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Today’s Top Stories
1. A Lebanese army soldier shot and killed an IDF soldier near a border post at Rosh HaNikra. The fallen soldier, 31-year-old Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen, from Afula, succumbed to his wounds on the way to the hospital and will be buried this afternoon. Later that night, an IDF patrol in near the same area opened fire on suspicious movement, killing two Lebanese soldiers.
Cohen’s killer reportedly turned himself in to Lebanese authorities. YNet has more details on the IDF’s findings. According to Haaretz, neither side wants an escalation. The Cohen family asked for no media coverage of today’s 5:00 p.m. funeral.
2. Is Hamas on the verge of bankruptcy?
3. Islamist rebels plundered Syria’s ancient Jobar synagogue seizing Torah scrolls and other items. According to the Times of Israel:
. . . the objects were being held inside Syria by a group affiliated with the Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist organization associated with al-Qaeda and defined as a terrorist organization by the US. He said the stolen items include at least three or four Torah scrolls as well as ancient Jewish scrolls and silverware.
“They took everything they could get their hands on,” the source said. “They want prisoners held by Assad [in exchange for them].”
4. Lebanon Border Incidents Expose Poor Journalism: Instead of clearing away the fog of war, headlines and speculation add to it.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Azmi Bishara’s baaaaaack in the news, and Dreyfus he ain’t.
• Why am I not surprised? In an AFP piece tying together Nelson Mandela and the anti-Israel BDS movement, the only two Israelis quoted are Haaretz columnists. (Chemi Shalev and Ari Shavit.)
• By The Guardian‘s standards, Keith Kahn-Harris’s take-down of Roger Waters is pretty good, though it helps to ignore one line about ethnic cleansing.
• There’s a lot of outrage at Haifa U., which denied an honorary an honorary doctorate to Nobel laureate Professor Robert Aumann purely because of his political views:
At a hearing to discuss the candidacy last week, the director, Ami Ayalon, agreed with other board members not to award the title, citing concerns that “the Professor’s politics are not in line with the University’s values.”
Among the board’s concerns were remarks by Aumann in 2010 stating that “the most sensible solution” to the Israeli-Arab conflict is “a Jewish state and an Arab state, where the Jewish state is settled by Jews and the Arab state is settled by Arabs.”
Dr. Haim Shine reacts:
If Aumann is disqualified at the University of Haifa for his nationalist opinions, it is no wonder that universities in Britain reject Israeli scientists just because, in their eyes, the Haifa campus is located in occupied Palestine.
• For more commentary/analysis see Michael Curtis (EU aid to the PA), and Abraham Ben-Zvi (linkage).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Reuters: Susan Rice’s trying to get skeptical Israeli officials aboard Uncle Sam’s Iranian nuclear bandwagon. But Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal rained on Washington’s parade. The prince blasted US foreign policy in interviews with both the Wall St. Journal and NY Times.
• After a Long Delay, Lebanon Finally Says Yes to Ikea Housing for Syrian Refugees
• Syrian bombing raid on Aleppo kills 76, including 28 children. According to Reuters, the army dropped “barrel bombs.” Imagine the outrage if Israel indiscriminately fired at civilians like this?
Barrel bombs are explosive-filled cylinders or oil barrels, often rolled out of the back of helicopters with little attempt at striking a particular target but capable of causing widespread casualties and significant damage.
(Image of Cohen via Facebook/Shlomi Cohen)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
