Today’s Top Stories
1. The UNRWA suspended staffer Suhail al-Hindi, who Israel accused of having a leadership role in Hamas. The Times of Israel explains:
COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, says that al-Hindi was appointed to the terror group’s leadership in a February 13 internal election.
He was chosen “as a senior Hamas member from Jabalia in northern Gaza,” it said in an English-language statement.
“He also holds positions as both the Chairman of the Association of Palestinian Workers of UNRWA since 2012 and as an elementary school principal in the Gaza Strip,” it added.
2. Philadelphia’s Jewish community was stunned after vandals overturned headstones in a Jewish cemetery. WPVI News explains why you may have seen a discrepancy in the number.
Police say as many as 100 graves were vandalized, while those trying to clean up counted more than 500.
NE Det Capt. Shawn Thrush toured Jewish cemetery where 75-100 headstones were toppled. "It's beyond belief," he said pic.twitter.com/K0XeBzSf9A
— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) February 26, 2017
3. According to Israeli media reports, there are at least 15 Hamas attack tunnels now crossing the border into Israel. The disclosures come ahead of tomorrow’s release of the state comptroller report on the 2014 Gaza war (actually, declassified portions of it). Ynet writes:
The report will reveal what happened in the months and years that preceded the campaign in the Gaza Strip and is believed to include criticism of former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the way the security cabinet functioned during that time. Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz is also expected to be harshly criticized in the report.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Does it not occur to the PLO that an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel would be a naqba on steroids, killing thousands of Palestinians and make the Holy Land as uninhabitable for them as it would be for the Jews? What should I conclude from statements like this? (See Memri’s video or transcript.)
• The Israeli Air Force struck Hamas positions in Gaza this afternoon. The attack was in response to Palestinians who fired a rocket at Israel last night. The rocket hit an open area near the Gaza border, causing no damage.
• Addressing the opening of a new UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world to preserve the two-state solution. AP coverage.
• Following up on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s travels, the South China Morning Post asks if the PM’s “drama free” Singapore visit is a sign that Indonesia and Malaysia are warming to Israel.
Israel observers say overriding concerns about global extremism have paved the way for unofficial dialogue between countries like Indonesia and Israel, even as divisions remain over the Palestinian question. “There is an understanding that Israel is not at war with Islam … and that the common enemy is extremism,” said Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
• Before leaving Down Under, Netanyahu discussed his trip with The Australian‘s Greg Sheridan. The interview touched on the threat of Islamic extremism, the peace process, and Israeli-Australian ties.
Around the World
• Jewish Voice for Peace to host convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh at its upcoming national convention.
According to Jewish Voice for Peace’s conference schedule, Odeh is scheduled to speak as part of the “All In!” workshop, alongside three other panelists, including anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour. Jewish Voice for Peace, which “seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem,” did not respond to a request for comment.
Odeh, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was convicted for planting bombs in a Jerusalem supermarket terror attack which killed two people. She was freed in a 1980 prisoner swap. After acquiring US citizenship, Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud and stripped of her citizenship but a federal appeals court ordered a new trial.
• A Texas preschool teacher was fired over ‘Kill some Jews’ tweet, other anti-Semitic posts, reports the Dallas Morning News.
• Students urge Ryerson U. administration to fire a teaching assistant over anti-Jewish statements.
• Vandals targeted Buffalo cars, bridges and playground equipment with Nazi and racist graffiti over the weekend.
• The Providence Journal reports that the Rhode Island School of Design is investigating “a swastika that was drawn in human feces in a dormitory.”
• A Jewish women’s organization canceled a Brazilian exhibit after Israeli paintings were stolen en route from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. It’s not known if this was an act of random crime or if the art was specifically targeted for being Israeli.
• Daily Mail: Baroness Jenny Tonge — who quit the Liberal Democrats in controversy over anti-Semitism — says the Campaign Against Antisemitism should lose its charitable status, calling it a “Zionist propaganda organisation.”
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth watching: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the UK, takes apart the BDS movement.
• Ex-Mossad chief Efraim Halevy to the Times of Israel: On thwarting Iran, Netanyahu should be speaking to Putin, not Trump.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ariel Bolstein: The twisted world of the UNHRC
– Hillel Neuer: US needs to stay in the UN Human Rights Council — to fight back
– Robert Fulford: Dreams of a happy, Singapore-style Gaza can never get past the Hamas problem
– Colin Rubenstein, Jamie Hyams: An Israeli-Palestinian peace requires the right sort of pressure
– Jackie Hogi: Is Israeli-Saudi peace a realistic proposition?
– Yonah Jeremy Bob: Who decides when Iran has gone nuclear enough to attack?
– Bernard-Henri Levy: Clearly, the Trump administration has a problem with Jews
– Amanda Vanstone: Australian Labor’s position on Israel is more fraught than it thinks
Featured image: CC BY-NC CAFNR; Indonesia flag CC BY Nicolas Raymond; Israel flag Nicolas Raymond; Malaysia flag Nicolas Raymond;
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.
