Today’s Top Stories
1. Gazans nabbed by gunmen Egyptian intelligence in the Sinai were Hamas naval commandos en route to Iran for training. Avi Issacharoff explains that Hamas has simply pushed Egypt too far.
2. If you’re following the saga of Mahmoud Abbas’s purported resignation, AFP reports that Assad’s tender will only take effect when the Palestinian National Council meets to elect a new executive committee. What difference does that make?
The PNC, or Palestinian parliament, has 740 members who live in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora. It has not met in nearly 20 years.
3. After all the BDS sturm und drang, American Jewish reggae star Matisyahu performed Saturday night at the Sunsplash music festival. BDS activists showed up too, and at least one of them waved the flag of Morocco-occupied Western Sahara (hat tip Israel Matzav).
As Eugene Kontorovich has pointed out, if the EU is right about not sanctioning Morocco for occupying Western Sahara, it’s wrong about Israel. Below the tweet is the Western Saharan flag.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Nine Palestinians from eastern Jerusalem (five adults and four minors), were indicted for firebombing an Israeli car two weeks ago and for several other incidents. YNet coverage.
• Australian activist Alex Ryvchin took to The Spectator to respond to a pair of skewed Aussie ABC News radio shows (listen to show one and two) aired at the end of July.
• Hamas apologizes for Jew-rapes-West Bank cartoon
• Was anti-Semitism behind the mass food poisoning of Israeli youth soccer team in Bulgaria?
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• AP published the full text of the draft agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Meanwhile, Israel demands publication of all secret agreements with Iran.
• Israeli arms control expert Emily Landau discussed the state of the Iran deal in a Times of Israel Q+A.
• Jerusalem Post: Iran’s trying to transfer state of the art weaponry to Hezbollah, including Pantsir S1 surface to air missiles, and Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles.
• Israel’s leaders ‘furious’ over Ehud Barak tapes describing aborted plans to strike Iran on three occasions between 2010-2012.
But why did the military censor allow Israel’s Channel 2 to air the recordings? Defense officials say they’ll investigate
• Iran unveils new missile with 500 km range, calls for “peace through strength.”
Mideast Matters
• The Israeli Air Force struck targets in Syria after several rockets struck the Golan late Thursday afternoon. Israel said the rockets were fired by Islamic Jihad on orders from Iran. Hezbollah raised its alert level along the border.
• Whoda thought?
Middle East conflicts drastically ‘improves air quality’
Commentary/Analysis
• Heh: Isaac Herzog responded to Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy. The opposition leader didn’t like Levy’s take on Herzog’s recent visit with Mahmoud Abbas. Coming from Herzog, this is a pretty harsh statement:
Levy used to be a Zionist. I’m no longer sure that he is one.
• Iran the instigator and beneficiary of new Israel-Syria escalation
• Veteran Iranian-American foreign correspondent Farnaz Fassihi recounts how she now finds herself targeted as a spy by mouthpieces for Tehran’s regime.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Dan Margalit: Iran’s fingerprints in the north
– Ron Ben-Yishai: Rocket strikes an Iranian retaliation
– Eyal Zisser: Golan cannot become an active front
– Yoav Limor: Avoid being drawn into Syrian war
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians flock to Islamic State
– Fred Maroun: Israel’s so-called pinkwashing conspiracy
– Soeren Kern: Is Spain fueling the BDS war on Israel?
– Robert Reilly: Exterminating Christians in the Mideast (via Google News)
– James Woolsey: A sharia-approved nuclear attack
Featured image: CC BY flickr/John Wright with additions by HonestReporting; Barak via YouTube/CNN Breaking News; Levy via YouTube/CCTV America;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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