Today’s Top Stories
1. The Obama administration is discussing with Egypt and Israel the possibility of significantly redeploying US and international peacekeepers in the Sinai because of the growing threat posed by Islamic State. Many of the approximately 1,700 monitors from 12 countries would be relocated the southern Sinai. CNN, which broke the story, reports:
The U.S., however, is adamant that it can still fulfill its treaty obligations and this move, if approved by the signatories, would not signal a U.S. military retreat in the face of an ISIS threat, the officials said.
They noted improved unmanned remote sensing technology can be used to a greater extent to fulfill the treaty obligations to monitor military movements in Sinai. That is also a reason for a shifting of troops officials say.
2. The Israel Electric Corp. and PA worked out an agreement to pay off a Palestinian debt of 1.74 billion shekel ($460 million) and end a series of power reductions to West Bank towns. According to Haaretz:
Palestinian Authority officials and the IEC agreed on Wednesday that the PA will immediately transfer 20 million shekels in addition to its daily payments. At the same time, the sides will launch negotiations in attempt to reach a long-term solution. Should the talks fail to reach a solution within two weeks, the IEC would be allowed to again reduce power supply.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Nilesat, the Egyptian-owned satellite provider, pulled the plug on Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV.
The Egyptian-owned provider attributed its decision to stop airing Al Manar on its satellite services to the channel’s programmes, which it described as “fomenting sectarian tension and strife,” the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
4. Video: UN-believable: HonestReporting takes a look at the UN’s UNbelievable activities this week, and their effects on women’s rights, human rights, and Israel.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Palestinian donations buy a new house for terrorist’s family.
Halabi, 19, a student at Jerusalem’s Al Quds University and a member of Islamic Jihad, killed Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Banita in Jerusalem’s Old City in October. They were the first Israelis killed in a knife attack in an ongoing, six-month wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks.
Since then, Halabi has enjoyed the status of a hero in Palestinian society, mainly in Ramallah.
• The Media Line looks at the Panama Papers’ Mideast connections.
• Volleyballers Sean Faiga and Ariel Hilman became the first Israeli team to compete in an Arab country that has no ties with the Jewish state. They beat a Japanese team to kick off the Federation Internationale de Volleyball’s Qatar Open. Times of Israel coverage.
Around the World
• Hezbollah’s fighters don’t have the idealism of their predecessors. NOW Lebanon interviewed a few, and concludes that the Party of God has “gone corporate.”
That devotion and eagerness to belong and sacrifice is no longer sensed. Hezbollah fighters who talked to me did not show the motivation or passion that I used to see in young men’s eyes when I lived in the South. These eyes were empty, anxious and very tired. They refer to their missions in Syria as “the job”, and it’s not even a job they seem to enjoy.
“I am just waiting for my contract to expire and then I’m out,” Mahdi (25 years old) told me. He – like all others – sign a two-year contract that specifies the salary (between $500 and $1200) and the package of benefits they receive. The thing is that they have to complete the two years. They cannot just give notice and leave whenever they want to. “And they don’t pay compensation packages to martyrs’ families as they used to,” Mahdi added, saying that each family of a martyr used to receive forty thousand dollars, but that this was halted almost two years ago . . .
“If I leave before my contract is expired, I will be taken to Hezbollah’s military court and eventually will spend the rest of my contract in their jail in Dahiyeh. I’d rather wait.”
Mahdi’s main complaint is that when he joined Hezbollah he thought he’d come back with a victory that would provide him with an office or technical job and secure his future. “Instead, I feel like I took a job at a company where I am required to give everything, including my life, and there are no guarantees for the future beyond these two years.” And victory? He smiled.
• Is Hezbollah involved in the biggest prostitution network ever exposed in Lebanon?
• In an interview, Bernie Sanders said 10,000 Palestinians were killed during the 2014 Gaza war. I’m not going to go into what this says about Sanders, but I do wonder what it says about media coverage of that conflict that such a false, over-the-top narrative still stands today.
In an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board published on Monday, the Vermont senator acknowledged that he did not have the exact figures memorized, but twice said he believed that the Palestinian civilian death count surpassed 10,000, and excoriated Israel for what he deemed its disproportionate use of force.
• Britain’s Labour party expelled an activist over Holocaust denial. And Jeremy Corbyn’s right-hand man, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, is under scrutiny amid revelations that in 2014, his web page linked to a site featuring tributes to Palestinian suicide bombers.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Palestinians are calling to overthrow Abbas
– Amb. David Quarrey: British government committed to fight against boycotts
– Seth Frantzman: When Palestinians call all Israelis ‘settlers,’ peace is distant
– Zvi Barel: Don’t write off Al Jazeera just yet
Featured image: CC BY Pedro Ribeiro Simoes with additions by HonestReporting; Hezbollah via YouTube/Apocalypto; Sanders CC BY Phil Roeder;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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