Today’s Top Stories
1. Khader, a Syrian Druze village near the Israeli border was surrounded by rebel forces. (Spellings vary if you Google the name.)
A smaller scale drama is taking place at a Druze enclave in the village of Khader, adjacent to the border with Israel. Opposition forces have now taken over two Syria army positions there, 1.5 kilometers from the village. The fighting is taking place in view of Druze on the Israeli side of the border, with growing concern for the fate of the Druze population in Khader . . .
Is the situation in Khader as critical as portrayed? Obviously, Israeli Druze are concerned about their relatives across the border, with the fighting getting ever closer. So far, it has not reached the village. It is possible that the rebels have taken Israel’s warnings not to enter it into account. The struggle of Israeli Druze leaders on behalf of Khader residents has become more open, with the army and police shutting off an area close to the border two days ago out of concern that a planned demonstration there would get out of hand.
However, an unidentified IDF officer told Israeli media that the situation in Khader was being blown out of proportion. More on the story at the Daily Telegraph.
2. Is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fighting in Yemen?
3. Ex-ambassador Michael Oren’s forthcoming book on American-Israeli ties continues making waves as Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu refused a US request to disavow the book. The irony is that escalating the diplomatic spat will only confirm the thrust of Oren’s criticisms of the Obama administration.
If you’re following the story, Oren discussed Obama and Israel in a Times of Israel Q&A, alongside a separate list of 20 revelations from the book. Moshe Kahlon, the leader of the Kulanu Party, of which Oren is a member, distanced the party from the book.
Israel and the Palestinians
• A plan to drop Israeli products from three supermarkets in the Swedish city of Varberg was cancelled after the Israeli embassy in Sweden launched a social media campaign demanding fair trade and denouncing discrimination. The embassy feared the boycott would spread to the COOP chain’s 655 branches across Sweden:
This led the chain’s national management to reject the boycott and threaten that if the Varberg stores do not stop the boycott, they will no longer be a part of the chain, effectively putting an end to the boycott.
• Zuhair Mohamad Hassan Khalid al-Abassi, the mastermind of a 1982 terror attack in Paris was arrested in Jordan, but then released on bail. Don’t worry, Amman officials are reassuring everyone that the Palestinian won’t be allowed to leave the country while they decide whether to extradite Abassi.
Six people were killed and 22 wounded when two terrorists associated with Abu Nidal Organization threw a grenade into the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant and then rushed inside opening fire. Abassi, who goes by the nom de guerre, Amjad Atta, is now 62.
• UNRWA chief: Gaza militants hid weapons in our facilities
• Questioning the legality of its PA-funding, Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks to shut down the Palestine 48 TV station hours before it goes on air. More at YNet.
• Tzipi Livni dodged a war crimes arrest in London thanks to a legal loophole.
However, Livni’s attendance at the recent women’s summit could have been considered a personal visit, leaving her vulnerable to arrest. To preempt the problem Livni, whose party leads Israel’s opposition, arranged to meet with senior UK government officials, enabling the Knesset speaker to approve her travel as an official visit, the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.
• Israel accuses UN children’s rights envoy of “improper conduct” and bias against Israel. Reuters saw Ambassador Ron Prosor’s letter of complaint to Ban Ki-moon.
• Foreign Policy takes a closer look at Gaza’s rising support for ISIS and other radical Islamic groups. What do their threats mean for Hamas?
Worryingly, these new radical groups are finding support from within Hamas itself, among rank-and-file members who want to go back to war with Israel.
• Israeli academic figures told Knesset lawmakers they’re experiencing a latent boycott. More at the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.
• AFP points out that the PA unity government which resigned yesterday will continue functioning with caretaker status until the next cabinet is formed. And there’s no telling how long that will take.
• The flotilla of boats heading hoping to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza is currently in Italy. The Jerusalem Post updates the latest on the IDF’s plans and Islamic Jihad threats should the ships be intercepted.
• Police detained 16 Jewish suspects, mostly minors, for questioning over a fire and vandalism at the Church of the Multiplication at Tagbha, on the Kinneret. Times of Israel coverage.
Around the World
• Resigned to the fact that a bad Iranian nuclear deal will be signed, Israeli officials are examining how to best protect the country’s interests after sanctions are lifted. Reuters looks at how Israel’s getting ready for the day after.
Rather than coordination in the shape of a regional missile defense agreement or something similar, Israeli experts say it is more likely that the Sunni states and Israel would quietly share intelligence, something the Israelis say they are already doing, and cooperate when necessary.
“Indirect secret cooperation vis-a-vis Iran is happening with these countries and there is the possibility to deepen it,” said Haim Tomer, a former head of international operations at Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.
• With two weeks left to end negotiations, Iranian nuke talks are imperiled by disagreements on all main elements.
• I wonder what the editors of the Harvard International Review were thinking when they decided to publish an article on fighting violent extremism by the foreign minister of Iran. (Via Elder of Ziyon.)
• Sign of the times: The Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) describes executives welcoming potential customer Iran to the Paris air show.
• Melbourne Jewish institutions are on high alert following intelligence that a “radicalized” individual may carry out an attack.
• The Louvre denied discriminating against Israeli art students from Tel Aviv University, saying the museum’s reservation system is automated.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yoav Limor: Quiet in the Golan, for now
– Dr. Ronen Yitzhak: What if the Druze turn to Hezbollah?
– Herb Keinon: Israel did what Obama asked
– Eitan Haber: UN investigators fighting wars on paper
– Danny Rubinstein: Abbas shows Hamas who’s boss
– Joseph Spoerl: Boycott goal is to dismantle Israel
– Skip Grinburg: BDS and Palestinian economic annihilation
– Emmanuel Navon: BDS hates Israel more than it loves human rights
– Maj.-Gen. (res.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel: Cyber warfare: A new, dangerous world
Featured image: CC BY-NC flickr/Sander Spolspoel with additions by HonestReporting; Livnia via YouTube/Narb A; atom CC0 Pixabay;
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