Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel arrested two French embassy employees suspected of smuggling weapons from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. According to the Shin Bet, the guns were hidden in a consular vehicle and driven through the Erez crossing on several occasions. Because of the car’s diplomatic status, security checks were less rigorous. The driver, Romain Frank, is a French national while the security guard was identified as a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem. Several other Gazans living illegally in the West Bank and part of the arms network were also arrested. More at the Jerusalem Post and Ynet.
According to the Shin Bet investigation, Frank received the weapons from a Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip employed at the French Cultural Center in the Gaza Strip and he transferred the weapons to a cell in the West Bank who sold them to arms dealers.
The Shin Bet investigation clearly showed that Frank was acting in return for financial gain, of his own volition, and without the knowledge of his superiors. The investigation also found that several Palestinians arrested in relation to the case were also involved in the smuggling of money from Gaza to the West Bank.
As the investigation developed, Israeli officials kept French authorities apprised, per Haaretz. The investigation was all over the French media, but the Israeli press was under a gag order which was lifted only today.
2. Adiel Kolman, the Israeli stabbed to death in Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday was laid to rest today. The 32-year-old father of four was attacked after leaving work at the nearby City of David excavations. Initial Israeli media reports incorrectly identified Kolman as a security guard.
The terrorist, Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel, was from the from a West Bank village near Nablus and had a work permit allowing him entry into Jerusalem for five days. Fadel was shot and killed by responding police. Some early Israeli media reports incorrectly identified Fadel as a Turkish national.
US Ambassador David Friedman criticized the Palestinian Authority for failing to denounce the attack.
3. A Lebanese Shiite cleric is calling on Beirut to revoke Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s citizenship over his “clear collaboration” and allegiance to Iran. More on the interview at MEMRI and the Times of Israel.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. BDS: The Bane in Spain: A special guest post from the battlelines against BDS bigotry and bullying.
In the News
• The Trump administration recently filed a brief against legal action currently underway by victims of Palestinian terror. The New York Times takes a closer look at how that surprising brief unfolded.
• Mahmoud Abbas rolled out a warm welcome for a terrorist released from Israeli prison. Rajaei Haddad spent 20 years behind bars for his role in the 1997 murder of yeshiva student Gabriel Hirschberg in Jerusalem’s Old City.
• Anti-Israel students at UC-Santa Barbara condoned ‘armed resistance’ and shared images with an AK-47 and pistol on Facebook. Students for Justice in Palestine at UCSB subsequently removed the posts.
The Facebook post included a photo of a Palestinian woman holding a pistol, as well as a cartoon — drawn in an outline of Israel and the Palestinian territories — depicting a woman with an AK-47 assault rifle.
Another photo featured an armed Leila Khaled, who helped hijack two planes in Europe on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
• Row over pro-Israeli groups blocked from Glasgow anti-racism procession.
• Washington DC city council member Trayon White apologized for posting a video on his Facebook accusing a conspiracy of wealthy Jews of controlling the weather(!?)
Window Into Israel
• Ynet: One of Netanyahu’s former advisers who turned states witness in the Bezeq affair told police that he ordered Bezeq’s majority shareholder, Shaul Elovitch and his wife to destroy evidence — damaging SMS messages messages from Sara Netanyahu — and to also destroy the phones. Meanwhile, Bezeq CEO Stella Handler, who was recently released from house arrest, announced she is stepping down from her position
Netanyahu is suspected of offering Bezeq regulatory benefits in exchange for positive coverage on a prominent news site owned by Bezeq’s majority shareholder, Shaul Elovitch. The PM denies the accusations.
• A military parole board approved the early release of the Hebron shooter, Elor Azaria. He’s due to be released on May 10 after serving two-thirds of his 18-month sentence.
Azaria was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif as he lay prone on the ground minutes after he had been neutralized by soldiers Sharif had attacked with a knife. Azaria’s trial polarized the country for weeks.
• Senior officials from the Education Ministry were among 18 detained on fraud suspicions.
• On a cloudless day, Israel broke its solar power production record.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Palestinians wary of new wave of terror
– Ron Ben-Yishai: IDF vs. Hamas: A new type of war between wars
– Nadav Shragai: Bring the Jews back to Hagai St.
– Seth Frantzman: Al Jazeera, ‘free speech,’ and the future of journalism
– Ronni Shaked: The Palestinian fuse is getting shorter
– Ronald Lauder: Israel’s self-inflicted wounds
– Sally Abrams: A ‘victory’ for BDS? Looks like defeat to me
Featured image: CC0 alberthbq; sun CC BY-NC-ND Mike;
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