Today’s Top Stories
1. Donald Trump postponed his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu – to sometime “after I become President of the U.S.” But not before prompting protests from Israeli lawmakers and Netanyahu’s own attempt to distance himself from Trump’s position on Muslims.
2. ISIS in Israel? Five Israeli Arabs arrested on suspicion of supporting ISIS and possibly planning an attack.
About 34 Arab citizens of Israel have been arrested over the last year on suspicion of activities related to the Islamic State, according to Shin Bet, and 32 more are believed to have gone to Syria or Iraq, where the Islamic State controls territory. A security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with her agency’s rules, said that there had been a slight increase in the number of Israeli citizens suspected of Islamic State-related activity in 2015 compared with 2014, but that early detection had prevented any serious threat.
3. Israel and the U.S. successfully carried out a test of the Arrow-3 missile defense system, designed to stop long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The system intercepts incoming missiles close to their launch point, keeping them out of Israel’s airspace.
Israel and the Intifada
• Respected military expert Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi analyzed a recent meeting of the Fatah Central Committee. His conclusion, as described by Ruthie Blum:
Basing his account of the meeting’s details on reports in the Palestinian media, Halevi highlighted four key outcomes, in an attempt to explain the current security situation in Israel and provide context for future moves taken by the PA.
The first, said Halevi, was “total support for the knife terror and the Al-Quds [Arabic for Jerusalem] intifada.” The second: “Preparing to end the security cooperation with Israel.” The third was “continuing the lawfare against Israel in the international arena.” And the fourth – “claiming Palestinian ownership of the Western Wall.”
• Palestinian Media Watch finds Facebook video by cute Palestinian girl brandishing a knife and exhorting people to stab, stab, stab. But HR’s photo of Golda Meir is out of bounds?
Around the World
• David Brog, head of Sheldon Adelson’s $50 million anti-BDS project, reveals how his Maccabee Task Force is going to operate for the next year.
“We plan to invest in better short videos and articles that will arm our pro-Israel students,” Brog said. He added that there may be support for trips to Israel for small groups of non-Jewish young leaders. The task force, which now has a staff of five, will also consider launching new advocacy groups if it determines the current ones are deficient in certain areas. But the emphasis for now is on collaboration, working together with those already in the field and strengthening their efforts.
“It’s hard to say where we’ll be a year from now,” Brog said, “but we’ll focus on truths about Israel that will move students. We hope to have a holistic strategy that will resonate with undecided students and appeal to their heads and their hearts.”
• Israel-UK trade remains strong despite success of BDS movement in Britain.
Britain, which has emerged as a center of Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment activity against Israel, was in 2014 the third largest market for Israeli exports in the world, following the US and Hong Kong.
“All the talk of boycotts is extremely frustrating at time when we perhaps have the greatest breadth and depth of the relationship than ever before,” said British Ambassador David Quarrey.
Quarrey said that not only is the number of Israeli companies using the UK as a bridge into Europe growing, but that in 2014 more Israeli companies were listed on the London Stock Exchange than from any other country, with the exception of the UK.
• Is Russia marginalizing Iranian influence in Syria? Some analysts are starting to think so:
Syrian opposition sources report that Russia is also trying to have Hezbollah forces leave Syria. This will most likely be opposed by both Assad and Iran. Unlike Iran, which has an estimated 5,000 officers and 25,000 soldiers under Iranian command on the ground, Russia still has no ground troops in Syria. But Russia is also making good use of aerial attacks in order to impose control. These attacks are far more effective than the contributions of the Revolutionary Guards soldiers and other forces they command, and have made Russia the most important military force in Syria.
And this is exactly what the Iranian commanders feared. Rebel sources report that the Iranians are writing to their superiors in Tehran, warning them of being pushed aside on the Syrian front, and of the possibility that Syria will become a full Russian dependency.
Could that be why Iran is expending so much effort on cyber weapons?
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Iran is constantly sharpening its arsenal of digital weapons – cyberspace is increasingly critical front for most modern nation-states. But its concentration on developing cyber weapons, and carrying out hacks on American and Middle East targets, certainly wasn’t a reaction to Stuxnet.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Denis MacEoin: EU Makes Up Bogus Laws to Target — Guess Who?
– Eyal Zisser: Israel paying price of Obama’s fire sale
– Jonathan Freedland: The day Israel saw Shoah
– Brendan O’Neill: The wretched reason why Israel became Europe’s whipping boy
Graphic credit: CCBY-Pedro Ribeiro Simões-flickr-pedrosimoes
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