Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Arab media reports picked up the Times of Israel, Syria’s minister of information was ousted for failing to prevent Israeli journalist Jonathan Spyer from entering and reporting from Syria, even joining an Assad regime-sponsored trip where he interviewed some government ministers.
2. Anti-government demonstrations escalated with attacks on police stations. Iranian state-run media reported that one demonstrator shot and killed a member of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the central city of Najafabad. So far, 21 people, including an 11-year-old boy, have been killed in six days of unrest. More at CNN, AP, Reuters and the Washington Post.
According to Israeli media reports, an Israeli government assessment has determined that the protests have already weakened the Iranian regime:
“The escalation of the protest’s messaging attests to our understanding of a certain breach of the Iranian citizens’ fear barrier,” the document reportedly states. Since the government’s brutal crackdown on similar protests in 2009, Iranians had been careful to not allow their discontent to extend beyond social media. However, the recent demonstrations have shown that “barrier” to have been eroded, the Foreign Ministry analysts conclude.
At @nytimes today, a story about a meaningless & empty gesture by Likud party hacks is higher than the ongoing story about Iran.
— yaacov lozowick (@yaacovlozowick) January 2, 2018
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3. Israel busted a Hamas terror cell in the West Bank planning an attack. Ynet reports the five-man cell received instructions from Abdullah Arar, a Hamas operative freed by Israel in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap. Arar had been imprisoned for his role in the 2005 kidnap and murder of Israeli Sasson Nuriel.
4. Video: Should Israel and the US take a stand on the Iranian protests, or should they stay silent? With the PA rejecting Trump’s involvement in the peace process, what role can and should the US play? Watch The Spin Room on i24 where HR’s Daniel Pomerantz discussed these questions and more with Dennis Ross, a former ambassador and adviser to four US presidents, along with Newsweek columnist Marc Schulman.
Israel and the Palestinians
• For five days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept his silence about the Iranian protests. But then, he spoke out in a video wishing the Iranian people “success in their noble quest for freedom.” The Jerusalem Post explains the Prime Minister’s thinking and what changed:
Foremost in the minds of some who advocated this policy was the results of Israel’s very public support in September of independence for Iraqi Kurds. Rather than lead other countries to express similar support, or do much more than giving some moral support to the Kurds themselves, these statements were used by Iraq, by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and by Iran against the Kurds.
Seeking to avoid a replay, Netanyahu’s policy up until Monday afternoon was just to keep quiet.
But then two things happened. The first was that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani publicly blamed Israel and the US for fomenting the unrest. The second was the deafening silence of the Europeans.
• Whether or not you agree with the Jerusalem Law (passed on Monday night), which would require a special parliamentary majority to approve ceding Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem, this New York Times headline is inappropriately opinionated and over the top.
Around the World
• James Zogby is a prominent Arab-American lobbyist of Lebanese descent who supports BDS and was involved in crafting the 2016 Democratic Party platform. So as the the hoo-ha over Lorde and her dissing of Israel continues, why don’t the International Business Times and Radio New Zealand disclose who Zogby is?
There’s nothing wrong with sharing his tweet responding to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s controversial full-page ad denouncing the 21-year-old New Zealander. Just be up-front that Zogby’s not some average Twitter guy.
• Florida police officer resigns during investigation over his anti-Semitic Facebook posts.
Commentary
• Plenty of spilled ink and burnt pixels weighing in on the Iranian protests.
– Anshel Pfeffer: In Iran, when does a protest become a revolution?
– Seth Frantzman: Media analysis: What Iranian protests?
– Lee Smith: Why can’t the American media cover the protests in Iran?
– Michael Segall: Protests spread across Iran
– Prof. Ze’ev Maghen: Iran’s split personality
– Melanie Phillips: The Iranian uprising
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: The unpredictability of revolution
– Jonathan Tobin: Jerusalem and now Iran: Is Donald Trump turning into a morally serious president?
– Nadav Eyal: Iranian protestors keeping with revolutionary tradition
– Washington Post (staff-ed): The West should support the protesters in Iran
wouldn't it be nice if you could move ONE of the 10,000 reporters you have ready to take every possible propaganda photo against Israel – to cover #Iran protests from close-up? But you can't. Because real oppression isn't one you can get close to. https://t.co/CSONCaGkMv
— David Collier (@mishtal) December 31, 2017
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Amos Harel: Three reasons Israel doesn’t want a war in Gaza right now – and, yes, Iran is one
– Alex Fishman: Trump’s gift to Abbas
– Khaled Abu Toameh: How Palestinians silence Palestinians
– Alan Dershowitz: Debating BDS with Cornel West
– Assaf Wohl: A Jew boycotting Israel? Must be a joke
– Dan Margalit: Anything but a boycott
– David Harris: 10 basic facts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
– Dror Eydar: The Palestinian masquerade
– Nadav Shragai: Erdogan talks Hamas’ language
– Sherry Sufi: Islamic terrorism: myth and conspiracy theory build augmented reality
– Edmond Mulet: How the UN Security Council failed Syrian chemical weapons investigators and victims
– Emily Landau, Gilead Sher: Lessons from the negotiation that led to the Iran nuclear deal
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Sophie; Zogby via YouTube/Electronic Intifada;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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