Today’s Top Stories
1. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to remove Iranian personnel from Syria if the US dropped sanctions placed on Russia following the 2014 takeover of Crimea. Is the idea likely to bear fruit?
Meanwhile, the US Treasury connected the dots of Iranian funding for Hezbollah, Hamas Mideast terror groups by funneling the money through Russia and Syria — with a UK connection. Thumbs up to Reuters and the Times of London for picking up on the story, noting:
It is the first time that Russia has been identified to be playing a role in financing the organisations, and shows how Moscow and Tehran have been drawn into a close relationship against the US through their mutual support for President Assad of Syria.
Very interesting designation: Treasury lifts veil on Russia-Iran network facilitating oil shipments and payments for Assad regime, Hezbollah and Hamas. https://t.co/Kqq05TAcvn pic.twitter.com/RGSYSMRyfb
— Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) November 20, 2018
2. Israel HaYom reports of a devastating and unprecedented rift within Hamas, between the followers of supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza strongman Yahyeh Sinwar. This division is said to have undermined Egypt’s efforts to mediate a ceasefire and even led to Hamas goons firing at each other.
Several Hamas officials in both camps said that the Egyptian mediators have also realized that engaging with Sinwar was more effective than negotiating with Haniyeh.
“It’s not for nothing that all the recent talks involved Sinwar. The Egyptians don’t really see the point of talking with Haniyeh,” one official said.
See also Daniel Siryoti‘s take.
3. Fatah official confirms Abbas ordered a crackdown on Palestinians suspected of selling eastern Jerusalem property to Jews. Indeed, a PA court sentenced two Palestinians to 15 years of hard labor yesterday.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• Airbnb is A) testing US law on boycotts after dropping West Bank settlement listings and B) next looking into dropping listings from the disputed Western Sahara.
Meanwhile, Airbnb hosts in the West Bank told Haaretz they were offended by the blacklist as a matter of principle but said it wouldn’t make a significant impact.
• The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called on the European Broadcasting Union to boycott next year’s Eurovision competition which Israel will be hosting in May. According to the Jerusalem Post, “It was not clear why the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate chose to call for boycotting the song contest despite the decision to hold it in Tel Aviv.”
• Does the 55-year-old Dimona nuclear reactor need to be overhauled or replaced, and what does this mean for Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons program?
• Jordanian officials reportedly asked Israel to boost the amount of water supplied to the Hashemite kingdom. Israel currently sends Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water as part of peace agreements.
Mideast Matters
• If you listen carefully, you can hear the mullahs laughing in Tehran. The Independent reports that Europe is refraining from a harsh response against Iran over a series of busted terror plots on European soil — for fear of emboldening US President Donald Trump.
Officials don’t want to hand hardline Tehran rivals of president Hassan Rouhani ammunition that could jeopardise his efforts to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the landmark nuclear deal . . .
Nor do officials want to give Trump, whom they consider a threat to the world order, any satisfaction or encouragement . . .
In effect, they are shielding Iran from the consequences of its reckless actions just as the Trump administration has protected Saudi Arabia’s leadership following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Window Into Israel
• The Israeli-American responsible for making thousands of hoax bomb threats to Jewish institutions, hospitals, malls and airlines in North America and around the world was sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Tel Aviv court.
Because of a gag order, the Israeli media refers to him as M. or, sometimes, the Ashkelon hacker. M. suffers from autism and a brain tumor, and the US may still seek his extradition. More at the Times of Israel, Haaretz and Jerusalem Post.
• Police are recommending an indictment against Interior Minister and Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, who is suspected of tax evasion to the tune of NIS 2 million ($540,000), per Israeli media reports.
• I thought I made aliyah to get away from this . . .
• Closing the chapter on an Israeli #MeToo moment, “David Keyes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s international media spokesman, will reportedly resign after the Civil Service Commission recently closed its informal probe of the accusations against him.”
• A months-long battle between the IDF ombudsman and the military brass over the adequacy of the army’s combat-readiness continues . . .
Around the World
• Campus calumnies: The Canadian Federation of Students, which represents 500,000 students, threw its support behind BDS. To the ire of Jewish students, City, University of London cancelled a speaking engagement by Amb. Mark Regev claiming security fears. And the Cardiff University Students’ Union was due today to debate a motion “calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions while claiming to ‘protect. . . Jewish Students.’”
• The US rejected a Netanyahu request to allow Jonathan Pollard to move to Israel. Pollard, now 64-years-old, spent 30 years in prison for providing Israel with top secret classified info. He was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995, but the terms of his parole currently do not allow him to leave the US.
• Two Jewish police officers in Philadelphia sue department alleging antisemitic harassment by colleagues. Three swastika incidents in nine days at Cornell U. Man arrested for alleged antisemitic rant on flight to Atlanta. And last but not least (drip, drip, drip) UK Labour councillor apologized for sharing antisemitic material online “without reading it properly.”
Commentary
• Be sure to mark November 30 on your calendar. It’s Israel’s little-known official day for commemorating Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Ashley Perry explains:
It is an uphill battle and one that our opponents do not want to become widely known, because it flips on its head all standard notions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including conquest, oppression, and indigeneity. I know of an academic who tried to hold a purely historical conference on the history of the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, and was turned away by dozens of American universities, even Jewish-studies departments, because the subject matter was considered “too controversial.”
Digest that for a moment: the 2,000- to 3,000-year history of Jewish communities — their achievements, their successes, their suffering — was deemed too controversial.
We should not allow the suffocation and extinction of these historic communities to be erased from the pages of history. We should share their stories and keep their memories alive, especially their destruction, which was largely ignored around the world.
• Iran’s nuclear archive shows it planned to build five nuclear weapons by mid-2003.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today
– Omer Benjakob: Why Airbnb will have a hard time enforcing its settlement ban
– Amb. Alan Baker: Saeb Erekat, Airbnb and BDS
– Ben Cohen: Northern Cyprus, Western Sahara, Tibet — the ‘occupied territories’ still available on Airbnb
– Jonathan Tobin: Boycott Airbnb, unless you’re good with antisemitism
Dear @Airbnb,
My Jewish grandfather, along with many thousands others, fled from Iraq, losing property there, as a result of the Farhud (murderous pogrom in 1941).
Please delist all stolen Jewish lands in Iraq.
And Syria. And Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Libya, Morroco, Jordan, etc.
— (((Emanuel Miller))) (@emanumiller) November 21, 2018
– Alex Fishman: Hamas has run out of credit
– Reuven Berko: Israel’s patience in Gaza will pay off
– Moshe Arens: Iron Dome is not a full solution
– Greg Sheridan: Australia should recognize West Jerusalem but defer embassy move
– Carly Pildis: The Women’s March must listen to Jewish women NOW
– Benjamin Kerstein: Linda Sarsour’s ‘apology’ fails to mention her own antisemitic statements or Farrakhan
– Prof. Efraim Karsh: The depths to which the Oslo process drove Israel
– Joe Mulhall: Holocaust denial is changing — the fight against it must change too
Featured image: CC BY-NC smilla4;; Iran CC0 Pixabay; university CC BY-SA Stephen McKay; Operation Magic Carpet via Wikimedia Commons;
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