Today’s Top Stories
1. Jihadis linked to Islamic State seized a several Syrian villages near the area where the Israeli, Jordanian and Syrian borders converge. The villages, which had been held by the Free Syrian Army, were captured in a surprise attack on Monday. More at the Times of Israel.
The fighters gained control of several villages and a large town — Tasil, Sahem el-Golan, Adwan, and Tel Jamoua — that lie about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the Israeli border on the Golan Heights.
2. Israeli jets reportedly struck a weapons shipment to Hezbollah in Syria last night. Picking up on Arab reports, the Jerusalem Post notes:
The report also claimed that the IDF struck from within Lebanon, circling the Beqaa Valley and Baalbek, so as not to be blocked by the Russian defense systems operating in the area.
On a related note, the Jerusalem Post also reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planning another trip to Russia to discuss the Syrian situation with President Vladimir Putin.
This type of conversation is especially necessary now since talks between Russia, Iran and various Syrian factions over the future of Syria are taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan, and Israel is not sitting around the table there to spell out its redlines.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Netanyahu arrived in Sydney where he held talks with government officials and addressed the Jewish community at the Central Synagogue. Herb Keinon notes the difference in Singaporean and Aussie media coverage. The welcome included a glowing op-ed in The Australian penned by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull himself.
While Bibi visit in Singapore relegated to page 9, Aussie PM Turnbull greets Bibi with pro-Israel op-ed in Australian, & front page excerpt
— Herb Keinon (@HerbKeinon) February 21, 2017
Meanwhile, former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd accused Netanyahu of “torpedoing” the two-state solution.
4: Jews Aren’t Jews, but Palestinians are Philistines: Whatever future Israelis and Palestinians build must be based upon a mutual respect and grounded in reality, not on fantasy or ignorance.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Count on Tehran to pour more fuel on the Mideast fires.
Iran Supreme Leader calls on Palestinians to pursue intifada against Israel
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was addressing the International Conference in Support of Palestinian Intifada. The New York Times provides color from the Tehran gathering.
• You don’t hear about it much, but Israeli Arabs are also victims of Arab terror. The Times of Israel was on hand as Israeli Druze, Circassians, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims shared their grief over children killed in terror attacks or while in service to the IDF.
• Israel to ease visas for Turkish businesspeople
Around the World
• The University of Central Lancashire cancelled an Israel Apartheid Week event that a campus spokesman said breached the UK government’s definition of anti-Semitism. According to the Jewish Chronicle, the event in question was a panel discussion on the boycott of Israel featuring anti-Israel activist Ben White and pro-Palestinian academics.
“We believe the proposed talk contravenes the new definition and furthermore breaches university protocols for such events, where we require assurances of a balanced view or a panel of speakers representing all interests.”
He added: “In this instance our procedures determined that the proposed event would not be lawful and therefore it will not proceed as planned.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism was adopted by Theresa May’s government in December.
• The Atlantic examines the wave of hoax bomb threats being made to Jewish community centers across the US and the toll they’re taking on Jewish communities:
The calls may be a novel form of intimidation, but the context around them is not. American Jews are victims of more reported hate crimes than any other group in the United States, and have been subject to the majority of religiously motivated offenses every year since 1995, when the FBI first started reporting these statistics. The phone calls may not result in violence, but they contribute to an atmosphere of anti-Semitism already well-established in the United States.
Commentary/Analysis
• In a recent NY Times letter to the editor, the current Earl of Balfour (Roderick Balfour) blamed settlements and Israeli treatment of the Palestinians for contributing to rising anti-Semitism around the world. I wonder what his illustrious forebear would make of all this. Alan Dershowitz responded with a thorough debunking.
Even if it were true that anti-Semitism is increasing as the result of Israeli policies, no Israeli policy should ever be decided based on the reaction of bigots around the world. Anti-Semitism, the oldest of bigotries, will persist as long as it is seen to be justified by apologists like Roderick Balfour. Thought Balfour does not explicitly justify anti-Semitism, the entire thrust of his letter is that Jew hatred is at least understandable in light of Israel’s policies.
• Will the light, 18-month sentence given to IDF soldier Elor Azaria hurt Israeli legitimacy at the International Criminal Court? Yonah Jeremy Bob raises a good point:
Critics will ask why Palestinian minors have received far longer sentences for attempted murder, yet an Israeli soldier got only 18 months.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Tzipi Livni: Could Donald Trump broker Israeli-Palestinian peace?
– Morton Klein: The impossible deal: Establishing a peaceful Palestinian-Arab state
– Amos Yadlin: A US embassy shift to Jerusalem would right a historic wrong (click via Google News)
– Jonathan Neumann: Jews know that a boycott is just the beginning
– Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman: Fake news and Human Rights Watch’s role
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Professor Stuart Rees, George Browning and Nadia Hijab.
Featured image: CC BY John Henderson; Khameini via YouTube/CLIKATV;
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