Israel and the Palestinians
• CNN has it’s own additional footage of the Beitunia shooting, prompting this Israeli media response:
While CNN stated that the video was inconclusive about indicating whether live fire or rubber bullets were used in the shooting incident, an Israeli expert told Channel 2 that the guns look like they are equipped for firing rubber bullets.
• Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the peace process in a Q&A with Jeffrey Goldberg that also touched on Syria and Iran.
• Hamas: We’ll use unity to move terror to the West Bank.
• The top dog in in international soccer arrives in Ramallah tomorrow, where the PLO’s goal is to boot Israel out of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Haaretz reports that FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter will also meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian soccer federation officials.
• Jerusalem Post: Golan Druze are demanding the ability to vote in Syria’s upcoming presidential election.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Aaron David Miller (John Kerry’s three delusions) Yoram Ettinger (A Palestinian state — not a priority), and Burak Bekdil (Turkish “conquest” is good while Israeli “occupation” is bad).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Bad news from Europe:
• 3 dead in shooting at Brussels Jewish museum
• Two Jews attacked outside Paris synagogue
• The Mavi Marmara death toll rose to ten. According to YNet, a Turkish man left comatose during the raid died on Friday.
• The leader of the most prominent Sinai jihadist group was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
Shadi al-Menei, the head of a Sinai Peninsula Islamist militant group, was shot dead on Friday by unknown assailants, security sources said, days before Egypt holds elections to vote for a new president…
Al-Menei was the head of Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, or “Defenders of Jerusalem,” which was responsible for several recent attacks on security forces in Egypt.
• Lebanon is turning away Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria, while accepting Syrian nationals. And according Christian Science Monitor, the UNRWA bureaucracy (surprise, surprise) is part of the problem:
Exacerbating the resource strain is the fact that Palestinian-Syrians report to the UN Welfare Relief Agency (UNRWA), created to deal with Palestinian refugees, rather than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is called upon in almost any other refugee crisis, including this one.
For example, Syrian nationals can seek medical care in Lebanese hospitals, with costs paid by UNHCR and partners, while Palestinian-Syrians have to rely largely on field clinics or foot the bills themselves, says Lana Fakih, a spokeswoman for Human Rights Watch based in Beirut.
• Lebanon enters a new power vacuum as President Michel Suleiman stepped down. The country’s political deadlock ruined any chance of an agreement on a successor, and this could be a long-term problem. Reuters coverage.
• US targets Hezbollah’s wallet
• Virgins for everyone!
• 2 Jihadis die in Gaza training accident
• Terrorist killed by own bomb
• Kid-friendly alternative to Facebook takes off in Israeli schools.
The social network ‘Nipagesh,’ founded by an Israeli entrepreneur with a 10-year-old daughter, allows only schools to set up accounts, guaranteeing that everyone signed up is actually a kid.
(Image of soccer ball via Flickr/Feans)
For more, see Thursday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
[sc:bottomsignup].
