Today’s Top Stories
1. Stunning the Mideast, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia, saying Iran and Hezbollah were plotting his assassination and extending their influence over the government. The Washington Post explains:
The resignation signaled an end to the shaky alliance that had underpinned Lebanon’s government between Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who is a longtime ally of Saudi Arabia, and the Shiite Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran. The arrangement helped Lebanon keep a distance from the violence convulsing neighboring Syria and the wider region but stirred deepening concerns among Iran’s foes about growing Iranian influence in the country.
In response, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said he won’t accept Hariri’s resignation until he returns to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the development a “wake-up call to the international community to take action against the Iranian aggression,” while Iran said the resignation was part of a US-Saudi plot to stir more tension.
More at the New York Times and Daily Telegraph.
According to Al-Arabiya, an attempt on Hariri’s life “had been thwarted in Beirut a few days ago,” though Lebanese security officials said they had no knowledge of any such attempt. Hariri’s father, Rafik, was assassinated in a massive car bombing in 2005, which killed 21 other people for which. Hezbollah was implicated.
Israeli columnists weighed in:
– Avi Issacharoff: Hariri resignation: Lebanon now a full on Iranian proxy for all to see
– Amos Harel: Hariri’s exit increases instability on Israel’s Lebanese border
– Yossi Yehoshua: Hariri’s speech: An accurate description of Israel’s northern challenge
– Anna Ahronheim: With Hariri resignation, Israel has more leeway in next Lebanon war
2. Israel took the unusual step of announcing it will protect the residents of the Syrian Druze village of Hader. Nine people were killed in a suicide car bombing attack said to have been carried out by Al-Qaida affiliated rebels.
In the aftermath of the attack, a number of Israeli Druze tried to breach the border to fight alongside relatives. One Israeli Druze lawmaker, MK Akram Hasson, said four of the Hader victims were members of his extended family. Israeli Druze spiritual leader Shaykh Muwaffak Tar?f discussed the issues with Ynet.
See reactions from Prof. Eyal Zisser, Amos Harel, and Yoav Limor.
3. Islamic Jihad said five more of its operatives were killed last week when the IDF destroyed a cross-border tunnel from Gaza, raising the death toll to 12. The five were initially unaccounted for, raising fears they were inside Israel.
Also, Israel refused a Hamas request to search the Israel-Gaza buffer zone for the missing men, insisting first on progress on the issue of returning three Israeli civilians who wandered into Gaza and the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza conflict.
Meanwhile, senior Palestinian officials told Israel HaYom that the PA has neither the ability nor the will to prevent Gaza terror groups from digging more cross-border tunnels.
“What you in Israel and the United States do not understand is that we want to give this reconciliation a chance to succeed, even if not everything goes smoothly,” he said. “Therefore we are not interested in a confrontation with Hamas, certainly not because of the tunnel issue. We will be able to restrain Hamas in Gaza just as it is restrained in the West Bank, but it is a lengthy process that will take time [to implement], and for the time being it is not in our interest or desire to prevent Hamas from continuing its security-related activity in the Gaza Strip.”
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
In the News
• While in the UK, Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed the peace process, the Iranian threat, and Israeli-British in an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr. If you’re unable to hear the full interview, see the Times of Israel‘s summary.
• Kyle Mizokami delves into how Israel is modifying its new made-in-the-USA F-35 fighters.
• A Balfour Declaration event at a Florida Jewish museum was cancelled due to a bomb threat
• Daily Mail: Dossier unveiled by Jewish Labour members reveals scale of anti-Semitism claims inside the party amid drive to stamp out online abuse from activists.
• If you’re trying to prove a point about anti-Semitism, don’t do it by telling a joke about the Holocaust. Labour MP Harriet Harman is no anti-Semite, she was just seriously lacking in political judgment during an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil. The row described by the Daily Telegraph is no laughing matter.
• Israeli businessman claims anti-Semitic ‘hounding’ in Scotland.
• A Jewish student at Montreal’s McGill U. embroiled in anti-Semitism row will maintain his leadership position — for now.
Commentary/Analysis
• Shout out to all my Balfour junkies:
– Itamar Marcus: Had there been no Balfour Declaration, the PA would have had to invent it
– Efraim Karsh: Turks, Arabs welcomed Balfour Declaration
– Bernard Avishai: The Balfour Declaration century
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Bassam Tawil: Meet Abbas’ new partners
– Washington Post (staff-ed) Can Hamas and the PA reconcile in Gaza? Be skeptical
– Yoni Ben Menachem: The operational coordination between Hezbollah and Hamas
– Daniel Schwammenthal: Why is the West financing Palestinian terrorism?
– Amb. Alan Baker: What goes for UNESCO goes also for the UN
– Hussein Ibish: Why Bahrain is leading Gulf Arab outreach to Israel
– Shimon Koffler Fogel: You can’t analyze Israel without understanding the experiences of its people
– Rosemary McLeod: Deniers incite hatred
Featured image: CC BY Mo Riza;; Hariri via YouTube/TeleLiban Montage; F-35s via Wikimedia Commons; dog CC0 PublicDomainPictures;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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