Today’s Top Stories
1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to discuss Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Although the two were still meeting as this roundup was published, Herb Keinon summed up what the coverage will look like:
For reporters who cover Netanyahu, the drill is well known.
Following the premier’s meeting with Putin, either he or one of his spokesmen will say that during the meeting he stressed Israel’s red lines in Syria: that Jerusalem will not tolerate an Iranian or Hezbollah presence on the Golan border; that Israel will not accept a permanent Iranian presence in Syria; and that Israel will act to ensure that game-changing weapons or capabilities are not transferred from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu will be careful to praise the Russian-Israeli bilateral relations, and say that the deconfliction mechanism to prevent any accidental engagements between the Russian and Israeli air forces in Syrian skies – which he set up with Moscow immediately after Russia became militarily involved in Syria in 2015 – has proven itself very effective.
He will be careful not to say what the Russian leader’s response to any of this was, beyond saying that the Israeli messages were “understood.”
But these meetings are by no means a Netanyahu monologue. The Russians also have their position regarding Syria and overall Iranian intentions, and – based on a number of conversations with senior Russian diplomats – it goes like this: Russia has genuine interest in Syria. Raqqa, the one-time Islamic State stronghold in northern Syria, is only 1,000 kilometers, or 620 miles, from Grozny, Chechnya, in southern Russia, the distance from New York to Knoxville, Tennessee.
2. Picking up on Arab media, the Times of Israel reports that Mahmoud Abbas is considering dissolving the Palestinian Authority and pushing all out for unilateral statehood through the UN.
Abbas has already declared the Palestinians are no longer bound by the Oslo accords and I’ve lost track of all the times he threatened to dismantle the PA and hand responsibility for the West Bank over to Israel. But if Abbas follows through on this threat this time, it’s not clear to me what would actually change on a day-to-day basis. Here’s why:
Should Abbas dissolve the PA, according to the Al Hayat report, he would transfer governing power back to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the historic umbrella group for Palestinians. Abbas is head of the PLO.
Meanwhile, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki says 24 years of peace talks have achieved nothing and urged the world to unilaterally create a Palestinian state.
3. As Swiss parliament deliberates banning kosher meat imports, Jewish leaders say the move would be a ‘massive limitation on religious freedom.’
The bill, which was introduced to the Swiss parliament in June, would make it illegal to bring in any meat slaughtered in what the law would deem to be an inhumane fashion. This would include both kosher and halal meat, where the animal is still conscious at the point of slaughter. A date for the vote has not yet been scheduled.
Around 18,000 Jews currently live in the Alpine country. Jewish ritual slaughter has been banned in Switzerland since 1893.
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Israel and the Palestinians
• Egypt cancelled a meeting this afternoon between visiting White House adviser Jared Kushner and its foreign minister in response to the US withholding foreign aid. Reuters adds that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will still meet with Kushner and his delegation.
Two U.S. sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that Washington had decided to deny Egypt $95.7 million in aid and to delay a further $195 million because of its failure to make progress on respecting human rights and democratic norms.
• Bloomberg News: Royal Dutch Shell is mulling buying gas from Israel and Cyprus gas for an Egypt plant.
• Ahead of the Netanyahu-Putin meeting, AP picked up on the latest developments in Tehran’s efforts to create a land bridge linking Iran to Syria, Lebanon and the Mediterranean.
A corridor would be a boost for Israel’s powerful enemy Hezbollah, which has an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles. Iran currently ships weapons to Hezbollah mostly by flying them to Syria to be shipped on the ground to Lebanon.
The land route is by no means a fait accompli. Any road link will likely be a frequent target by Sunni insurgent groups.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Objective: Make Putin stop Iran
– Ben Dror Yemini: Turning a blind eye to extreme Right or Left anti-Semitism
– Seth Frantzman: Is Israel a model for Europe confronting terror? Yes and no
– Shimon Shiffer: With friends like Putin and Trump, Israel doesn’t need enemies
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Taking journalists hostage
– Dr. Shaul Shay: The Lebanese army’s alarming alliance with Hezbollah
– Elder of Ziyon: NYT says Kurds aren’t ready for independence – but Palestinians are
– Charles Bybelezer: The peace process merry-go-round
Featured image: CC BY Christine Rondeau;; Putin and Netanyahu via President of Russia; Switzerland CC BY-SA Martin Abegglen;
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