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. Good news for the family of Marla Bennett, an American student killed in the 2002 Hebrew U. bombing. Canada froze Iranian assets so the family can claim a $13 million US judgment. The National Post explains:
Further, Judge Lamberth ruled: “Iran has continuously provided material support to and sponsorship of Hamas and its members so that they may undertake terrorist attacks like the one in this action.”
Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security were ordered to pay Ms. Bennett’s parents and sister $12,904,548. Winning that case, however, was the easy part. Collecting the money has proved challenging.
“The plaintiffs have not been able to enforce the U.S. Judgment against Iranian assets in the U.S.,” wrote Judge Allen. The family has turned its attention to Iran’s assets here.
2. Trying to provoke an IDF response in front of news cameras, Palestinians send screaming kids at soldiers. YNet explains the story behind the latest video making the rounds online. We’ve seen this before. The junior jihadis should be home doing their homework . . .
A senior IDF source told Ynet that intelligence indicates that pro-Palestinian activists pay Palestinian children from Nabi Salih and the nearby villages to confront the soldiers.
The weekly protests in the areas used to involve hundreds of people, but over time the numbers have dwindled to just a few dozens. According to the officers, the majority of protesters are foreign pro-Palestinian activists.
3. A Turkish court began the trial in absentia of four IDF commanders for their role in the Mavi Marmara raid. The BBC writes:
Nearly 500 people who were on board the ship during the raid are expected to give evidence.
The Israeli embassy in Ankara has called the trial a “unilateral political act with no judicial credibility”.
Prosecutors seek 18,000 year sentences. The Republic of Turkey should last so long.
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Israel and Iran hold ‘positive’ nuclear talks in Brussels
A handful of officials from both Israel and Iran are involved in the two-day event, ostensibly in their capacity as private citizens, in what was billed as an academic seminar.
• Channel 4”s Dispatches aired its inside look at a Tel Aviv think-tank’s Israeli-Iran war game exercise.
• Whoda thought? The granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — the godfather of the Iranian revolution — somehow got around Iran’s web filters to set up a Facebook account with the maximum 5,000 followers allowed. The Washington Post rightly notes of Naeimeh Eshraghi’s Facebook page:
If it were up the Iranian government her grandfather founded, Eshraghi would of course not have the opportunity to get to know any layers of society through Facebook. It’s a reminder of the impossibility – maybe even absurdity – of web censorship that such a public figure as Khomeini’s granddaughter would so openly discuss her use of an officially banned Web site that’s also remarkably popular. It’s just assumed that you circumvent the filters.
• Quote of the Day:
“What can we do . . . the planes were flying in the dark with their lights off.”
Sudan’s Defense Minister, Major General Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein answering why radar systems didn’t deal with aircraft (presumably Israeli) bombing a Khartoum weapons factory. Hussein’s name rings a bell . . .
