Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel and the Islamic Waqf are in a standoff over security measures at the Temple Mount following Friday’s terror attack in which two Israeli policemen were killed.
In the attack, three gunmen — later identified as Israeli-Arabs — emerged from a Temple Mount gate, shooting and killing two policemen in an alley just outside the hilltop complex. They then ran back to the Temple Mount where they were killed by Israeli security forces during a shootout. A third policeman was lightly injured.
No terror group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which was caught on security video.
Alarmed that guns had been smuggled onto the Temple Mount, Israel shut down the esplanade while it searched for more weapons and installed metal detectors and additional security cameras. Haaretz writes:
“Dozens of knives, slingshots, batons, spikes, inciting material, unexploded ordnance, binoculars and dummy plastic weapons” were found at the site, said Halevy. No firearms or ammunition were found, he added.
The Islamic Waqf, which administers the Temple Mount, protested the placement of the metal detectors, accusing Israel of changing the status quo of the holy site, and called on worshipers not to visit the site in protest. The Waqf further said its personnel would not return to the Temple Mount for now. More on that at the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel.
I’m re-upping some previous content I wrote that’s just as relevant now: Stories I’d Like to See: Background on the Temple Mount Troubles.
See below for more details of the attack and its aftermath.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
2. Sleep better. Ynet reports Iran is now leasing air, sea and land bases in Syria.
Iran has leased a military airfield from the Syrian government in the center of the country in order to station fighter aircraft. Iran is also negotiating with the Syrians to establish a land base for Shiite militiamen and a port in the city of Tartus.
The land base would be an Iranian autonomous base capable of supporting 5,000 Iranian militiamen believed to be mercenaries from Afghanistan and Pakistan under the command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
3. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency backtracked after saying wine from the West Bank isn’t from Israel and banned wine from settlements labeled as such.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Israel laid to rest the two police officers killed in Friday’s terror attack. Hail Stawi, 30, and Kamil Shanan 22, were both Druze from northern villages. Stawi is survived by his wife and three-week-old son. Shanan was due to celebrate an engagement party this week. More at background at the Jerusalem Post.
Haiel Sitawe & Kamil Shnaan: Their families, the police & Israel mourn 2 men who were killed protecting the country https://t.co/TzuK2ct8kG pic.twitter.com/8xbFbOXSEO
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 16, 2017
• The three terrorists were identified as Muhammad Ahmed Muhammad Jabarin, 29; Muhammad Hamad Abdel Latif Jabarin, 19 and Muhammad Ahmed Mafdal Jabarin, 19, all from Umm-al Fahm, located on the Israeli side of the Green Line between Haifa and Jenin. The Times of Israel reported little overt support for the attack in Umm-al Fahm, describing the town as “tense” and “on edge.”
• According to Israeli media reports, police are investigating the possibility that the terrorists had assistance from the Waqf. Meanwhile, Ynet reports that Waqf officials have refused to acknowledge that the attack was terrorism, much less condemn it.
• A number of local newspapers republished an “obituary” from Legacy.com erasing Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. If what readers of papers such as the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Newark Star-Ledger and Virginian Pilot — among others:
Two Israeli policemen were killed Friday, July 14, 2017, in what authorities described as a terror attack at one of Israel’s holiest places for both Christians and Muslims.
• It always rubs me the wrong way when news services call the Western Wall the holiest site in Judaism. Strictly speaking, the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest spot. This time, it’s the Wall St. Journal (click via Twitter) that sticks in my craw.
Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, was the location of an ancient Jewish temple. It is bordered on one side by the Western Wall, considered the holiest site in Judaism.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and commemorate the 75th anniversary of the roundup of 13,000 French Jews who were then deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Take your pick of Times of Israel or Jerusalem Post coverage.
• A suspected terrorist was killed when he opened fire on soldiers on Saturday night. Aamer Ahmed Halil was suspected of being involved in two shooting attacks earlier in the evening — one at an IDF guard post near Ramallah, the other at a car. Another man with Halil was taken into custody. Ynet coverage.
• Australia’s ABC News (transcript or podcast) visited the maternity ward at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, a place of coexistence where Israeli and Arab women come to give birth.
Around the World
• A new study suggests British police and prosecutors are inadequately protecting the Jewish community from anti-Semitism. In a nutshell, “the number of anti-Semitic crimes recorded by police increased by 14.9 percent in 2016.” However, here’s where the shoe drops, according to the Daily Telegraph:
But at the same time the number of charges fell “drastically” – with alleged perpetrators charged in fewer than a tenth of cases, campaigners say.
They also claim a “paltry” 15 cases were prosecuted last year.
The Evening Standard also picked up on the story.
• Montreal police apologized to a local Jewish man who –after calling to complain about anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on his car — was told to wash it off. The police have now opened a file on the incident. More on the story at the CBC and Montreal Gazette.
• Berlin mayor under fire over imam’s call to kill Jews and stone women.
• Award-winning British film maker and prominent BDS personality is under fire: Turns out Ken Loach has allowed his movies to be distributed in Israel for years. The Guardian reports:
Claims that the distribution rights for Israel were sold “accidentally” were however dismissed as “absurd” by Loach’s long-term Israeli distributor Guy Shani, the head of Shani Films and also the owner of Israel’s Lev cinema chain.
Shani told the Guardian he had known Loach and his producer for years, paying them money “every year”, and had never heard any objections.
• As part of a settlement, the student association of an Ontario university posted an apology on its web site for blocking a pro-Israel group from an event last year. The Globe & Mail adds that the student association of Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) also paid $50,000 in compensation to Hasbara Fellowships Canada.
• A Japan TV talk show apologized after a guest appeared wearing a tee-shirt featuring Adolf Hitler, sparking no shortage of complaints.
Commentary/Analysis
• Plenty of commentary on the Temple Mount attack:
– Avi Issacharoff: Temple Mount killers aimed to set the Middle East ablaze
– Barak Ravid: After Temple Mount attack, Netanyahu and Abbas work together for once
– David Brinn: Temple Mount attack poses important test for Arab moderates
– Ron Ben-Yishai: The dangers of the Temple Mount
– Amos Harel: Following deadly shooting, Netanyahu walks tightrope over Temple Mount
– Judah Ari Gross: Temple Mount attack strays from the norm
– Nadav Shragai: The ‘Al-Aqsa is in danger’ lie has turned on its creators
• Tweet of the weekend from Avi Mayer:
Will @UNESCO, so concerned about dangers to holy sites, express alarm at today's desecration of the Temple Mount by Palestinian terrorists?
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) July 14, 2017
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yair Rosenberg: Chicago Dyke March drops pretense, deploys anti-Semitic term popularized by neo-Nazis
– Adi Schwartz: Dismantle UNRWA
– Ami Ayalon: How can Palestinians be prevented from using US money for terror?
– Edwin Black: Taxpayer support for Palestinian terrorist salaries becoming impossible to defend
– Sue-Ann Levy: Feds lift ban on Israeli wines
– Neri Zilber: Israel’s secret Arab allies
– Carmi Gillon: The Iran nuclear deal has been a blessing for Israel
– Marc Goldberg: Losing Palestine
– David Makovsky: Why Trump’s Syrian ceasefire makes Israel nervous
– Gol Kalev: Wonder Woman’s battle against incitement
– Seth Siegel: A good story about Israelis and Palestinians
– Greg Sheridan: Nod to Palestine an ignorant and regressive idea
Featured image: Basel Awidat/Flash90; Temple Mount CC BY Aleksander Miler; police CC BY-NC luscofusco; Loach CC BY-NC-ND Cornerhouse;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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