Today’s Top Stories
1. United States cut all funding to UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. Even if one supports international aid to Palestinians, UNRWA, as an agency, is problematic in a number of ways. Numerous articles discuss the US position and international reactions, including the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and UNRWA itself.
Last January HR’s Daniel Pomerantz discussed the topic on i24 News and responded to claims by UNRWA head Christopher Gunness:
2. Is an Israel-Lebanon war looming? The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that violations of the cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to a new conflict and urged international support for Lebanon’s armed forces and their stepped up deployment in the south and at sea. Though Lebanon nominally has a government and an army, the Hezbollah terror group is generally the primary source of influence and military power in the country.
3. The Associated Press explores the dangers faced by Palestinian medical workers aiding the (sometimes violent) protesters on the Gaza border. Credit to the AP for including a reference to the Israeli position on this matter:
Israel says it does not intentionally target medics and even tries to protect them but accuses militants of mixing in with the crowds. Last month, Israel said a Palestinian nurse from the group Doctors Without Borders tried to carry out a late-night cross-border shooting attack on Israeli troops.
4. Amidst the continuing issue of UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism and support for extremists, The Sun focused on his paying tribute to disgraced former UN official Richard Falk.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar says: We’ll fire hundreds of rockets at central Israel if talks fail, saying they can make alarm sirens wail in the Tel Aviv region for six months straight. I particularly liked this Tweet from parody account TheMossadIl, putting Hamas’s priorities into the larger perspective:
A threat from the idiots who can't even give their own people six hours of electricity. https://t.co/cehz5Xjdji
— The Mossad: The 7th Happiest Place On Earth (@TheMossadIL) September 1, 2018
• Pop singer Lana Del Rey cancelled her show in Israel under pressure from BDS. According to the singer:
It’s important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally.
I can’t help but wonder about the double standard: do singers visiting China always perform in Tibet? When visiting Russia do they make it a policy to stop in the Ukraine? When in Turkey is it imperative that one also performs in Cyprus? In fact, is this standard applied anywhere else in the world at all? (No, no, no and no.)
•Soldiers nab 3 Palestinians with pipe bombs in northern West Bank.
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Around the World
•In the UK, Labor party whip Frank Field resigned, saying Jeremy Corbyn has become a “force for antisemitism in British politics.” Meanwhile, a second Labour MP, Mike Gapes, (Ilford South), has warned he could quit as well.
•Russia masses huge force off Syrian coast for final assault on rebels in Idlib. Moscow officials vow to ‘liquidate’ militants and rebels in northern Syria, after witnesses report ‘largest’ Russian naval deployment in Mediterranean since start of seven-year conflict.
• Iran has given ballistic missiles to Shi’ite proxies in Iraq that are capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Commentary/Analysis
•Op-ed from the Boston Globe raises the question: Will anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn be the next British PM?
• The UK Labor party’s national executive committee must call an end to its damaging and hurtful battle with the Jewish community.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
–Redefining “Palestinian Refugee” Is Long Overdue – David Harris
–Does the U.S. Owe Money to the Palestinians? – Bassam Tawil
–The PA at the End of Abbas’ Reign – Lior Akerman
Featured image: CC BY Thomas8047;
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