Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel believes rocket fire from Syria may have been deliberate. Five rockets were launched at 5 a.m. on Saturday, with four landing relatively deep inside the Israeli Golan Heights. All landed in open areas causing no damage. According to Israeli media reports, here’s the IDF’s thinking:
There was no fighting going on in Syria at the time of the fire, the TV report said. It added that the area from which the rockets were fired is under the control of the Syrian army. And it noted that the projectiles fell deep inside Israeli territory on the Golan Heights, one after the other, rather than close to the border.
Tensions have been particularly high on the Israeli-Syrian front of late.
Concluding a visit to Syria on Saturday, the commander of Iran’s armed forces signed a memorandum of understanding with Syrian officials in which the two allies announced plans for tighter military cooperation and coordination — notably against Israel. The sides agreed to expand cooperation on intelligence, training, technology and against what they called “Zionist-American schemes,” the Ynet news website reported.
Iran is playing with fire in Syria. Threatening Israel *from Syria* is crossing a line. Need pushback against blatant Iranian aggression
— Emily Landau ז"ל (@EmilyBLandau) October 22, 2017
2. British UN diplomat under fire over Balfour Declaration comments to UN Security Council.
In a speech to a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East on Tuesday, Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen underlined that the “UK is proud to have played a role in helping to make a Jewish homeland a reality” when it issued the declaration in November 1917. But Allen drew the ire of British Jewish leaders when he added, “let us remember, there are two halves of Balfour, the second half of which has not been fulfilled.”
“There is therefore unfinished business,” Allen said, a remark he repeated in a later tweet.
Let us remember, there are 2 halves of #Balfour, 2nd of which has not been fulfilled. There is unfinished business. @AmbassadorAllen #Israel pic.twitter.com/BoAXOcsKdz
— UK at the UN ?? (@UKUN_NewYork) October 18, 2017
3. “Hurricane Israel” struck Dickinson, Texas, where municipal leaders made relief grants to local businesses devastated by Hurricane Harvey conditional on a promise not to boycott Israel. The Washington Post explains:
The city attorney for Dickinson told a local television station he was only following a state law forbidding state agencies from doing business with Israel boycotters.
However, the JTA quoted a Dickinson city official saying “that the city will not be verifying compliance with the clause and said he doesn’t expect any applications to be rejected because of it.” And the author of the Texas legislation told Haaretz that Dickinson officials appear to have misinterpreted the law and explained why it shouldn’t apply to relief efforts.
See Yossi Beilin‘s take. See also HonestReporting’s critique of related coverage.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. BBC’s Imbalanced Reporting on BDS: In a blatant example of imbalanced reporting, the BBC includes a video interview with a prominent pro-BDS activist in a story failing to include a counterpoint.
5. AP: Netanyahu Loves Personal Interest, Not Human Rights: Wire service claims Netanyahu “loves” Trump because both disdain human rights.
6. Daily Mail Australia Unilaterally Bestows Palestinian Statehood: Despite Australia not recognizing Palestinian statehood, editors unilaterally upgrade the Palestinian diplomatic representation to that of an embassy with an ambassador.
7. What Do North Korean Nukes Have to Do With Israel? North Korea exports nuclear technology to Syria and is working with Iran on deadly weapons systems. Both target Israel for destruction.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Egypt’s scrambling to downplay controversy over ‘secret’ clauses in the Hamas-Fatah unity deal. Israel HaYom reports that Fatah cadres are furious over the possibility of Hamas being integrated into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and usurping their leading status.
• US demands Hamas renounce violence and disarm before unity deal. Details on envoy Jason Greenblatt’s comments at Haaretz and the Times of Israel.
• For the first time, eight European states are demanding that Israel reimburse them for the cost of solar panels that were confiscated when Israel demolished illegally built Palestinian structures in the West Bank. Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland and Denmark are demanding 31,000 Euros each for their share in the solar panels, which were sponsored by the European Union.
Israel hasn’t responded to the letter, but has previously argued that EU funding of illegal building violates international law and the Oslo accords.
• Palestinian nabbed with stolen truck, planned ramming attack on soldiers
• $50,000 payments are helping grieving Gaza families end blood feuds related to a decade of Hamas-Fatah conflict. According to the Associated Press, the payments are coming from a $50 million pool of money sponsored by former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan’s sponsors in the United Arab Emirates, “enough for roughly 725 families who lost loved ones, as well as people badly wounded or disabled in the fighting.”
• A Palestinian knocked a 12-year-old Israeli boy unconscious by throwing a stone at him directly from above before running away. The IDF is searching for the man and posted security footage online.
Yesterday, a Palestinian threw a rock at a 12 year old boy at Hebron. Forces are searching the area for the attacker pic.twitter.com/3B7JzDP43g
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 21, 2017
• The West Bank city of Qalqiliya erected a memorial to Saddam Hussein, the late dictator of Iraq who tortured thousands of people, used mustard gas to reassert his control over his country’s Kurdish regions, fired Scud missiles at Israel and sparked the Gulf War with his invasion of Kuwait.
The municipality apparently removed the photos from its Facebook page, but Memri saved the images.
Inauguration of Saddam Hussein monument in Palestinian city of Qalqilya attended by city and district officials. https://t.co/MqRAM4Di2T pic.twitter.com/HMi8Tcsdlz
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 20, 2017
• A scheduled summit in which Netanyahu was to meet in Togo with some 20 African heads of state might take place instead in Israel. The Jerusalem Post explains:
The landmark summit that was some two years in the making and that was to begin next Tuesday was canceled last month, with the Foreign Ministry citing political instability in the host country. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the days before the announcement, to protest against Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé and demand term limits. Massive demonstrations are expected this week in Lomé as well.
Speaking of Africa, Israel launched a cultural week in Ghana.
• Bloomberg News takes a closer look at Israeli efforts to help the US “fix or nix” the Iranian nuclear deal.
• The Palestinian mission in Colombia called for Israel’s destruction in a tweet that — after catching the attention of Israeli media — was quickly deleted. Israeli journalist Eran Cicurel managed to save the original tweet.
The tweet read, “Our goal is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromises or mediations…. We don’t want peace. We want WAR and victory — Yasser Arafat,” according to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following a report on Israel’s Channel 1 television, the Spanish-language tweet was removed. No explanation or apology was offered.
• Forbes: Raytheon and Iron Dome may have a quick fix for Seoul’s vulnerability to a North Korean attack.
• You can bet there’ll be some nastygrams at The Australian over this bungled headline. You have to read the article to find out thousands of Orthodox Jews were blocking traffic and that 120 were arrested.
• The Daily Telegraph looks at Jews and Arabs trying to save a Jerusalem hilltop property into luxury flats. It’s all part of a bigger story about controversial sales of land owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. The money quote:
“We did not wake up one morning and say: Hill of Evil Counsel, lets develop that area.”
• The Jerusalem Post previews what’s on the Knesset agenda as lawmakers return for the upcoming winter session.
Around the World
The Netherlands’ next foreign minister will be the ruling party’s Halbe Zijlstra, whom pro-Palestinian activists in the Netherlands described as “very pro-Israel.”
• Bulgarian government adopts international definition of anti-Semitism.
• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn turned down an invitation to attend a dinner marking the Balfour Declaration’s 100th anniversary.
• Dutch soccer fans ridicule child Holocaust victims on Twitter.
• Teens arrested in vandalism at Jewish cemetery in Romania.
• A suspected network of 13,000 Twitter bots pumped out pro-Brexit messages in the run-up to the EU vote. Hmmmmm.
Commentary/Analysis
• Memo to Abigail Hauslohner and Susan Svrluga: You just don’t get that what Jewish students are dealing with on campus goes beyond free speech, and there’s no equivalence with what pro-Palestinian students experience. Unlike Jewish students, pro-Palestinian students aren’t intimidated by anything, and aren’t becoming campus pariahs.
• Plenty of commentary about the latest Syrian rocket barrage on Israel.
– Avi Issacharoff: In Syrian barrage, a confident message signed by Iran and Russia
– Yoav Limor: Syrian fire exceeded acceptable limits
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Moscow’s game
• Worth reading: Daniel Hannan weighs in on the Balfour Declaration and why Britain should take pride in Israel “like any parent.”
#BalfourDeclaration
Jewish Home in Palestine
Endorsed by League of Nations
Enshrined in Treaty of Lausanne
Endorsed by Article 80 of UN pic.twitter.com/3op7mquF08— Neville Teller (@nevilleteller) October 22, 2017
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Norman Bailey: Has Israel been Trumped?
– Hillel Frisch: Hamas security has beards, Fatah doesn’t: Why real PA unity won’t happen
– Bassam Tawil: The big new Palestinian lie
– David Weinberg: Mind-blowing EU chutzpah
– Amb. Ron Prosor: Israel bashing is UNESCO’s drug of choice
– The Australian (staff-ed): UN human rights reform vital
– Jared Genser: Trump is right: The U.S. should leave UNESCO
– Benjamin Leventhal: BDS can actually be sued for damages
– Ben Lynfield: The danger of Iran on a collision course with Israel over Syria
– Alan Dershowitz: Why are so many claiming that Iran is complying with the deal, when evidence shows it isn’t?
– Colin Rubenstein: On Iran, Donald Trump has actually got something right
– Joseph Samuels: The history of Iraqi Jewry is in jeopardy
Featured image: CC BY Nick Page; Dickinson via YouTube/CBS News; EU flag CC0 Pixabay; Ghana by Nathaniel Tetteh on Unsplash; Kaag via Wikimedia Commons;
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