Today’s Top Stories
1. Hezbollah set off a bomb targeting IDF bulldozers along the Israeli-Lebanese border, prompting Israeli shelling.
At this stage, there are no known injuries among IDF soldiers. Israeli farmers situated close to the Lebanese border have been moved back by the army.
#Hezbollah just released a statement claiming the border operation in the name of Samir Kantar #Lebanon #Israel
— Nour Samaha (@Nour_Samaha) January 4, 2016
2. Following the ransack of its embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran. This came after the Saudis executed Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan joined the Saudis by either severing or downgrading ties with Iran.
3. The search for suspected terrorist Nashat Milhem continues. Besides killing two people in a Tel Aviv pub on Friday, police say they are certain he also killed a taxi cab driver whose body was found in northern Tel Aviv.
The driver was identified as Ayman Shaaban, a 42-year-old Bedouin from Lod and father of 11. Shabaan was laid to rest yesterday. The Times of Israel also reports that Israel has sought out the PA’s help.
Israel has reportedly turned to the PA for help in locating Nashat Milhem, who carried out the Tel Aviv shooting.
— avi issacharoff (@issacharoff) January 4, 2016
Israel and the Intifada
• Not long after this roundup was published, breaking reports of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem. And on Sunday evening, an Israeli soldier suffered light injuries from a Palestinian shooting attack in the Hebron Hills.
• IDF forces began destroying the eastern Jerusalem homes of two Palestinian terrorists who killed three Israelis in near-simultaneous attacks in October.
• Tweet of the day, by Dan Williams of Reuters, who was responding to a tweet by the PLO’s ambassador to the US, Maen Airekat.
Please expand on your method for determining that 85% figure. Also, what is the new ammunition to which you refer? https://t.co/zKnSF93mct
— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) January 4, 2016
• Palestinian hipsters are finding freedom in Haifa. The New York Times takes a look at a little-known scene:
Haifa’s relative liberalism is a product of its unique, cosmopolitan tradition. It is easy for young, single people to get out in this city, which is built on a steep coastal hill, with Jews tending to live on its heights and Arabs by the sea. The once working-class city of 280,000 has several universities and has embraced its diversity. The 30,000 Arab residents, around 10 percent of the population, include equal numbers of Muslims and Christians, and they are generally wealthier and better educated than Arabs elsewhere in Israel.
This makes Haifa a comfortable place for liberal Palestinians who want not only to escape the constraints of conservative Arab communities but also to be among their own people.
Mideast Matters
• Worth reading: Ronen Bergman talked to “a former senior official in the American intelligence community” about how the US eavesdrops on Israel and why.
Following the [Wall St. Journal] report’s publication, Robert agreed to broach the subject. The reason for that, beyond the fact that the information he had kept from me until that point had now been revealed by the newspaper, was his desire to warn against the disastrous consequences of the strained relationship between the leaders of the two nations. “In the United States, the mindset coming from the Commander in Chief projects onto the soldiers, down to the most junior among them. Obama despises Netanyahu, and that affects the entire system,” Robert, who cares much about Israel, says with pain . . .
The problem was of a fundamental nature: “The order to use this kind of spying power against Israel, even after Snowden’s leaks and the knowledge that continuing this kind of activity includes a significant political risk, illustrates just how the White House regards the Israeli government. This is not how you treat friends. This is how you spy against enemies.“
• Hezbollah and the Syrian army are accused of killing civilians fleeing the Syrian village of Madaya.
Around the World
• Amsterdam Jewish family’s home defaced in anti-Semitic attack by vandals shouting “cancer Jews” and “Free Palestine.”
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Alex Ryvchin: Tripped up by a celebration of murder (click via Google News)
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian leaders promise a new year of violence and death
– Yossi Kuperwasser: How to block the ongoing Palestinian terror wave
– Boaz Bismuth: The Saudis couldn’t care less about us
– Dina Smeltz: Did Netanyahu’s visit divide American opinion on Israel?
– Rafael Medoff: Israeli settlers, meet Brazil’s settlers
– Stephen Pollard: The catharsis of capital punishment
– Aaron David Miller: Fallout from Saudi cleric’s execution underscores Mideast challenges
Featured image: CC BY Markus Spiske; Haifa CC BY Boris Kasimov;
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