Today’s Top Stories
1. A report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research on the conflict (picked up by The Guardian) finds 11.5% of population killed or injured. After five years of civil war, we’re talking about 470,000 dead, 1.9 million injured, and 45% of the population displaced:
Of the 470,000 war dead counted by the SCPR, about 400,000 were directly due to violence, while the remaining 70,000 fell victim to lack of adequate health services, medicine, especially for chronic diseases, lack of food, clean water, sanitation and proper housing, especially for those displaced within conflict zones.
2. With Laurent Fabius stepping down as foreign minister in a French cabinet reshuffle, the Jerusalem Post looks at what this means for France’s Mideast peace initiative.
No successor has been named, but Reuters reports that speculation centers on former prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Environment Minister Segolene Royal.
3. There’s an emerging split within Hamas’ military wing following member’s execution.
4. Israel ‘Witch-Hunting’ the Foreign Press: Israel has a pretty good record when it comes to hunting terrorists. Witch-hunting, unsurprisingly, isn’t something that Israel is renowned for.
5. Map Fail: Medical Journal Erases Israel: Why are journalists able to correctly label 195 countries in the world, but keep making this “mistake” on maps of Israel?
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• This morning, a police arrested a settler for throwing an axe at a Palestinian truck and shattering its windshield outside the settlement of Karnei Shomron.
• Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog says two-state solution isn’t practical right now, urges separation from Palestinians. AFP coverage.
• Beirut’s Daily Star (click via Google News) picked up on Arab reports that 15 youths who recently left the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon arrived in the Islamic State-controlled Syrian province of Raqqa. Two men originally from the camp were “tasked by ISIS leadership to recruit young people to join the group.”
Ain al-Hilweh is the largest of 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Youth walk under an Islamic State flag in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp,… https://t.co/1FjtXSRwUb via @Reuters_co_jp
— Norman Okamoto (@norman_okamoto) February 5, 2016
• As Israeli and Turkish diplomats hash out details on re-normalizing ties, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon demanded that any deal include Hamas returning the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. Both were killed in Gaza in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge. According to Haaretz, Yaalon believes Ankara is capable of pressuring Hamas on the matter.
• Crises in Syria and Yemen mean international donors have less money for the Palestinians. AFP reports that the UN officials are appealing to donor states for $571 million for Palestinians — down from last year’s appeal for $705 million — “about half of which was met.” PA officials fear this will lead to an “explosive situation.”
• Israel police to appoint first Muslim deputy commissioner.
Around the World
• Jordan turned down a French extradition request for two suspects in a 1982 bombing of a Jewish restaurant in Paris. A source in Amman said the rejection was due to technical reasons with the request. Six people were killed and 22 more were injured when two gunmen assaulted the Chez Jo Goldenberg deli.
• Rocker Ted Nugent’s anti-Semitic Facebook post blasted.
• Evgeny Lebedev, who owns The Independent, is considering shutting down the print edition and going web-only.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: Journalist Ira Rifkin unpacks the conflicts of interests behind the New York Times and the tours of Iran it operates.
Is this just another case of the industry’s business side embarrassing the news side? That’s not an uncommon occurrence in the news BUSINESS. Or is this something more odious?
• A Haaretz staff-ed weighs in on this week’s Knesset panel examining media bias.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ely Karmon: How Palestinians hurt the Palestinians
– Ron Ben-Yishai: Where is the third intifada headed?
– Bret Stephens: The next US president may not be pro-Israel
– Angela Epstein: My son got anti-Semitic abuse on a train. Why did nobody stand up for him?
Featured image: CC BY-NC Maureen Sill; Fabius CC BY-NC-ND Parti socialiste;
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