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. Islamic Jihad fired rockets at southern Israel this morning. Two of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, the others landed in open areas causing no injuries or damage. Israel retaliated with air strikes on Gaza arms depots. Take your pick of YNet, Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz coverage.
It seems that the rocket fire is more about a feud between Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Islamic Jihad broke off all contact with Hamas, blaming it for the death of Raed Jundiya, who headed Jihad’s rocket brigade. Jundiya was killed in a clash with Hamas. AFP says the two sides blame each other.
Gotta like this Times of Israel headline:
2. Egypt’s top military figure: If government and protesters don’t reconcile, the army will intervene. McClatchy News reports:
Defense Minister Abdel-Fatah el Sissi’s comments were the most forceful to date by a senior official of Egypt’s revered military in response to months of unrest and seemed to threaten the possibility of a military coup if protests lead to bloodshed or, as el Sissi described it, “uncontrollable conflict.”
El Sissi gave Morsi and his opponents a week to reconcile.
3. Russia’s most advanced intelligence-gathering ship is in the eastern Mediterranean, reports Israel Defense.
From past experience, it appears that the purpose of the visit to the area is for gathering intelligence on NATO and US force activities, as well as Israel’s readiness with regards to the situation in Syria – where Russia has military interests and assets, and thus is concerned of military intervention.
4. We’re experimenting with an audio version of yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.
5. A sneak preview of our latest slideshow: Photo Bias in the Media.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Worth reading: Experts talking to The Media Line assess why Rami Hamdallah’s tenure collapsed after only 18 days.
• Israel likely to ‘dodge EU bullet’ on peace process
• According to Reuters, Egypt’s continuing to crackdown on Gaza’s smuggling tunnels.
- Report reveals how Hezbollah raises money from German mosque groups.
- Egypt may run out of fuel by the end of the month.
- Who was picked to replace Stanley Fischer at the Bank of Israel?