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Today’s Top Stories
1. AFP: French police arrested a man suspected of killing four people at the Brussels Jewish museum last week. The suspect had in his possession a Kalashnikov and another gun of the same type used in the attack:
A source close to the investigation says that Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old from Roubaix in northern France, is suspected of having been in the company of jihadists in Syria in 2013. He is in custody on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist attack, a judicial source said.
2. An ex-Islamist says Hamas, Hezbollah, and various Muslim diplomats all conspired to fan flames of rioting after Denmark’s 2006 Muhammed cartoon controversy. Here’s how AP/Times of Israel quoted Ahmed Akkari, a Danish Muslim
The protests and violence were thought to be spontaneous reactions, even as the ensuing mayhem escalated to the point that it was dubbed the worst international crisis for Denmark since World War II by Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen.
However, according to Akkari, there was nothing spontaneous about the Muslim reaction to the cartoons. On the contrary, it was a calculated response drawn up by Danish imams and various Muslim ambassadors who appealed for help to both influential Muslim states and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
3. Hamas paid hundreds of young men on the Temple Mount to harass and throw stones at visiting Jews. That’s what Mahmoud Toameh, a Hamas operative with a wealth of info about the terror group’s financial activities told Israeli interrogators. The Times of Israel elaborates:
These men, who ostensibly are studying Islamic theology at the site, are paid a monthly salary of NIS 4,000 to NIS 5000 ($1,150-$1,440) for their activities, the Shin Bet said.
4. Art Exhibit Falls Victim to BDS: Israeli and Palestinian artists showing their work together — what could go wrong?
Israel and the Palestinians
• The PA’s national unity government is now expected to be unveiled on Monday. The Jerusalem Post updates the latest Palestinian politicking. Cabinet ministers from Gaza were denied entry into the West Bank by Israel.
• The IDF caught a suicide bomber from Nablus trying to enter Israel. Times of Israel coverage.
• Newsweek just can’t get enough of anonymous sources alleging Israeli spying on the US. Today’s dish: Israel eavesdropped on Bill Clinton’s phone calls to Hafez Assad. The innuendo’s based on a new book which cited “private sources.”
• A Saudi publishing house is catching Arab flak for publishing an Israeli researcher’s book, reports YNet. The book,
The book, titled “Saudi Arabia and the New Strategic Landscape” was written by Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum and published in English in 2010. It deals with relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, focusing on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Khaled Abu Toameh explains the significance of four BDS activists being arrested and put on trial by the PA:
The Palestinian Authority has come to the conclusion that the BDS activists are in fact anti-peace extremists whose goal is to prevent any peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. The decision to prosecute the four Ramallah activists is also aimed at sending a message to BDS supporters worldwide that the movement is acting against the true interests of the Palestinians and promoting hatred and bigotry.
It now remains to be seen whether BDS supporters around the world will absorb the message and realize that apart from being anti-Israel, BDS is also an anti-Palestinian and anti-peace movement.
- Upgrading ties, Bibi and Putin set up direct crisis hotline.
- Why did Sudan reject Iranian anti-aircraft missile offer?
- Leaked emails blow lid on how Qatar illicitly bought the World Cup.
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