Today’s Top Stories
1. Israeli police are still searching for the Palestinian who shot and killed an Israeli man in a Friday terror attack. Danny Gonen, of Lod was killed while hiking to a spring in the West Bank, near the community of Dolev. His friend, Netanel Hadad, who was wounded in the attack, recounted the incident to YNet.
Gonen was laid to rest Saturday night. More at the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel.
Israeli officials were especially angered by the UN’s “balanced response” to the terror, calling “on all sides to exercise the utmost restraint.”
2. An Israeli border policeman is on life-support after being stabbed by a Palestinian in Jerusalem this morning, at the Old City’s Damascus Gate. He managed to shoot his attacker — an 18-year-old, who succumbed to his wounds. Haaretz coverage. Meanwhile, Avi Issacharoff wonders whether this was pre-planned, or opportunistic.
3. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is visiting Jerusalem and Ramallah today. to push his country’s peace initiative. Ahead of today’s meeting, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said he would oppose “international dictates” on the Mideast peace process. The foreign minister responded urging Israelis not to prejudge the French proposal. Netanyahu and Fabius are scheduled to meet this evening.
4. Bad Headline, Worse Picture: The headline makes this article misleading, but it’s the picture that really lies.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Former IDF chief of staff Shaul Mofaz arrived in London amid drama and intrigue described by YNet. Palestinians still seek the arrest of Israelis on war crimes charges, and Britain says it can’t guarantee immunity to Citizen Mofaz. I wonder if there’s a plan for leaving Britain . . .
• A day after Gonen’s death, a Palestinian woman driving near Dolev was hurt by stone throwers. Gotta credit AFP for noting this point:
Palestinians said Saturday’s incident could have been an act of revenge by settlers for Gonen’s death, although the stones could also have been thrown by Palestinians mistaking the woman’s vehicle for an Israeli one.
• Where’s the coverage? I found zero coverage of the fatal Dolev attack on the CNN, NPR, and BBC web sites, whhile the Times of London gave it one sentence hastily tacked to the bottom of a report about Hebron shops being allowed to reopen. If it bleeds, it leads, right?
• Still trying to wrap your head around Israel and Hamas as frenemies? The Christian Science Monitor and NPR take a closer look at what’s happening to Israeli-Hamas “ties.”
• YNet: Israeli students traveling abroad in youth delegations will receive a 10-hour crash course in public diplomacy.
• Former ambassador Michael Oren continues making waves ahead of the release of his book on Israel-US ties. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Oren rips the White House’s argument that the Iranians are rational actors. In a separate piece for Foreign Policy, he examines President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world.
• Thumbs up to NPR for looking at freedom of expression in the Palestinian Authority. PA police don’t like everything Palestinians post on Facebook.
• Lebanese man to stand trial in Cyprus over alleged Hezbollah bomb plot. Proceedings to begin June 29.
• Worth listening: The BBC recounts the terrifying end of Libya’s Jewish community in the weeks after the Six Day War.
• Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs removed a video poking fun at the foreign press. Haaretz explains:
“The aim of the video was to illustrate Hamas’ crimes, and once it was interpreted otherwise it was decided to remove it,” Ministry Spokesman Immanuel Nachshon said Sunday, after Foreign Ministry Director Dori Gold ordered the English-language short off the ministry’s website.
BDS Battles
• Publix supermarket chain investigating BDS vandalism of Jewish products at a Miami store after stickers were attached to a number of Jewish products. I say Jewish, because Kedem products aren’t made in Israel. Seems like the boycotters are ignorant at best, or anti-Semitic at worst.
The supermarket’s announcement came after a photo of a Kedem product apparently from a North Miami Beach store was posted to Twitter, with a mock-up “Occupation Facts” sticker pasted on the front. Kedem is a Kosher foods product, but it is not Israeli.
• NY State Assembly condemns BDS
• Boycotters are trying to trip up an Irish dance festival due to take place in Tel Aviv this August. But London’s Sunday Times reports the organizers aren’t toeing the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign’s line:
“With due respect to the genuine motives of the IPSC, I will not be taking part in the boycott,” he said. “To a lesser extent, there is a similar campaign afoot to have us boycott feiseanna in Russia because of the actions of President Putin in Crimea and Ukraine. Once we travel down that route, where will we draw a line?”
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• The State Department’s annual report on terror (388 pages of pdf joy) couldn’t whitewash Iranian support for international terror. The report also cited Hamas and Hezbollah activities. The Times of Israel rounded up key take-aways
In 2014, Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), its Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and Tehran’s ally Hizballah, which remained a significant threat to the stability of Lebanon and the broader region.
Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz‘s take was the most-quoted Israeli response I saw.
The minister said the report’s conclusions “dealt a death knell” to “the American delusion, according to which an easing of sanctions as part of an interim nuclear treaty would lead to a moderation of its position.”
“That’s why the report should serve as a warning sign for anyone who thinks Iran will moderate its behavior after a final-status nuclear treaty,” he said.
• The White House may appoint a “czar” to oversee implementation and enforcement of a nuclear deal with Iran. According to Politico:
It’s an idea that some argue is smart — even crucial — because of the multiple agencies, countries and international bodies that will be involved in the deal.
• Russia and Riyadh signed a nuclear cooperation deal. According to Reuters, the Russians will build 16 nuclear reactors. Abdulrahman al-Rashed notes that the deal comes at a time when the US and Europe are boycotting and sanctioning Russia over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Around the World
• This is bizarre: According to Hezbollah,a loud explosion heard in the Bekaa Valley was an Israeli air strike on one of its own crashed drones. But the Daily Star adds this contradictory information:
However, photos of the reported drone published on media websites show Cyrillic script on a piece of the wreckage, indicating that the drone may have been manufactured either in Russia or Eastern Europe.
• Done toying with British Muslim activist Asghar Bukhari, the Mossad, now joined by the “Jewish lobby,” are turning their attention to the Barcelona Football Club. According to Spanish sports columnist Xavier Bosch, Jews seeking to “control the world and its international institutions,” are pressuring club officials to end a $200 million sponsorship with a Qatari foundation, while the Mossad infiltrated the team.
Bosch’s original column (in Spanish) was published in Mundo Deportivo.
• At Egypt’s request, Gemany arrested one of Al Jazeera’s most senior journalists, Ahmed Mansour. Reuters got the scoop on the arrest.
Cairo’s criminal court sentenced Mansour, who has dual Egyptian and British citizenship, to 15 years in prison in absentia last year on the charge of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011.
Does Mansour’s arrest mean the Germans too are playing Calvinball in Cairo?
• Without getting involved the US gun control debate sparked by the Charleston church shooting, I can’t say I was thrilled the last time Israel was dragged into it (after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre). Now, we’re talking about a White House tweet. At least Israel’s not being lumped together with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Boko Haram . . .
By the way, a website believed to have been created by the Charleston suspect, Dylann Roof, featured a rambling anti-Semitic, racist manifesto.
Commentary/Analysis
• Was today’s stabbing of a border policeman really a “lone wolf” attack? Ron Ben-Yishai explains why not. Here’s the context:
The main reason is the religious fervor among the Muslims on the holy month of Ramadan. It is not just a matter of the sermons they hear, or of their religious inclinations, but also the lengthy fast, the extreme changes to daily lives and maintaining their day-to-day routine while not sleeping at night – all of these create a situation in which the Muslim street all over the world, including in the Palestinian Authority, sensitivity and anger run high. This psychological analysis is important because it explains a significant amount of attacks that seemingly reveal no rational reason for the murderer to choose to risk his life and his surroundings.
The second reason is that an act of murder like the one on Friday near the Dolev settlement instantly brings about copycat attempts, mostly among those who were already feeling anger or religious fervor, or wanted to prove something to those around them.
The third reason is inspiration drawn from Islamist terror organizations, particularly Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Most of the attackers are linked in one way or another to one of the external circles affected by Hamas media and sermons from radical imams. Even though the attack was not directly sanctioned by one of the Islamist groups preaching for such actions, the guidance or inspiration came from them. In this manner, one could say that Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the shooting attack that killed Danny Gonen on Friday, prepared the ground for Sunday’s stabbing attack.
• It’s not often that Mordechai Kedar and Yossi Beilin are on the same page, but they both make compelling arguments that Israel must take action to protect the Syrian Druze. But Professor Eyal Zisser urges caution.
• No, U.S. doesn’t have “absolute knowledge’ on Iran’s nukes
• Here’s what else I’m reading this weekend . . .
– Efraim Halevy: Hamas has become Israel’s frenemy
– Yoram Ettinger: The nature of the Abbas regime
– David Harris: “The Middle East Peace Process?” High Time for a New Name
– Daniel Gordis: It’s easy to be an anti-Semite
– Jonathan Tobin: US-Israel alliance won’t be fixed without honesty
– Michael Totten: The “snap back” delusion”
– Amos Harel: ‘Lone wolf’ terrorists remain biggest threat in West Bank, Jerusalem
– Einat Wilf: The BDS war of words
– Smadar Perry: Working to prevent another round in Gaza
– Tony Badran: Assad wants the Druze for cannon fodder
Featured image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com; Libyan Jews CC BY-SA Wikimedia Commons/Yad Vashem; atom CC BY-SA Deviant Art/deejaywill; Barcelona CC BY-NC-ND flickr/Marc Puig i Perez; knife CC BY flickr/Maarten Van Damme;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
