Today’s Top Stories
1. Files obtained by Sky News indicate Bashar Assad and Islamic State have been colluding with each other. In a nutshell, we’re talking about:
:: An agreement with the Syrian regime to withdraw IS weapons from Palmyra.
:: A deal between IS and Syria to trade oil for fertiliser and;
:: Arrangements to evacuate some areas by Islamic State forces BEFORE the Syrian army attacked.
All appear to be pre-agreed deals and suggest direct evidence of collusion between the Syrian regime and Islamic State chiefs.
https://twitter.com/FridaGhitis/status/727461416400080896
Collusion has its limits, though. Haaretz reports Assad’s forces used chemical weapons against Islamic State east of of Damascus “a little over a week ago.”
2. Times of Israel: A Druze resident of Israel was freed after 12 years in Syrian prison and his heading home.
Bargas Awidat, 47, a Druze man from the Israeli Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, disappeared in Syria in 2004 after going to Damascus in 2002 to study dentistry. It was only in 2011 that his family learned he had been abducted by the Assad regime’s secret police and was serving a life sentence on charges of spying for Israel.
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3. This is breathtaking. The Daily Telegraph got the scoop that the UK Labour Party’s compliance unit — which polices members for actions and statements “bringing the party into disrepute” — secretly suspended 50 of its members for anti-Semitic and racist comments.
A senior source within the party told The Daily Telegraph that the problem went much further and the compliance unit has actually suspended 50 members in the past two months.
They include up to 20 members within the past two weeks alone, with the unit struggling to cope because it does not have necessary resources.
4. The Palestinian Martyr of World Press Freedom Day: If you work for newspapers, web sites, or TV or radio stations affiliated with terror groups, you’re practicing propaganda, not journalism.
Israel and the Palestinians
• A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli man by the Jerusalem Old City’s Lions Gate last night. The attacker was arrested shortly after fleeing the scene. The victim, a 60-year-old man, was hospitalized in light-to-moderate condition.
• Israel thwarted an attempt to smuggle four tons of ammonium chloride into Gaza. The chemical, which can be used for rocket fuel, was concealed in a shipment of salt and seized last month, security officials announced today.
• UN to quiz Israel on torture complaints.
• Worth watching: This Prager U. video looks at the plights of Jewish refugees from Arab lands in comparison to Palestinian refugees.
Around the World
• Labour’s woes continued with revelations that party leader Jeremy Corbyn once referred to convicted Palestinian terror leader Marwan Barghouti as an “iconic figure for ordinary Palestinians” and compared him to Nelson Mandela. The comment, made on Corbyn’s web site, has been removed.
• I don’t think Hamas is being very helpful to Labour right now.
Hamas: Corbyn’s willingness to talk with us a ‘painful hit’ to the ‘Zionist enemy’
• Tunisia foils Islamic State plot to attack synagogue.
• The Jewish Community Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was briefly evacuated over a bomb threat. A day school and federation offices are located in the building.
• Ben Gurion Airport’s former security chief Pini Schiff shared his thoughts on Brussels airport security with the European Jewish Press.
• Here’s a uniquely Iranian twist on Israel’s law of return.
Iran to grant citizenship to families of foreign martyrs
• An updated version of the Iranian mobile game, “Missile Strike,” now allows you a chance to blow up Haifa!
• Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam arrived to a rough reception at France’s Fleury-Merogis prison. The Daily Mail reports he was booed by other jailed jihadists, poor thing, because he reportedly backed out of detonating his suicide vest during the November, 2015 attacks, which killed 130 people.
Commentary/Analysis
• BBC reporter Chris Cook discussed UK anti-Semitism with author Howard Jacobson, and posted excerpts on Facebook.
• Labour’s anti-Semitism problem continued dominating the op-eds.
– Tzipi Livni: The strong reek of anti-Semitism calls British values into question
– Niall Ferguson: The resurfacing of anti-Semitism in Britain
– Richard Kemp: Britain’s ‘routine and commonplace’ anti-Semitism
– Herb Keinon: The upside of Labor’s anti-Semitism furor
– Melanie Phillips: Hatred of Israel and Jews can’t be separated
– Rainer Schulze: Why the Haavara agreement doesn’t mean the Nazis were Zionists
– Will Gore: This is why antisemitism differs from other racism
– Jerusalem Post: Corbyn’s challenge (staff-ed)
• Tweet of the day goes to Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist, Steven Van Zandt, who didn’t back down from a Twitter spat with BDSniks (JTA has background and all the tweets).
You and the other Israel boycotters are politically ignorant obnoxious idiots. Israel is one of our two friends> https://t.co/jfLX5bAzyc
— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) May 2, 2016
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Amb. Shmuel Ben Shmuel: Settlements aren’t the key to Middle East peace
– Norman Cantor: Memo to anti-Zionist Jews
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Preparing their people for statehood?
– Amos Yadlin: Military aid, but at what price?
– Michael Singh: One year after the nuclear deal, is Iran moderating?
Featured image: CC BY Official GDC with additions by HonestReporting; microphone: vectors by Vecteezy;
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