Everything you need to know about today’s coverage of Israel and the Mideast. Join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
Today’s Top Stories
1. BREAKING NEWS: As the Israel Daily News Stream went to press, Mohammed Morsi offered to set up an interim government, though he said nothing about whether he’d resign. The military took control of state TV studios and placed a travel ban on the president and other Brotherhood leaders.
For more news and analysis of Egypt’s unfolding drama, click straight to page 2 of this roundup.
2. What does Egyptian unrest mean for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? In a nutshell, here’s what analysts told The Media Line‘s Linda Gradstein:
- If chaos continues, the Egyptian army will eventually drop its crackdown on Sinai-Gaza arms smuggling.
- Egyptian support for Hamas will further shrink if Morsi is ousted.
- A weakened Hamas could be more easily pushed into reconciling with Fatah.
3. The likelihood of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visiting Gaza is becoming slim, thanks to Egypt’s upheaval. But according to the Jerusalem Post, Hamas failed to read the writing on the wall:
. . . the chaos in Egypt makes it unlikely he will enter the region through Rafah.
The Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported that Erdogan told reporters after a speech to his parliamentary group that the date of his oft-delayed trip has not yet been set.
Abdel-Salam Siam, secretary-general of the Hamas-run cabinet in Gaza, said last week that, barring unforeseen events, Erdogan would visit Gaza on July 5. Hamas run media outlets reported that he would arrive by sea on a navy vessel, dock outside Israel’s territorial waters and take a helicopter into Gaza.
4. Anti-Semitism in German Daily: Israel as a Ravenous Monster: If you want to demonize Israel, what better than to use a real demon associated with child sacrifice?
5. Case Study: Standing Up to a Movie Studio That Tried to Hide Israel: Readers are taking to Facebook to give Paramount Pictures a piece of their mind.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The State Dept. says John Kerry’s going to keep his peace efforts “private,” meaning, low key and out of the media’s klieg lights. On one hand, that’s good because it’ll lower expectations and public posturing. On the other hand, today’s opacity is tomorrow’s historical revisionism. So the fourth estate is just as clueless as the rest of us. As Reuters puts it:
Still, without a plan for new talks, a dead line or concrete evidence that any progress has been made, the media is wondering what is actually going to happen.
How about some good old-fashioned investigative journalism?
• I hope this is a good sign:
• For the first time in years, a high-ranking IDF officer (in this case, chief of staff Benny Gantz) visited the UK for talks with British security chiefs. The Times of Israel has good background on the ludicrous lawfare and legal loopholes. The Palestinians aren’t happy about Gantz’s visit.
• Australia’s new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, introduced his new cabinet, which includes several pro-Palestinian ministers, according to Haaretz.
• Do you think that retired basketball star Dennis Rodman would be much worse for the Mideast than the parade of US, EU, and UN envoys who helped get us stuck where we are today? He told Sports Illustrated:
“My mission is to break the ice between hostile countries,” Rodman says. “Why it’s been left to me to smooth things over, I don’t know. Dennis Rodman, of all people. Keeping us safe is really not my job; it’s the black guy’s [Obama’s] job. But I’ll tell you this: If I don’t finish in the top three for the next Nobel Peace Prize, something’s seriously wrong.”
Why would “The Worm” want to ruin his legacy with a cheap Nobel prize?
• For commentary/analysis, see Elliott Abrams, John Podhoretz and Ramzy Baroud.
- More info and analysis of breaking developments in Egypt.
- What exactly was the army’s tipping point with Morsi?
- Why did Morsi’s onetime supporters sour on him?
