Today’s Top Stories
1. The IDF shot down a Syrian jet that entered Israeli airspace this afternoon. The Russian-made Sukhoi aircraft was hit by a pair of Patriot missiles two km inside Israeli territory and reportedly crashed in an area of southern Syria held by Islamic State. As this roundup was published, reports confirmed that a Syrian pilot was killed.
The IDF didn’t comment on how the jet was able pass so far into Israel before being shot but it’s thought that the military wanted to be be sure it wasn’t a Russian aircraft. More at Ynet and the Times of Israel.
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2. Israel’s security cabinet is due to vote on a NIS 30 billion ($8.2 billion) missile defense plan, “the most expensive plan in IDF and Israeli security history.” Ynet reports implementation will take place over a decade.
The project will bolster Israel’s current three-tiered missile defense system. Iron Dome defends against short-range rockets, David’s Sling (also known as Magic Wand) against medium range missiles while the Arrow is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles.
3. The Western Wall faces further erosion and crumbling boulders endanger visitors to the holy site, an archaeologist warned. On Sunday a 100 kilo boulder (220 lbs.) fell from the wall at the mixed prayer pavilion by Robinson’s arch.
During archaeologist Dvira’s inspection on Monday afternoon, he said, he noted multiple cracks in other stones and he believes that another stone fall is just a matter of time.
Other stones “could immediately fall on the heads of people,” said Dvira, who is completing a PhD on the recorded archaeology of the Temple Mount.
There are already several noticeable gaps in the Western Wall, where large Herodian stones have crumbled in the past . . .
It is Dvira’s opinion that the public should not be allowed to approach any of the walls, including the Western Wall, and should be kept back two or three meters.
In the News
• Israel summoned the head of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, an international observer team, after a video emerged of one of the monitors slashing the tire of a Jewish-owned car. The incident took place a year ago but was aired on Israeli TV just recently. Further background on the incident at the Jerusalem Post.
Last week, a Swiss observer was expelled from Israel after he was caught on video slapping a Jewish boy. The TIPH is made up of 64 civilian monitors from Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Their mandate is renewed by Israel and the PA twice a year. Hebron’s Jewish community is demanding TIPH’s removal.
• Russia offered to keep Iran and its proxies 100 km (62 miles) from the Syrian border. But Israel isn’t budging on its demand that Iran have no presence in Syria at all. The Jerusalem Post explains:
The Israeli official said Jerusalem’s goal is to remove Iran from all of Syria, and if Moscow wants to deal in the first phase with the buffer zone, then that is fine, “but that does not satisfy us even in the first phase, because they [Iran] have weapons [in Syria] that go beyond that range.”
Israel’s stated position remains the removal of all Iranian forces and their proxies from Syria, although Netanyahu made clear in his talks in Moscow two weeks ago that the priority was to move these forces away from the border, and to remove Iran’s long-range missiles from throughout Syria.
• With a decrease in Gaza violence and terror balloons, Israel partially reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing, allowing deliveries of fuel for the first time in a week. Commercial goods are still blocked. Israel closed the crossing to all deliveries except for food and medicine last week in response to Gaza rocket fire and terror balloons.
Officials say Kerem Shalom will fully reopen only when the violence along the border comes to a complete end.
• Why did the White Helmets fail to acknowledge Israel’s key role in the emergency evacuation of more than 400 of their rescue worker and their families from southern Syria? See their full statement. (A similar statement from the French Foreign Ministry also omitted any mention of Israel.)
Another 300 members of the White Helmets are still trapped in Syria. More revelations on the Israeli evacuation at AP.
• AFP coverage of the Western Wall needed a little help with the copy editing so I took the liberty of doing it myself.
• Controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to visit Israel in September.
• Rescheduling the UK Labour Party’s vote on defining antisemitism has Jewish MPs facing prospect of having to meet on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish Chronicle reports.
Commentary
• For a mix of takes on the nation state law, Ben-Dror Yemini, David Hazony, Moshe Arens, Dror Eydar, Jonathan Tobin and Daniel Barenboim all weigh in.
• Tweet of the day goes to our very own Simon Plosker, who had a good excuse for not being in the office today.
Seeing a Hamas terror attack tunnel 4 myself I can believe how this could cost some $3m to build. If only Hamas would spend that money on its people instead of terror. #FreeGazaFromHamas pic.twitter.com/mMKKY3neZ9
— Simon Plosker (@SimonPlosker) July 24, 2018
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Amos Harel: Million-dollar missiles: When Syrian warheads fly, Israel doesn’t take chances
– Washington Post (staff-ed): Gaza’s future is up to Hamas
– Michael Oren: Israel’s ultimate battle: Right to exist
– Emily Benedek: Why we must uncover the true number of Palestinian refugees
– Eugene Kontorovich: Stop funding UN agencies that welcome the PLO
– Fred Maroun: The anti-Zionist lexicon: What they really mean
– Douglas Murray: The great British Foreign Office fantasy
Featured image: CC BY-SA Karsten Seiferlin; Arrow-3 via US Dept. of Defense; Western Wall CC BY Shoshanah;
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