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. Turkey exposed an Israeli spy network to Iran last year, writes the Washington Post‘s David Ignatius:
The Turkish-Israeli relationship became so poisonous early last year that the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to have disclosed to Iranian intelligence the identities of up to 10 Iranians who had been meeting inside Turkey with their Mossad case officers.
Knowledgeable sources describe the Turkish action as a “significant” loss of intelligence and “an effort to slap the Israelis.”
See reactions from the Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, and Israel HaYom.
2. US officials described talks with Iran as serious, candid, and intense. Israeli officials urged the West to keep sanctions in place despite the latest proposals. Time correspondent Karl Vick takes the view that one man’s reality check is another man’s “grumbling.”
3. The rise of Al-Qaeda along the Syria-Turkey border creates bigger dilemmas for the Erdogan government. A weapons pipeline Turkey provided the rebels is boomeranging on Ankara as Al-Qaida rises along the Syria-Turkey border, Reuters reports:
Ankara has found itself facing accusations that indiscriminate support for the rebels has allowed weapons and foreign fighters to cross into northern Syria and facilitated the rise of radical groups.
“We are being accused of supporting al Qaeda,” a source close to the Turkish government said . . .
4. Amira Hass: “Why Shouldn’t Hamas Dig Tunnels?” Haaretz columnist ignores intent to draw moral equivalence between IDF and Palestinian terrorists.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Bad news for the boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Facebook’s opening an R&D center in Ramat Gan. I dare BDS to boycott Facebook.
“It was a momentous decision for Facebook to open its first R&D center outside the US. We chose Israel in the knowledge that the best talent is found here.”
• More bad news for BDS: The Irish Independent reports that entrepreneurs from “five up and coming Irish high-tech firms” are visiting Israel to learn how businesses pulled off so many achievements.
• Even more bad news for BDS: Nigerian president to lead 30,000 pilgrims to Israel, according to AllAfrica:
. . . the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) says pilgrims would begin leaving for the holy sites this October .
While in Israel, the President will lead Nigerian officials to sign air services agreement with that Middle East country.
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Britain and Iran agreed to appoint envoys to each other within two weeks. AFP coverage.
• What do everyday Iranians know about the Holocaust?
• For more commentary/analysis, see Tim Marshall, Emmanuel Navon, and Jeffrey Goldberg.
The Syrian Situation
• Hezbollah found an “Israeli spy eagle” in Lebanon; a brass band around its foot that said Tel Aviv University was the giveaway. If James Bond can talk to the animals, why not Hezbollah?
• Back to school in Syria is a deadly time for kids as The Media Line reports army attacks on school buildings.
• A Sky News Arabia crew disappeared in northern Syria.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
