Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel conducting drone strikes in Sinai with Cairo’s approval. Israeli media was all over this Bloomberg News scoop.
A former senior Israel official said his country has conducted numerous drone attacks on militants in Sinai in recent years with Egypt’s blessing. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential military activity.
2. Failing to secure enough “yes votes, the PA and Jordan delayed a UNESCO resolution denying Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. According to the Times of Israel, it’s not clear if/when the resolution will be put back on the UNESCO agenda.
3. Will Benjamin Netanyahu meet Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo? The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post and Israel HaYom picking up on Arab reports all take a stab at the question.
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Israel and the Palestinians
3. Worth reading: The Associated Press takes a detailed, nuanced look at PA stipends to terrorists and their families.
The “martyrs’ fund” and another fund supporting families of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are nominally PLO institutions, but are funded by the Palestinian Authority.
The fund for families of several thousand Palestinians held for alleged anti-Israeli activities, from stone-throwing to shooting attacks, has a 2016 budget of $125 million, according to the website of the Palestinian Authority’s Finance Ministry . . .
The next battleground could involve international assistance, as Israel argues that the martyrs’ fund is inadvertently subsidized by Western and Arab aid to the Palestinian Authority. The self-rule government receives several hundred million dollars a year in foreign aid.
• Israeli defense minister banned a group set up by Hezbollah and Iran that has been targeting Israelis and the Palestinian Authority. According to the Jerusalem Post, Al-Harak Al-Shababi “sought to disguise itself as a youth movement working to change the situation in the West Bank and Jerusalem through steps in the civilian sphere.”
• The Knesset passed a contentious bill to rein in foreign-funded non-governmental organizations.
• Togo president to visit Israel in August
Mideast Matters
• Worth watching: On the 10th anniversary of the Second War in Lebanon, BBC News reporter Katy Watson talked to soldiers and civilians in northern Israel, and even joined a border patrol.
• Reuters picked up on a report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concluding that Iranian ballistic missile tests earlier this year aren’t consistent with the spirit with the nuclear accords. The tests include one in which the Iranians wrote the words, “Israel must be wiped out” on the side of the rocket. Ban concludes that “it is up to the United Nations Security Council to decide if they violated a resolution.”
• Iran, once quiet about its casualties in Syria and Iraq, now glorifies them. The New York Times examines what changed:
The hard-liners, they say, want to prevent any decline in Tehran’s absolute support for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and to undermine the moderates, who they fear might be open to a political settlement in which Mr. Assad would step down . . .
“By being open about our role, we can prevent a diplomatic solution in Syria,” said Hamidreza Taraghi, a hard-line political analyst close to Iran’s leaders. “First, we must defeat all terrorists in the battlefield. Only after that can we negotiate with them.”
• Heh: Muslim media fell for a hoax news story of Saudi commercial flights to Israel which included a photoshopped image.
Around the World
• Coming attractions on German TV:
German news network accuses Israel of teaching children to hate
• South African authorities busted a group of people planning terror attacks against Jewish institutions and the US embassy. According to the Johannesburg Star, the foursome — including twin brothers — were operating on behalf of Islamic State.
• Canada‘s Green Party sponsors resolutions targeting Israel
• As Dallas debate unfolds, Israel shows ‘killer robots’ don’t have to be deadly.
• An Islamic State “kill list” of 1,700 Americans discovered online includes a number of Jewish leaders. Details at the JTA.
“The lists appear to be directed toward ‘lone wolf’ ISIL supporters who may be inspired to carry out attacks,” SCN said in a statement, using one of the acronyms for the terrorist group. “However, there have been no reported incidents to date in which an ISIL-inspired individual has carried out an attack on any individual appearing on these lists.”
Commentary/Analysis
• Plenty of commentary about Israeli-Egyptian peace maneuvers.
– Avi Issacharoff: What next, a Knesset speech by Egypt’s Sissi? Well, maybe
– Yossi Melman: What is Netanyahu prepared to give to join Sunni bloc?
– Raphael Ahren: Egypt-Israel rapport brings high hopes, but don’t lose perspective
– Seth Frantzman: Egypt’s return to a role in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Judith Bergman: UNESCO: Entertainment for bored diplomats
– Herb Keinon: Automatic voting against Israel at UNESCO? Not anymore
– Mordechai Kedar: I incite, therefore I am
– Eyal Zisser: Nasrallah’s illusions
– Yaakov Lappin: Assessing the Israel-Hezbollah covert war
– Elliott Abrams: Iran is cheating on the nuclear deal
– Zalman Shoval: A year since the Iran deal
– Matthew Levitt: Iran’s support for terrorism under the JCPOA
– Margaret Sullivan: Face it, Facebook. You’re in the news business
Featured image: CC BY John Ragai with modifications by HonestReporting; money CC BY-SA 401(K) 2012; Abbas via YouTube/Charlie Rose; Sisi via YouTube/PBS NewsHour; Netanyahu via YouTube/Charlie Rose;
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