Today’s Top Stories
1. Jews biggest target of religious hate crime in the US.
2. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom accused Israel of a disproportionate response to Palestinian terrorists.
Wallstrom made her remarks after three Swedish MPs accused the government of being biased toward the Palestinians and against Israel.
In response, she condemned stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, but added that Israel’s response was “disproportionate,” Haaretz reported. She cited as ostensible proof the higher number of Palestinian than Israeli casualties.
3. Islamic State is geographically closer to Israel than people realize. According to media reports, the commander of the Sinai branch met with Hamas in Gaza to coordinate attacks on Israel and Egypt.
For its part, Hamas has smuggled weaponry from Gaza to al-Menei’s terror group in Sinai, including Cornet anti-tank missiles, which have caused heavy losses to Egypt, including considerable loss of life, at least one naval vessel and numerous tanks and armored personnel carriers, Channel 2 news said.
Israel and the Intifada
• Kerry: Israel in danger of becoming binational state. Netanyahu: No, it’s not.
• Washington Post appears to justify Palestinian violence, placing it in a context that is not supported by facts.
Clashes that began in early fall over a holy site in Jerusalem revered by both Muslims and Jews have ignited a wave of stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults that appears to have hardened the resolve of Israeli conservatives and increased Palestinians’ dismissal of their own government’s ability to serve their interests.
The violence comes amid an increase in Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and growing restrictions on the daily lives of Palestinians.
• Israeli officials are warily eying Russia’s arms buildup in Syria, especially the advanced air defense system that can reach deep into Israel.
The S-400’s specs are enough to make any Israeli’s heart race. The anti-aircraft system — constituting an array radar to monitor the skies and a missile battery — can track and shoot down targets some 400 kilometers (250 miles) away. At its new position on the Syrian coast in Latakia, that range encompasses half of Israel’s airspace, including Ben Gurion International Airport.
This is not the first time that Russian technology in Syria has called into question Israel’s aerial supremacy, and the precedent was catastrophic: In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 2K12 “Kub” missile defense system, provided to Syria by the then-Soviet Union, destroyed dozens of Israeli planes.
At the same time, Israel is also benefiting from the situation, at least for the time being:
It would seem that Israel’s close relationship with Russia and especially with its leader, Vladimir Putin, has been bearing fruit. Reports from Syria that Israel struck targets there on December 3—either once or twice—confirms the fact that Russia has given Israel a green light to continue to attack Hezbollah, Russia’s ally in its fight in Syria.
• Former Meretz leader Yossi Sarid died at the age of 75.
Around the World
• Terrorism hits London. A knife-wielding terrorist wounded three people at a London Underground station.
A knifeman launched a terrorist attack on the London Underground seriously injuring one man and wounding two other people, as he screamed “this is for Syria”.
Scotland Yard declared they were treating the attack, which happened on Saturday at Leytonstone station, east London, as “a terrorist incident”.
• The Telegraph wonders why the British royals have visited Saudi Arabia but refuse to visit Israel.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Liel Leibovitz: How to Stop Mass Casualty Terrorist Attacks: Take Violence Against Jews Seriously
– Evelyn Gordon: Israel: The West’s Strategic Asset
For more, see Thursday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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