NOTE: Middle East Eye has just published my latest article, Unprecedented and combustible: Why the boycott of Al-Aqsa matters. It deals with last week's attack on the Haram al Sharif and the Muslim boycott of the holy sites. It hasn't been a good week for Bibi Netanyahu. A few days ago he left for Europe under a foreboding cloud of scandal … [Read more...]
Israel Funds Syrian Rebel Weapons Purchases
The Wall Street Journal interviewed a Syrian rebel commander and other fighters, who confirmed the worst kept secret of the Syrian conflict: that Israel is directly aiding Syrian rebel factions with both humanitarian and financial aid: ...Interviews with half a dozen rebels and three people familiar with Israel’s thinking reveal that the country’s … [Read more...]
Syrian Killed in Attack by Golani Druze Was Islamist Fighter, Not Civilian as IDF Claimed
This post expands on my original one reporting this incident. Some of the material in it may look familiar to those who read the original post. This one names, for the first time outside of Arabic media, Munther Khalil, the Syrian Islamist killed by Golani Druze this week. It also confirms that the IDF lied in claiming he was a civilian. When Israel … [Read more...]
Israel’s Dangerous Game with Syrian Islamists
Recently, Israeli TV aired an interview (Hebrew, at the 2:00 mark) with a wounded Syrian fighter who was treated in Israel after being evacuated from the combat zone. As I, and many other journalists have reported, Israel, despite the false claim of neutrality in the civil war, has frequently intervened in the conflict on behalf of forces opposed to Bashar … [Read more...]