• The night the lights went out in Gaza: Fuel shortage brings electricity production to a standstill. Hamas blames Israel and the PA.
• Your daily dose of snooty British condescension, courtesy of The Guardian:
• Not only did Hamas not hold any “celebrations” for last week’s prisoner release, they wouldn’t let the media cover the handful of prisoners Israel dropped off at the Erez crossing. Al Monitor writes:
Instead, Hamas chose to ignore their return, and even worse, to hide it. Hamas TV, which broadcasts from Gaza, did not report on the prisoner release, Palestinian journalists were forbidden from going to the Erez crossing point to document the newly released prisoners’ return, and those same prisoners’ families were asked to “celebrate quietly and discreetly.” Once again, Hamas gave a very public sign of the enormous crisis it is facing as a movement.
• UNRWA: Turning Children Into Terrorists
• For more commentary/analysis, see Hillel Neuer.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Palestinians lose more than most in Syrian exodus
• Don’t act surprised. A lengthy NY Times piece about the US eavesdropping on allies mentions the NSA tracked “high priority Israeli military targets,” and also shared raw intelligence with Israel. More background at the Jerusalem Post.
• Israel will be the first country to receive V-22 Osprey aircraft from the US. The LA Times reports that the six planes known for their tilting rotors will be delivered to Israel in two years:
The planes can land and take off vertically by tilting their two propellers, expanding the Israeli military’s ability to conduct long-range, high-speed troop movements into areas without runways and maritime search-and-rescue operations, officials said.
• It’s been a few weeks since his last public appearance, but Ayatollah Khamenei’s back . . .
Khamenei’s offensive charm: Calls Israel ‘bastard regime’
(Image of Nkoana-Mashabane via YouTube/sabcdigitalnews, Osprey via US Dept. of Defense)
For more, see Thursday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
