Iranian Personnel Reportedly Killed in Massive Syrian Blast

Today’s Top Stories

1. Two military bases in Syria were rocked by massive explosions on Sunday night. According to Arab reports picked up by Haaretz, Ynet and the Associated Press, the targets were missile warehouses (reportedly surface-to-surface missiles) on bases near the cities of Aleppo and Hama.

Death tolls I’ve seen are conflicting, so I’ll just say it’s in the dozens, with most of the dead apparently Iranian personnel and Syrian soldiers. The Israeli cabinet held an emergency meeting this afternoon.

While the IDF refused to comment, the size of the blasts suggests it was carried out by the US. I’m not aware that Israel has any bombs capable of triggering an earthquake:

Shortly after the explosions, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the blasts caused a 2.6 magnitude earthquake in the area.

#BREAKING: targets of the airstrikes tonight in Syria were surface-to-surface missiles Iran tried to deploy in Syria – according to estimates. Other reports said it was a preemptive strike to prevent an Iranian retaliation for the attack on the T4 base pic.twitter.com/G2UVnaWTjk

— Asaf Ronel (@AsafRonel) April 30, 2018

2. In three separate incidents, four Palestinians were shot while trying to cross the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday evening. In one incident, two Palestinians who broke through the border and threw explosives at Israeli soldiers were shot and killed.

In another incident IDF soldiers opened fire on two Palestinians trying to damage the security fence and enter Israel. One Palestinian was killed and the other taken into custody. In a third incident, two Palestinians armed with knives were apprehended after crossing the border.

3. Syrian airstrikes on the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus continued, reports the Jerusalem Post. Most of the Palestinian refugees living in Yarmouk fled when Islamic State took over most of the UNRWA-administered camp, but the number of remaining Palestinians is estimated to be several thousand. Imagine the headlines if Israel did this:

The Syrian regime has used its usual methods of barrel bombs and indiscriminate fire with airstrikes and rockets against the concrete jungle of destruction that Yarmouk has become.

4. Labour Party Antisemitism: BBC Confuses its Youth Audience: Are “Jewish settlements within Jerusalem” really the cause of antisemitism in the UK’s Labour Party?

5. Telegraph Corrects ‘West Jerusalem’ Giro d’Italia Stage: While BDS may wish to politicize the race, the Telegraph shouldn’t unilaterally divide Israel’s capital city when even the Giro d’Italia did not.

Israel and the Palestinians

• State says use of live fire in Gaza protests is within Israeli, international law.

State attorneys said that it was wrong to classify the protests as civilian events as they are “part of the armed conflict between the Hamas terror group and Israel.”

• Hamas operative arrested while trying to sabotage a security camera on the Gaza fence.

• Worth watching and sharing: This IDF video lays out exactly how Palestinians try to disguise terror activities under the guise of civil protest.

Hamas is attempting to disguise terror activities as a civilian-led riot pic.twitter.com/WERPSrMtiR

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 29, 2018

• PA official slams Hamas for Gaza border clashes.

• Palestinians to vote on aging leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as Mahmoud Abbas’ grip on power tightens. Israel HaYom explains:

The top-tier leadership group of the Palestine Liberation Organization– average age 70 – is up for election for the first time in over two decades, when hundreds of delegates attend a West Bank convention this week . . .

Instead, some critics, even within the PLO, say Abbas is presiding over a staged event to give his increasingly authoritarian rule a veneer of legitimacy.

The Palestine Liberation Organization is the umbrella organization of all Palestinian factions and is dominated by Fatah.

• The Washington Post takes a closer look at the story of Avera Mengistu, the Ethiopian Israeli who has been held by Hamas after wandering across the Gaza border in 2014.

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to arrive in Israel on Tuesday.

Window into Israel

• Supreme Court President Esther Hayut met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to express her concerns with a contentious “Supreme Court Override Bill” under Knesset consideration. At issue is whether the Knesset can and/or should override court decisions to strike down Israeli laws, and if so, by what kind of majority. The Jerusalem Post updates the latest on the issue:

A poll sponsored by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research found that 65% of the Israeli public believes if the Supreme Court is denied the capacity to strike down laws enacted by the Knesset, there will be no checks on the government and it will have unlimited power.

Moreover, 59% of the Israeli public believes the override clause will increase the risk of political corruption.

• The Knesset began its summer session today. The Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post preview what’s on the upcoming legislative agenda.

• The Israeli-Arab soccer club Bnei Sakhnin is threatening to sue Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the PM shared on Facebook a false report that the team’s fans booed during a minute of silence for last week’s teenage flood victims:

Officials in the club’s management said the premier never bothered looking up the facts of the alleged incident, considering it was not mentioned in the referee’s report and that Ra’anana’s owner and coach refuted the claims as well.

Moreover, an inquiry by Israel’s Football Association turned up that some 250 schoolchildren failed to stand up for the minute’s silence because the announcement for it was made in Hebrew, which they could not understand.

• For commentary on the domestic scene, see Tzipi Livni on the Supreme Court override bill. Alex Apfel weighs in on the Nahal Tzafit flash flood tragedy.

Around the World

• Trump mulling allowing Jonathan Pollard to come to Israel.

• A pledge by the leaders of North and South Korea to make the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons gives the US a stronger hand to renegotiate the Iranian nuclear deal, said Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz to Reuters.

• You know things are bad when even Germany’s antisemitism czar admits “It is quite understandable that those who are scared for the safety of their children would consider leaving Germany.” That’s what Felix Klein, who was newly tasked by the German government to lead the fight against antisemitism, told The Guardian.

• Jerusalem Post: German Jewish owner of Cologne-based Bank for Social Economy demands it stop enabling BDS.

• Toulouse mayor threatens to sack Jewish deputy who said ‘too many Arabs’ in city.

• Electronic road sign in Arizona hacked to display anti-Semitic message. The Arizona Republic reports that “Police will not investigate this incident as a hate crime because there was no victim targeted.”

Neo-nazi hacker can’t spell; local sheriff can’t think https://t.co/15Qt0ZLHDz

— Mayer Fertig (@MayerFertig) April 29, 2018

• Missouri man confesses to toppling some 120 gravestones in a St. Louis Jewish cemetery last year, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Commentary

• Plenty of chatter trying to make sense of the Syria blast . . .

– Avi Issacharoff: Resonant Syria strike suggests coordinated US-Israel message to Russia and Iran
– Amos Harel: Syria strike: Winds of war in Jerusalem – with backing from Washington
– Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin: If Iranians dead in Syria blast, payback looms
– Ron Ben-Yishai: Iran, Syria left in awkward situation as ‘enemy’ attackers unknwon
– Seth Frantzman: Who could’ve been behind the massive explosion in Syria?

This is correct: Unless Iran gives up its intention to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria, Israel will continue to strike them. With absolute justification, U.S. backing, and, at least so far, Russian acquiescence. Israel will not accept such a presence. https://t.co/64SVugp7GU

— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) April 30, 2018

• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .

– Khaled Abu Toameh: 220 airstrikes on Palestinians; world yawns
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: The Palestinians are at a dead end
– Ben-Dror Yemini: As global press ignores swastika kites, Hamas is winning propaganda war
– Mitchell Bard: The ongoing myth of BDS success
– Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi: Between the US, Iran and North Korea
– Noah Klieger: A Jewish future? Only in Israel
– Derek Scally: Anti-Semitism is alive and well in Germany
– Uriel Heilman: The ignorant attack on Natalie Portman, who aims her protest not at Israel but Netanyahu

Featured image: CC BY-ND Willy Verhulst; Abbas via President of Russia;

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.

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