Today’s Top Stories
1. Expecting clashes to spread to the West Bank on Friday, the IDF’s gearing up. Meanwhile, police are considering closing off the holy site tomorrow. Jerusalem mosques will be closed as worshipers head to the Temple Mount. Israeli Arabs from across the country are also expected to arrive for tomorrow’s prayers.
Yesterday, HonestReporting visited the Lions Gate for a first-hand look at the standoff over the holy site. See From the Scene: Temple Mount Troubles.
2. Israeli judges allowed a group of Palestinian citizens to take legal action in Israeli courts against the PA for torture. The plaintiffs had been tortured by the PA between 1990-2003 amid accusations of collaborating with Israel. The Jerusalem Post explains:
It is one of the most bizarre in years, as it involves Palestinian Authority citizens coming before the courts of the Israeli “occupation” to get justice for their mistreatment by their own PA law enforcement . . .
The case is likely to cause significant diplomatic and legal complications between Israel and the PA, especially about whether and how the authority would be paying damages.
See also Times of Israel coverage.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. The IDF disclosed Operation Good Neighbor, an endeavor in which Israel has provided more humanitarian aid to Syrians than previously thought. We’re even talking about field hospitals inside Syria since the launch of the aid project in June 2016. More at the Times of Israel, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post and the Israel Defense Forces. Here’s a by the numbers look:
- 200,000: Syrians living in villages close to the Israeli border
- 2: Field hospitals built by Israel in southern Syria
- 1: New clinic for Syrians built on the Israeli side of the border
- 80,000: Number of Syrians the clinics are meant to support
- 3,000: Syrians treated in Israel since 2013
- 1,000: Syrian children brought to Israel for medical exams
- 360: tons of food sent
- 40: tons of flour sent
- 456,000: liters of gas sent
- 100: tons of clothes sent
- 12,000: cases of baby formula sent
- 600: meters of pipes sent, serving 5,000 people who would otherwise be without water
Israel and the Palestinians
• According to the Times of Israel, US officials suggested this compromise on Temple Mount security for Israel and Arab officials to consider:
According to both Palestinian and Israeli sources, the standing metal detector gates will be cleared from the holy site as demanded by Jordanian and Palestinian clerics. Instead, police will use hand-held metal detector wands (similar to those employed by security guards at Israeli malls), but only on those deemed to be suspicious.
The selective examinations would be similar to the profiling conducted by security at Ben Gurion Airport, sources said.
• To put the Temple Mount controversy into perspective, the Jerusalem Post examines how security is handled at other holy sites around the world, including Mecca, the Vatican, India and Japan.
• Vice News looks at the issue of Gazans collaborating with Israel, talking to an accused collaborator, their families, Hamas and a retired Israeli officer who ran collaborators for the IDF.
• A Palestinian was shot and killed while trying to stab Israeli soldiers near the West Bank settlement of Tekoa this afternoon. Jerusalem Post coverage.
• Tunisia bans Wonder Woman over Israeli star.
• The Jerusalem Post takes a closer look at the complexities of Bulgaria’s Hezbollah terror trial. In 2012, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, killing five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver while injuring 32 Israelis. Thanks to the sheer number of witnesses and victims, numerous changes in the Bulgarian government and the emotional state of the families, the wheels of justice grind slowly.
According to reports in the Bulgarian press, the court may convene soon to hear Israeli witness testimonies at its Tel Aviv embassy as part of an effort to expedite the proceedings.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Liel Leibovitz: How to start a holy war
– Avi Issacharoff: On Temple Mount, will reason trump politics?
– Dr. Reuven Berko: Flouting the status quo
– Melanie Phillips: The day of deranged inversion
– Yoaz Hendel: It’s time to seize opportunities at the Temple Mount
– Shmuel Rosner: Why Israel can’t support a cease-fire in Syria
Featured image: CC BY Robert Couse-Baker;
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