South Floridian covering tech, security & politics for
@WSJ
in Israel / Palestinian territories.
احب ان اسمع منكم / אשמח לשמוע מכם
Dov.lieber
@wsj
.com
Israel has now decided to allow
@RashidaTlaib
into Israel in order to visit her 90-year-old grandmother. The congresswoman promised not to promote any boycott of Israel during her visit.
Nice story.
Israel says Palestinian security forces helped it quickly locate 5 Torah scrolls stolen recently from a synagogue in Jaffa and taken to Hebron.
Back to back rocket barrages in Tel Aviv now.
And Google maps has a new feature here: it shows every bomb shelter. A nice feature as sometimes people don’t know which direction to run and take shelter.
New poll by Maariv finds Israeli electorate has shifted since Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection.
Largest party is
@yairlapid
’s Yesh Atid with 27 seats. Likud would get 26
Opposition 65 seats, coalition parties 55
For past 4 years, most polls showed deadlock or win for Bibi
A senior Hamas official and Egyptian officials told The Wall Street Journal that the Palestinian group had lost contact with some of the militants holding hostages, and civilians also had participated in taking hostages, making it difficult to determine how many are being held.
Interesting: Abbas phoned leaders of many Arab states, Turkey and just one EU country to pressure US to stop declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
That EU country was France.
(3) I know this place means a lot to many people. I'll do my best to report out the most important stories, especially those overlooked by the foreign media. If you want to be a part of that, please reach out.
In face heavy criticism at home, Miss Iraq defends her photo with Miss Israel a message of peace, but says it doesn't mean she accepts Israel govt policy.
BTW, she still has pic w/ Miss Israel on her Instagram page.
#BREAKING
: Palestinian health ministry says 30-year-old Mohammad al-Masri killed east of Khan Younis Gaza.
Red Crescent says it has treated a total of 245 injures in West Bank and Jerusalem.
Very interesting: Senior Palestinian official Mohammad Shtayeh said there were some Arab countries that refused to hold an emergency Arab summit over Trump's Jerusalem decision
Arik Barbing, former head of Jerusalem & West Bank divisions at Israel’s internal security service about 2003 law preventing Palestinians marrying Israelis from getting citizenship:
“We’re in a different situation in 2021...The issue is demography, but no one will say this.”
-- Personal update:
After 2 years with
@TimesofIsrael
, I'm happy to announce that next week I'll be joining the
@WSJ
team here in Israel / the Palestinian territories.
This map, put together with info from intelligence officials and
@LeBeckInt
shows the common route by which Iran, with the help of Iraqi Shiite militias, brings weapons from Iran to Syria & Lebanon.
Israel is intent on shutting this route:
@WSJ
(2) I'll now have more flexibility to deepen our coverage here, alongside
@tggrove
. Hopefully that means more stories about Israel's booming tech sector, and more penetrating looks at the conflict, local politics and of course, the pandemic.
BREAKING: Israel says it will return its supply of power to Gaza to the regular amount by tomorrow after more than half a year of the PA refusing to pay for 35% of the electricity.
Last week, PA said it would pay again.
It’s not helpful to pick a fight with the USA over side issues while we together fight the clear and present danger of The Theo-Fascist Islamic republic
BREAKING: Abbas's senior diplomatic advisor says Palestinians will no longer meet any US officials regarding peace process.
-- includes Jason Greenblatt, who's coming w/ Pence this week, & Jared Kushner
- Greenblat did not ask for meeting with Pals
Whoa.
Islamic state in the Sinai releases new video, calling for its members to attack the "apostate" Hamas in Gaza.
In the video, ISIS executes a man who it said smuggled weapons to Hamas from the Sinai
Only 58% of evangelicals ages 18 to 34 hold positive views of Israel, compared with 76% of evangelicals over 65, a new poll finds
-- Young Evangelicals are going in the same direction as America's liberal Jewish youth.
Israeli researchers say this an objective confirmation of Pfizer's own findings announced earlier this week.
The takeaway: Individuals who received boosters may be more likely to be infected with Omicron than other variants, but will be unlikely to develop severe illness.
Israel's DoD says today it has developed tech that will allow it to shoot mortars/ RPGs/drones out of the sky with laser beams.
Lasers can be mounted on tanks and UAV's too.
Iran gained access to secret U.N. atomic agency reports almost 20 years ago and circulated them among officials who concealed suspected past work on nuclear weapons
BREAKING: Palestinian Authority decides to restore its regular provision of electricity to Gaza after more than half a year of leaving the Strip with just 4 hours daily
.
@benshapiro
: "If you are a Jew and you walk into East Jerusalem, your life is in danger. If you're an Arab and you walk into West Jerusalem, there's no problem at all, which signifies exactly why Jerusalem should be under Jewish control and not under Muslim control."
A Jewish blogger for
@TimesofIsrael
visited Medinah, Saudi Arabia, including the Prophet's mosque, where non-Muslims are not allowed. His pictures have set off vast anger on Arabic social media. He has his own hashtag: صهيوني_بالحرم_النبوي# - "Zionist in the Prophet's Mosque"
هذا الصحافي الإسرائيلي Ben Tzion الذي يعمل في موقع
@TimesofIsrael
يدخل إلى مدينة الرسول الأكرم ويدنس المسجد النبوي الشريف وينشر صورا له مع سعوديين داخل المسجد على حسابه على الانستاغرام #صهيوني_بالحرم_النبوي #السعودي_فاشل #ضد_ال_سعود
Saudi Arabia invited leaders of Hamas to Jeddah to discuss a renewal of ties, which have been cool since 2007.
Officials & analysts say the meeting was facilitated by the recent Iran-Saudi rapprochement.
PA leader Abbas also going to
Saudi.
Last Saturday, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar called on Palestinians to prepare to use guns, knives, cleavers & axes to attack Israelis.
Last night, 2 Palestinians from West Bank killed 3 Israelis in axe attack
Our story on Hamas's media campaign:
Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinian militants in an arrest operation in a Palestinian refugee camp near Jericho.
Notably, among militants were Hamas members & Jericho region has been largely quiet during current escalation in the West Bank
Israel will host a first-of-its-kind summit of foreign ministers from Arab countries, as the region braces for a revived nuclear deal with Iran via
@WSJ
Tonight is Passover, the holiday in which Jews celebrate freedom. We placed a spot at our Seder table in honor of our friend & WSJ reporter Evan Gerskovitch who is being held in a Russian jail.
#IStandWithEvan
Israeli PM
@yairlapid
arrives in Berlin with 5 Holocaust survivors, including Shoshana Trister, seen here locking arms with the Israeli leader. At the top of the agenda — Iran nuclear talks, which are currently stalled and may not pick up until after US midterms.
***SCOOP
In March, the U.S. Held Secret Meeting With Israeli, Arab Military Chiefs to Counter Iran Air Threat
-- In attendance in Sharm el Sheikh: top military officers from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt & Jordan
via
@mgordonwsj
&
@DavidSCloud
Islamic State slams Hamas for fighting only Jews that occupy Palestinians land. Hamas needs to hate Jews for their "corrupt" creed, Islamic State says.
(1) While the
@nytimes
report about the supposed deal offered by Saudi Crown Prince to Palestinian leader Abbas might be true, there are a few holes which make me question its precision.
Jordan says it's security forces arrested 17 Islamic State members planning big attacks in the Kingdom and stir up chaos. Arrests took place in November.
-- Reports from
#Syria
say
#Israel
, & not the US, was behind the airstrikes on t4 base in Homs.
-T4 base is where Iranian drone that entered Israel took off from.
- Israel's air force also carried out airstrikes overnight in Gaza against Hamas sites, Gaza reports say
Jerusalem stabber, Yasin Abu al-Qur’a, at central bus station left one last message on his Facebook:
"In your path, oh homeland, oh Jerusalem, oh Al Aqsa, our blood is cheap"