticated Islamic State promoters policed the public sites, circulating the screen names of people who had challenged the group’s claims and encouraging others to block their posts. The result, she said, “is an echo chamber where there’s a sense that no other view is legitimate.”
Meanwhile, legislation is being drawn up requiring social media companies to report any terrorist activity taking place on their platforms.
• The new chief of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, gets profiled in several UK publications, including The Economist and The Independent. Meanwhile, The Telegraph has a piece critical of the way the announcement of Cohen’s appointment was handled.
• An Israeli anti-cancer drug helped cure Jimmy Carter of brain cancer. Wonder how this development impacts Carter’s thinking about the legitimacy of academic boycott of Israel.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Brooks: How ISIS Makes Radicals
– Giora Eiland: Six Steps to Defeat ISIS
For more, see Yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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