Today’s Top Stories
1. There’s an internal rift within the top leadership of Hamas over ending the weekly “March of Return” clashes along the Gaza border. According to Israel HaYom, Egyptian intelligence officials offered to open the Rafah border crossing more frequently and ease the passage of goods if Hamas ended the clashes. The Egyptians then improved the offer by offering to advance a prisoner swap with Israel. But Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh rejected the offer without consulting the rest of the leadership:
The official, who had come into contact with Haniyeh as part of an Egyptian security delegation to Gaza, added that high-ranking Hamas officials, including [Gaza strongman Yahye] Sinwar, were furious with Haniyeh and had accused him of coordinating Hamas policy with Tehran rather than the group’s own leadership . . .
According to the official, there are voices in Hamas that argue that the border marches have run their course in their current format and that the diminishing number of demonstrators from week to week is actually undermining the potential for the grand finale demonstration. The final march, planned to coincide with the day on which Palestinians observe the Nakba (catastrophe) of having been displaced by the establishment of the State of Israel, is expected to draw more than 100,000 demonstrators. The official said that Sinwar and other high-ranking Hamas figures share this view.
Furthermore, an associate close to Sinwar told Israel Hayom that the Sinwar camp believes that if the border marches continue in their current format it could undo any progress that has been made thus far and that it could undermine the general Palestinian interests as well.
2. Blazing kites from Gaza set fire to Israeli wheat field, destroying 100 dunams (25 acres) of crops.
Gazans sent four kites affixed with flaming materials over the border on Monday, setting fire to wide swathes of a wheat field in southern Israel as Palestinians vowed to use the new tactic to try and cause “panic and attrition among the enemy.”
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3. “Palestinian diplomats in Geneva have filed a complaint against Israel for what they say are breaches of its obligations under a UN anti-racism treaty, triggering what may be a lengthy and high-profile investigation,” The Guardian reports.
4. Natalie Portman and ‘Regime Change’? The Independent’s coverage of Natalie Portman and the Genesis Prize claims that she campaigned for Israeli “regime change.” Regime change?!
5. Headline Fail: Sanitizing a Hamas Terrorist: According to a Financial Times headline, an assassinated senior Hamas terrorist is a “Palestinian lecturer.”
6. HR Prompts The New Yorker to Correct Trump Jerusalem Embassy Error: President Trump declared that he would move the US embassy to Jerusalem. So why did The New Yorker specify “East Jerusalem” when Trump never specified where in Israel’s capital city?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Egypt is reportedly allowing Palestinians to transfer the body of assassinated Hamas drone engineer Fadi al-Batsh back to Gaza for burial. Israel sought to block the transfer to pressure Hamas to release the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war.
• In the aftermath of the assassination of Batsh’s murder in Malaysia, Haaretz examines the terror group’s overseas operations.
In Turkey, Indonesia, Tunisia, Lebanon and other countries, Hamas is raising funds and recruiting activists, building ties, and increasing its offensive military capabilities . . .
The map of Hamas operatives’ deaths around the world shows that while the organization is trying to find ways to develop outside the confines of the Gaza Strip, there are those who seek to nip this in the bud.
With Hamas cornered and unable to provide basic services, analysts speculate that another war with Israel could be imminent as the militant group seeks a way to divert attention from the internal crisis.
But Hamas has found another release valve — for now, at least.
The idea for the weekly protests, dubbed the “March of Return,” has been widely attributed to Palestinian activist Ahmad Abu Artema, who disavowed any political affiliation and said he believes in a one-state solution to the conflict, an arrangement in which Palestinians are given rights alongside Israelis in a democratic state.
• An Israeli officer was injured by gunfire during the demolition of alleged terrorist’s home.
• Israel arrested this morning two armed Palestinians who crossed the border from Gaza.
• The IDF retaliated with artillery fire into Syria after an errant mortar shell landed in Golan Heights.
Around the World
• A Dutch newspaper is catching flak for an ‘anti-Semitic’ cartoon about the Gaza protests and Israeli Independence Day. This is from the poison pen of de Volksrant’s Jos Collignon.
• It’s too soon to assess what this means for Israel-Diaspora ties in the long-term, but Haaretz reports that actress Natalie Portman has energized liberal Zionist students in the US:
Goldblatt says the mantle of legitimacy she lends will embolden young American Jews – specifically fellow progressive Zionists like himself – to feel more comfortable speaking out against Israeli policies that they too find objectionable.
It will also enable them to say, as Portman did in her statement, that you can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the country.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Dennis Ross: How Hamas exploits the people of Gaza: Protests clarify their cynical tactics
– Moran Stern: The real story behind Gaza’s marches: The Gazans who chose to stay home
– Daniel Siryoti: Understanding the Hamas rift
– Yoni Ben Menachem: Assassination in Malaysia
– Yoav Zitun: Killing of engineer a possible blow to Malaysian terror hotbed
– Maj. Gen. (Res.) Shlomo Turjeman: Israel’s Sinai dilemma
– Bassam Tawil: Palestinians: New twist on an old lie
– Rabbi Eric Yoffie: IfNotNow is so noisy about the occupation. Why is it so quiet about Israel’s right to exist?
– Alexander Apfel: An open letter to Natalie Portman
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Sophie; Hamas leaders via YouTube/Al Jazeera English; Portman screengrab from Genesis Prize;
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