Today’s Top Stories
1. Perhaps taking a cue from CNN, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution slamming Israel over Jerusalem’s Old City. Could the denunciation be any more one-sided?
The resolution, adopted by the World Heritage Committee meeting in Bonn, Germany, takes Israel to task for – among other grievances – the following allegations: engaging in “illegal excavations” in the Old City; causing damage to structures on the Temple Mount; impeding restoration work on the Temple Mount; and damaging the “visual integrity” of the Old City with the Jerusalem light rail.
It also deplored various Israeli projects in and around the Old City and the Western Wall Plaza, which it referred to as the “Buraq Plaza.”
2. Here’s a new conflict of interest that doesn’t help the credibility of the UN’s report on last year’s Gaza war. The Times of Israel reports:
A European Union official involved in negotiating on behalf of the EU over the text of Friday’s UN Human Rights Council resolution that condemned Israel for last summer’s Gaza War is married to a staff member of the UNHRC commission that investigated the war.
The link between EU policy officer Jérôme Bellion-Jourdan, who was tasked with reviewing the Gaza war report and helping advise EU representatives on how to vote on it, and McGowan Davis Commission staffer Sara Hamood was known to the EU but not made public . . .
Bellion-Jourdan is the main European representative to the Human Rights Council dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio . . .
Hamood formerly served as spokeswoman for arguably the most anti-Israel body created by the UN, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, and has penned various reports critical of Israel.
3. YNet: Hamas reportedly close to restoring its pre-war stockpile of mortars and short range rockets, but not the longer-range ones capable of reaching Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
4. HonestReporting secured a pair of corrections today in the UK press. See how we took action and got results with The Independent and Daily Telegraph.
5. CNN’s Extinction of Jerusalem: Yarden Frankl wonders what CNN was thinking when it blamed Israel for endangering Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Notwithstanding Hamas denials that it attacked civilian targets during Operation Protective Edge, the terror group boasted on Twitter of the targets it fired on during the war: including Ben Gurion Airport, the Dimona nuclear reactor, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Gush Dan (Tel Aviv and surrounding areas). More at the Jerusalem Post.
• Reuters picked up on Israeli allegations that Hamas and Islamic State are in cahoots.
• What lessons has the IDF learned from Operation Protective Edge? The Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel take a closer look.
In a nutshell, the army expects terrorists to bring the next war to Israeli soil. But more boots on the ground in Gaza will present Hamas with an existential fight as the IDF seeks to shorten the length of engagement.
• William Schabas appeared on BBC’s HARD Talk to defend his commission’s inquiry into Operation Protective Edge. I was very impressed with Steven Sackur’s tough questioning.
• As a result of rocket fire from last year’s war, 40 percent of Sderot children suffer from anxiety, PTSD.
• Palestinian FM claims France drops bid for UN resolution to kick start peace talks. But the PA’s distancing itself from Riad al-Malki’s comments. Too bad the PA’s not distancing itself from comments by its envoy to Chile. Imad Nabil Jada’a was caught on video endorsing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in a talk last May.
• The Media Line: Israel’s tourism industry still hurting from last summer’s conflict.
• Palestinian power struggles continue, with Mohammed Dahlan winning today’s round. A PA court ruled that Dahlan can keep his parliamentary immunity while fighting corruption charges.
It increases the likelihood Dahlan will decide to return to the West Bank to clear his name and challenge Abbas.
• If you want a great example of the over-reporting of Israel, today’s top non-story is from Reuters: Palestinian selfies?!
• An Egyptian bank is taking legal action in Israel to get back it’s stake in Jerusalem’s famous King David Hotel, reports the Times of London. Turns out an Egyptian bank that helped finance the King David’s construction in 1929 was compensated with 1,000 shares in the hotel.
The new lawsuit claims that the bank’s shares are worth at least $1.3 million but says that figure may grow.
You know, if an Egyptian bank can take legal action to reclaim lost assets in Israel, why shouldn’t Jews from Arab countries reclaim billions of dollars in lost assets too?
Mideast Matters
• Worth reading: Anshel Pfeffer lays out Who’s who in the Iran talks — and what do they want?
• According to official Egyptian sources, nearly 250 Islamic State goons have been killed in the Sinai and another 60 were arrested, while losing “only” 17 soldiers. Handle these figures with caution: Reporters who cite any stats contradicting the state line could face two years in prison under new Egyptian laws.
• Someone tried to hack a Patriot missile battery stationed along the Turkish-Syrian border. It’s not clear whodunnit or what the effect on the missiles was:
If true, the possibility that Patriot missiles are vulnerable to cyber attacks is cause for concern in Israel, which actively operates the US-manufactured battery — although the military plans to gradually scale back use of the Patriot in favor of the Israeli-made David’s Sling missile defense system, set to become operational this year.
A conceivable cyber attack on such a battery would likely be for one of two purposes: either to remotely commandeer the battery to launch attacks, or to steal sensitive intelligence information about the system.
Around the World
• 13-year-old Jewish boy wearing kippah attacked in Paris.
• The Steven Salaita affair is proving very costly for the University of Illinois: $843,000 in legal fees to be precise, so far, according to the News-Gazette of Champaign-Urbana. It’s not clear how much of the university’s defense is supported by public funds.
The University of Illinois rescinded a job offer amid an outcry over several incendiary tweets, prompting Salaita to sue for compensation and to get his job back. He was recently hired to teach at the American University of Beirut. It’s not clear how much of the university’s money is from public funds.
• Israeli-Belgian musician under BDS pressure to sign boycott letter
Commentary/Analysis
• Over at the International Business Times, Janet Svirzenski of Kibbutz Nir Yizthak recounts life along the Gaza border during last year’s war.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ron Kampeas: The US and Iran: What happens once a deal is in place?
– Clifford May: Desperately seeking diplomatic defeat
– Laurie Blank: What the UN report on Gaza left out
– William Jacobson: AP’s false history of BDS movement
Featured image: CC BY flickr/Kheel Center with additions by HonestReporting; Herod’s Gate CC BY-ND flickr/Israel_photo_gallery; Patriot CC BY flickr/The US Army;
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