Today’s Top Stories
1. A visiting French MP raised eyebrows telling Israeli students that France needs administrative detention to help combat Islamic terror. The Jerusalem Post reports that George Fenech then went on to visit the Ofer Prison, located in the West Bank, to learn more about the controversial counter-terror measure that allows the state to detain suspects for six months without charge, and can be renewed by a judge.
The official, MP Georges Fenech, head of the French Parliamentary Special Commission into terror attacks in France, made the surprising comments at the IDC Herzliya Conference on Counter-Terrorism on the university’s campus.
“I know as a judge that it is hard” to reduce civil liberties,” he said. “But when someone is on the S register, not the 15,000 [suspicious] people, the first few hundred on list – should we wait for them to act or should we act before them? If you want to insist, you can wait for them to have a lawyer, but in the meantime people are killed. Or you can sacrifice a little of your freedom, arrest them before they act, put them in detention centers to evaluate how dangerous they are.”
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING: 1st-ever top French official visits Israeli Ofer jail to learn about administrative detention: https://t.co/AXMkNEsCti
— Yonah Jeremy Bob (@jeremybob1) September 15, 2016
2. Israel and the US formally signed a memorandum of understanding governing the next decade of American military assistance. The $38 billion aid package will go into effect when the current MOU expires at the end of 2018. What happens next?
Touting the aid deal, a White House statement released afterwards said true Israeli security requires Palestinian statehood. See Times of Israel and YNet coverage, plus plenty of commentary below.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Sen. Lindsay Graham wants Congress to send more money to Israel by tying the military aid to the Iran Sanctions Act. I don’t know what Israel’s position is on the South Carolina Republican’s moves, or if anything will even come this:
“I want the Ayatollah to know, from Congress’s point of view, we haven’t forgotten about you when it comes to sanctions,” Graham explained. “The more provocative Iran becomes, the more assistance we’re going to give [to Israel].”
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. ‘Anti-Semitic anti-Zionist’ course at UC Berkeley suspended following expose, outcry. The Algemeiner updates the latest.
4. Who Decides the Capital of Israel? The legal reasons Israel and Jerusalem ought to be held to the same standards as every other country on Earth.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Israeli aircraft launched retaliatory air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza after a mortar shell landed in Israel last night.
• Jerusalem hits back at France for criticizing West Bank demolitions.
• Shimon Peres has a long road to recovery after suffering a stroke, but doctors say the 93-year-old elder statesman of Israeli politics is making progress and responding to prompts. More at the Times of Israel.
• An eastern Jerusalem Muslim cemetery is becoming a terrorist pantheon and magnet for incitement. Israel HaYom explains the fuss over the Yeusefiya Cemetery, located outside the Old City walls:
It is adorned with Palestinian flags, and Palestinian families, including children and teenagers, flock to the site daily to place flowers on the graves of terrorists, who are celebrated as heroes. Visitors often share pictures of themselves with their fingers held in the “V” for victory sign next to the graves.
The grave of Baha Alyan, who together with another terrorist boarded a bus in Jerusalem in 2015 and shot and killed three passengers, is particularly popular.
• After last year’s Iranian nuclear accord was signed, Iranian dissidents came to Israel to discuss its consequences. According to the Times of Israel, the “unprecedented and secretive conference, convened in wake of pact, brought former Iranian ministers, diplomats, activists and others.” The general consensus?
The large majority of dissidents who met with the Israeli scholars were also of the opinion that the Iranian regime would at some point breach the terms of the nuclear agreement — once it has reaped the economic and political benefits.
Around the World
• Spanish activists fighting against BDS foiled a municipality’s plan to boycott Israeli goods and services. The city council of Xeraco, located near Valencia, council even voted to distribute the logo ‘Israeli Apartheid-Free Space’ to residents.
• Anti-Semitic incidents in France dropped dramatically in first half of ’16, gov’t official says.
• Why exactly do Uzbekistan’s Jews miss the iron fist of their late leader, Islam Karimov?
Commentary/Analysis
• Former prime minister Ehud Barak made waves with a Washington Post op-ed castigating Benjamin Netanayhu.
• Tweet of the day from Haviv Rettig Gur:
• Plenty of commentary on the US military aid deal:
– Raphael Ahren: An MOU and an IOU? Israel’s $38 billion payday may not come for free
– Barak Ravid: The other side of US aid deal: An Obama legacy move on Israel-Palestine
– Josh Rogin: Obama and Israel cut Congress out of the aid game
– Yaakov Lappin: US defense deal good for IDF, bad for defense industries
– Amos Harel: Are Bibi’s srong beliefs worth $7 billion?
– Yaakov Amidror: Money isn’t everything
– Nahal Toosi and Bryan Bender: Comparing the new Israel aid deal to the previous deal
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yoni Ben Menachem: The businesses of Mahmoud Abbas and his sons
– Dr. Reuven Berko: Hamas’ festival of sacrifice
– Seth Frantzman: NY Times gives platform to Iran as West betrays democracy and values
– Norman Bailey: Israel steers clear of social alienation
Featured image: CC BY-NC Rowen Atkinson with additions by HonestReporting; Knesset CC BY James Emery;
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