Israel and the Palestinians
• The Committee to Protect Journalists is trying to engage the IDF in dialogue on the issue of Hamas and Islamic Jihad “journalists” targeted during the Gaza war.
• Hamas to demolish 75 homes it says were illegally built on public land. While Gazans protest, Elliott Abrams asks, Where’s the global outrage? (Emphasis mine).
The government of Israel sometimes demolishes homes, saying that they were illegally built on public land. And of course, it is a member state of the United Nations, not a terrorist group. But when it does, one can expect various governments to condemn the action and can expect action in the UN Human Rights Council, perhaps even a debate in the UN General Assembly or Security Council in New York. . . . Of course, this comparison between actions taken by Hamas and actions taken by the government of Israel will annoy some readers, and I do not mean to suggest that all such actions are the same. I mean to suggest that all those international bodies that are outspoken about home demolitions should turn their attention to Gaza as well as to Israel and the West Bank.
• It would be a significant victory for the BDS movement if the Oxford University Student Union decides to boycott Israel because it’s one of the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Details at The Oxford Student.
• Is Israel Really to Blame for Gaza’s Water Shortage?
• EU envoy to the Times of Israel: No plans to label settlement products.
• Jerusalem Post: Hamas wants to open an office in Cairo but Egyptian security shot down the idea.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Reuters,
Rest O’ the Roundup
• High-level Iranian Revolutionary Guards general killed in Lebanon, ostensibly by “mercenaries of the Zionist regime.” More at the Times of Israel.
Shateri led Guard forces in Lebanon and oversaw Iranian-financed reconstruction projects there, aiding Hezbollah both financially and by training its members.
• Iran can read the writing on the wall. They’re already in the process of transferring diplomatic and intelligence material out of Syria. Problem is, this claim first reported in an Iraqi paper is based solely on the Syrian opposition, and can’t be independently corroborated. The Jerusalem Post writes:
The intelligence is said to include secret agreements between Tehran and Damascus, minutes of meetings of senior officials and reports relating to Iran’s support of Hezbollah from Syria.
Fearing the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and that the information could be seized and used against it in international forums or serve as a justification for a future attack on Tehran, the Iranian leadership decided to transfer the documents to Tehran, according to the paper.
• Iran and Russia came to terms on a “strategic partnership.” According to Amir Taheri, in addition to intelligence cooperation, Moscow will train Iranians in crowd control and civil unrest while Tehran will host Russian warships in the Straits of Hormuz.
• The National Post reports that Hezbollah’s Bulgaria bombing was a “family affair” too:
A Canadian suspected of organizing the bombing of a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria is a relative of the unidentified terrorist who died while planting the explosives, the National Post has learned.
DNA testing has confirmed the terrorist attack that killed six at the Sarafovo Airport last July was a family affair, but officials have not determined whether the bomb carrier who died was also a Canadian citizen.
The exact nature of the relationship between the terrorist killed in the explosion and his Canadian co-conspirator remains unclear.
(Image of Herod exhibit via YouTube/Kaplan Ruppin)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
