Today’s Top Stories
1. A driver said to be shouting “God is great” slammed into crowds in a French city, injuring at least 11 people. Some witnesses apparently heard the driver shout “Allahu Akbar” – God is great – and refer to the “children of Palestine.” The media don’t appear to have made a connection but is this car attack a method of terror exported from Palestinians who carried out similar attacks in Jerusalem in recent months?
2. Syria said on Sunday that an Israeli drone had been brought down in the province of Quneitra near the Golan Heights. State media said the drone was flying above the village of Hadar when it was downed. It was not immediately verifiable whether it had been shot down or had crashed. The report showed footage of what looked like an Israeli skylark 1 model UAV. The IDF said it had no knowledge of an unmanned aerial vehicle that was downed in Syria.
3. A German author travels deep into ISIS territory and comes out with a grim assessment: ISIS is “preparing the largest religious cleansing campaign the world has ever seen.” More from CNN:
Israel and the Palestinians
• An armed Palestinian man was detained at a checkpoint in the West Bank Monday morning after attempting to stab an IDF soldier.
• Wikileaks has released a CIA-sanctioned document used to train agents how to avoid security screening at Ben-Gurion Airport
• Foreign Policy magazine claims an exclusive, stating that Secretary of State John Kerry has privately told European Union envoys that Washington will not permit the passage of any U.N. Security Council resolution on the Middle East peace process until after Israel’s March elections, according to three diplomats briefed on the meeting.
• Tutors who took part in the demonstration at Glasgow University that disrupted a talk by the spokesman for the Embassy of Israel in London, Yiftah Curiel, have defended their action, saying they had the democratic right to protest against a state that is “supporting and enforcing apartheid” on Palestinians.
• The Christian Science Monitor profiles one Palestinian’s journey from stone-throwing to conflict resolution.
• Professor Cary Nelson, formerly the head of the American Association of University Professors has warned that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement may become a political movement in the United States.
• As Israel-India relations warm up, Indian government sources say that the country is considering moving away from its traditional support for the Palestinian cause at the UN.
• Egypt has temporarily reopened its border with Gaza allowing some 630 Palestinians to enter the Sinai through the Rafah terminal.
• Politico reports that Gaza’s reconstruction is being held up by Palestinian infighting:
Perhaps even more surprising is that Israel, of all the parties involved, has shown the greatest degree of flexibility towards a Gaza Strip still ruled by Hamas. In addition to acquiescing to the salary payments, Israel has begun easing restrictions on construction materials and other goods entering the territory, and on certain products (fish, cucumbers) and people exiting. Israel has given its consent to an elaborate UN-led inspection mechanism for reconstruction, which as mentioned has not yet begun in earnest due to the lack of a PA presence on the ground. “I can’t say that it’s because of Israel that there has been no movement [on reconstruction] at present,” the senior UN official said, a sentiment shared by several other foreign diplomats I spoke to in Jerusalem.
Commentary/Analysis
• Is Israel encouraging internal Palestinian efforts to depose Mahmoud Abbas? Danny Rubinstein thinks so:
Journalists in Ramallah believe it to be no coincidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently attacked Abbas over and over, accusing him of inciting terrorist attacks, and that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman repeatedly calls him a terrorist. Anyone looking for hidden conspiracies – and there are many such people in Ramallah – might well assume that the government of Israel is part of attempts to get rid of Abbas and replace him with the trio Dahlan, Fayyad and Rabbo.
• The Tribune-Review attacks the decision to appoint openly anti-Israel academic William Schabas to head an inquiry into the most recent Gaza conflict.
• Yossi Beilin says that thanks to Obama, Israel will no longer have to automatically vote against Cuba in the UN.
• Guy Bechor believes that increasing Muslim influence in Europe will have adverse consequences for Israel:
Just like the Arab world did all in its power to harm the young Israel, the same trend is taking shape in the European Union as well. While in the past we talked about the Westernization of the Arab world, we are now talking about the Arabization of Europe. The Arab League boycotted Israel from its very first day, and the “European Union” may now follow in its footsteps.
Rest o’ the Roundup
• Danny Cohen, the director of BBC Television said rising anti-Semitism has made him question the long-term future for Jews in the UK:
“I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK as I’ve felt in the last 12 months. And it’s made me think about, you know, is it our long-term home, actually. Because you feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before actually,” he said in a conversation with Channel 2’s anchor Yonit Levi.
Perhaps Cohen might like to consider the influence that his own BBC has had in creating this very situation.
• Just how are Palestinian wives smuggling sperm out of Israeli jails during visits to their husbands?
• Buzzfeed publishes UN Watch’s Top 10 Worst UN Decisions of 2014. Unsurprisingly, four out of 10 concern Israel.
Image: CC BY flickr/Hamed Saber
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