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. Iran filed a $4 billion lawsuit against Russia over a cancelled arms deal — for similar S-300 missiles being sold to Syria. UPI explains; you’ll love Moscow’s excuse for the squelched sale:
Russia signed an $800 million arms contract with Iran at the end of 2007. Russia was to supply Tehran with five S-300PMU-1 missile defense system battalions.
However, in September 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree that canceled the deal in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929, which bans supplying Iran with conventional weapons.
Iran has argued that the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems don’t fall under the U.N. resolution because they are considered defensive weapons.
2. Mahmoud Abbas appointed Rami Hamdallah as new Palestinian prime minister. The former president of an-Najah National University replaces Salam Fayyad and his first task is to form a new cabinet. See Jerusalem Post and NY Times coverage.
Khaled Abu Toameh and Amos Harel took dim views of the appointment. Harel calls Hamdallah’s appointment “a suicide mission,” while Toameh calls the new prime minister “a ‘yes man’ with no political experience.”
3. According to the PA, some 2,000 Palestinians are now in Syrian prisons. Maan News elaborates:
Ahmad Majdalani, who returned Friday from a brief visit to Syria, told Ma’an that about 1,300 of the 2,000 Palestinians in Syrian custody were thought to have taken part in the fighting there.
But he said the others had no involvement and should be released.
4. The Guardian’s Atomic Omission: If you can’t resist labeling Israel as “defiant,” just be upfront and say those darn Zionists didn’t sign on to the NPT.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Palestinians to Reuters: John Kerry wants to know by June 7 if we’re serious about peace talks.
• A new study found — is it any surprise? — that Israel, God, the Holocaust, and Hitler are Wikipedia’s most controversial topics.
• The National Post examines Canada’s ongoing role in training Palestinian security forces.
- What are the implications of Sheikh Yusef Qaradawi’s mea culpa?
- The Morsi regime’s still struggling to get the Sinai under control.
- Iraq warns Israel not to use its airspace to attack Iran.
