Today’s Top Stories
1. US intelligence officials have warned their Israeli counterparts against sharing sensitive information with the Trump administration out of fear of secrets being leaked to Russia — and then to Iran. Ronen Bergman reports:
These fears, which began upon Trump’s election, grew stronger following a meeting held recently between Israeli and American intelligence officials (the date of the meeting is not mentioned to protect the sources of the report). During the meeting, according to the Israelis who participated in it, their American colleagues voiced despair over Trump’s election, as he often lashes out at the American intelligence community . . .
The Americans implied that their Israeli colleagues should “be careful” as of January 20, Trump’s inauguration date, when transferring intelligence information to the White House and to the National Security Council (NSC), which is subject to the president. According to the Israelis who were present in the meeting, the Americans recommended that until it is made clear that Trump is not inappropriately connected to Russia and is not being extorted – Israel should avoid revealing sensitive sources to administration officials for fear the information would reach the Iranians.
2. The family of the terrorist who killed four soldiers in Sunday’s truck ramming attack will soon receive a generous monthly stipend from the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian Media Watch explains:
According to its fundamental policy of supporting all Palestinian terror, the PA will reward the terrorist’s wife with a lifetime monthly allowance. According to PA law, the family of a Shahid receives a base payment of 1400 shekels per month. A wife of the Shahid receives an additional 400 shekels, for each child she receives 200 shekels, and for being a resident of Jerusalem an additional 300 shekels. In total the wife of this murderer will receive 2900 shekels ($760) per month for the rest of her life. In addition, within the next few months, she will receive a one-time grant of 6000 shekels ($1580).
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3. Gaza’s electricity crisis continues as Fatah and Hamas remain deadlocked on paying for fuel to keep the Strip’s only power plant operating and related debts. In recent weeks, Gazans have been getting three-four hours of electricity at irregular hours. Fed-up Palestinians have planned a series of protests and Haaretz reports that three babies may have died because of the power outages.
The Media Line adds that Hamas tunnels have 24/7 electricity, but “Because of the fuel shortages, Gaza’s sewer treatment facilities are unable to operate well, and up to 90 million liters of partially treated sewage are being discharged into the Mediterranean Sea every day.”
For its part, Hamas arrested a comedian for posting a critical video about the crisis.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Hamas hackers displayed a new level of sophistication by using a series of fake Facebook accounts to lure IDF soldiers into downloading a purported chat application onto their cellphones. The New York Times sums up what happened next:
They then sent links to an apps store with instructions to download what they said were video chat apps, like YeeCall and Wowo Messenger. When the soldiers tried to install and use the apps, they would not open, and the new “friends” would cut off contact. But the supposed app was actually a virus that gave Hamas access to the soldiers’ contacts, locations, apps, photos and files, the military said, and allowed Hamas operatives to stream video from the cellphone’s camera and audio from the microphone . . .
After working secretly for several months to find the cyberspies, the military said it had decided to publicize the operation to raise public awareness and encourage soldiers to report suspicious behavior on social networks.
• Worth reading: Ehud Yaari examines in-depth how Israeli managed to gradually contain the wave of Palestinian stabbings, car-ramming and shooting attacks. Security forces did it through what Yaari calls a combination of “technology, smart policing, and cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.” No one snippet does justice to Yaari’s thorough piece.
• 72 countries to attend Sunday’s Paris peace conference. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the confab as rigged against Israel. Ahead of the Paris powwow, PA President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Pope Francis and inaugurate a Palestinian embassy in the Vatican.
• Israel announced new charges against World Vision’s top man in Gaza, Mohammad El Halabi. He’s already on charged with diverting millions of dollars in aid money to Hamas.
El Halabi is now also accused of “passing information to the enemy” and of “aiding and abetting the enemy in a time of war”, with the latter charge coming under the legal article of “treason” in Israeli law.
• A US court ordered Syria and Iran to pay nearly $200 million to the family of an baby killed in a Jerusalem terror attack last year. Chaya Zissel Braun, a three-month-old US-Israel citizen was killed in 2014 when a Palestinian with ties to Hamas rammed his car into a Jerusalem light rail station.
The US District Court in Washington, DC ruled Tuesday that Tehran and Damascus were liable to provide compensation for damages amounting to $178,500,000 due to their financial backing of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
• For the third time in two years, the American Historical Association rejected BDS resolutions.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Rafael L. Bardaji and Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp: Call off the Paris conference
– Cnaan Liphshiz: Is Europe’s jihadist problem generating empathy toward Israel?
– Shmuel Rosner: Does Israel really have a corruption problem?
– Sol Stern: End the UNRWA farce
– Yves Mamou: French ambassadors declare war on Israel
– Gabriel Noah Brahm: The end of identity liberalism at the MLA
– Jagdish N. Singh: India must back Israel
Featured image: CC BY Lucy Fisher; Trump via YouTube/PBS NewsHour; light CC BY-NC Thomas Hawk; apps CC BY Sean MacEntee;
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