Today’s Top Stories
1. Today’s big story is that Israel has been in secret dialogue with Hamas for several weeks. Both sides have an interest in keeping Gaza calm. The cooperation is “partly direct” and partly through Qatari and European mediators, according YNet. (Hamas official Ahmed Yousef confirmed to Maan News that Hamas is having “chats” with Israel through mediators but denied direct contacts.)
Defense establishment officials believe that the absence of a dialogue that will help ease the living conditions in Gaza will lead an armed conflict in the summer, and Operation Protective Edge will be perceived as a colossal failure. The person pushing for talks with Hamas is the coordinator of the government’s activities in the territories, in cooperation with new IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and with his encouragement, while the political echelon is making these moves possible.
The official Israel continues to conceal the dialogue with Hamas: It would have disrupted the elections, it’s not good for the image of a right-wing government, and it gets in the way of continuing to define Hamas as a terror organization in the world.
The PA is fuming with anger. The media in Ramallah are accusing Israel of helping Hamas in Gaza establish itself as a rival leadership. There is some truth in that. The PA is failing to take control over the Strip’s reconstruction, and Israel has no time to wait . . .
Besides, the dialogue with Hamas also serves as a sort of whip in Israel’s hands against an oppositional PA in Ramallah: Is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatening to open the economic and security agreements with Israel? Well, Israel can adopt an oppositional policy of its own.
2. The northern border heated up with reports of air strikes both confirmed and denied by Israel.
Israel confirmed it foiled a terror attack along the Israeli-Syrian border. Soldiers spotted four armed terrorists on the Syrian side of the fence near the Druse village of Majdal Shams placing a bomb. Aircraft was called in, killing the four. It’s not clear who the terrorists were affiliated with, though Ron Ben-Yishai‘s pretty sure it was Hezbollah. See Haaretz coverage and Avi Issacharoff‘s take.
Meanwhile, someone attacked a Syrian base this morning. According to initial Arab reports, it was an Israeli airstrike. According to other reports, the explosions at a Syrian missile base were the work of the Nusra Front. Israeli officials usually refrain from confirming or denying these things, but this time, Israel denied this attack.
3. As aftershocks continued, the death toll from the Nepal earthquake climbed to 3,700. The first plane bringing Israelis home returned. Last I saw, the Times of Israel reported 100 Israelis remained unaccounted while YNet reported others desperately pleading to be evacuated (four were rescued from the slopes of Mt Everest).
Last, but not least, sympathy to the 3,400 Nepalese in Israel going through a lot of anxiety now.
4. Human Rights Watch’s Disaster Effort: Shame on Human Rights Watch and its obsession against Israel.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Gregg Carlstrom on the perils of Palestinian democracy:
• NPR (audio or transcript) just discovered how complicated West Bank land ownership is.
• Arduous journey from Gaza to London sheds light on desperate plight.
• German police removed an Israeli flag from a soccer game “for fear of Palestinian violence.” The Jerusalem Post picked up on German coverage after Almog Cohen, an Israeli midfielder for FC Ingolstadt, tweeted what he saw.
• Resolution could prompt more Tennessee support of Israel
• Your daily dose of sleaze: Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth takes advantage of Nepalese suffering to take a dig at Israel.
Mideast Matters
• Reuters: For the first time in 20 years, Israel will participate as an observer at a major annual conference on nuclear arms. Israel has boycotted the Non-Proliferation Review Conference for 20 years in protest against biased resolutions.
• President Obama channels his inner Santa.
• Iran’s furious with President Obama’s compromise with Congress on oversight of any nuclear deal. I don’t see why the Times of London thought this particular insight was so important to justify an anonymous source. For shame . . .
Worse still, in Iran’s eyes, are the signs that Israeli lobbying in Washington has borne fruit. “Obama was boxed in politically on this last agreement. Never underestimate the Israeli pressure on the US Congress,” one American government official admitted.
• Satellite images reveal a Hezbollah airstrip for its aerial drones. Jane’s Defense Weekly simply looked at Google Earth and worked it out.
• A Turkish “documentary” purporting to reveal Jewish conspiracy is raises questions about anti-Semitism spreading into mainstream Turkey. According to The Media Line it’s fueled by the ruling AKP Party.
The film, called Ust Akil (Mastermind) and also published on major pro-government newspaper websites such as Sabah, claims that Jewish people have conspired to dominate the world for 3,500 years . . .
“This is pretty much the worldview in the AKP now,” says writer and political commentator Mustafa Akyol, referring to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party.
Turkish journalist Burak Bekdil also spoke out against the video.
Commentary/Analysis
• A Harvard conference on economic collaboration in the Mideast is a critical victory over the BDS movement. Eliana Rudee explains its significance
• Two heavyweight military law experts concluded that IDF targeting during last year’s Gaza war didn’t run afoul of international law. Michael Schmitt and John Merriam wrote a 52-page report on their findings — you can see a summary at Just Security.
Broadly speaking, we concluded that IDF positions on targeting law largely track those of the United States military. Moreover, even when they differ, the Israeli approach remains within the ambit of generally acceptable State practice. The IDF is served by a corps of highly competent and well-trained legal advisors who operate with a remarkable degree of autonomy, and its operations are subject to extensive judicial monitoring. While there are certainly Israeli legal positions that may be contentious, we found that their approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation.
Schmitt and Merriam are big names. According to the Jerusalem Post,
Because of the authors’ prominence and the unprecedented inside access they were given to IDF operations, the impact of the report could be wide-ranging and even influence decisions by the International Criminal Court on the issues.
I couldn’t find Schmitt and Merriam’s 52-page report online, but if you want to read more, here’s their 15-page abstract. (UPDATE: Thanks to the readers who sent this link to the full 52-page report).
• Eyal Zisser: Saudi-funded French weapons recently delivered to the Lebanese army are already falling into Hezbollah’s hands.
• Anti-Semitism is becoming more acceptable through the use of language, argues French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
• After Nepal, seismologists ask: Is Israel prepared for its own Big One?
• For more commentary, see:
– Iran won’t give up on its revolution
– US-Saudi differences on Iran’s role in Yemen
Featured image: CC BY flickr/John Ragai with additions by HonestReporting; law books CC BY-NC-ND flickr/Mr.TinDC
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