Today’s Top Stories
1. The IDF confirmed it destroyed a Gaza terror tunnel which stretched under the Israeli and Egyptian borders early Sunday morning. With an overall length of 1.5 km and extending 180 meters into Israeli territory, the tunnel passed directly under the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where Israel transfers humanitarian aid to the Strip.
The IDF said the tunnel was destroyed in Gaza by Israeli jets, marking the first official Israeli confirmation that it has indeed destroyed tunnels from the air. The IDF rejected Hamas claims that the tunnel was only for smuggling commercial goods. The Kerem Shalom crossing remained closed as this roundup was published.
The tunnel’s connection to the Egyptian Sinai puts Hamas in a difficult spot with Cairo, Avi Issacharoff and Ron Ben-Yishai point out.
2. A British woman attacked by Palestinian terrorists is demanding a probe of UK aid ‘used on prisoners,’ and a powerful MP has promised to raise the issue in Parliament. Several papers picked up on this Daily Express report.
Kay Wilson sent the letter, supported by 130 campaigners, after she discovered that the Palestinian Authority is potentially using British taxpayers’ money to pay her attackers in prison who also killed her American friend Kristine Luken.
The two murderers have received £9,000 each according to reports . . .
She also asked for a British version of the USA’s Taylor Force Act which blocks payments to Gaza and the West Bank unless the Palestinian Authority can certify it is taking steps to end acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens, condemning attacks and has terminated payments to terrorists.
While hiking with US national Kristine Luken in a forest near the Israeli city of Beit Shemeish in 2010, two Palestinians attacked them with knives, killing Luken and leaving Wilson for dead. Ayad Fasafa and Kifah Ghanimat are serving life sentences.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. President Donald Trump waived sanctions on Iran, keeping the nuclear deal alive for now. But the president insisted that this was the last time he would continue the waiver. The next waiver deadline is in 120 days:
If Trump had not signed the waivers, nuclear sanctions against Iran would automatically be reinstated, putting the US in contravention of the deal’s terms and likely spelling the end of the pact.
Trump laid out four conditions that must be met for him to not abrogate the deal, which included increased inspections, ensuring “Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon” and that there be no expiration dates to the nuke deal. The current one expires after a decade.
His last condition required Capitol Hill lawmakers to pass a bill unilaterally incorporating Iran’s missile program into the nuclear deal.
In the News
• Accompanied by a delegation of 130 businessmen, Netanyahu arrived in India for a six-day trip the Jerusalem Post reports will focus mostly on economic cooperation and technological development. Haaretz fills in more details of the PM’s itinerary. For perspective, bilateral trade in 2016 was at $4.16 billion.
• Here’s a selection of items from the Indian press about the PM’s visit:
> Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk formally renamed after Israeli city of Haifa. Here’s why.
> Nariman House, witness to 26/11 Mumbai attacks, to be turned into a memorial.
> Budding Israel-India romance tested by Modi’s balancing act
> How Israel helped India during the Kargil war
> Amb. Daniel Karmon: India and Israel are all-weather friends
• Prof. Efraim Inbar also weighs in on the Israeli-Indian ties.
• Hamas official in Lebanon wounded in car bomb.
• The Sunday Times of London takes a closer look at Iran/Hezbollah entrenchment along the Israeli-Syrian border.
“Iran is duplicating Hezbollah from Lebanon to the Golan Heights to create a second Hezbollah on Israel’s border,” said Major-General Amos Yadlin, a retired chief of military intelligence in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). “If one side is determined to build a force in Syria and the other side is determined not to let it happen, this is a recipe for escalation.”
• South African Zulu king invokes fight against AIDS and drought, in plea to ANC government to retain close Israel ties.
• Morocco’s largest opposition party dropped a bill to strip emigrants to Israeli settlements of their Moroccan citizenship, with the part leader admitting the effort was merely to appease a visiting Hamas delegation.
• While Hezbollah and Iran undermine Lebanon, Lebanese people flipping out are over this:
Gal Gadot wears Lebanese designer, sparks outrage
Fashion takes political turn as Elie Saab praises Gal Gadot | News , Lebanon News – https://t.co/czprnNDOtR
— lebanon News (@lebanonews111) January 13, 2018
• Lorde lost Howard Stern. (Sorry, no spoilers here.)
• British Parliament to debate full ban of Hezbollah as terrorist entity.
• New Jersey divests from Denmark’s largest bank over its support for BDS.
• A 15-year-old Parisian girl’s face slashed in an anti-Semitic assault.
The alleged victim was wearing the uniform of her private Jewish school, Merkaz-Hatorah, when the attack happened during lunch break Wednesday.
• Pro-Palestinian resolution from New Orleans City Council creates backlash.
• South Carolina‘s governor is pushing legislation that would “ensure the state’s public colleges and universities will take the State Department’s definition of antisemitism into consideration when investigating allegations of discrimination against Jewish students.”
• The Wall St. Journal (click via Twitter) reports that the US Justice Dept. is creating a special “Narcoterrorism Team” of prosecutors to target Hezbollah drug trafficking and money laundering.
Commentary
• Worth watching: Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser and Fatah official Ahmed Ghoneim sparred over the issue of PA stipends paid to imprisoned terrorists and the families of “martyrs” on i24 News.
Someone tore down the mezuzah of UCLA’s Jewish student president. Read her powerful response.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ron Prosor: The problem is UNRWA
– Liat Collins: UNRWA’s unsettling impact
– Bassam Tawil: The Palestinian terror party: Celebrating murder
– Maj-General Gershon HaCohen (Res.): Trump’s shock to the system
– Victor Davis Hanson: The faded Palestinian issue
– Emily Shire: The left’s latest bid to delegitimize the Jewish state
– Jonathan Tobin: I despise BDS — but Israel’s new BDS ban is a big mistake
– Dan Diker, Jamie Berk: Students for Justice in Palestine unmasked
– Daniel Gordis: A dose of nuance: Israel-bashing by analogy
– Khadija Khan: Germans tackling exploding anti-Semitism?
– Alex Fishman: The Iranian wall of fire
– Norman Bailey: On Iran, follow Reagan’s example
Featured image: CC BY Nicolas Alejandro; atom CC BY-SA DeviantArt/deejaywill; New Orleans CC BY-NC Wayne Hsieh;
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