Today’s Top Stories
1. The Times of Israel reports that Hamas is now spending its own money for the first time to purchase diesel fuel for Gaza.
The purchase of some 30 million liters of diesel from Egypt, at a cost of NIS 90 million ($25 million), indicates a change in attitude on the part of Gaza’s rulers, likely indicating a bid to stave off a repeat of street protests that roiled the enclave last winter . . .
The cost of the fuel oil Hamas purchased from Egypt amounts to six times the amount the PA cut, and marked a move by the Gaza authorities to divert funds into improving the local infrastructure problems.
Until now, Hamas had refused to pay for the fuel, insisting it was the responsibility of the PA, while spending millions of dollars of military infrastructure.
2. The Trump administration is considering demanding Israel give back key US military aid. At stake: $75 million and what would become a yuge fight with Congress, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
3. Qatar — which supports Hamas and whose emir owns Al Jazeera — hired a New York City-based public relations firm to bolster US-Qatari ties and boost its image among American Jewry. So reports the O’Dwyer Report, a journal which covers the p.r. industry.
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Israel and the Palestinians
• Congressional efforts to cut US financial aid to the PA over its terror stipends moved another step forward:
The Taylor Force Act was attached to the 2018 Foreign Operations budget in the Senate on Thursday, meaning the legislation is almost certainly assured of being enforced in the United States from next year.
• Freedom House released its report on international press freedom. Israel was the highest ranked country in the Mideast and 64th overall while the West Bank and Gaza Strip was ranked “not free” and tied with Vietnam. More background at Israel HaYom.
• I wonder why the Russians didn’t fire. I’m sure Assad, Hezbollah and Iran are wondering too.
Israeli satellite images show the chemical facility in #Syria after and before the attack. Russian S-400 battery was there pic.twitter.com/4iYiTAnUHw
— Guy Elster (@guyelster) September 10, 2017
• Israel is trying block Palestinian efforts to join the UN’s World Tourism Organization as a full member state. The Jerusalem Post explains:
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Tourism applied for membership for “Palestine” into the organization last year, and it is on the agenda at the meeting of the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu, China, which begins on Monday and runs through Saturday.
In order to be accepted as a state in the WTO, the Palestinians will need two-thirds of the votes cast — abstentions are not counted. They are expected to garner the necessary majority, especially since countries who could be counted on to support Israel and vote against the move – such as the US, Canada and Australia – are not members of the WTO. The United Kingdom is also not a member.
It’s a complicated story: The mystery Israeli buyers were denounced by Israeli officials last week.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departs for Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and the US tonight. It’ll be the first visit to Latin America by a sitting Israeli prime minister. Ahead of the PM’s departure, Israel is also sending humanitarian aid to Mexico, which was hit by an earthquake.
Around the World
• Illinois gubernatorial candidate dumps running mate over BDS.
• A former principal in France says he warned Jews not to attend his school because they’d be harassed.
• U. of Wisconsin student leader apologizes for Passover vote on anti-Israel resolution. More at the JTA and the Badger-Herald.
• Left-wing activists at Tufts University in Massachusetts created an uproar by publishing a “disorientation guide” which called Israel a “white supremacist state.”
The Tufts version does not receive university funding, according to Tufts’ executive director of public relations, Patrick Collins, and is not part of the university’s official orientation program.
• US Army to test Iron Dome for use in Europe.
• Chelsea condemns anti-Semitic song about player by own fans.
• Jews fleeing Hurricane Irma are taking refuge in Atlanta’s synagogues. Last I looked, Irma strengthened itself into a Category 4 storm and hit the Florida Keys this morning. It left a wake of destruction across the Caribbean, killing 24 people. Tampa Bay is bracing for a wallop.
Heavy squalls with tornadoes from Irma sweep south Florida: NHC https://t.co/u2PW1fDaPV pic.twitter.com/DicxWDgTR3
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 10, 2017
Commentary/Analysis
• Plenty of broken quills and burnt pixels on last week’s alleged Israeli airstrike on an alleged chemical weapons facility in the alleged state of Syria.
– Amos Yadlin: How to understand Israel’s strike on Syria
– Amos Harel: Why Syria hasn’t retaliated to the alleged Israeli strike
– Elliott Abrams: Israel’s bombing of a weapons factory in Syria: What comes next?
– Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror: Sending a signal to major players in Syria
– Alex Fishman: Syrian regime caught in catch-22 with ‘Israeli’ strike
– Avi Issacharoff: Why Russia may not respond to the alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria
– Benny Avni: Israel just showed what a ‘red line’ is really supposed to mean
– Herb Keinon: Critical that Russia not be surprised
– Tom Rogan: Israel’s airstrike message to Syria, Iran, and the US
– Wall St. Journal (staff-ed): The next Middle East war (click via Twitter)
• Weekend’s best tweet goes to Sohrab Ahmari.
https://twitter.com/sohrabahmari/status/905908452316327937
• Here’s what else I’m reading/watching today . . .
– Bruce Bawer: PFLP terrorists in Germany’s parliament?
– Gil Troy: ‘The-games-will-go-onism’ inflamed Palestinian Nazism
– Dore Gold (video): The struggle for Jerusalem in international diplomacy
– Allan Ripp: A rabbi walks into a campus protest . . . (click via Twitter)
– Liel Leibovitz: UCI teaches students a lesson in protecting free speech, disciplines anti-Israel goons
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Roger Waters, who got a New York Times soapbox, and Gray Lady columnist Roger Cohen.
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Binuri Ranasinghe; US Capitol CC BY-NC-ND Stephen Melkisethian; Theophilos via YouTube/Orthodox Church;
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