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. The Israeli air force launched air strikes against Syrian military targets after a bomb blast injured four IDF soldiers patrolling the border. Yaakov Lappin and Ron Ben-Yishai see Hezbollah as the prime suspect while Amos Harel focuses on Bashar Assad’s culpability.
Later today, Syria confirmed that one soldier was killed and seven more were injured in the Israeli retaliation. Damascus also played the “regional stability” card. YNet writes:
“Repeating such hostile acts (airstrikes) would endanger the security and stability of the region and make it open to all possibilities,” said the Syrian military statement.
2. Over at CNN, Michael Oren discussed Israel’s heightened state of alert after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Meanwhile, Nic Robertson visited the Ministry of Transportation’s aviation security operation center to see how staffers track incoming aircraft.
Yossi Melman points out that Malaysia might have benefited from Israeli expertise and avoided the tragedy if not for its stubborn antagonism to the Jewish state, while David Wagner reminds us what Israeli aviation security expertise could teach the world.
3. LA Times: The White House expelled Syria’s diplomats from the US and ordered the closure of its embassy in Washington. But ties aren’t completely severed (yet). Earlier this week, Daniel Rubinstein, the former consul general in Jerusalem, was appointed as Washington’s top envoy to Syria.
4. New York Times: No Context Behind the One-State Solution: The Gray Lady fails to explain what a single-state solution really means.
5. Guardian Headline Fail Over Golan Heights Attack: You’d think Israel attacked Syrian civilians.
6. Comments and the Roar of the Crowd – 6: The latest from my inbox.
7. Fighting BDS – Countering BDS Bullying: What’s the real reason the BDS movement targets international musicians who perform in Israel?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Your daily dose of denial: Nabil Shaath denied media reports that the Palestinians would recognize Israel as a Jewish state after the peace talks.
In response, Shaath told Ma’an that his quotes were misinterpreted.
• Daily Telegraph: Mahmoud Abbas implies that Mohammed Dahlan was involved in the death of Yasser Arafat. Silly me: all this time, I thought it was masterminded by Rachel Corrie’s parents.
• You may be surprised at what happened to a group of Israeli Arab, Druze and Bedouin students who visited some Toronto area universities.
Israeli Arabs help debunk apartheid myths
• I’m glad Jodi Rudoren, the NY Times‘ Jerusalem bureau chief, appreciates how the terminology of Israel news coverage is so important.
- “Bomb-maker brags about El Al blast, posts Lockerbie photos
- Why has nobody ever seen Ayatollah Khamenei’s anti-nuclear fatwa?
- Israel urges US not cancel sale of Apache helicopters to Egypt
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