Today’s Top Stories
1. The Egyptian army retook the northern Sinai towns of El-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid after Islamic State forces managed to seize and hold the towns for several hours yesterday.
The IDF boosted its defenses along the border, but beyond that, Israelis are clearly rattled. Army sources talking to Israeli media are concerned about Islamic State infiltrating and abducting Israelis, firing rockets, or making good on recent threats to enter Gaza and topple Hamas. Might Cairo invite Israel to join the Sinai fray? Haaretz writes:
An Egyptian source familiar with Egypt’s decision-making process told Haaretz that if Islamic State comes near Gaza, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi may “invite” the Israel Defense Forces to act against it. This will not be seen as an Israeli breach of Egypt’s sovereignty, because Gaza falls under Israel’s responsibility.
“The two armies may already be coordinating in preparation for such a possibility,” the source said. “The Egyptian problem is that a military campaign inside Gaza could lead to breaking down the fences and a mass flight of civilians from Gaza to Sinai.”
2. What’s known about Hamas and Sinai jihadists ties?
3. Expect the UN Human Rights Council to harshly criticize Israel “without demanding sanctions or any concrete moves.” Haaretz saw a draft of the resolution:
It is one-sided, and makes no mention at all of the UN inquiry commission’s criticism of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza. The draft makes no mention of the rocket fire from Gaza or the harming of Israeli civilians, despite the relatively extensive discussion of this in the commission’s report.
According to the draft, it is also Israel’s fault that the Palestinians do not conduct investigations into alleged war crimes that they commit.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Hamas, Hezbollah said to discuss Israel ceasefire
• The ‘humanitarian aid’ aboard the recent flotilla to Gaza fit in two cardboard boxes, reports the Washington Post. It made correspondent William Booth‘s tweet of the day. You’re looking at one solar panel, and one nebulizer machine used to inhale medicine.
Around the World
• Nuclear deal would leave Iran with 5,000 centrifuges:
Such a large number of centrifuges could enable Tehran to enrich enough uranium for several bombs, experts say. Countries such as Pakistan and North Korea have successfully achieved nuclear weapons status with far fewer centrifuges.
Pakistan, for instance, secured nuclear weapons by running around 3,000 centrifuges, according to analysts.
• Foreign Policy looks at the difficulties of monitor illicit Iranian smuggling of nuclear technology.
• The BBC’s resisting attempts by parliamentarians to stop calling Islamic State by that name. According to the Times of London, the MPs want the Beeb to refer to the group by its Arabic acronym, Daesh, which Islamic State considers derogatory.
MPs want the corporation to drop the label Islamic State to deprive the extremists of associations with Islam or statehood.
I’m with the Beeb here. Arab acronyms like Daesh mean nothing to English news consumers. As for the names ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), neither conveys Islamic State’s reach across the Mideast. Disassociating Islamic State from Islam doesn’t serve the public interest. The Independent picked up on the story too.
• Syrian Alawites reportedly clashed with pro-Assad forces. How to explain the unprecedented cracks between the Alawites and their native son, Bashar Assad?
First, he said, young men from the area had refused to sign up for military service.
Second, residents of the two villages were smuggling fuel in to rebel-held parts of the Al-Ghab Plain.
• Two Jews tortured by Ukraine rebels land in Israel
Commentary/Analysis
• For Egypt, avenging Sinai may include striking Gaza
• Lebanese politician Ahmad El-Assaad worries about an Iranian nuclear deal cementing Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon. He writes in the Wall St. Journal (click via Google News):
Now the Obama administration is negotiating a flawed nuclear deal with the Iranian regime that will see Tehran get a windfall of up to $150 billion. With so much cash on hand, Tehran would surely create new Hezbollah franchises elsewhere in the Middle East and order all these radical proxy groups to wage even more wars in the region.
At the very least, Tehran would be eager to give a good boost to its pride and joy—Hezbollah—and help it buy its way out of the problems it is facing in Lebanon now. . .
With this deal, my Lebanon won’t be able to free itself in the foreseeable future from the control of Hezbollah. It will never again be the Switzerland of the Middle East, will never prosper and thrive again like it did in the 1960s and early ’70s. To those who say that this nuclear deal is a recipe for peace, I say that this deal is an invitation for more wars in the Middle East.
• A Christian Science Monitor staff-ed gave a thumbs up to a proposal by the International Crisis Group to de-escalate Temple Mount tensions.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yoav Limor: Will Islamic State strike at Israel?
– Ron Ben-Yishai: ISIS in Sinai is a serious threat to Israel
– Yossi Melman: Egypt’s losing Sinai war with ISIS
– Boaz Bismuth: Time to eliminate Islamic State
– Michael Oren: Iran deal bad for Israel, U.S. and world
– Steve Huntley: Anti-Israel movement based on fallacies
– Jonathan Tobin: Lawless administration won’t enforce law against Israel boycotts
– Zvi Mazel: Egypt still trying to resolve a complex situation
Featured image: CC BY-SA flickr/Tom Woodward with additions by HonestReporting
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