Today’s Top Stories
1. Hamas is funding Islamic State in Sinai. In a nutshell, YNet describes the mutually beneficial arrangement with Hamas providing IS with money, training, and logistical support. In return, IS secures the smuggling of needed weapons and equipment into Gaza:
Israeli officials believe that if the situation escalates on the Gaza front, both ISIS in the Sinai and ISIS in Gaza will aid Hamas in its fight against the IDF.
The Hamas government in Gaza also sees its connection with ISIS in the Sinai as potential leverage that could relieve some of the pressure that Egypt is putting on the Strip. ISIS is the central enabling factor in Hamas’ smuggling operation through the northern Sinai, which Egypt is tackling by trying to seriously damage their tunnel network.
2. Haaretz is taking flak for removing the Israeli flag from the podium of its recent conference. But publisher Amos Schocken defended the move.
3. One-third of Hezbollah’s fighters said to be killed or injured in Syria. The Times of Israel picks up on Arab reports:
Recently, Hezbollah has been publishing details of its members killed in Syria and is not trying to hide its losses, in contrast to its policy during the early years of the Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011.
Fighters are now given official funerals and their coffins are covered with Hezbollah flags.
4. ‘Iran Not a Threat to Israel’: BBC Upholds Complaint: Editorial Complaints Unit rules Iran is a threat to Israel after all.
Israel and the Intifada
• In Ramallah, who leads, who follows, and does it really make a difference anymore?
– Abbas: Palestinian violence is “justified popular uprising”
– Poll: 2/3 of Palestinians back stabbing attacks, armed uprising
By the way, Khalil Shikaki’s full survey found 2/3 of Palestinians also want Mahmoud Abbas to resign.
• If you’re looking for some long-reading, New Yorker‘s David Remnick profiled John Kerry. Most of the story is about Kerry and the Mideast, with a sizable chunk dealing with Israel and the peace process.
I asked him if he could imagine an end to the State of Israel.
“No, I don’t believe that’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s just, What is it going to be like, is the question. Will it be a democracy? Will it be a Jewish state? Or will it be a unitary state with two systems, or some draconian treatment of Palestinians, because to let them vote would be to dilute the Jewish state? I don’t know. I have no answer to that. But the problem is, neither do they. Neither do the people who are supposed to be providing answers to this. It is not an answer to simply continue to build in the West Bank and to destroy the homes of the other folks you’re trying to make peace with and pretend that that’s a solution.”
• The EU refuses to back down from its settlement labeling policy.
• Hamas claims yesterday’s Jerusalem car-rammer was a member.
• New York Times reporter Isabel Kershner takes the pulse of Israeli-Palestinian co-existence at the Gush Etziyon Junction shopping center.
• The IDF rebuked a group of soldiers who video-bombed reporter Palestinian TV reporter Sara Al-Azra. The soldiers’ conduct wasn’t professional. Neither was Al-Azra’s report, judging from the translation in this video.
Around the World
• Denmark’s largest pension fund divested its holdings in a German firm operating quarries in Israeli settlements. Haaretz coverage.
In its announcement, FPA said that it doesn’t want to contribute in any way to illegal activity in the West Bank. It said that during 2015 it examined divesting from companies that exploit natural resources in contravention of international law. The examination showed that HeidelbergCement is involved in such activity in a manner not in keeping with the pension fund’s policy of “responsible investing.”
• And what’s the Turkish reaction to President Erdogan’s talk of normalizing ties with Israel?
• Saudi Arabia announced a new Muslim military coalition to fight terror. Iran’s not involved, but “a statement from the press agency listed Palestine as one of the 34 countries participating.”
• Critics have long questioned why Palestinian refugees are cared for by the UN Relief and Works Agency, while the rest of the world’s refugees fall under the remit of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The Globe & Mail notes that this treatment is why Canada — and possibly other Western countries — aren’t hosting Palestinian refugees alongside Syrian refugees fleeing Islamic State.
None of the war-weary Palestinians are likely to come to Canada under the Liberal government’s program to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. Canada is relying on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – which doesn’t deal with Palestinians – to help identify those most eligible for resettlement. UNRWA has no role in the program.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Horovitz: The curious incident of the flag at the Haaretz conference
– Ron Kampeas: Haaretz moves in on AIPAC’s turf
– Limor Samimian-Darash: The Hamas ‘legacy’
– Eitan Haber: Wave of terror is not about to end
– Ely Karmon: ISIS close to home
– Michael Singh: The first strict implementation test of the Iran nuclear deal
Featured image: CC BY Hamed Saber;
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