Today’s Top Stories
1. The White House hosted a brainstorming session on ways to ease Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation yesterday. Representatives from Israel, various Arab states and several European countries discussed ways to improve the Strip’s basic infrastructure in areas such as health care, food and electricity among others. A US official noting a Palestinian boycott of the gathering told the Times of Israel that Washington is prepared to pursue projects in Gaza without PA cooperation.
“Our goal is to get the PA in control of Gaza, if that’s possible,” the official said in a media briefing. “If the PA is unwilling to, or unable to, implement the projects, then we would have to proceed without them.”
More on the confab below.
2. Israeli political leaders resolved the coalition crisis over Orthodox army conscription and the state budget. I can’t succinctly explain the agreement, but Ynet lays out the details in all their technical glory. Further coverage at the Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post and Haaretz plus a helpful timeline to help make sense of it all.
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3. The Knesset’s Ethics Committee barred an Israeli lawmaker from an overseas trip sponsored by pro-boycott organization. Arab Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen was denied permission to fly abroad to give a series of lectures funded by Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP is on a government blacklist of BDS groups whose leaders are barred from entering Israel.
4. Washington Post Defends PA ‘Martyrs Fund’: One man’s terrorist is another man’s social welfare recipient.
Israel and the Palestinians
• While Palestinians boycotted the White House gathering for assisting Gaza, Israeli officials found themselves directly discussing the situation with their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the Jerusalem Post explains the significance:
The summit on Gaza, called by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser on Middle East peace, and Jason Greenblatt, his special representative for international negotiations, marks an unprecedented moment for Israeli diplomacy, as their dialogue with officials from Arab states is publicly recognized for the first time.
Representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Canada and several European states also attended. The Jerusalem Post adds in a separate report that US officials “could not vouch for whether the Israelis and any particular Arab delegations held talks separate from the formal session on the sidelines.”
4 It's very rare for Israeli and Arab officials to gather around the same table. Creating closer relations between Israel and the Arab world has been a primary goal of the Trump administration over the last year
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 13, 2018
• What does Mike Pompeo’s appointment mean for Israel and the peace process? That’s the question parsed at the Jerusalem Post and the JTA and Times of Israel.
• Israel seized IDF uniforms being smuggled into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
• On the sidelines of the joint Israeli-US Juniper Cobra military exercises, a lot of ideas were shared on the “lost art” of tunnel warfare.
• Special comptroller report pokes holes in IDF’s Gaza war probe. Joseph Shapira’s report finds that “the IDF’s targeting and its probes of its attacks followed international law,” but criticized “a variety of aspects of the IDF’s targeting and its investigations of war crimes claims.” More on the story at the Jerusalem Post and Ynet.
Supporters of Israel will look to the report’s main headline of compliance with international law, while the UN Human Rights Council and various detractors will likely focus on the many shortcomings the report points out.
Window into Israel
• Who is Orly Levy-Abekasis and why is she emerging as “Israel’s newest political wildcard.”
• Plenty of spilled ink and burnt pixels assessing the agreement, including Raoul Wootliff, who argues that the deal merely delays the standoff to later in the year. Other commentaries that caught my eye include Gil Hoffman, David Horovitz and Yoaz Hendel. See also Shmuel Rosner.
If a parole board accepts Azaria’s request, he would be released in May after serving 10 months of his 14-month sentence.
Around the World
• South African opposition politician Mmusi Maimane takes to the Wall St. Journal to clear the air about drought-stricken Cape Town rejecting Israeli water assistance.
Cape Town is governed by South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which I lead. It may well be that South Africa’s national government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), rejected Israel’s offers of assistance with building desalination plants on ideological grounds.
But it is certainly not true that the DA-run city of Cape Town refused to meet with Israeli water professionals. On the contrary, the city has engaged a wide range of experts from a number of countries, including Australia, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Israel. As a party, we would not allow a geopolitical dispute far removed from our context to define our response to a very local crisis. We are interested in finding the best solutions for the residents we serve, no matter where they come from.
• Latest Gallup poll finds Americans strongly support Israel.
• US court allows expanded lawsuit against American Studies Association and lead faculty activists over BDS.
• The Miami-Dade County Chiefs of Police Association unanimously adopted the State Department’s official definition of anti-Semitism. Police forces in 34 cities located in Miami-Dade County will now use the definition “as a guide to investigating and prosecuting anti-Jewish hate crimes.” The State Dept. adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Blast targeting Hamdallah blows Palestinian rift wide open
– Amos Harel: Assassination attempt on Palestinian PM failed, but dealt mortal blow to reconciliation
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Hamas can’t even protect its guests
– Seth Frantzman: Who tried to kill the Palestinian Prime Minister?
– Raphael Ahren: With anti-Iran, pro-Israel stances, Pompeo may become Jerusalem’s new darling
– Bassam Tawil: The Palestinian peace plan
– Sandra Parker: Fundamentalist terrorists benefit from ‘fundamental fairness’
Featured image: CC BY-SA Connie; Marines via US Dept. of Defense; Azaria via YouTube/BBC News; Cape Town via YouTube/CBS News;
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