November 19, 2013 16:33
by Pesach Benson
Beirut was rocked by two suicide bombers outside the Iranian embassy. According to the Daily Star‘s early coverage, 25 people were killed, including an Iranian attache. Another 150 people were wounded. An Al-Qaida affiliate is claiming responsibility, but as usual, it’s Israel’s fault. Avi Issacharoff says Iran’s getting a taste of its own medicine.
Israeli diplomats are already conceding failure in trying to stop a US-Iran interim nuclear deal. According to YNet:
The nuclear talks are expected to resume in Geneva on Wednesday, and Israeli officials estimate that unless an unexpected crisis takes place, an interim agreement will be signed in this round or shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, sources in Jerusalem have also criticized the recent conflict with the United State. “It’s causing damage. (US Secretary of State) John Kerry is not Israel’s enemy,” one of the officials said.
According to Israeli media reports, the terms of the Geneva talks were already agreed upon in a secret US-Iranian backchannel. The Obama administration denies the Israeli reports, but American Jewish leaders feel misled by the White House.
According to Channel 10, the secret channel marginalized Kerry, and was overseen by the president. The idea had been for Kerry merely to fly to Geneva, as he did last Friday, to sign a deal in which he had been a bit player. In the event, factors such as the French stance, and Israel’s very public objections, derailed this plan, and the talks broke up last Saturday without an agreement.
Ismail Haniyeh’s one-year-old granddaughter was briefly treated in an Israeli hospital, then sent back to Gaza. According to the Times of Israel, however, doctors at the Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petah Tikva said Aamal Haniyeh’s condition — severe inflammation of the gastrointestinal system affecting her nervous system — was incurable.
The story of Aamal Haniyeh’s hospitalization in Israel first broke in the Arab media after her father, Abdul Salam, wrote on his Facebook page Monday morning that “Aamal was transferred into the Green Line (Israel) now. I pray that God cures her.” The post has since been removed from Haniyeh’s page. However, another entry on Monday afternoon by the baby’s father reported that Aamal had returned to Gaza in a state of clinical death.
A mother’s response from Sarah Tuttle-Singer struck the right chord.
Fisk Revives Uranium Charge? Robert Fisk’s stringing along an old, discredited blood libel against Israel.
Source material can be found at this site.
