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1. Moscow Terror Attack Kills 40
by Maayana Miskin
At least 40 people were killed in Moscow Monday morning in a double suicide attack on the city's metro system. Dozens more were wounded. One attack took place at the Lubyanka station; 40 minutes later, a second bomber struck the Park Kultury station.
A Russian official said an estimated 25 people were killed in the first attack. The attack killed both passengers on the train and people waiting on the platform.
The Lubyanka station is located next to the Russian Federal Security Service headquarters, and is also near the Kremlin.
A website affiliated with Muslim rebels seeking to create their own state in the Chechnya region claimed that the Chechen separatists were responsible for the attack.
Chechen terrorists have been responsible for previous mass casualty attacks in Russia, including a 2002 attack on a Moscow theater and the 2004 Beslan school massacre, in which terrorists took more than 1,100 people – including over 770 schoolchildren – hostage, ultimately killing hundreds.
2. US May Abstain if UNSC Votes on Eastern Jerusalem Construction
by Gil Ronen
The US is considering abstaining if the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution against Israeli construction in eastern Jerusalem, the BBC reported Sunday.
For decades, Israel has depended on the US to veto UNSC resolutions aimed against it. A change in this US policy could be very perilous for Israel.
Anti-Israeli resolutions pass regularly in the UN General Assembly, but their meaning is largely declarative. The UNSC, however, has the power to back its resolutions with action.
The possibility of the US abstaining on a vote on eastern Jerusalem came up at talks in Paris last week between a senior US official and Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Al Thani. A diplomatic source told the BBC that the official said the US would "seriously consider abstaining" if the issue of Israeli construction for Jews was put to the vote.
Sheikh Hamad Al Thani was in Paris last week for an economic forum. He asked the US official if Washington would promise not to veto a UN Security Council resolution that criticized Israel's construction for Jews in eastern Jerusalem.
The US official replied that the current feeling in Washington was that the US would "seriously consider abstention". An Egyptian official reportedly confirmed the US position during a closed-doors meeting at the Arab League summit.
3. Arab League Summit Focused on Jerusalem, "Resistance"
by Maayana Miskin
The Arab League concluded its 22nd summit in Libya on Sunday without any changes from its longstanding policies: no to recognizing Israel under any conditions, yes to armed resistance (aka terror) against Israel, no condemnation of genocide in Darfur, yes to Arab Jerusalem, and more. A follow-up meeting will be held in October.
This summit focused on Jerusalem, which the League termed an Arab city. "East Jerusalem is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian lands of 1967. All procedures that are carried out by the Israeli Occupation Authorities is illegal, and does not change the legal status of the city that remains occupied, nor does it impact the political status as the capital of Palestine,” the League stated.
The League called on United States President Barack Obama to continue criticizing the building of homes for Jews in Judea, Samaria, and eastern and northern Jerusalem. Israel must not be allowed to “Judaize” the city, Arab ministers said.
As the summit opened, Arab leaders agreed to give the Palestinian Authority $500 million to “fight Judaization” in Jerusalem and promote its own interests in the city.
Jerusalem has historically been a majority-Jewish city. In 1948, the Jordanian army drove Jews out of historic Jerusalem, including the City of David and the Old City.
Jews returned to the eastern and northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem 19 years later, in 1967, and have remained there since. The land has been annexed to Israel, and is officially part of the nation's capital city. However, the PA claims that the areas temporarily controlled by Jordan rightfully belong to the PA as capital of a future Arab state.
The League determined that if Israel were to give the PA control over all areas controlled by Egypt and Jordan from 1948 to 1967 – Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and much of Jerusalem – the Arab League would support peace. However, the League would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
No to Terrorism – just call it "Resistance"
The Arab League also condemned terrorism, but then redefined the word “terrorism” to exclude attacks intended to “resist occupation.” The change in terminology effectively gives the green light to groups such as Hamas, Fatah, and Hizbullah, which justify their attacks on Israeli civilians by saying that Israel was established on Arab land.
While giving lip service to the war on terrorism, the League also condemned the assassination of arch-terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh of Hamas. Mabhouh was killed in Dubai, in an operation that the world has blamed on Israel.
Support for Libya, Syria, Sudan
League members also agreed to express support for Arab countries under Western pressure. League members backed Sudan, expressing solidarity with the country and rejecting “attempts to violate its sovereignty.”
Sudan has faced widespread criticism for failing to stop an ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of the country, and for allegedly giving support to the perpetrators. Arab militias have slaughtered tens of thousands of non-Arab Muslims in Darfur, and many more have died of starvation.
The League also called for compensation for Libya over losses it sustained due to Western sanctions following the Lockerbie bombing. It supported Syria in its demand that Israel hand over control of the strategic Golan region, which was annexed to Israel following the 1967 Six Day War.
4. US Official Takes Aim at Dennis Ross for Supporting Israel
by Gil Ronen
Tension between the United States and Israel has reportedly led to a heated internal debate within the US administration, between White House Middle East strategist Dennis Ross and special Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Politico reporter Laura Rozen quoted an unnamed US official as saying that Ross “seems to be far more sensitive to Netanyahu's coalition politics than to US interests. And he doesn't seem to understand that this has become bigger than Jerusalem but is rather about the credibility of this Administration.”
Rozen said that the official's words were interpreted by some as suggesting Ross had “double loyalty” to the US and Israel – a highly incendiary accusation when leveled against Jewish American officials. The fact that it seems to have been made goes to show, she said, how heated the debate has become.
'Peddling snake oil'
During Netanyahu’s latest visit and subsequent internal US government meetings, the official said, Ross “was always saying about how far Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] could go and not go. So by his logic, our objectives and interests were less important than pre-emptive capitulation to what he described as Bibi's coalition's red lines.”
The official slugged further at Ross, saying: “Dennis uses the minutiae to blur the big picture … And no one asks the question: why, since his approach in the Oslo years was such an abysmal failure, is he back, peddling the same snake oil?”
From the phrasing of the report, it appeared that the unnamed official was connected in some way to George Mitchell.
When Dennis Ross joined the Obama presidential campaign in 2008, the move was seen by analysts as a message to Israel-supporters that Obama would not leave Israel in the lurch. Ross, who had been lead negotiator on Israeli-Palestinian issues for Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, was a member of a think tank with a hawkish pro-Israeli reputation after the Clinton years.
Ross's presence in the Obama team served to assuage the anxieties of pro-Israel voters regarding the potential hostility of an Obama administration to Israel. The present attacks on Ross may indicate that he is no longer as useful to the Obama camp as he was in 2008.
5. Obama Adviser: 'No Snub Intended' to Netanyahu
by Gil Ronen
David Axelrod, top adviser to US President Barack Obama, denied Sunday in an interview that Obama's low-key treatment of visiting Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not intended to deliver a public dressing-down of the leader.
“[T]here was no snub intended,” Axelrod said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union. “This was not about a ceremonial meeting; this was a working meeting.”
Axelrod added, “Look, Israel is a close, dear, and valued friend of the U.S., a great ally. That is an unshakeable bond. But sometimes part of friendship is expressing yourself bluntly.”
CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley asked Axelrod why the United States did not simply withhold the billions of dollars in aid it gives Israel every year as a means of pressuring it. Axelrod did not reject the idea and hinted that the administration was indeed pressuring Israel. “We're doing it in the appropriate way, and I'm confident that we will make progress,” he said. “But we're going to make it by being blunt and straightforward, as allies are, and use the channel, the appropriate channels.”
Asked whether the U.S.-Israeli relationship was tense, Axelrod replied: “As I said, I think the relationship ultimately is strong. But we are – we have an abiding interest in the long-term security of Israel and the region. And we're going to do what we can to provide leadership in that direction.”
Obama met Netanyahu without holding a public handshake, a photo opportunity or a press conference. The US President has a history of publicly humiliating Netanyahu: On the last time Netanyahu visited the president, he was brought into the White House grounds in an SUV, not a limousine, which entered through a side entrance. In the past, Obama has had his photograph taken speaking with Netanyahu on the telephone with his feet on his desk.
6. Ashkenazi Comforts Family, Addresses Soldiers
by Maayana Miskin
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi visited the family of fallen soldier Eliraz Peretz on Sunday. Peretz and 21-year-old Ilan Sviatkovsky were killed Friday in a shootout with Gaza terrorists. Eliraz was survived by a wife and four children, his widowed mother, and four siblings.
Miriam Peretz, Eliraz's mother, reminded the Chief of Staff, “Gabi, you've been in this house before.” She referred to the fact that Eliraz's older brother, Uriel, was killed in southern Lebanon in 1998.
After the visit, Ashkenazi told journalists, “It's an honor to command soldiers like Uriel and Eliraz, and the people of Israel should be proud that they have soldiers and commanders like these two brothers.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the bereaved family as well. “The entire nation grieves with you in your loss. Your strength and noble spirit bring us together and give us strength,” he told them.
Ashkenazi also visited the area in which Peretz and Sviatkovsky were killed and spoke to soldiers there. “You are the wall that stands between the terrorists and our towns,” he told them.
There are likely to be more clashes with terrorists in the future, Ashkenazi cautioned, and the IDF must prepare for them. Regarding Friday's clash, he said, “It is important to investigate each incident and learn from it.”
"It is very sad to lose the best of our commanders and our soldiers, but we will continue to fight so the Jewish people can live here in peace,” he concluded.
The Chief of Staff also visited Guy Almakayis, who was severely wounded in the incident but is now out of danger.
7. Wounded Golani Soldier Recovering
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Guy Elmakayas, who was critically wounded in a deadly clash with Gaza terrorists late Friday afternoon, has regained consciousness and his life is no longer threatened. He originally was reported to be in moderate condition, but his condition rapidly worsened after he was flown by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.
Itzik Elmakayas, Guy's father, told Voice of Israel government radio Sunday that his son was celebrating his 20th birthday when he and his Golani unit came under fire from terrorists who were burying explosives at the Gaza security barrier.
“He is awake and clearly remembers what happened,” the father said. Doctors discovered that shrapnel had entered his liver and part of his heart where an operation was not feasible. “It is something he will have to live with," explained Itzik, adding that many Israelis attacked by terrorists live normal lives with shrapnel in their bodies.
He said that he received a phone at his home in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, from a nurse in Soroka on Friday afternoon. She turned the phone over to Guy, who said, "I am wounded, but I think I am okay.” His condition then became critical and he lost consciousness. On Sunday morning, two days after his birthday, his condition reversed for the better.
Itzik said his son was standing next to Golani deputy battalion commander Maj. Eliraz Peretz, who was killed along with St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky. Both fallen soldiers were buried Sunday.
A fourth soldier was lightly wounded.
The Golani unit fired tank shells at the terrorists and identified a direct hit. Shortly afterwards, an Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted a suspect nearby who was suspected of planting explosives. A direct hit was reported. Two other terrorists were also killed in yet a third incident around the same time and place.
Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant noted that the soldiers fought the way they are supposed to, endangering themselves to achieve the “goal of defending civilians."
