Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel HaYom: “Hezbollah is working on establishing military infrastructure in the Druze village of Khader in the Syrian Golan Heights, just across the border from Israel, it emerged this week.”
This effort, in its present phase, consists primarily of lookout posts and equipment that Hezbollah is providing to local residents who report back to the organization . . .
Israeli officials warned recently that Hezbollah could seek to exploit the new reality to regain a foothold on the Golan Heights. According to assessments, the group intends to do this in three stages: establish a presence and gather intelligence, transfer weapons and eventually carry out terrorist attacks.
2. According to Israeli media reports, “Russia is seeking to set new terms for Israeli operations in Syria and overhaul the existing Israeli-Russian military coordination system.”
Such a demand would likely limit Israel’s freedom of maneuver in Syria, with the report noting it could endanger Israeli aircraft and allow Iranian operatives more time to hide materiel being targeted.
A senior diplomatic source quoted in the report said the demand was unacceptable operationally and that Israel must not acquiesce to it.
3. The Cairo Film Festival cancelled an award for French Jewish filmmaker Claude Lelouch over his relationship with Israel.
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In the News
• The IDF launched retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas positions in Gaza early this morning after a rocket was fired at Israel. It landed in an open area causing no damage.
• Israeli firefighters battled eight separate fires near the Gaza border sparked by incendiary balloons.
• European parties urged to agree that Israel boycott tactics are antisemitic.
• The prime minister of the Pacific nation of Vanuatu says he will consider recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
• UCLA’s chancellor rejected a congressman’s request to cancel an upcoming national conference for Students for Justice in Palestine. The Daily Bruin reports that US Rep. Brad Sherman urged Chancellor Gene Block to cancel the gathering, saying “he was worried SJP members would promote discrimination and harassment at the conference,” and that SJP has a history of posting antisemitic rhetoric online.
The three-day conference hits the University of California Los Angeles on November 18.
Block said in a letter addressed to Sherman on Oct. 15 that UCLA will continue to support free speech and demonstration on campus while ensuring no racial or ethnic bias or harm occurs.
• Worrying Swiss Jews, a kosher butcher shop in Basel was vandalized for the fourth time in one month.
• Municipal elections across Israel will be held next week. And according to Israeli media reports, haredi support for Jerusalem mayoral candidate Moshe Lion is part of a deal to soften legislation on haredi army conscription. Meanwhile the Times of Israel takes a closer look at (sigh) a laundry list of candidates who have been either convicted, indicted or are under police investigated for various crimes.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Amb. Danny Danon: Zero hour for the Islamic Republic (click via Twitter)
– Yoni Ben Menachem: Palestinian Authority violates Oslo accords in east Jerusalem
– Zev Chafets: How Jared Kushner can get the Mideast deal of the century
– Pinhas Inbari: Will east Jerusalem residents participate in municipal elections on October 30?
– Giora Eiland: We sit and wait for it to blow up in our face
– Fiamma Nirenstein: Jordan challenges Israel on land-lease agreement
Featured image: CC BY-NC Jens Schott Knudsen;
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