Today’s Top Stories
1. It’s official: A federal parole board decided that Jonathan Pollard will be released from prison in November. Pollard, a former intelligence analyst, has served 30 years of a life sentence for passing classified information to Israel. Reuters writes:
The U.S. Justice Department helped smooth the way for the freeing of Pollard, who was already eligible for mandatory parole in November, by declining to raise objections that could have delayed his release, Pollard’s attorneys said.
Secretary of State John Kerry denied that the unanimous decision by the U.S. Parole Commission was in any way linked to the Iran nuclear agreement, which Netanyahu fiercely opposes.
Under the parole terms, Pollard will not be allowed to leave the US for five years. The White House announced it will not alter the terms. Obama administration officials insist that Pollard’s parole is unrelated to the Iran deal. Lawyers for the 60-year-old Pollard say they have assurances of their client having a job and a home in the New York area. More at YNet.
2. According to Arab media reports, an Israeli airstrike killed five Syrians in Quneitra. The IDF has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, reported that three members of a Syrian militia group, which is reportedly supervised by the infamous Druze anti-Israeli figure Samir Kuntar, and two Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria’s Quneitra.
3. Israel slammed an Amnesty International report accusing the IDF of war crimes on “Black Friday,” during last year’s Gaza war. That was the day 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin was abducted and killed by Hamas.
The statement said that Amnesty also built a false narrative, claiming that four days of IDF military operations were in response to the killing and kidnapping of one IDF soldier, ignoring the fact that there was an ongoing conflict during which the IDF was trying to stop rocket fire and neutralize assault tunnels.
4. Corrosive Atmosphere on Campus Harming Young Jews: At what point will Jewish students opt out of the fight for Israel to avoid the high level of hostility they face?
5. Dr. Jonathan Spyer Makes Sense of the Middle East: At an HonestReporting event, Dr. Jonathan Spyer wove together the threads linking the Mideast’s multiple conflicts and their effects on Israeli security and diplomacy.
Israel and the Palestinians
• To jump start peace talks, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas may be invited to address European heads of state at the EU Council. Jerusalem Post coverage.
• Jordan jails 12 Hamas terrorists for planning attacks on Israel
• The US government may take its first formal role in a landmark lawsuit filed by victims of Palestinian terror against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Reuters explains there’s a lot of money at stake:
The U.S. government may weigh in on whether the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority must post a multimillion-dollar bond, which they have resisted doing, while the groups appeal a jury’s finding that they supported terrorist attacks in Israel.
The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed its potential interest in the case in a letter filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, six months after 10 American families won a $655 million verdict against the PLO and Palestinian Authority.
Federal Judge George Daniels already ruled this week that the PA and PLO don’t have to pay interest on the judgment.
• “Force majeure” in Israel. Don’t count on it
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Worth reading: What info collected by Israeli intelligence reveals about the Iran talks.
• Adam Kredo reports that the US is going to lift sanctions on the $100 billion network of companies that make up Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s personal financial empire. The conglomerate — sometimes referred to as EIKO or Setad — controls vast holdings in Iranian finance, oil, telecommunications, real estate, and more.
An in-depth Reuters investigation in 2013 found that Setad empowers Ayatollah Khamenei because he personally controls it, giving Iran’s supreme leader financial independence beyond government purview.
• AP on the latest nuclear deal disclosures:
Iran wants its own officials to take soil samples at a site where it is alleged to have experimented with ways to detonate a nuclear weapon, and the U.N. agency probing the suspicions may agree provided it is allowed to monitor the process, two officials told The Associated Press Tuesday.
• This makes me feel better:
• When you speak up, you never know what kind of impact you’ll make. Case in point: At yesterday’s House of Representatives hearings on the Iran deal, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson read aloud a column by the Times of Israel’s chief editor, David Horovitz.
The congressman said that as lawmakers debate the accords over the coming weeks, he will expect John Kerry to respond to the concerns raised in Horovitz’s July 14 column, 16 reasons nuke deal is an Iranian victory and a Western catastrophe. You can watch Wilson on video (starting at 1:51:10).
• New York Times: In Iran, Jason Rezaian’s reporting strengths led to suspicion, then detention
Mideast Matters
• Pass the popcorn: Fearing an Islamic State assassination attempt, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is reportedly holed up in a tunnel somewhere below Beirut. Only six guards are said to have access to him. The Jerusalem Post picked up on Arab media reports.
• Turkey’s focus on crushing Kurdish separatists complicates the fight against Islamic State. Has the US sold out the Kurds?
Around the World
• Denmark bans kosher and halal animal slaughter
• Couple conspired to kill Canadian Jewish children
• In the last five years, 20,000 families have moved to Israel from France. Around 7,200 came in 2014 alone.
Commentary/Analysis
• World inspection didn’t stop Syria’s chemical weapons use – why would Iran be different? Ely Karmon wonders.
• Plenty of spilled ink and broken quills over Jonathan Pollard.
– Raphael Ahren: Pollard parole won’t improve Israel-US ties
– Lawrence Korb: Pollard headlines are misleading
– Jerusalem Post: Pollard and Iran (staff-ed)
– Ronen Bergman: Pollard’s release shows Israelis just don’t America
– Seth Lipsky; Pollard’s disproportionate punishment
– Elie Barnavi: Pollard, a tale of many betrayals
– Michael Weiss: Why is the US releasing Pollard?
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Elliott Abrams: Bensouda saves the ICC
– Norman Podhoretz: Israel’s choice: Conventional war now, or nuclear war later (via Google News)
– Amnon Reshef: Teaming up with Arab states for Israel’s security
– Roger Boyes: Feeble Obama is leaving the world in a spin
– David Singer: Possibility opens for UN to destroy Islamic State
Featured image: CC BY-SA flickr/Yagan Kiely with modifications by HonestReporting; Pollard via YouTube/CNN; Khamenei via YouTube/CLIKATV; keyboard cat CC BY-NC flickr/Cassandra Leigh Gotto;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
