Everything you need to know about today’s coverage of Israel and the Mideast. Join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
Today’s Top Stories
1. Looks like the Israeli Air Force attacked a Hezbollah target in eastern Lebanon, or possibly in Syrian territory. Though it’s hard to judge the credibility of cited Al Arabiya and Daily Star reports, Reuters quoted an anonymous Israeli security source who confirmed “unusually intense air force activity in the north.” And NOW Lebanon identifies one of the dead as Hajji Hassan Mansour, a Hezbollah field trainer.
While Jerusalem never comments on these things, Avi Issacharoff notes that Hezbollah’s denials of any attack are based on necessity rather than honesty:
Hezbollah, which has always boasted about being the defender of Lebanon, is trying to downplay the attack in a bid to avoid an ill-timed confrontation with Israel.
2. At a press conference, Angela Merkel and Benjamin Netanyahu discussed peace efforts (mostly eye to eye), settlements (less so), and BDS (Merkel’s against, but is compelled to follow EU guidelines on matters like labeling settlement products). Times of Israel coverage.
The press conference will be better remembered for one photo sparking all kinds of buzz.
Picture of the year so far, by Jpost photographer Marc Israel Sellem #Israel #Jpost @netanyahu pic.twitter.com/Y9CbkXB2WU
— Ben Hartman (@Benhartman) February 25, 2014
3. Jerusalem Post: US envoy Samantha Powers caused a Twitter storm over Daniel Pearl’s legacy. The Wall St. Journal reporter wasn’t beheaded by an amorphous cycle of violence, but by Muslims who abducted him specifically because Pearl was Jewish. And whose accountability are we talking about anyway?
4. German Paper Apologizes for Yet Another Anti-Semitic Cartoon: Caricaturing Mark Zuckerberg as a hook-nosed octopus controlling the world crossed a line.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Israel busted a Hamas cell planning a bomb attack along Route 443, one of the two Jerusalem-Tel Aviv traffic arteries. See Times of Israel coverage.
• Pew Survey: Palestinian Arabs Dislike America More Than Any Other Group
• Professor Haim Gvirtzman lays out the truth behind Palestinian water libels.
• Snippet of the day, by Reuven Berko:
On the one hand, Qatar is funding the Hamas terrorist organization, whose mission is to eradicate Israel, while on the other hand it is promoting the Arab League’s Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative — all while Al-Jazeera “documentaries” incite the Palestinians against the Zionist enemy and warn them against compromising on “the right of return.”
• For more commentary/analysis, see Congressman Doug Lamborn (US should pressure its enemies, not its friends), Daniel Greenfield (Saudi Arabia is the Mideast’s real apartheid state), Yossi Shain (apartheid is not just a word), and Yaakov Lappin (why Gaza Islamists are sub-contracting terror to Sinai Islamists).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Breaking a UN embargo on weapons sales by Tehran, Iraq inked a $195 million deal with Iran. According to documents seen by Reuters, will supply the Iraqi army with “light and medium arms, mortar launchers, ammunition for tanks as well as artillery and mortars.”
• The head of the European Jewish Association asked Israel to send security personnel to help protect the Ukrainian Jewish community.
Ukrainian Jewish communities throughout the country are seriously concerned and feel helpless in the face of a “growing wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” . . .
(Image of Qatar via Flickr/Madame Tussauds)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
