Today’s Top Stories
1. The UN General Assembly is due to vote today on a resolution condemning Hamas terror. Haaretz explains that “if it passes, it will be the first time that Hamas is condemned by name in a UN resolution.” The vote is also viewed as the last stand of US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is stepping down from the post at the end of 2018.
Apparently unable to block, delay or water down the US-sponsored resolution, the Palestinian Authority managed to push for a vote on a second resolution condemning Israeli policies in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. According to Haaretz, both resolutions are expected to pass. UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but often carry symbolic weight.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon is confident enough that he penned an op-ed declaring the UN no more the Palestinians’ home turf.
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2. The IDF believes that Hezbollah intended to start a war by pouring forces through a tunnel to cut off the Israeli border town of Metulla. With enough men, Hezbollah could have isolated the town of approximately 1,400 people by simply blocking Route 90. Other Hezbollah forces would have been used to attack civilians and ambush responding military convoys.
The IDF also revealed for the first time that the tunnel was dug underneath a civilian building in the Lebanese town of Kafr Kela, which Hezbollah used to make bricks.
3. As the Mideast’s attention shifts to the Israel-Lebanon border, where does that leave the Gaza powder keg?
In fact, news about the diplomatic push to achieve a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas has conspicuously disappeared from the headlines. It seems that the Egyptian-, Qatari- and United Nations-mediated negotiating process has reached a standstill and, instead, the parties have resigned themselves to the return of the longstanding status quo of “quiet-for-quiet.”
In the News
• The UN Security Council will meet in the coming days to discuss the northern terror tunnels. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said that issues to be raised include the failure of UNIFIL peacekeepers to monitor southern Lebanon and the Lebanese Army’s failure to assert control over the border. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also briefed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
While Danon acknowledged that there was no chance of the Security Council passing a resolution against Hezbollah, the very existence of the meeting is significant because it will shine a light on Hezbollah’s activities.
• With the growing threat of Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal, Globes looks at Israel’s development of a new laser missile defense system “on the verge of being ready.” Each Iron Dome intercept costs around $80,000, and the system could be overwhelmed by Hezbollah’s heavier barrages.
A senior defense source told “Globes” that even Iron Dome would not be enough in the future. “The coming rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip, not to mention a state of war in the north, will feature far heavier barrages against the home front. We need something that is also effective in interception costs and will make the war economy more feasible . . .” It is believed that Hezbollah is capable of bombarding Israel with 1,500 rockets and missiles a day, some of them precise.
• Bahrain’s foreign minister denied Mideast reports of plans for Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the Gulf state.
• An Irish bill that would criminalize the import of products from Israeli West Bank settlements passed another legislative hurdle and now heads to parliament’s lower house for further rounds of debate and votes.
• Amid controversy and questions about his conduct during the vetting process, Moshe Edri withdrew his candidacy to become Israel’s police chief.
• A Brexit campaign group called Leave EU is in hot water over an antisemitic tweet.
Commentary
• Blue and white spyware in the hands of dictators: Haviv Rettig Gur responds to Max Boot.
When any Israeli company, or even any Israeli individual, is "Israel" writ large.
If NSO Group is doing this, it's awful. But how can an American possibly have the moral standing to place "Israel," as a whole, on the dock when US defense industries do more and worse? https://t.co/R9kkiFAOFq
— Haviv Rettig Gur (@havivrettiggur) December 6, 2018
• Here’s other commentary/analysis I’m reading today:
– Dr. Mordechai Kedar: The mole inside the Hezbollah tunnel
– Smadar Perry: What is Nasrallah up to?
– Charles Bybelezer: Does Hezbollah really pose a greater danger to Israel than Hamas?
– Amos Harel: A Hezbollah blitzkrieg: Tunnels on border reveal attack plan
– Yaakov Lappin: Is Israel weighing strike options in Lebanon?
– Yoav Limor: Israel faces complex decisions on Lebanon
– Yoni Ben Menachem: The exposure of Israel’s intelligence collection in Gaza actually undermines Hamas
Featured image: CC BY birdy; lasers CC BY-NC-ND Meins Photography;
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