Netanyahu Leaves For Washington

Today’s Top Stories

1. An Egyptian court designated Hamas a terror organization. If I understand YNet correctly, yesterday’s ruling was a wider designation making no distinction between the terror group’s military and political “wings.”

The decision was reached for Hamas role in terror attacks on Egyptian soil. While the January decision against> Hamas targeted only the armed wing, Saturday’s broader ruling could have greater consequences for the already strained relations between Cairo and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip along Egypt’s border.

Already, Hamas fears Egypt will launch military strikes on Gaza like in Libya, according to Yoni Ben Menachem (Hebrew).

Hamas also has reported on Egyptian aircraft flying above the border and photographing areas in Rafiah and Khan Yunis, possibly to prepare targets.

2. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu left for Washington, where Congress, communication, and controversy, are the key words for this week. The Washington Post previews what’s in store, and CNN asks 6 questions about Bibi’s visit. See below for lots of commentary.

3. Israel and the PA agreed on a deal to (hopefully) resolve the $882 million Palestinian electricity debt. And the new Palestinian city, Rawabi, was hooked up for water too.

The PA agreed to allocate NIS 300 million in tax funds collected by Israel on its behalf to the IEC to cover the last few months’ debt to the electric company, and the IEC agreed to stop power cuts to Nablus and Jenin.

Israel and the Palestinians

• Kerry asks Abbas to bar anti-Israel measures in Fatah conference (until after Israel’s elections).

• I’m impressed that AFP debunked Palestinian dam claims — and its own coverage.

But an examination of the facts on the Israeli side tells another story, shattering a long-held Palestinian myth . . .

 

AFP reported these allegations on Sunday February 22, in the form of a video and photos showing the flooding in the village of Al-Mughraqa in central Gaza.

 

The script of the video and the photo captions said Israel had opened the sluice gates of a dam. And the video included interviews with residents openly accusing the Jewish state.

 

But no such dam exists in Israel that could control the flow of water into Gaza, according to a team of AFP reporters on the ground as well as interviews with Israeli and international experts.

See also AFP’s followup video.

• The Toronto-based Queers Against Israeli Apartheid disbanded.

“It’s quite obvious that they would lose momentum,” Benlolo said.” With extremist massacres in Syria, ISIS going around cutting people’s heads off, Iran executing gays … why would anybody be going after Israel with its pride parades in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?”

• Islamic Jihad took BBC reporter Quentin Sommerville on a tour of one its tunnels.

• If you call George Galloway an anti-Semite on Twitter, you’ll get a letter from his lawyers threatening legal action and demanding £5,000. I liked Tim Marshall‘s take.

• AP looks at the BDS push on US campuses.

• Globe & Mail public editor: Editors should have disclosed that dance critic Martha Schabas (related?) has “previously stated views” on Israel (for example this) in her critical review of an Israeli dance troupe.

In this case, I believe the writer should temper her comments now that she works for The Globe, and she and her editors should be aware of potential conflicts down the road.

• Gaza smuggling tunnel collapses, killing a senior Egyptian military officer inspecting it. See Associated Press coverage.

• The European Parliament addressed anti-Semitism for the very first time.

• Ambassador Ron Prosor discussed Israel’s view on the latest Mideast developments in a UN speech (video/transcript).

Commentary/Analysis

• The New York Times is entitled to its views on the Netanyahu speech, as are the authors and cartoonist here. But I can’t ignore the imbalance of anti-speech viewpoints. What should I conclude?

Isaac Herzog: Dividing the US on Israel

Roger Cohen: Did Israel put money ahead of justice?

Patrick Chappatte: Mr. Netanyahu goes to Washington

Also piling on Israel was NYT columnist is Nick Kristof, who continues his visit. Today, Kristof abuses the Bedouin issue as a means of portraying a “dark side” of Israel that he claims is represented by Bibi.

• Why is the left silent on anti-Semitism, wonders Nick Dyrenfurth.

• Montreal hateful acts call for a show of solidarity

• Lots of broken quills and spilled ink on the Israel-US-Iran triangle and Bibi’s speech on Tuesday. All I can do is list ’em.

– Charles Krauthammer: The fatal flaw in the Iran deal
– David Brooks: Converting the ayatollahs
– Alex Fishman: Nuclear deal will be decided by Khamenei
– Dore Gold: The world moves towards a bad deal
– Yossi Kuperwasser: The struggle over the Iranian nuclear program
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Arabs: Why is Obama siding with supporters of terror?
– David Horovitz Bibi so wrong in confronting Obama, so right on Iran
– Boaz Bismuth: An impossible reality for us
– Jeff Jacoby: Spat over speech won’t change US-Israel relations
– Gerald Seib: Rift’s over the deal, not the speech (Wall St. Journal via Google News)
– William Booth: The most important speech of Netanyahu’s life

• For more critical takes on the speech, see Robert Kagan, Jeffrey Goldberg (one and two), and Mitch Potter.

See also staff-eds in the Los Angeles Times (Congress should hear out Netanyahu), Washington Post (Going nuclear over Iran) and Boston Globe (Netanyahu hurts Israel by wading into US politics).

• Last but not least, see cartoons by the Augusta Chronicle‘s Rick McKee, the Charlotte Observer‘s Kevin Siers, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune‘s Steve Sack, and syndicated cartoonist Steve Kelley.

• For more commentary/analysis, see Jonathan Tobin (If European Jews must live in fear, why is Netanyahu wrong?), Michael Totten (ISIS’ next target), and Brendan O’Neill (MI5 didn’t make Jihadi John; he made himself).

Image: CC BY-NC flickr/Russell Davies; US Capitol CC BY flickr/Phil Roeder

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