Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel’s row with Turkey escalated as both expelled each other’s key diplomats. Israeli Ambassador Eitan Na’eh was forced to undergo a humiliating security check in front of cameras at Istanbul’s airport. And Israel’s expulsion of the Turkish Consul-General in Jerusalem raised eyebrows because Husnu Gurcan Turkoglu represents Ankara to the Palestinian Authority. The Times of Israel explains:
The move was extraordinary in that Israel rarely interacts with foreign diplomats dealing exclusively with the Palestinians.
But Ynet notes that “none of the diplomats have been declared persona non grata, and the expulsions are temporary.”
Meanwhile, Israeli lawmakers are moving to recognize the Armenian genocide. It’s a move that has been stalled over the years because of diplomatic sensitivities.
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2. The chief editor of one of Germany’s largest daily papers apologized after coming under fire for publishing a cartoon denounced as antisemitic. In the cartoon, by Suddeutsche Zeitung’s Dieter Hanitzsch, Benjamin Netanyahu is seen celebrating Israel’s Eurovision victory. While holding a missile which features a Jewish star, he says “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Hanitzsch insisted that the paper’s apology doesn’t reflect his views.
3. Guatemala opened its embassy in Jerusalem today.
4: Gaza Border: Fiction Disguised as News: The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a work of fiction thinly disguised as a legitimate opinion column about the Gaza violence.
5. HR’s Daniel Pomerantz discussed the embassy move on i24 News.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Violence along the Gaza border yesterday eased somewhat as Palestinians spent the day burying their dead and Hamas reassessed its tactics. Still, some 4,000 Palestinians continued launching burning kites and throwing firebombs at Israeli soldiers at several locations. More at the Jerusalem Post. This afternoon, just before this roundup was published, the IDF attacked Hamas positions in retaliation for gunfire.
• Over at Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing, Hamas continued rejecting Israeli humanitarian aid transfers today:
Hamas accepted four trucks of aid supplied by the Palestinian Authority and two trucks supplied by UNICEF, but two further truckloads of medical aid provided by the IDF were turned away when the origin of the equipment became apparent.
In addition to 53 tons of medical equipment set to be transported into Gaza this week via the crossing, the increased Israeli aid included more than 14,000 units of intravenous infusions, 40 medical basins, 20 medical examination couches, 25 infusion stands, 85,000 disinfectant pads and 12,500 bandages . . .
The director of Gaza’s Shifa hospital’s emergency department, Ayman Al-Sahabani, told Reuters that medical supplies were running out.
More at the Times of Israel.
• The Palestinian Authority recalled its top envoy in Washington, Husam Zomlot, back to Ramallah in protest against the US embassy move. The PA also recalled its envoys to European Union countries that attended the embassy’s inauguration.
• Israel believes Hamas is trying to use the violence to secure humanitarian aid and will cool down the clashes, reports Haaretz.
In recent days, via Egyptian intelligence channels, Israel has threatened that a continued escalation of violence could lead to a decision to strike at Hamas’ leaders. In addition, although Tuesday is Nakba Day, the month of Ramadan begins on Wednesday – and the leaders of the organization are probably taking the month-long religious holiday into account as well.
• If Hamas openly boasts that the March of Return is not peaceful resistance, the international condemnation of Israel should fall away, right?
Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar on Gaza Protests: This Is Not Peaceful Resistance, It Is Supported by Our Weapons pic.twitter.com/aut0Q7SPD9
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 15, 2018
• If Hamas openly boasts that “50 of the 62 martyrs were Hamas,” the international condemnation of Israel should fall away, right?
Senior Hamas official sets the record straight on who was killed in last Hamas-orchestrated riots: "50 of the 62 martyrs were Hamas". Take his word for it. This was no peaceful protest. pic.twitter.com/oop2y3oWrB
— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) May 16, 2018
• Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed the violence with CBS News, addressing questions about the IDF’s use of force defending the Gaza border. The PM’s spokesman, David Keyes, also discussed the clashes and the embassy move with MSNBC.
• A three-ship flotilla seeking to break the Gaza blockade sailed out of Gothenburg. They will join up with a fourth ship along the way and expect to reach Gaza waters around the end of July or early August.
• The US State Department accused Hamas of using embassy move as excuse for violence. And Egypt rebuked Hamas leaders over deaths in the Gaza border riots.
• South African leaders called on the country’s Jews to reject ‘Nazi-like’ Israel. But the Jewish community denounced the recall of South Africa’s ambassador to Israel.
• Israel’s ambassador to Ireland will not be expelled.
• Gulf Arab states rebuke Israel, but alliances continue inching closer.
• Looking to earn an extra buck?
• Iceland says it will ignore boycott petition and take part in next year’s Jerusalem Eurovision contest.
Commentary
• This Chicago Tribune staff-ed gets it:
Leaders of the Palestinians have a choice: They can keep sending their young people to their deaths.
Or they can turn from violent confrontation to constructive negotiation. They can resume their path toward a Palestinian state.
Even as we write that sentence — expressing the hope for a two-state solution that we’ve repeated over and over — it seems more far-fetched than ever. The reality on the ground is that nothing will change until Palestinian leaders stop inciting violence and start telling their people the truth: Palestinians can have a state. But not until they accept that the Israel they loathe is in the neighborhood to stay.
• Memo to The Independent: The Syrian people probably wouldn’t mind if Bashar Assad used tear gas instead of chemical weapons, but what do I know?
When a single act of arrogant diplomacy can, utterly predictably, contribute to dozens of deaths – including, possibly, that of an eight-month-old infant from teargas poisoning – then, yes, there are special places reserved for such political leaders.
In this context it is worth reminding ourselves of the worldwide wave of revulsion against chemical weapons we have seen in recent weeks. Palestinian victims deserve the same sympathy and protests as anyone else when their children suffer from gassing.
It is especially regrettable that the US has vetoed a UN resolution condemning the violence in Gaza and the West Bank. The moral parallels and ironies when recalling their objection to the Russian veto on the Syrian bombing, though that was in a different order of magnitude, remain clear.
• If you pay lip service to Israel’s defense of its border but still decry the IDF’s “disproportionate” response, either suggest a legitimate solution or spare us mealy-mouthed attempts at even-handedness like staff-eds in the Washington Post and The Scotsman, or this Tom Moran column.
• Plenty of commentary about the embassy move, clashes and the peace process:
– Avital Leibovich: Don’t confuse me with the facts on Gaza
– Noah Rothman: Questions the press hasn’t asked about violence in Gaza
– Melanie Phillips: Hamas and their media enablers are responsible for these Gaza deaths
– Col. Richard Kemp: Hamas are using their own people as expendable tools. Don’t fall for their games
– Einat Wilf: The Gaza protest was actually about Jewish self-determination
– Amb. Danny Danon: Terrorist propaganda vs. truth
– Daniel Pipes: Enjoy the Jerusalem embassy — but don’t get giddy
– Vivian Bercovici: Placing an embassy in Jerusalem is not a barrier to negotiating peace
War in Gaza 2009 (Embassy is in Tel Aviv)
War in Gaza 2012 (Embassy is in Tel Aviv)
War in Gaza 2014 (Embassy is in Tel Aviv)
Clashes in Gaza 2018: "Embassy move causes Gaza violence!"— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 16, 2018
– Judah Ari Gross: Israel protected the Gaza border, but death toll means Hamas can claim win too
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Hamas is in the cold
– Yonah Jeremy Bob: To the Gaza front and back: Smoke, fire, tragedy and calm
– Nolan Finley: US embassy in its proper place now
– James Robbins: Palestinians should reject Hamas violence and make a deal with Donald Trump
– Barbara Kay: Embassy move only angers the usual suspects. Even Arab leaders have bigger problems now
• For a sense of what the critics are saying see Manuel Hassassian, Noura Erakat, Mark Weiss (click via Twitter) and Doug Saunders. For your daily dose of moral equivalence, see staff-eds in the Los Angeles Times and Globe & Mail.
• Thomas Friedman on the Iran deal:
To his credit, Trump has drawn attention to Iranian misbehavior in ways the Europeans never have. Israel gets censured for implanting settlements deep into the West Bank. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates get censured for contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. But the Iranians have gotten away with murder, mass murder, at home and abroad — with virtually no censure.
Featured image: CC BY Matthew G; Erdogan CC0 Pixabay;
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