Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel’s massive search for Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach came to a grim end near the Palestinian village of Halhoul with the discovery of their bodies in a shallow grave partially covered by rocks.
As this roundup went to press, funeral services were being held in their home communities; the teens are due to be laid to rest together in the Modiin cemetery. See below for more on the unfolding developments.
2. IDF airstrikes hit 34 different targets in Gaza — primarily Hamas and Islamic Jihad assets and terrorists preparing to fire rockets. See Jerusalem Post coverage.
3. Jordanian forces are reportedly already operating in Iraq against ISIS.
Over the past week, over one hundred Jordanian special operators were in Iraq and in the Ajoun and Northern Jordan Hills watching ISIS’s forward advancement. Jordanian SOF interrupted ISIS’s advances with pinpoint strikes without the assistance of CENTCOM Forward or the SOCOM base in Zarqa according to a Jordanian official . . .
Israel is providing overhead imagery to Jordan to use in its fight against ISIS on its borders.
4. Israel Grieves for Three Teens, Media Makes a Mess: As Israel grieves three teens murdered by Hamas terrorists, we expose some of the media’s worst reporting.
5. Three Murdered Children: Why Can’t the Media Say “Terror?” If Hamas isn’t a terrorist organization, the word has no meaning.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The prime suspects in the kidnapping of the three boys — Hamas members Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme — are believed to still be in the Hebron area. The Shin Bet is piecing together a moment-by-moment account of the abduction.
• YNet and Haaretz: The Israeli cabinet was split on how to respond; another meeting will be held this evening after the burials. According to the Times of Israel, now that the bodies have been found, the world won’t approve a large military campaign against Hamas.
• Young woman claims she was kidnapped, found in Palestinian village
A team from the Judea and Samaria district police and the IDF located the woman using the GPS on her mobile. The young woman was found at Beit Jala near Jerusalem. The police were still checking whether she was indeed kidnapped.
• International leaders condemned the murders; the Times of Israel rounded up the reactions.
• Ambassador Ron Dermer discussed Hamas’ hand in the triple murder with CNN‘s Jake Tapper.
• Jon Donnison — the BBC’s former Gaza correspondent — has been in Australia long enough to be a little more dispassionate about the Mideast conflict. Or so you’d think.
• Nice to see CNN humanize Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrah with a brief description of their lives.
• Best commentary/analysis today on the triple murder was by Bret Stephens (Where are the Palestinian Mothers? Wall St. Journal via Google News). See also David Horovitz, Jonathan Tobin, Stephen Pollard, Haviv Rettig Gur, Monica Crowley, Jennifer Rubin, Avi Issacharoff, Noah Pollak, and a NY Post staff-ed.
Separately, Khaled Abu Toameh weighs in on “how Mahmoud Abbas duped John Kerry and Martin Indyk.”
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Jerusalem Post: In the strongest Israeli statement on the matter, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Jordanian stability is a vital Israeli national interest and that Israel will do everything it can to preserve it.
• Israel to build security fence along Jordan border
• Is Jordan at risk while Iraq and Syria burn? Maybe not as bad as you think, according to Benny Avni. On the other hand, the Washington Post reports the monarchy is more concerned about home-grown ISIS than a foreign invasion.
Image: CC BY-SA flickr/Alexandre Dulaunoy
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