Today’s Top Stories
1. Eli Lake got the scoop: De-classified US documents confirm what Israel has said time and again: Iran is just two or three months away from enriching enough uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Moreover, the Obama administration has held this assessment for several years. What changed?
Here is the puzzling thing: When Obama began his second term in 2013, he sang a different tune. He emphasized that Iran was more than a year away from a nuclear bomb, without mentioning that his intelligence community believed it was only two to three months away from making enough fuel for one, long considered the most challenging task in building a weapon. Today Obama emphasizes that Iran is only two to three months away from acquiring enough fuel for a bomb, creating a sense of urgency for his Iran agreement.
2. The Wall St. Journal (via Google News) takes a closer look at rekindled Hamas-Iran ties. Right now, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is essentially sponsoring the rebuilding of Gaza’s tunnel network and replenishing depleted stocks of rockets. The money quote:
For the West and for Israel’s allies, the renewed relationship between Iran and Hamas raises a larger concern. Given that Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and its allies, Iran’s fresh outreach to the group should raise another caution flag as world powers negotiate with Tehran over the Iranian nuclear program.
3. Saudi Arabia announced an end to its coalition’s airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, then resumed the airstrikes after Houthis attacked a government army brigade, CNN reports. The Saudis said earlier the coalition was ready to end Operation Decisive Storm and focus on restoring Yemen’s government.
According to the New York Times and McClatchy News, the Saudis initially suspended their strikes in the face of a growing outcry against mounting civilian deaths. I’m not clear on the civilian casualty figures.
4. Recognize Israel’s Accomplishments: If there were more honest reporting, you would know more about these accomplishments.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Jerusalem Post: An IDF military court ordered two Palestinians to pay a terror victim’s family NIS 3.3 million in punitive damages. Asher Palmer lost control of his car during a 2011 stoning attack near Kiryat Arba. Palmer’s infant son, Yonatan, was also killed. Waal al-Arjeh and Ali Saada are already serving life sentences for their role in the attack.
• Britain, France and New Zealand are restlessly pushing for a UN Security Council resolution to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, according to Reuters.
• Scotland’s parliament discussed recognizing Palestine, but the debate turned out to be a big yawn.
The parliament in Edinburgh did not vote at the end of the poorly attended session, but most speakers expressed support for the motion, several of them criticizing Israel for running an “apartheid” regime and “inhumane” policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians.
• Last year’s brutal murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir — burnt alive by Jews who wanted revenge for the murder of three Israeli teens — was a terrible stain on Israel. There was a lot of public discussion about his name being including on a memorial listing Israeli terror victims. The talk was mooted by the Khdeir family’s objections and Israel removed Mohammed’s name from the memorial. Most headlines said the name was “removed” but The Guardian could imply Israeli malice.
• Palestinians in Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp have managed to cobble together a microcosm of “national unity.” Time reports the various factions created a unified armed force to keep ISIS out of the camp. How did the refugees get into this situation?
Camps like Ain al-Hilweh are a convenient base for militants because since 1969, Lebanese security forces haven’t policed the 12 Palestinian camps in the country, due to an agreement struck by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Now, Lebanese soldiers go no further than the checkpoints at the entrances to Ain al-Hilweh, where they search vehicles and check IDs. This has allowed the camps, specifically Ain al-Hilweh, to become lawless enclaves on Lebanese territory. “We face two problems in the Palestinian camps, one is drugs and the other is religious fanatics,” says Maqdah.
• Newsweek: It’s Israel’s fault. Sheesh.
• Israel’s population, by the approximate numbers (Central Bureau of Statistics figures via the Jerusalem Post).
– 8,345,000: total Israeli citizens today:
– 6,251,000: Jewish citizens (74.9 percent of population)
– 1,730,000: Arab citizens (20.7 percent of population)
– 364,000: citizens of other religions (Druze, etc) and those with no religion listed in the population registry (4.4 percent of population)
– 364,000: population growth in last year
– 806,000: total Israeli citizens in 1948
• Here’s some thoughtful Yom HaZikaron and Independence Day-related material that might interest you:
- Israel’s conflicted president wrestles with democracy and Jewish historical rights
- One Israeli Soldier, 23 Namesakes and a Day of Remembrance
- Debate ignites over Arab journalist’s role in Israeli independence event
Commentary/Analysis
• Gil Troy weighs in on the memory of the Israeli soldiers who fell in Operation Protective Edge.
They died so no rockets would reach us in Jerusalem. They died so that Hamas’s Mass-Murder-By-Tunnel plan would only remain an elaborate plot The New York Times and other media outlets can continue to ignore, rather than a bloody reality memorialized today . . .
Mourning is not enough. Thanking these heroes – or now their loved ones – is a moral necessity. We also must remember why they fought because much of the world has forgotten.
In too many headlines, in too many hearts, the Gaza war of just months ago is not about Hamas attack tunnels and Kassam rockets targeting civilians. It is only about an exaggerated Palestinian death toll, blurring together terrorists who fought, random citizens who died of disease or old age, with the unfortunate number of innocent bystanders who perished in that awful, preventable war – which never would have happened without repeated attacks from Hamas and its proxies.
• For more commentary, see
– Efraim Halevy: Israel is “indestructible”
– Aaron David Miller: How Iran outfoxes the US
– Cnaan Liphshiz: Will Russia’s missile deal with Iran end Israel’s silence on Ukraine?
– Barbara Kay: In France, there’s no hatred for any group equivalent to that of Jew hatred
– Hanin Ghaddar: Hezbollah will become more aggressive as Iran loses ground
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA flickr/Stephen Coles with retro media icons designed by Freepik and additions by HonestReporting; Netanyahu via UN Photo/J Carrier; soldiers CC BY-NC flickr/Israel Defense Forces
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
