Today’s Top Stories
1. Worth reading: Ynet takes a deep dive look into how the Gaza cease-fire came about. Hamas and Islamic Jihad played games trying to look like they won, but Jerusalem didn’t bite.
2. If you’re anyway fasting during Ramadan, this doesn’t count. I mean, who isn’t fasting?
3. At the UN Security Council, Kuwait blocked a US statement denouncing Hamas for the rocket fire. Kuwaiti diplomats said they opposed the statement because they are pushing their own resolution on protecting Palestinian civilians — which may include international forces.
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Israel and the Palestinians
• The IDF released satellite images and other information about the 65 terror targets it hit in Gaza this week. This includes a drone storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site, a Hamas naval base and unmanned submarine vessels, weapons depots, command and control centers, and more.
• Jerusalem Post: Now that the Trump administration has instructed the State Department not to refer to the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem or Golan Heights as “occupied,” diplomatic reports are struggling to articulate policy and describe updates.
• Would the Palestinian Authority cut security ties with Israel if Israel were to lift the blockade of Gaza?
• An annual State Department report on religious freedom around the world found a lot of antisemitism in the Arab world, citing numerous examples from Arab news services. The Jerusalem Post explains:
The annual State Department report, documenting freedom of religion around the world, lists several examples of Arab press outlets perpetuating conspiracy theories and blood libels against Jews. Clerical sermons throughout the region often include antisemitic diatribes. And students are still educated with antisemitic texts printed by the states.
• Is the US moving towards quitting the UN Human Rights Council? An American campaign to reform the council, including ending its special scrutiny of Israel, was thwarted. Foreign Policy looks at how we got to this point and what may happen next.
• Glad to see the Associated Press isn’t letting the investigation into Layla Ghandour’s death fall between the cracks. The dispute over the nine-month old girl’s death hasn’t been resolved — did she die of tear gas inhalation at the border clashes, as Palestinians claim, or did she die of complications from a congenital heart defect.
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra told reporters in a WhatsApp group on Wednesday that officials are still “waiting for the forensics report” and that in the meantime, the infant’s name would be kept off the list of those killed in the protests.
• No link between Muslim immigration and anti-Semitism, says German study.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ron Ben-Yishai: In Syria, Iran is getting in Putin’s way too
– Anshel Pfeffer: Putin ready to ditch Iran to keep Israel happy and save Assad’s victory
– Zvi Bar’el: Gaza cease-fire: Egypt’s the big winner, and it will come at a price for Israel
– Elior Levy: All sides in Gaza escalation prepared for a very limited conflict
– Dan Margalit: A Gaza cease-fire, but only under these conditions
– Avi Issacharoff: The curious common interest behind the rapid Gaza-Israel flare-up and flare-down
– Yoav Limor: Hamas blinked first
– Jonathan Tobin: Why the Palestinians can’t say ‘yes’ to Trump
– New York Post (staff-ed): Who’s really behind the latest attacks on Israel
– Jerusalem Post (staff-ed): It’s time for a Gaza plan
– Carly Pildis: Jews get to define antisemitism
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Binuri Ranasinghe; UN Human Rights Council CC BY-NC-ND UN Geneva;
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