Today’s Top Stories
1. The US will reportedly allow Iranian-backed militias within 10 km of the Israeli Golan Heights.
The report appeared to back up Russian media claims that Moscow has ignored pleas from Israel to prevent Iran from exploiting Syria’s ongoing civil war to expand its military influence into Syrian territory . . .
The report said the US agreed that Iranian-backed militias could be positioned as close as 8-16 kilometers (five to ten miles) from the Jordanian border and the Golan Heights, less than half the originally sought 32 kilometers (20 miles) distance.
Meanwhile, Asharq al-Awsat reports that Russia is now in full control of Syrian airspace.
This includes advanced early warning and control aircrafts that could “paralyze” the capacity of Israel and the US Marines to launch airstrikes against Syrian territories with “cruise” missiles, which Washington used last April when it attacked the Shayrat Air Base in the Homs governorate.
2. Israel says a Lebanese officer on the Israeli border is a Hezbollah ‘plant,’ and is urging UNIFIL to have him removed. Ynet explains:
According to the Israeli claims made to UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), Hezbollah deliberately planted Major Yahya Husseini in the Lebanese army as part of a broader effort to boost its influence within the military.
Husseini, the Israelis said, acts as Hezbollah’s “liaison officer” and is in continuous contact with the organization’s militants. Moreover, UNIFIL was told that he receives instructions from the organization and consistently provides it with information.
It is the first time that a well-known source with the military’s ranks has been exposed as a Hezbollah agent.
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3. The Washington Free Beacon reports that Congress may have found a way to restrict US aid from being used by the PA to support terror without passing the Taylor Force Act.
A small amendment in Congress’s yearly appropriations bill would stop the U.S. government from giving aid to the Palestinian Authority if it uses these funds to honor terrorists and pay salaries to those militants imprisoned in Israel for carrying out past attacks . . .
The appropriations amendment, while similar to the Taylor Force Act, provides a quick fix to the problem by banning all payments by the Palestinians to terrorists as a precondition for continued American aid.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Ynet takes an in-depth look at Rasmea Odeh, who is due to be deported from the US for lying to immigration officials about her conviction more than 30 years ago for her role in a Palestinian terror attack.
• A group of Israeli mayors and local council heads near Gaza warned the US and Jerusalem that the Strip’s electricity crisis will cause dire environmental damage if left unchecked. “More than 100 million liters of untreated sewage are being discharged into the sea every day,” threatening to spread disease to Israelis, Palestinians and Egyptians.
• In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, US Ambassador David Friedman referred to an “alleged occupation” of the West Bank, prompting PA officials to ask the US for a clarification.
• The Palestine Museum has been open for more than a year and it finally has its first exhibition, which focuses on Jerusalem. The museum was widely panned for opening without any exhibits.
Around the World
• Pro-Palestinian U. of California-Irvine students are appealing sanctions over their protest last May against visiting Israeli speakers, the Los Angeles Times reports.
• Guam Jews identify with Israeli resilience amid North Korea’s hydrogen bomb and missile threats.
Commentary/Analysis
• British theater bias against Israel is becoming an issue again thanks to the debut of Oslo and the revival of My Name Is Rachel Corrie. David Herman takes note of what he calls “Thespian Agitprop.”
The other contrast is with television drama. In recent years there have been acclaimed drama series about the Middle East, above all, Homeland and Hugo Blick’s The Honourable Woman, where the emphasis has been on complexity and ambiguity, with unforgettable Israeli and Arab characters. Why have even-handed TV dramas on Israel been possible, when British theatre can only produce shrill agitprop? The answer, sadly, is that British theatres think it is better to be self-righteous than carefully to explore both sides of complex conflicts.
• Worth reading: Noa Amouyal on why Conan O’Brien is the worst nightmare of Roger Waters and the BDS movement:
The most interesting aspect of the his visit, though, is that he defiantly ignored his critics and treated Israel like it’s an attractive (and normal) tourist destination.
And that’s because it is.
Floating in the #DeadSea and enjoying Garfield in Hebrew. #ConanIsrael #Israel pic.twitter.com/qW1c32sBRl
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 30, 2017
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: What if Israel hadn’t destroyed Assad’s reactor 10 years ago?
– Bassam Tawil: UN Chief Guterres, the media and Palestinian fake news
– Yaakov Lappin: The low-profile war between Israel and Hezbollah
– Jerusalem Post (staff-ed): PFLP in Germany
– Benjamin Gladstone: Young anti-Zionist Jews claim to speak for my generation. They don’t. It’s time we called them on it.
– Avi Issacharoff: Iranians at the gates
– Abdulrahman Al-Rashed: Who killed Naji al-Ali?
– S.L. Wisenberg: After Harvey, a requiem for Jewish Houston
– Sally Abrams: Israel is the friend who shows up
Featured image: CC BY-SA Michael Coghlan; US Capitol US government work; Gaza beach via YouTube/Welcome to Palestine; Guam US government work;
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