Today’s Top Stories
1. This latest revelation from released State Department emails will fuel suspicions of foreign meddling in Israeli affairs and raise questions about Hillary Clinton and the people surrounding her. Say it ain’t so, Hillary!
2. Sanctions on Iran may be lifted as early as Friday, so it’d be nice to know what’s going on inside the Islamic Republic. Take today’s confusion over the Arak heavy water reactor:
– Report: Iran removes core from nuclear reactor
– Iran nuke official denies key reactor dismantled
3. Three Americans injured during the Mavi Marmara incident filed a civil suit against Israel in a US federal court. The plaintiffs were aboard the US-flagged Challenger 1, which was one of several vessels in the 2010 flotilla. Washington Post coverage.
According to their attorneys, American plaintiffs David Schermerhorn, Mary Ann Wright and Huwaida Arraf, a dual US-Israeli citizen, and Belgian national Margriet Deknopper suffered injuries that included partial loss of sight when a stun grenade exploded inches from one of them and a broken nose when another was hit by a rubber bullet.
4. Mein Kampf Used to Assault Israel: Op-ed in The Guardian implies Israeli Jews are spreading racist hatred, having failed to learn the lessons of Nazism.
5. The Only Terrorists in the New York Times: Why does the Gray Lady use the word terror when talking about Jewish terror, but not Palestinian terror?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZF456vUn_g
Israel and the Intifada
• Palestinian trying to stab soldiers shot and killed near Hebron.
• Israel continues holding the body of Tel Aviv terrorist Nashat Milhem. Officials want an agreement from the family that funeral won’t become a rally for terror inciting more attacks. Jerusalem Post coverage.
• Recent Fatah Day festivities in the West Bank featured masked and armed Fatah militants, military parades made up of marchers waving rifles and axes, and children wearing mock explosive belts and carrying dummy RPG launchers. More at MEMRI.
• Extreme left-wing activist Ezra Nawi was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport trying to leave Israel. He was recently recorded saying that he helps the Palestinian Authority catch Palestinians who sell land to Jews — a death penalty offense.
• Four indicted in fatal beating of Eritrean bystander during Beersheba terror attack.
• Islamic State followers plan to take over the Gaza Strip. Khaled Abu Toameh takes note of a new video released by the pro-ISIS Palestinian Islamic Army (PIA), and what it means.
Egyptian security officials have attested repeatedly that the Gaza Strip has become a major exporter of jihadis to Sinai. Events have proven those officials correct. It seems that there may be valid reasons for Egypt’s reluctance to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, as well as to Israel’s opposition to lifting the naval blockade on Gaza — initiated to prevent weapons from being imported to Hamas and other extremists in the Gaza Strip. The PIA video provides definitive proof that the Gaza Strip has become a hub for jihadi groups posing a murderous threat not only to Israel and “the West,” but also to Muslims who are deemed by the terrorists as lacking in religious standards.
• Cyprus corrects its “wrong perception of Israel”
Around the World
• Tweet of the day . . .
Sort of telling: Iran nuclear deal fans remain silent re:Iran arrests journalists, bans newspaper ahead of elections https://t.co/RfrZP3D7k0
— Benjamin Weinthal (@BenWeinthal) January 12, 2016
• Kuwait court sentences two to death for spying for Iran, Hezbollah
• The machete-armed attacker of a Jewish man in Marseilles on Monday was a 15-year-old boy who told police he acted on behalf of Allah and Islamic State.
Commentary/Analysis
• Ron Ben Yishai casts doubt on The Daily Beast‘s report that Russia is supplying weapons to Hezbollah.
• A delegation of four Catholic bishops visiting Gaza prompted this smarmy staff-ed in The Independent.
The Hamas movement rules Gaza in an autocratic and undemocratic fashion – there is no denying that. But the way in which the Israeli government uses the hardline anti-Israeli ideology of the Hamas regime as an excuse to maintain the territory as a form of open-air prison is shameful.
• Worth reading:
Why Sanctions Are Pointless: Or, How Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs and Coca-Cola Broke the Arab Boycott
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Aaron David Miller: Mideast Peace: The last temptation of Obama and Kerry
– Pinhas Inbari: Why the PA hesitated to honor Israeli Arab terrorist as a “martyr”
– Gary Gambill: So, I guess it wasn’t all Israel’s fault after all
– Alex Fishman: Impending lifting of Iran sanctions worries Israel
– Dennis Ross: How Obama created a Mideast vacuum
– Thomas Ricks: What would a Saudi-Iran war look like?
Featured image: CC BY-NC Kent Landerholm;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
