Today’s Top Stories
1. One Israeli trauma expert predicted a Las Vegas attack three years ago. Dr. Avi Rivkind warned a local TV channel the city should be prepared for a big attack after he witnessed the ease of crowd flow between casinos, shops and streets, and noting how public spaces felt “exposed.”
Stephen Paddock opened fire on a music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Sunday night. Last I saw, the casualty count was 59 killed and 525 injured.
All Israelis in Vegas were accounted for and safe. Two Israelis in Vegas, Hagar Trippiedi and Revital Yakin Krakovsky described the horror, fear and uncertainty.
Lights dimmed on the Las Vegas Strip in honor of the victims of Sunday's shooting. https://t.co/qO7e9uHPtm pic.twitter.com/r1eZEzKwjR
— ABC News (@ABC) October 3, 2017
2. The Palestinian Authority cabinet convened in Gaza for the first time in three years. It’s a significant symbolic gesture but before straining your thumb posting warm, fuzzy emojis, the deal to cede control of Gaza sets up a collision over guns.
By leaving security issues for later, the two sides managed to agree last month on reviving a joint government that crumbled 10 years ago. But they also paved the way for a bitter showdown over international demands that Hamas surrender its weapons and recognize Israel’s right to exist as part of any peace agreement.
“Unless it’s real disarmament it’s not viable, it’s not sustainable and it won’t be acceptable to Israelis or Americans,” said Daniel Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas rejected any reunification scenario in which Hamas remains armed. More on that at the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post. And Ynet notes that the PA still hasn’t lifted its economic sanctions on the Strip.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Former UK prime minister Tony Blair spanked Roger Waters after the rock star and BDSnik compared Israel’s government to Nazi Germany.
‘I think the criticism [of Israel by Waters] is so ludicrous that it indicates a basic hostility to the notion of a homeland for the Jewish people… you’ve got to overcome the legacy of that ideological poison which has dripped into the system over many decades,’ he said.
4. Abbas Condemns a $203,000 Massacre: Headlines say that Mahmoud Abbas “condemned” the murder of Israelis at Har Adar. They left out that he’s also paying for it.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Ynet picked up on White House envoy Jason Greenblatt’s tweet calling on Palestinians to ‘recognize Israel.’
• CNN takes a closer look at why Israel supports Kurdish independence.
• Israeli Arab Facebook personality Nussier Yassin struck back at Kuwait Airlines for barring him from traveling on a New York-India flight. More at the Jerusalem Post.
• Cabinet minister Miri Regev departed for Cuba on Sunday for a “private family trip with no professional or official meetings” despite the fact that Israel has no diplomatic relations with the country. Haaretz coverage.
• Mavi Marmara postscript: One of the Turks injured aboard the Mavi Marmara in 2010 is suing Turkey for not disbursing Israeli compensation money. Hurriyet notes the irony of the deal that re-normalized ties between the two countries:
With the deal, Turkey became the only country that hundreds of victims, excluding the families of those killed, can file complaints against. Turkey thus became the legal adversary in the cases filed against Israel. . .
Karar reported that victims’ lawyers indicated that Turkey faces the paying of compensation worth more than Israel was due to pay as a result of the agreement making Turkey the addressee for hundreds of victims.
There are currently 36 cases demanding compensation, worth a total of 16 million liras, the lawyers stated.
Israel sent Turkey $20 million in 2016. Ynet reported earlier this year that the delay was due to a dispute between the Turkish Finance Ministry and the families of the Turkish nationals killed when Israel intercepted the flotilla.
• The BDS movement is uh, shaken by this:
Around the World
• Misleading descriptions of Israeli gun control laws find their way into US discourse after tragic massacres such as Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School and Orlando’s Pulse night club. Wherever you are on the gun control debate, I’m dusting off Ben Hartman and Charles Waraday, who clear the misconceptions and lay out some points America might learn from Israel.
• The Pentagon gave a green light to install Israeli defense system on US tanks.
• Israeli reporter-turned-lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova, who served as an election observer dodged bullets during Catalonia’s chaotic independence referendum. 893 people were injured in clashes with Spanish police. Can you imagine the outrage if Israel had fired rubber bullets at people lined up to vote outside a school?
• Swiss lawmaker resigns after comparing pigs to Auschwitz victims.
• FIFA fines Germany for Nazi chants at World Cup qualifier.
Commentary/Analysis
• Over at The Forward, Professor Stephen Walt marks the 10th anniversary of the controversial book he co-authored, “The Israel Lobby.” What’s objectionable about Walt is that despite claiming not to be anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, he happily collaborated with some of the worst examples of both in order to promote himself and his book. See responses from Robert Satloff and Elder of Ziyon.
On Lobby, @stephenWalt wants it both ways: if #Arabs/#Israelis fight, Lobby to blame. If Arabs/Israelis cooperate, it’s Lobby conspiracy 2/3
— Robert Satloff (@robsatloff) October 2, 2017
• Yaakov Lozowick responds to Dr. Devorah Baum on being “Jew-ish,” which was thoughtfully published in the New York Times on Yom Kippur when Jews couldn’t react.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Amos Harel: Palestinian reconciliation talks a sign of Hamas’ distress
– Ben Lynfield: Despite fanfare, Hamas and Fatah will be hard to reconcile
– Muhammad Shehada: Will Hamas really give up its armed ‘resistance’?
– Ruth Wisse: The functions of anti-Semitism
– Liel Liebovitz: Is it time to boycott and divest from Spain?
– Adam Milstein: Understanding the unlikely radical alliances spreading anti-Semitism today
– Zvi Hauser: Strengthen the Kurds in Syria
– Henry Meyer, Donna Abu-Nasr: Putin is filling the Mideast power vacuum
– Rick Richman: The 80th anniversary of the two-state solution
Featured image: CC BY Terry Ozon;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
