Today’s Top Stories
1. Today’s big buzz is that the National Security Agency continued to electronically eavesdrop on Israeli officials for the White House (with Congressional assent) two years after President Obama promised the US wouldn’t snoop on the leaders of friendly countries. According to the Wall St. Journal (via Google News) the Obama administration wanted to know how Israel planned to counter the Iranian nuclear accord.
The White House skated on thinner ice as the NSA snooping included Israeli conversations with Congressional officials. In a separate piece, the WSJ sheds more light on how Netanyahu’s contentious address to a joint session of Congress came about.
In response, Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said Israel will submit an official complaint if the report is true. Meanwhile, former national security advisor Yaakov Amidror told Israeli radio listeners to take a deep breath.
“The US listens in on everyone, we don’t need to get excited about it. Everyone knows — it’s a fact,” he said.
2. Gennady Kaufman died of wounds from a stabbing attack in Hebron three weeks ago. A father of two from Kiryat Arba, Kaufman is the 25th fatality since a wave of Palestinian stabbings and car rammings began in October.
Before Kaufman died, Dr. Ofer Merin, who heads the trauma unit at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital, told Israel HaYom that the stabbing wounds he sees aren’t random anymore. The story doesn’t mention Kaufman by name, but I believe this was him:
“Three weeks ago, we received a wounded [man] who is still hospitalized with four [stab] wounds: one to the lungs, one to the right atrium, one to the right ventricle, and one to the neck,” Merin said. “It’s as if someone read the manual, and a wounded person comes in with two wounds to the heart. You learn that they [the attackers] know where to strike.”
3. The slow pace of Gaza reconstruction is in large part because Arab donors are trying to advance their political agendas by attaching conditions and channeling aid through either the PA, Hamas, UNRWA, or ex-Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan.
According to the Wall St. Journal (via Google News), of the $3.5 billion pledged after the 2014 war, only 34% has been disbursed. It’s all Israel’s fault, right?
As Qatar’s maroon-and-white flag flew above a completed house nearby, Jihad said he had no control over what country aided him or why. He just hoped the money would come soon.
“If the Israelis built the house, I’d fly the Israeli flag.”
Israel and the Intifada
• Worth reading: Matti Friedman‘s walk in Jerusalem captures the city’s pulse.
• Palestinians are reportedly using laser pointers to blind Israeli drivers.
• Hamas closed the chapter on Gilad Shalit. A fitting end?
Last of Shalit captors dies in Gaza tunnel collapse
• The Prime Minister’s Office denied media reports that Israel is advancing plans to develop E1, an area of the West Bank near Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. Meanwhile, the Financial Times (via Google News) gives credence to patently false claims that Israeli development in E1 cuts the West Bank in half. Despite the Hype, E1 Doesn’t Cut West Bank in Two.
Over the years, the US and European countries have warned Israel not to build on E1, which lies between Jerusalem and the large Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, because it would effectively bisect the West Bank’s northern and southern halves and make it harder for a future Palestinian state to be territorially contiguous.
Mideast Matters
• The Daily Beast talked to three Hezbollah reservists disillusioned by the fighting in Syria and have refused to go back for another tour of duty. As a result, they’ve lost reservist paychecks and various family benefits. The money quote?
“In my case, I love my wife and kids more than I love Syria and Palestine.”
• More bad news for Hezbollah — and the Mughniyeh family. It’s always the people you least suspect.
Report: Son of slain Hezbollah commander was CIA, Israeli mole
• The Barak 8, an Israeli-Indian developed surface-to-air missile, passed a test in the Indian Ocean. More on the story at YNet and the Indian Express.
Commentary/Analysis
• What are Israel’s options in its diplomatic stalemate with Brazil over the appointment of ex-settler leader Dani Dayan as ambassador to the South American country? Raphael Ahren sorts through what he describes as “many bad options and one good one.”
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jonathan Tobin: Why Gaza remains isolated
– Raphael Ahren: Go figure: Israel’s standing in the world is both fantastic and awful
– Benedetta Berti: The Syrian civil war and its consequences for Hezbollah
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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