Iran’s Apologists Will Have a Hard Time Explaining Away Ahmadinejad Speech

Iranian Atomic Urgency

• Why is Israel lobbying more than 100 countries to boycott (or downgrade their representation) at the Non-Aligned Movement of countries’ summit, which is being hosted by Iran? The Times of Israel explains:

According to documents obtained by Western diplomatic sources, at the summit Iran intends to press for a resolution that would recognize the right of developing countries to pursue nuclear power and to enrich uranium, beyond limits and accountability imposed on signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.

If such a resolution were to pass, it is likely that Iran would use it to emphasize its right to enrich uranium in opposition to the West.

• If you’re reading the tea leaves of Israeli and Iranian pronouncements, don’t miss Ephraim Halevy’s latest comments. He’s quoted in the NY Times:

“If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks,” said Efraim Halevy, a former chief of Israel’s intelligence agency and national security adviser.

• For more commentary, see Walter Pincus (Washington Post), CNN, Jerusalem Post, and YNet.

Arab Spring Winter

• Itamar Rabinovich addresses contradictory myths about Israel and the Syrian civil war. Writing in The Guardian, the ex-ambassador looks at Assad’s party line that the uprising is a US-Israeli conspiracy, and the idea that Jerusalem prefers “the devil you know.”

• Syrian rebels executed several members of a prominent Aleppo family said to be close to the Assad regime. Someone posted a very graphic video on YouTube, sparking debate on whether the executions were a war crime. More at The Lede and the Globe & Mail.

• An iPhone insurgency? You betcha.

This fight has been defined in Syria by endless images shot by mobile phone and volunteer videographers who know the importance of winning the media war.

Every fighter seems to have at least one mobile phone, used to speak with families, Skype girlfriends, and even advise Syrian soldiers how to defect to the opposition. Some note the difference a generation can make to the fate of their challenge against the government – and providing video evidence of atrocities and war crimes that are corroding the legitimacy of the regime.

• Egypt’s beleaguered Christians worry about persecution and neglect.

Rest O’ the Roundup

• Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah claims Hezbollah has reached a “balance of terror” with Israel. Here’s why Balance of “Activism” Doesn’t Sound Right for Nasrallah’s purposes.

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.

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