Today’s Top Stories
1. Unusual indeed: Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report (see summary or full report) on PA and Hamas violations of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza. HRW accused Fatah and Hamas of systematically targeting each others’ supporters, arbitrary arrests, torture and stifling dissent. AP and Reuters, among others, picked up on the story. The Jerusalem Post noted:
Usually reports by HRW and other groups with voluminous narratives of Palestinian being tortured are focused on allegations against Israel, with criticism of Palestinians treatment of their own relegated to a few pages tucked into large reports on the whole world.
The 149-page report, “‘Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent:’ is unique in focusing on Palestinian against Palestinian torture.
2. It turns out last week’s Palestinian rocket fire which destroyed a house in Beersheva was indeed triggered by a lightning strike. Ynet reports that is why Israel’s cabinet didn’t authorize an IDF escalation.
Security Cabinet ministers told Ynet on Monday the government decided against launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip following the rocket attack because Israeli intelligence determined, with a very high degree of certainty, that the rockets were fired due to a malfunction caused by the lightning storm that raged on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday . . .
“We acted very responsibly,” the minister explained. “It wasn’t right to go to war because of the weather.”
3. Police safely detonated a bomb found in a mailbox at the Westchester home of Jewish billionaire George Soros. The 88-year-old philanthropist — who has supported a number of left-wing non-governmental organizations harshly critical of Israel — was not home at the time. The New York Times reports that local police turned the investigation over to the FBI.
4. Jerusalem’s Municipal Elections Are Coming: Here’s what the media has overlooked about next week’s voting.
In the News
• Jordan’s foreign minister says Amman has no plans to extend a lease on two tracts of land on the Israeli-Jordanian border. The 1994 peace agreement granted Israel a 25-year lease on the agricultural tracts of Naharayim and Tzofar near the Kinneret and Eilat respectively. Jordan gave notice it will not renew the leases, which expire next year.
The Israeli farmers in Naharayim and Tzofar are concerned about their future, while some officials in Jerusalem suggested this will have spillover effect on Israeli water transfers to Jordan.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
• Senior Hamas official Ahmed Yousef publicly denounced the leadership of both Fatah and Hamas for failing to unite and govern properly, turning Palestinians into “beggars and street vendors who can barely earn a living.” Yousef is one of the original founders of Hamas. His remarks were published on a Palestinian web site. More on the story at the Jerusalem Post.
• The IDF said a Gaza man arrested while trying to enter Israel deliberately let himself be caught so he could stay in Israel. The IDF said the man would be returned to the Strip later today.
• Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan is visiting Israel, primarily boosting business ties. He also visited the Western Wall.
Chinese VP Wang Qishan visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem accompanied by @IsraelMFA Officials, which I'd highly unusual pic.twitter.com/r91md7C77q
— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) October 22, 2018
• Israel and other Mideast states worry as the Khashoggi affair erodes Saudi Arabia’s reputation. In Tehran, the mullahs are passing the popcorn and watching the show as Turkish officials continue releasing a steady drip of lurid revelations.
• Paypal halted services for War on Want, a UK charity with alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group.
• Tweet of the day goes to Eugene Kontorovich.
Under Oslo Agreements, PA obliged to ensure "free access" and worship – even bus stops – for 12 specified Jewish Holy Sites. Today, all remain completely unaccessible. Instead of free access & worship, they are just free of worship. Hello @UNESCO @UNHumanRights @hrw @AmnestyCIJ? pic.twitter.com/s08kBlR9WW
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) October 22, 2018
• New legislation being mulled by a Knesset committee would bill the PA for medical care given to Palestinian terrorists in Israeli hospitals. Ynet explains:
Although the proposed amendment does not preclude medical treatment, which is required under international law, it does exempts Israel from funding terrorists’ medical bills by allowing the deduction of medical expenses from regular tax payments Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which uses these payments to provide terrorists with generous stipends . . .
The Ministry of Public Security estimates that the Israel Police pays NIS 2 million annually to provide medical treatment for terrorists injured in terror attacks, while the Israel Prison Service (IPS) finances an additional NIS 20-25 million annually for medical treatment given to security prisoners.
• Haaretz: “In an effort to resolve the crisis with Reform and Conservative Jews in the United States, the Israeli government is bypassing the movements’ leaders and reaching out directly to congregational rabbis viewed as less critical of its policies.”
• Drip drip drip: Labour councillor behind new initiative to fight racism has history of alleged antisemitism.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Nadav Shragai: Don’t use Temple Mount to placate Jordan
– Raphael Ahren: Jordan nixing of land leases could sow distrust, but some see hope for reversal
– Seth Frantzman: Is Israel’s position in region as secure as it looks?
– Gilad Cohen: Israel-China ties are a very good thing
– Shalom Lipner: After the midterms, could a threatened, volatile Trump flip on the Jews?
– Rafael Castro: Universalism, particularism and enduring antisemitism
– Raymond Berger: The headline intifada
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Miguel Moya; lightning CC BY-NC-ND Bo Insogna, MrBO.com; thinking CC0 Max Pixel;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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