Today’s Top Stories
1. Gaza tensions grew as Palestinians fired 28 mortars from Gaza at southern Israeli towns this morning, including one which landed next to a kindergarten (no children were present). More mortars were fired over the course of the day; the IDF retaliated with air strikes on dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets including a terror tunnel that which reached 900 meters into Israeli territory. As this roundup was published, five Israelis were reported injured.
This tunnel was designated for terror purposes and smuggling. The tunnel was detected in its construction phases near the Kerem Shalom Crossing, through which many goods are transferred to Gaza residents pic.twitter.com/Jxkni9ARqP
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018
Overnight, prior to the mortar fire, Sderot was hit with machine gun fire.
Haaretz, the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post are all liveblogging the latest developments.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
2. According to Israeli media reports, Israel and Russia reached a secret agreement to keep Iranian forces away from the Israeli-Syrian border:
Under the apparent agreement coming together, Israel will accept the return of Syrian regime soldiers to the border on the Golan Heights, in exchange for Russia guaranteeing there are no Iranian or Hezbollah forces in the area, Hadashot TV news reported.
Russia will also call on all foreign troops to leave Syria, including not only Iran and the Lebanese terror group, Hezbollah, but also the United States and Turkey, the report said . . .
However, [Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s] statement suggested Russia was ready to allow Iran to maintain a foothold in other parts of the country.
More on the story at Jerusalem Post. Meanwhile, Moscow denied reports that its air force intercepted and turned back Israeli jets over Lebanon yesterday.
1.The Russian call for all foreign forces to leave Syria is a positive development with respect to the threat posed by Iranian entrenchment there.That being said,it is important to remember that the Iranians were not party to that announcement and Assad did not ask them to leave
— Amos Yadlin (@YadlinAmos) May 28, 2018
3. The Israeli Navy stopped a “reverse flotilla” attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Several boats leaving the Strip and headed for Cyprus carried Palestinians looking for medical treatment outside of Gaza, students to study abroad and activists.
According to the IDF spokesperson’s office Hamas was able to stop some of the boats from crossing the nine mile limit of the fishing waters and Israeli navy ships stopped the rest.
Thursday marks the eighth anniversary of the Mavi Marmara raid, in which Israeli forces intercepted a Turkish-organized flotilla of ships trying to break the Gaza blockade. Ten Turkish nationals were killed in violent clashes with Israeli naval commandos, rupturing Israel-Turkey relations.
ProvocationAlert!
Calling all journalists reporting about the boat that's going to "break the blockade" please ask the organizers why they didn't leave #Gaza via Rafah crossing that is open during #Ramadan? Also, why risk lives of sick and injured? https://t.co/ePEzemNLZG— LTC (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) May 29, 2018
4. 60 Minutes and the Illusion of Balance: Talking to two extreme sides and promoting stereotypical caricatures — while ignoring mainstream views — is not balanced journalism.
5. Sunday Express Train Wreck of a Story: Literally everything from a Sunday Express story on Gaza adds up to an utter train wreck.
6. South African Interviewee Calls to ‘Punish’ Israel Supporters: SABC News gives Israel-basher an uncontested eight-minute soapbox.
In the News
• Great moments in Israeli “indiscriminate fire” — a new study by the The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center finds that 83 percent of the Palestinians killed in Gaza clashes were affiliated with terror groups.
According to the findings of examinations carried out by the ITIC, at least 112 Palestinians were killed during the “Great Return March.”[1] In an examination of the names of the fatalities on an individual basis, 93 were identified as terrorist operatives or affiliated with the terrorist organizations, i.e., about 83% of those killed in the “return marches.” Most of the fatalities (63) are from Hamas (about 56% of the total killed in all the marches). Fatah, which had 21 fatalities, played a minor role, with no significant impact on the events. The other organizations, including PIJ operatives (four fatalities) refrained from playing a significant role, maybe because of their awareness that this is a Hamas “project.” The organizational affiliation of 19 of the fatalities is unknown to the ITIC. It may be assumed that these are Hamas operatives or civilians who do not belong to any organization.
• Drone footage shows hundreds of acres of an Israeli nature reserve devastated by flaming Gaza kites.
• Legislation limiting Palestinian access to the High Court of Justice primarily on land issues passed its first reading in Knesset. Proponents say legal action regarding property ownership and home demolitions in the West Bank should be handled by Israeli district courts, just as they are inside Israel proper. Critics describe the bill is a “creeping annexation.”
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Avi Issacharoff: Behind Islamic Jihad’s barrage of attacks on Israel, the hand of Iran
– Amos Harel: Gaza barrage: Hamas has changed the rules, and Israel will respond forcefully
– Yaakov Lappin: Palestinian Islamic Jihad is like a grenade in a Gaza gas station
– Rosie DiManno: Hamas’ disastrous schemes make this the right moment to show solidarity with Israel
– David Saks: Those biased against Israel complicit in Hamas propaganda
– Seth Frantzman: Colonizing Gaza’s dead for kaddish theater
– Isi Leibler: A month of hypocrisy and moral decadence
– Smadar Perry: Between Russia and Iran: Assad’s comfortable position
Featured image: CC BY Sivesh Kumar; typing via Public Domain Files;
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