Al Qaeda growing stronger under Taliban’s umbrella, UN finds - Thomas Joscelyn (Long War Journal) the Taliban is the “primary partner for all foreign terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, with the exception of” the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch, which seeks to undermine the Taliban’s legitimacy

Tehran Sets Up Terror Cells in Africa- Con Coughlin (Telegraph-UK)

New Zealand Minister Apologizes for Map Excluding Israel - Henry Benjamin (JTA)

PA top officials support terrorist murderers: They are "before all" and second only to Allah - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

 

Saudi Arabia Arrests Saudis and Palestinian Expats Who Support Hamas - Hana Salah (Al Monitor)

Hizbullah Giving Orders to Syria's Army - and Using It to Spy on Israel - Avi Issacharoff (Times of Israel)

Erdogan's Ruling Party Loses Again in Istanbul Mayoral Re-run (BBC News) President Erdogan congratulated the winner. 

Did you know BBC has decided to stop using "terror" because "someone's terrorist is another's freedom fighter" - No judgments here https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidance/terrorism-language/guidance-full

ISIS Expands in Afghanistan, Threatening West (AP-Military Times) ISIS in Afghanistan received a major boost when the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan joined its ranks in 2015. Today it counts thousands of fighters, many from central Asia but also from Arab countries, Chechnya, India and Bangladesh, as well as ethnic Uighurs from China.

An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But is He a Real Person? Murtaza Hussain (The Intercept) Good to know, but I'm still confused by MEK's goals.

IAEA: Iran Has Accelerated Enrichment of Uranium - Sabine Siebold and Francois Murphy (Reuters)

Woman Admits Role in Smuggling Airplane Parts to Iran- William Westhoven (Morristown [NJ] Daily Record)

Arabs' Nightmare: Absorbing Palestinians - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute) While the author says "Arabs'" this article is about Lebanon. Like most Arab countries, Lebanon has long treated Palestinians as second-class citizens. It has been depriving them of basic rights, including citizenship, employment, heath care, education, social services and property ownership. The vast majority of the 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon do not have Lebanese citizenship.

UN chief urges implementation of arms embargo against Libya - Edith Lederer (Washington Post)

Why Is the PA So Opposed to the Bahrain Conference? - Pinhas Inbari (Algemeiner)

Palestinian hypocrisy: Jibril Rajoub forbids Palestinian-Israeli sports,  yet in Paris says sports is "a bridge of love and connection  with the international community"  - Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Maurice Hirsch, Adv (PMW)

The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians - Raymond Ibrahim (Gatestone)

Syrian Opposition Uncovers Maps of Iranian Missiles Caches (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)  

Russian jets kill at least 25 in north-western Syria: rescuers (Reuters)

What I Learned at the D.C. Dyke Marc - Carly Pildis (Tablet Magazine)

David Friedman Didn't Endorse Annexation - Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS)

International Law Supports Israel Retaining Some of the West Bank - Alan M. Dershowitz (Ha'aretz)

Two items from Honest Reporting - worth reading the details

Newsweek Links Israel to Myanmar Ethnic Cleansing - Simon Plosker (Honest Reporting)  Maza’s article is a journalistic embarrassment that should never have been published by Newsweek.

Labour MP: Gaza Mother ‘Separated’ From Her Dead Babies - Emanuel Miller (Honest Reporting) With the reality for Palestinians in Israeli hospitals so complicated by regional geopolitics, Palestinian terrorism, and Israel’s attempts to secure its borders, there’s plenty of room to discuss the situation in a nuanced way. Unfortunately, in spreading a demonstrably false story, the British politician’s op-ed only serves to create more friction rather than helping the Palestinians she professes to want to help.

What’s In the New Draft National Defense Authorization Act - Annie Himes, Julia McKay and John T. Nelson (Just Security) Section 1215 of Chairman Smith’s mark also addresses ex gratia payments to civilians for damage, injury, or death incident to U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria,  and Yemen. These payments are condolences and do not admit legal wrongdoing. Section 1215 of the chairman’s mark allocates up to $5,000,000 for ex gratia payments through the end of 2020 and requires the Defense Secretary to submit a report to the congressional defense committees “upon each exercise of the authority in this subsection.” In the past, DoD has failed to make use of funding for condolence payments and has therefore concluded they are exempt from NDAA reporting requirements on such payments.

...because facts matter

We learned about these sites from a CAMERA.org briefing on Sunday:

For Spanish updates see ReVista de Medio Oriente http://www.revistamo.org/

    Iran is doing what it can in this sphere - specifically funding HispanTV and working to normalize antisemitism.

For French updates see Info Equitable https://infoequitable.org/

The Fate of Palestinian Refugees in Syria and Lebanon - Pinhas Inbari  (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) In Syria, the brutal civil war caused significant demographic changes that can be defined as the war crime of ethnic cleansing, as Sunnis, including Palestinians, have been driven out of the country. The large Yarmouk refugee camp adjacent to Damascus, known as the "capital of the camps," has ceased to exist.    

     A secret European initiative sought to transfer the refugees from Yarmouk to the Palestinian-controlled Jericho area in the West Bank. Mahmoud Abbas rejected the initiative, however, insisting that the right of return does not apply to territories in the Palestinian Authority but to Israel.

The (Not So) Hidden Media Agenda (Honest Reporting)

Iran Pays Gaza Families of Palestinians Killed in Clashes with Israel (Xinhua-China) Iran paid $651,000 to families of Palestinians in Gaza who were killed in the conflict with Israel.

Israel to ally with Arab neighbors around Red Sea in bid to save world’s corals - Melanie Lidman (Times of Israel) Swiss institute to manage partnership between Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Eritrea, Djibouti and Sudan in largest regional project of its kind

Hamas Fails to Restore Quiet on Gaza Border (i24News-Ynet News) "terror balloons" have caused a dozen fires in Israel in the last two weeks.

Pro-Palestinian Group in UK Supported by Corbyn Forced Jewish-Owned Shops to Close - Jake Wallis Simons (Daily Mail-UK)

U.S. Tells Russia It Backs Israeli Airstrikes in Syria as Long as Iran Stays - Barak Ravid (Axios)

Illinois high school district in the spotlight for ‘Teaching Palestine’ course - Jackson Richman (JNS)