Today’s Top Stories
1. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran’s presence in Syria is legitimate and that Moscow never promised to ensure the withdrawal of pro-Iranian forces from the country either. While the Syrian cease fire agreement calls for the removal of foreign forces press reports indicate there’s no deadline yet set. In any event, Israel will have to sweat out other “secret understandings.”
Furthermore, secret understandings among the parties provide for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iran’s proxy forces to withdraw only a short distance from the Israeli border, at least in the near term.
Israeli defense figures are troubled by this and by the fact that the superpowers seem unwilling to take genuine measures to kick Iran out of Syria in general, and southern Syria in particular.
Israel isn’t a party of the US-Russia ceasefire deal and insists it is not bound by it. More at the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel.
According to Israeli sources, this is what the "buffer zone" separating #Israel from Iranian proxies could look like in southern #Syria following the US-Russia-Jordan agreement pic.twitter.com/OHCGCRSgZf
— Prime Source (@PrimeSourceME) November 13, 2017
2. According to Israeli media reports, Jerusalem threatened to shelve a water deal with Jordan until Israel’s embassy in Amman is reopened. The “Red-Med” project, a $900 million joint effort to replenish the Dead Sea by piping water from the Red Sea, will not advance as long as Ambassador Einat Schlein and her staff are able to return to their post in Amman.
Jordan insists that the embassy will not be reopened until an Israeli security guard who shot and killed two Jordanians in July is brought to trial.
3. The IDF deployed Iron Dome, raises alert amid Gaza terror threat from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Ynet reports that Egypt is putting heavy pressure on PIJ not to retaliate for the deaths of several operatives killed in the rubble of a cross-border tunnel destroyed by the IDF.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
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5. Watchdog of the Week: Exposing Faulty BBC History: Joel Schneider of Los Angeles helped us hold the BBC accountable.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Gaza terror groups are trying to smuggle contraband by simply ordering it online. Israel has seized all kinds of toys ordered on Ali Express. Ynet explains:
The Ministry of Defense noted among the products seized in the crossing during October alone were drones, telescopes, binoculars, laser sights, metal detectors, two-way radios, camouflage items, minute motors, night vision goggles, special cameras, weapon parts, knives and more.
• The Saudis are definitely throwing their weight around the Mideast. According to Israeli media reports, when the Saudis summoned Mahmoud Abbas to Riyadh on short notice, the PA president was warned A) either accept the Trump peace proposal or quit, B) avoid coming under Iran’s influence, and C) Fatah may no longer cooperate with Hezbollah.
All this is going to complicate Palestinian reconciliation efforts; a Hamas delegation recently visited Iran.
• Jerusalem Post: Israel arrested a colonel in the PA security services for ordering his men to make arrests in eastern Jerusalem.
“[Qaimiri] sent his forces into east Jerusalem to carry out arrests of blue-ID card holders,” the security official said, referring to Palestinian residents who hold Israeli residency cards.
• Israel arrested a high-level Islamic Jihad commander along with 13 other terror suspects in a sweep near Jenin last night.
• The Knesset set up a task force to keep EU funds away from terrorists.
Nahmias-Verbin told Israel Hayom that “Figures we have collected show that every month, some 4.5 million euros in EU funds are divided among those who carried out terrorist attacks against Israel and the families of terrorists.”
• Mexico will stop voting in favor of the Palestinians at the UN according to Israeli media reports.
• A new study by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) examines how PA school textbooks demonizing Israel are further indoctrinating kids to hate. Further background and links at Legal Insurrection.
• Israel barred seven French and EU politicians from entering the country over BDS activity. Among other things, the group sought to meet imprisoned terror commander Marwan Barghouti.
• In tacit rebuke of Russia, Israel backs UN report on Syria chemical weapons use.
• In Israel’s north, seeking a measure of calm as Mideast tensions spike
Around the World
• Israel expressed concern as the winds of nationalism reached Poland:
Anti-Semitic chants calling for a “Jew free” Poland were among the racist epithets shouted by tens of thousands of far-right nationalists who marched Saturday in Warsaw to mark 99 years of the country’s independence, while counter-protesters rallied against fascism.
• Prince Charles’ staff issued a statement disavowing his recently discovered 1986 letter which blamed “foreign Jews” for the Mideast conflict and made troubling comments about “the Israel lobby” in the US.
The statement from Clarence House said the letter is “not the prince’s own views.”
• Scottish police interfered with Palestinian activists’ right to protest, according to a police investigations and review commissioner. Details at The Guardian.
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• Pro-Nazi posters were found at the site of a U. of British Columbia Remembrance Day ceremony
Commentary/Analysis
• Australian Professor Andrew MacLeod takes note of a messy headache for Australia Jews and lawmakers. Australia’s constitution not only bars dual nationals from holding public office, it also prohibits people who are eligible for dual citizenship from holding public office.
And Jews are automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, thus, Jews aren’t technically eligible to hold any public office Down Under. This constitutional problem isn’t limited to the Jews either:
Australia, where over half the population have at least one parent born overseas, should allow dual nationals to run for Parliament.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Haviv Rettig Gur: The day Palestine gave up
– Alex Fishman: Israel-Gaza border flare-up is only a matter of time
– Amos Harel: Despite Israeli demands, Syria cease-fire deal allows Iranian forces near border
– Seth Frantzman: Who benefits from the Russia-US-Jordan ceasefire in Syria?
– Elan Journo: Let’s stop normalizing the Palestinian movement
– Bassam Tawil: The US Mideast peace plan?
– Pinhas Inbari: Is Palestinian reconciliation already in complete disarray?
– Judea Pearl: How the Balfour Declaration redefined indigenous people
– Daniel Pipes: Why Palestinian delusions persist
– Dan Diker and Jamie Berk: Students for Justice in Palestine unmasked
– Ari Heistein: Was Israel wrong to support Kurdish independence?
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Serena Moran and Barbara Olson and Tsela Barr.
Featured image: CC0 Pxhere; shopping CC0 Pixabay; euros CC BY Images Money; Prince Charles CC BY Northern Ireland Office;
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