Today’s Top Stories
1. A Palestinian force fighting alongside Hezbollah in Syria is emerging as a new player. MEMRI introduces us to the “Galilee Forces” and why should Israel take note.
The reports on the Galilee Forces joining the fighting in Al-Qalamoun alongside Hizbullah and the Syrian regime appeared alongside reports in the Arab press that linked the present fighting in that area to a future battle between Hizbullah and Israel in the Galilee. Senior Hizbullah official Hashem Safi Al-Din declared that “the resistance can replicate its newly acquired experience from the Al-Qalamoun mountains and Syria in the Galilee.”
2. France is seeking an 18-month deadline for Israel-Palestinian peace talks. According to YNet, the Paris initiative, among other things, calls on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
It won’t be presented to the UN Security Council before June 30, which is the deadline for Iranian nuclear talks.
The plan stipulates the formation of a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 lines, with swaps of mutually agreed upon lands similar in size, while taking into account Israel’s security needs . . .
If a two-state solution is not reached by the end of the 18 months of talks, France will announce it is officially recognizing the State of Palestine.
3. The State Dept. and Pentagon approved a $1.9 billion weapons sale to Israel meant to ease Jerusalem’s concerns about the Iranian nuclear talks. YNet reports the deal will include more than 700 bunker buster bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles for the air force’s helicopters, and hundreds of other precision guided missiles. The sale still requires Congressional approval.
4. BBC’s Internal Complaints Process “Not Fit For Purpose”: The Beeb’s editorial complaints unit just put the finishing touches on a complete whitewash of Tim Willcox.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Iran stops cash flow to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Tehran’s piqued that the Gaza-based terror group didn’t issue a statement in support of Houthi rebels in Yemen. A cash crunch has left PIJ unable to pay salaries for the last four months, tsk.
• FIFA chief’s Mideast peace bid fell apart as Palestinians insisted on continuing to push for Israel’s ouster from international soccer. Meanwhile, Jibril Rajoub discussed his efforts to suspend Israel from FIFA with the Times of Israel.
• The UN’s World Health Organization singled out Israel the world’s worst violator of health rights. UN Watch‘s Hillel Neuer explains:
The resolution, which adopted two reports heaping blame upon Israel for allegedly violating the health rights of both the Palestinians and Druze residents of the Golan, was the 2015 assembly’s only treatment of a specific country situation.
There was no debate on the health of the Yemeni people now under indiscriminate Saudi bombardment, no mention at all of the 1,850 Yemenis killed, the 7,394 wounded, and the 545,000 displaced, many of whom are desperate to find food.
• If you’re trying to make sense of yesterday’s confusion over a separate buses plan for Palestinians (it was shot down hours after it was announced), NPR discussed what happened with Jerusalem Post reporter Lahav Harkov.
• The EU’s Federica Mogherini was in Ramallah to talk about talks with PA officials.
• Oh no, Guardian!
• Israel’s national judo team was detained at Morocco’s airport after authorities refused to allow armed Israeli bodyguards to accompany the team to the annual World Judo Masters event this weekend.
Mideast Matters
• The Free Syrian Army has thwarted ISIS bids to reach the Israeli border, reports YNet.
• Israel fears Obama will stop hiding its nuclear “secret”
• Israel says it won’t pay a $1.1 billion judgment to Iran. A Swiss court ordered the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company to pay off commitments predating 1979 Iranian Revolution.
• A video of Syrian airman dropping barrel bombs contradicts Bashar Assad’s denials. The Daily Telegraph explains:
The footage, obtained by al-Jazeera, appears to have been shot on a mobile phone inside a Syrian helicopter. These raids have become so frequent that the airmen behave as if they are following a mundane routine. They laugh and joke as they prime the weapons for use against their fellow Syrians.
• ISIS seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. Will the UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its Roman ruins and archaeological treasures be demolished? See also Michael Weiss in The Daily Beast.
Commentary/Analysis
• The Jerusalem Post published what turns out to be Professor Robert Wistrich’s last column. Wistrich, The world’s foremost expert on anti-Semitism, died of a heart attack on Tuesday. According to Wistrich, “Today’s anti-Semitism is a product of a new civic religion that could be termed “Palestinianism.””
Third, we must recognize much more clearly than before that since 1975 (with the passing of the scandalous UN resolution condemning Zionism as racism) hatred of Israel has increasingly mutated into the chief vector for the “new” anti-Semitism.
By libeling the Jewish state as “racist,” “Nazi,” “apartheid” and founded from its inception on “ethnic cleansing,” its enemies have turned Zionism into a synonym for criminality and a term of pure opprobrium.
Hence, every Jew (or non- Jew) who supports the totally “illegitimate” or immoral “Zionist entity” is thereby complicit in a cosmic evil.
• Jonathan Schanzer‘s take on US arms sales to Israel and the Gulf states:
• Erin Gloria Ryan of Jezebel takes a closer look at the litany of Al Jazeera America’s woes.
• I’m also reading:
– Karni Eldad: A settler’s view on separation of Jews from Arabs in W. Bank
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Israel scored an own goal in segregated buses decision
– Yakub Halabi: If Israelis and Saudis would only speak in one voice
– Ben Sales: Racism in Israeli soccer?
– Dore Gold: UN failure in southern Lebanon will lead to future civilian casualties
Featured image: CC BY flickr/John Ragai with additions by HonestReporting; Paris CC BY-NC-ND flickr/Geof Wilson;
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