Today’s Top Stories
*** BREAKING NEWS *** Just before this roundup was published, YNet reported that Israel’s Government Press Office was formally investigating Italian journalist Michela Moni for allegedly colluding with Hezbollah. Moni interviewed several Israeli politicians and soldiers about the Second War in Lebanon, but the interviews were broadcast on Hezbollah’s Mayadeen TV. Moni has offered conflicting explanations.
For HonestReporting’s response, see Setups, Lies and Videotape.
1. Israel activists in Spain won a string of legal victories against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement this week. One ruling suspended boycott plans by the Olesa municipality, while a second ruling “suspended boycott agreements against Israel adopted by the Rivas Vaciamadrid City Council. Completing the trifecta, a boycott motion in the town of La Guardia was defeated.
This past week’s victories were only a number in a long line of lawsuits. ACOM has responded aggressively by presenting lawsuits against every single city council or public institution that has declared a boycott against Israel.
2. A number of papers picked up on a Wall St. Journal scoop (click via Google News) that the US airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran in a January airlift coinciding with the release of four Americans including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.
Senior U.S. officials denied any link between the payment and the prisoner exchange. They say the way the various strands came together simultaneously was coincidental, not the result of any quid pro quo . . .
But U.S. officials also acknowledge that Iranian negotiators on the prisoner exchange said they wanted the cash to show they had gained something tangible.
3. Israel issued building tenders for an underground wall around Gaza to block and detect Palestinian terror tunnels. YNet reports construction on the NIS 2 billion project will begin in October.
The concrete barriers will extend several stories underground and will include above ground sections as well. Besides being used as a physical barrier against terror tunnels which cross into Israel, the sophisticated barrier will also be able to detect tunnel digging close to it, something which will enable the IDF to destroy these terror tunnels before they pose a threat.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. Talking Media Bias With HonestReporting: HR CEO Joe Hyams recently took questions online about Israel and the media from MySabab’s community of young adults and students in the Boston area and North America. Check out the Q’s and A’s.
Israel and the Palestinians
• According to Lebanese reports, a high level Iranian security figure visiting Lebanon discussed the Israeli village of Ghajar with Hezbollah and Palestinian groups. Ghajar is an unusual village because the Israeli-Lebanese border runs directly through the town. Despite that minor detail, Ghajar managed to avoid being divided and residents on both sides of the Blue Line get Israeli social benefits.
Lebanon wants the town returned, and the UN supports Beirut. But Israel says Ghajar was captured along with the Golan Heights from Syria, and the townspeople insist they are Syrian nationals.
Confused? Here’s a synopsis of the conflicting claims.
• Israel was criticized by the UN for mistreating Palestinian children. The Jerusalem Post summed up the hypocrisy in this nutshell:
Saudi Arabia, which has been blamed by the UN for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year as a result of its military intervention in the region, also joined the criticism of Israel, describing the country’s policies as “terrorist and aggressive.”
• The PA recently arrested a number of Hamas personalities and summoned others for questioning. Hamas says Fatah’s latest crackdown undermines the fairness of West Bank/Gaza municipal elections scheduled for October. It’s only politics, right?
Senior Fatah operative: Palestinian Authority searching for an excuse to cancel local elections because it fears democracy.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) August 2, 2016
• Aftershocks from Turkey’s failed coup are delaying Israel reconciliation. Ambassadors were supposed to have been named by now. According to the Jerusalem Post, there’s deliberate order to each step of the process.
One diplomatic official said that Israel would not name an ambassador until the accord was taken to the Turkish parliament, which is to ratify it and pass legislation that will make it impossible to take legal steps against IDF officers or soldiers involved in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident that led to the breakdown in relations.
The official said that Ankara wants to go through with the accord, but that it was preoccupied at present by the country’s domestic issues.
Around the World
• A team of international search and rescue workers are accusing Bashar Assad of dropping chemical barrel bombs on Saraqeb, a Syrian village close to where a Russian helicopter had been shot down. More on the story at Reuters.
• Israeli Air Force pilots will be participating alongside their counterparts from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates at the Red Flag aerial exercise in Nevada. “Haaretz asked the IDF spokesman to comment on the Israeli military’s policy on training with teams from Pakistan and the U.A.E. – countries Israel has no diplomatic relations with – but received no response.”
• The New York Times takes a lengthy look at how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is playing out on US campuses.
• A Kurdish Jewish leader is raising alarm bells that the purported burial site of the Biblical prophet, Nahum, is in danger of collapse and called on UNESCO and other historical preservation groups to step in. JTA coverage.
• A delegation of American police chiefs is visiting Israel to learn counter-terrorism techniques from their Israeli counterparts.
• The BBC caught up with Ankie Spitzer to discuss the Olympics memorializing the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich games. Her husband, Andre, was a fencing coach.
Commentary/Analysis
• Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat got an op-ed platform in Newsweek to talk about what the world can learn from Israel’s after the wave of deadly terror attacks in Nice, Wuerzburg, Ansbach, Paris and Istanbul.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Neri Zilber: How Israel plays Syria’s civil war
– Lela Gilbert: The silent struggle of Bethlehem’s Christians
– Prof. Michael Yudkin: Lies, damned lies and the academic boycott of Israel
– Pinhas Inbari: The fraying Palestinian political entity in the West Bank
– Benjamin Weinthal: The rise of German academic BDS
– Elliott Abrams: More chemical weapons in Syria
Featured image: CC BY-NC Ville Miettinen with additions by HonestReporting;
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