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. Another Gaza flotilla due to set sail on Friday. Unlike previous flotillas, this one’s voyaging *from* Gaza to test the six-nautical-mile sailing limit. From YNet:
The act of demonstration is being done in conjunction with Palestinian fishermen, said the message that the activists published, who are demanding that the Israelis extend their fishing area. The activists say the purpose of the flotilla is to remind the world that Gaza is still under a naval closure.
2. The IDF’s medical team left the Philippine, handing over the Bogo field hospital and its equipment to German and Austrian aid workers. Here’s a by-the-numbers look at what the Israelis accomplished in nine days on the ground, based on the Times of Israel.
148 — members of the Israeli medical team
2,600 — overall patients treated
800 — babies treated
More than 300 — patients served per day
3. Activist Daniel Seidemann blamed “the occupation” after Palestinians stoned his car in eastern Jerusalem. Seidemann detailed it all on Facebook posts one and two, which got the Jerusalem Post‘s attention. I hope he gets better. Does Seidemann realize he’s inciting Palestinians to continue stoning him?
But this ends not when Palestinians behave better, or when our Shin Bet becomes more efficient. It ends when occupation ends. Until then, I remain a symbol of that occupation, and not without reason. And no good deeds, as it were, will redeem me or protect me.
4. Obstinate NY Times Provides Picture of Bias: If misleading readers’ emotions does not justify a correction, is the paper is genuinely concerned with getting the story right in the first place?
5. The NSWJBD/Honest Reporting Israel Mission continued with a day in Hebron and Gush Etzion. Misson participant Diane Shteinman describes it all at J-Wire.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Khaled Abu Toameh weighs in on Saeb Erekat being resigned (pun intended) to the peace talks:
Erekat will probably enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of times he supposedly resigned.
• In the UN General Assembly, 158 countries approved another bash-Israel resolution. The vote was a close call for one blogger at The Guardian unhappy with Australia’s abstention.
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Take your pick of seven, eight, or nine questions you might be asking about the Iran deal.
• Reuters: The prime minister’s top security advisor, Yossi Cohen, was dispatched to Washington to discuss a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran.
• The NY Times, LA Times, and Jerusalem Post look at the nuclear talks’ ripple effects on the Mideast.
• For commentary/analysis, see Noah Beck, Bret Stephens, Charles Lane, Roger Cohen, Douglas Murray, CNN, AP, Christian Science Monitor, and McClatchy News.
Also on tap are staff-eds in The Guardian and Baltimore Sun. Last but not least: Fisk’s being Fisk again.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• The Zaatari refugee camp, home of 150,000 Syrian refugees, is a bleak place of lawlessness, restlessness, and squalor. No wonder The Independent found a lot of refugees would rather go home and fight:
Resources are stretched. Food is minimal. Accessing healthcare is a challenge. And some refugees report that the drinking water supplied at the camp is contaminated, spreading disease.
Other factors prompting Syrians to consider leaving the camp include rising lawlessness. With no judicial system in place theft and violence is common and goes unpunished.
• The BBC visited the Sieff Hospital in Safed where an Israel-Arab social worker deals with the ups and downs of frightened patients.
(Image of Philippines via Flickr/Israel Defense Forces, Zaatari via YouTube/PBS NewsHour)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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