Today’s Top Stories
1. Palestinian gunmen in the Yarmouk refugee camp told AFP and Channel 4 that ISIS forces have largely withdrawn from the camp. Don’t hold your breath for waiting for any media conversation on matters like disproportionate force, civilian casualties, attacking hospitals, etc. What happens in Yarmouk stays in Yarmouk.
“Today there are no more IS militants inside Yarmouk,” said “Mustafa Ahmed”, who uses a pseudonym to disguise his identity. “Most of the militants are at the frontline between IS and the Aknaf brigades in the south eastern part near the hospital.”
Last Wednesday night Syrian government aircraft dropped barrel bombs on the Palestine Hospital, the only functioning healthcare facility in Yarmouk, after IS militants started to use it as a base.
2. While the world’s distracted by Iranian nukes and Yemen, the Times of London reports Bashar Assad’s forces are back to using chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons inspectors have begun investigating new attacks in Syria, as two sets of tests carried out for The Times and medical charities reveal that President Assad is continuing to use chlorine and is almost certainly using cyanide against his own people.
Nobody’s accusing the Syrians of using chemical weapons in the refugee camp, but you have to wonder . . .
3. Nuclear talks to resume on April 21, reports Reuters. The location hasn’t been specified yet.
4. The Blankfeld Award for Media Critique: Are you a student and an aspiring writer? If so, send us your articles on Israel and apply for this year’s Blankfeld Award of $2,000 and the opportunity to be our HonestReporting Campus Fellow for 2015/16. Click here for details.
Israel and the Palestinians
• For the first time in 15 years, some cars with Palestinian license plates were allowed to enter Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post explains
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai approved the entry of the vehicles for Palestinian doctors who work shifts and other hospital jobs in Israel, where immediate response time is essential.
• Foreign Policy‘s dispatch from Gaza is worth reading.
For all the bark and bluster, the fighters begrudgingly acknowledge that the civilian population probably cannot weather another war.
• Nice roundup of creative ways Jewish students are opposing boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against Israel on their college campuses.
Around the World
• Iran expects to receive its shiny new Russian S-300 air defense missile system by the end of 2015.
• Molly Horwitz, the Jewish Stanford student running for a seat on the student senate, filed a formal complaint after being asked how being Jewish would impact her decisions.
The Stanford Daily published Horwitz’s first-person account of her meeting with the Students of Color Coalition, whose endorsement she sought, as well as the SOCC’s response denying the charges. For more background, see HonestReporting’s post, Echoes of UCLA Discrimination Alleged at Stanford. Students vote on Wednesday.
• Arrest made after man shouting “Allahu Akbar” threw firecrackers inside a New Jersey synagogue.
• Police in Nashsville are beefing up security at local Jewish institutions after shots were fired at synagogue hours before a Holocaust memorial ceremony. Nobody was injured.
• Openly criticizing Hezbollah in Lebanon carries risks. That makes this clip of Beirut’s Future TV anchor Hanadi Zeidan (MEMRI video or transcript) especially eye opening.
Commentary/Analysis
• Ron Ben-Yishai and Amos Harel aren’t happy with the S-300 sale, but caution everyone to take a deep breath. The final agreement won’t be signed for another two-and-a-half months, Moscow could deliver an older version of the system or even halt the sale again. Harel explains why the game changer label may over-exaggerate:
Since Israel must ready itself for a scenario under which Iran violates the agreement and succeeds in developing nuclear weapons, this is an obstacle to be reckoned with.
Still, it is not an insurmountable obstacle. The Israel Air Force believes any defense can eventually be breached with the appropriate investment of thought and resources.
Syria possesses relatively advanced surface-to-air missile systems, yet foreign media reports say Israel has breached its air defenses time after time. Nevertheless, the proliferation of advanced surface-to-air missile systems in the region will require the air force to make finding ways of dealing with them a very high priority.
• Elliott Abrams and a Wall St. Journal staff-ed (click via Google News) also weigh in on Moscow’s move. The latter writes:
Now Mr. Obama wants to delegate responsibility for enforcing his nuclear deal with Iran to the United Nations, which means that the Russians will have a say—and a veto—there, too. Think of this missile sale as a taste of what’s to come.
• Plenty more commentary on the Iranian nuclear issue.
– Aaron David Miller: Bad Iran deal kills US leverage to mediate Mideast peace
– Kristina Wong: 5 key demands US dropped in Iran talks
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Why defeating Obama’s deal could spark anti-Semitism.
– New York Post (staff-ed): King Abdullah echoes Bibi: How will White House react?
• For more commentary/analysis, see Pastor Dumasani Washington (Israel and the African-American vote).
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA Ed Yourdon via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; F-15 CC BY-NC flickr/Israel Defense Forces
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