Today’s Top Stories
1. Palestinian Authority sides with Saudis in Iran row: Here’s what Basem Al-Agha, Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Arab media:
“The Iranian government doesn’t support the Palestinian Authority, which is at the forefront of confronting the Israeli enemy,” he said. Al-Agha went on to say that “the Palestinians have suffered from Iran’s actions and strange behaviors, which aim to undermine the legitimate Palestinian powers and to create ‘conglomerates’ against these legitimate powers.”
Al-Agha’s accusations refer to Iran’s long-time support for PA rival Hamas.
2. Masked gunmen opened fire on Israeli tourists in Cairo. According to Haaretz, no casualties were reported.
3. Unnerved by recent reports questioning the viability of the Palestinian Authority and rumors about his own personal health, Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech in Bethlehem insisting that the PA would only be succeeded by a Palestinian state. Haaretz reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed the cabinet to prepare for the possibility of the PA’s collapse:
“We must prevent the Palestinian Authority from collapsing if possible, but at the same time, we must prepare in case it happens,” he said, according to two senior officials briefed on the meeting.
Over the past 10 days, the diplomatic-security cabinet has held two meetings on the possibility that the PA might collapse, in light of the freeze in the diplomatic process, the ongoing wave of terror attacks, the economic crisis in the West Bank and the political crisis within the Palestinian leadership.
In any event, neither the Palestinian public nor the Associated Press fully got Abbas’ message. He’s in the middle of his 11th year of what was supposed to be a four-year term as president of the PA.
Israel and the Intifada
• Israeli security busted a Hamas terror cell planning to abduct and murder Israelis, possibly to use as a bargaining chip to win the release of imprisoned terrorists. Police also arrested 16 Palestinians suspected of throwing stones and firebombs at cars driving on Route 443 between Jerusalem and Modiin.
• The Times of Israel takes a closer look at European funding for mostly left-wing non-governmental organizations.
Why, one might wonder, is the EU getting so upset about a law that does not curtail the activities of any groups, or even limit the amount of foreign funding they can receive — as some Israeli lawmakers have proposed — but merely requires full disclosure from groups that rely on foreign governments for their survival?
• The occupational hazards of Israeli journalism: Israeli Channel 1 reporter Eitam Lachover was accidentally stabbed while testing stab-proof vest. The Daily Telegraph has the video with English subtitles. Lachover tweeted that the injury wasn’t serious; he’s now home with a few stitches and his 15 minutes of international fame.
• Reuters: Gaza Strip gets first new hospital in a decade, two more due this year.
• An Iranian chess grandmaster refused to compete against an Israeli in an international tournament in Switzerland.
According to Mehr, during the fifth round of the international 2016 Basel Schachfestival chess competition, Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami declined the match against Yuliya Shvayger in order to “reject the existence of the Zionist state [and] to announce to the world the voice of justice and support for the oppressed people of Palestine.”
• Egypt asks Israel not to let Turkey extend its influence in Gaza, Haaretz reports.
Around the World
• A Jewish home in Brooklyn was vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti.
• Police investigate ‘Heil Hitler’ attack on strictly London Jewish shoppers
• In a cost-cutting move, Israel said it will close five diplomatic offices abroad by the end of the year. According to the Jerusalem Post:
In addition to Philadelphia, the embassies in Belarus and El Salvador, as well as the consulate in Marseilles, are to close their doors. Israel’s roving ambassador to the Caribbean, who is stationed in New York, will also be cut out.
Local Philadelphia media reports Mayor Jim Kenney wants to keep the consulate and hopes to prevail on Israeli officials to save it.
Commentary/Analysis
• In an otherwise dull speech, what Mahmoud Abbas didn’t say was more important, says Avi Issacharoff:
But more prosaically and specifically, anyone who was hoping Abbas would announce the appointment of a deputy was left disappointed.
The speech had one purpose: to inform the Palestinian public, as well as Abbas’s many challengers, that he intends to stay in power for a long time yet, at least as long as his health permits.
• Ariel U. chancellor Yigal Cohen-Orgad hails his university’s victory over BDS.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jeffrey Herf: A pro-Hamas left emerges
– Josef Joffe: Stop worrying about Israel
– Gary Rosenblatt: Frustration with Israel is growing here at home
– Nimrod Goren: Time to seal the Israel-Turkey deal
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA nahlinse; chess CC BY-ND Remco Wighman; Philadelphia CC BY-NC-ND Peter Miller;
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