Today’s Top Stories
1. With the Mideast shaken up by Egypt and the Gulf states severing ties with Qatar over its sponsorship of terror groups, Israeli officials see opportunities, assess that Qatar’s dalliance with pro-Iran groups made the crisis overdue, and said the developments are very very bad for Hamas.
With Qatar’s only land border with Saudi Arabia now shut, Qataris rushed supermarkets, emptying shelves of food. The crisis is already squeezing Qatar’s economy, air travel, and even the 2022 World Cup.
Experts say a prolonged crisis will push Qatar closer to Turkey and Iran. Turkey and Kuwait have offered to mediate.
2. A riot broke out in the Israeli Arab town of Kafr Kasim on Monday night when a 27-year-old man, Mohammed Taha, resisted arrest. As the violence escalated, Taha was shot by a private security guard who feared for his life. The Jerusalem Post writes:
According to a police statement, the riot began when police attempted to detain a driver from the city when it was discovered during a routine permit check that he was wanted for interrogation by security forces. The statement said that as police attempted to take the driver in for questioning, about fifty residents, some of them masked, arrived on the scene and began pelting the police car with rocks and then proceeded to attack the station, setting fire to three police vehicles . . .
The police is on high alert ahead of the funeral for Taha, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon, fearing further breakout of violence.
More on the incident and its fallout at the Times of Israel.
3. Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, US Ambassador Nikki Haley denounced its overwhelming focus on Israel to the detriment of abuses elsewhere in the world. See the video.
Criticizing the UNHRC for failing to issue resolutions against Venezuela for its many violations of human rights, saying that the South American country “should step down from its seat on the human rights council until it can get its own house in order.”
She then reprimanded the international body for instead issuing 5 resolutions against Israel since March. “It is essential that this council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it wants to maintain its credibility,” she said.
4. Journalist Shills For Palestinians; Slams Israel, Omits Basic Facts: Presenting one agenda-driven side to a complex story isn’t journalism.
Israel and the Palestinians
• While everyone was preoccupied with the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, the Associated Press takes note of a different anniversary: It’s been a decade since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip.
This isn’t about deriving pleasure from the misfortune of Gaza but AP’s grim picture of what the Strip has come to in the last decade. We’re talking about 60 percent youth unemployment, unprecedented daily shortages of water and electricity, clampdowns on freedom of expression and financial pressures.
• Forty-seven Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank say they got their salaries after fearing a cutoff from PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The PA said the delay in payment was due to a technical error. This followed reports that Abbas suspended stipends to Hamas terrorists released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap.
• Jerusalem Post: Israel and New Zealand are likely to restore full diplomatic relations. Israel recalled its ambassador to Wellington after New Zealand co-sponsored the contentious UN Security Council resolution 2334, which denounced settlements.
Just earlier this week, Israel and Senegal — another co-sponsor of that resolution — announced they were also restoring full diplomatic relations.
• A Palestinian terrorist who returned to Israel after 34 years was immediately jailed, tsk.
• UN human rights chief decries Israeli occupation and Holocaust in same speech.
• A California judge ruled that the 2014 Gaza conflict also known as Operation Protective Edge can be legally classified as a “war.” The Jerusalem Post notes 6.9 million reasons why the designation matters to everyone involved in the production of Dig, a TV series set in Israel.
The TV series, which was canceled after one season, was shot, at least partly, in Israel in June 2014. As tensions began to heighten in what would eventually become a deadly, 50-day ground operation, the production crew decided to leave Israel and finish filming in Croatia and New Mexico.
NBCUniversal, USA’s parent company, filed a $6.9 million insurance claim with its Atlantic Insurance Company to cover the unexpected costs. The show’s policy offered full coverage in case of terrorism, but not in the case of war. NBC argued that the crew was forced to relocate due to Hamas terrorism, while Atlantic said it was a war, though the Israeli government never declared it as such.
• The Jerusalem Post calls out the Sears department store for peddling a variety of ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirts. This one depicts Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. If that ever happens, will the store’s Israel t-shirts become collector’s items?
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Haviv Rettig Gur: Why peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians keep failing
– Uri Dromi: 50 years after the Six-Day War, Israel should pull out of most of the West Bank
– Peter Wertheim: Arabs always rejected idea of a home for Jews, and still do
– Pinhas Inbari: Did Jibril Rajoub say that the Kotel should be under Jewish control?
– Jonathan Tobin: The Left’s Abbas problem
– Martin Kramer: The forgotten truth about the Balfour Declaration
– Herb Keinon: 5 reasons Israelis should care about improving ties with Africa
– Tony Badran: Distinction between Hezbollah and the “Lebanese State” now meaningless
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Holding Qatar accountable
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Hanan Ashawi.
Featured image: CC BY Joe Shlabotnik; Doha CC BY-NC marc.desbordes; Haley via YouTube/Ruptly TV; money CC BY-NC-SA Numonica stevens;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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