Terror Surge Shatters Weekend

Today’s Top Stories

1. The weekend saw a spike in Palestinian terror attacks. See below for a roundup of what happened and what the commentaries are saying.

2. Israel recently confirmed it will allow a delegation from the International Criminal Court to visit to assess whether the country could be put on trial for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza War. Foreign Policy takes a closer look at the significance of the development:

But Israel’s cautious welcome is the savvier approach. The ICC’s inquiry remains preliminary, which means investigators won’t be interviewing witnesses or gathering other evidence during their time in Israel. But they will undoubtedly get a full exposition of the country’s legal arguments regarding the ICC’s jurisdictional limitations and the Israel Defense Forces’ internal investigations, which Israel will argue are thorough, independent, and credible.

 

Israel is likely calculating that openness may help foster a more sympathetic hearing from the prosecutor’s office. And if not, Israel hasn’t lost anything. It has maintained its position that the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction and could quickly revert to a policy of noncooperation.

3. Fathi Hammad, who founded Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV, was added to the US designated terror list.

Hammad served as Hamas’s Interior Minister where he was responsible for security within Gaza, a position he used to coordinate terrorist cells. Hammad established Al-Aqsa TV, which is a primary Hamas media outlet with programs designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood.

Thanks to Hammad, Palestinian childrens’ minds are poisoned with TV shows like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3itRZjKczo

4. Palestinian Flag Falsely Used to Represent WW2 Pilot: Why the heck did an infographic represent a British Jewish pilot with a Palestinian flag?

Israel and the Palestinians

• A Jordanian national trying to stab a police officer at Damascus Gate was shot and killed. The Jordanian foreign ministry condemned the shooting of Sayid Amro and questioned Israel’s explanation of what happened.

• A Palestinian was shot and killed trying to run over security personnel outside Kiryat Arba. The driver’s fiancee, who was also in the car, was seriously injured. She left behind a note saying she hoped the attack would “atone” for their pre-marital relationship.

• In Hebron, a Palestinian was shot and killed after he tried to stab a soldier. The attack was caught on security video.

• Also on Friday, an Israeli bus driver was injured when Palestinians pelted his vehicle with rocks and bottles of paint near Maale Adumim.

• And this morning, a Palestinian stabbed a soldier outside the settlement of Efrat.

• This afternoon, security forces arrested a Palestinian woman carrying a knife near the northern settlement of Itamar

• PA President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians carried out the attacks because “they’ve lost hope.”

• See below for more commentary/analysis on the Palestinian terror surge.

• For the first time, an Iron Dome battery intercepted two projectiles fired from Syria. The IDF said it believes Saturday afternoon’s projectiles were unintentional stray fire from fighting in the Syrian Golan.

Around the World

• The Washington Free Beacon reports that “Congress on Friday launched a wide-ranging probe into a secret Obama administration-funded campaign to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . . .”

• A German BDS activist is under legal scrutiny for saying Israel should be re-located to Germany. Christoph Glantz, a public school teacher in the northern German town of Oldenburg, posted the comments on social media and now claims Zionists are trying to silence him. The Jerusalem Post explains why Glantz is in legal hot water:

German teachers are required to remain politically neutral because of their status as members of the civil service.

• Toronto’s York University fires staffer for Facebook posts seen as anti-Semitic.

• Worth watching: Vice News takes examines the Neturei Karta, a fringe sect of Orthodox Jewry whose opposition to Zionism once led them to embrace Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Due credit to reporter Milene Larsson for handling this story in a sensitive, yet uncompromising way.

• British cabinet minister warns municipal councils considering boycotting Israel:

Any council found flouting the new rules “could face action, including the possibility of having power over these investment decisions taken away, with central government stepping in instead,” Javid’s office said.

• Israel’s allies vastly inflate anti-Semitism problem, says Belgian state-funded charity boss barred from entering Israel.

• Jews furious at London church exhibition featuring Israeli checkpoint.

• Indian-American student becomes pro-Israel symbol for simply trying to stay neutral.

• Australia in talks with Israel for tax treaty.

Commentary/Analysis

• Quite a few commentaries about the weekend violence . . .

– Amos Harel: Israel fears surge of attacks ahead of Jewish holidays
– Avi Issacharoff: Weekend’s surge in Palestinian terror shows ‘contagion’ is still at work
– Ben Lynfield: Abbas paves way for descent into violence by not naming a successor?
– Yossi Melman: Are the Palestinians reviving the wave of terror?
– Yoav Limor: A tale of two fronts
– Ziva Dahl: The PA makes terrorism a profitable profession

• Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt urges President Obama to establish a framework for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Published by the Project Syndicate and reprinted in The Australian.

The resolution itself will have to be far more comprehensive than previous efforts by the Security Council . . .

 

Admittedly, a resolution now would not lead to immediate peace, or even to peace talks. In fact, it might divide Israelis and Palestinians further in the near term. But if the world wants to avoid a future cataclysmic confrontation between a coming Greater Israel and a Palestine backed by a larger alliance of Arab countries, the conditions for talks leading to a stable two-state solution must be established now.

• Here’s what else I’m reading this weekend . . .

– Eli Lake: Obama’s not-so-landmark deal with Netanyahu
– David Horovitz: Ungrateful Israel owes the US a simple thank you
– Mohammed Dajani: Why Palestinians should support ‘normalization’ with Israel
– Yonah Jeremy Bob: Is demolishing Palestinian terrorists’ homes, but not Jewish ones discrimination?
– Eugene Kontorovich: Why the UN’s Israel obsession should worry even people who don’t care about Israel
– Robert Nicholson: Islam, Christianity, & the end of Palestine
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Jibril Rajoub and the “Merry Christmas Group”

– Allison Kaplan Sommer: Inside Bibi’s viral video blitz to the English-speaking world
– Sen. Jack Martins: CUNY’s cockamamie excuses for blinking at anti-Semitism
– Morton Klein, Susan Tuchman: Fighting campus anti-Semitism is not just a good idea. It’s the law.
– Gil Troy:  A useless nihilist seeks asylum
– Moshe Yaalon: No chance for a full ceasefire in Syria
– Yoram Ettinger: Iran refuses to roll back rogue policy

• Last but not least, see staff-eds on the US military aid package to Israel in the Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) and the New York Times.

Featured image: CC BY Markus Spiske with additions by HonestReporting; Bildt CC BY Bengt Nyman; rosary CC BY Brian Jeffery Beggerly;

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.

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