Israel Carries Out Airstrikes After Rockets Launched From Gaza

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip Monday have killed nine Hamas militants. The Israeli military reported the strikes targeted "terror sites and concealed rocket launchers" across Gaza after about 25 rockets were fired into Israel on Sunday. According to the Israeli military, rockets launched from Gaza injured an Israeli soldier on Monday. The increase in attacks has come amid rising tensions over the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers and a Palestinian teen. On Sunday, Israeli authorities arrested six Israelis over the suspected revenge killing of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, who is believed to have been burned to death after he was kidnapped. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Palestinian teenager’s father Monday expressing outrage over the "reprehensible" murder, vowing to deal with the suspects "to the fullest extent of the law."

Syria

The Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition is holding a meeting over three days in Istanbul to elect a new president to replace Ahmad al-Jarba. On Monday, Syrian troops advanced in and around Aleppo in an apparent attempt to regain territory held by opposition fighters since an offensive in the northern city in 2012. Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have expelled more than 30,000 residents from their homes in the eastern Syrian town of Shuheil and 30,000 others from two towns in the eastern Deir al-Zour province, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Saturday, ISIL released a video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the so-called "Islamic state" stretching across eastern Syria and much of northern and western Iraq. 

Headlines

• Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he wished that three imprisoned Al Jazeera journalists, convicted for "aiding a terrorist group," were deported and not put on trial.
• Clashes that began Friday between Houthi rebels and fighters from the government-allied Hashid tribal confederation have killed at least 35 people in and around the Yemeni city of Amran.
• Kuwaiti police fired tear gas at a historic market to disperse over 2,000 protesters who were calling for the purge of corrupt judges and the release of opposition leader Musallam al-Barrak.
• Egypt announced an increase in sales tax on cigarettes and alcohol a day after a cut in fuel subsidies sparked protests.

Arguments and Analysis

‘It’s in our hands to put an end to bloodshed‘ (Shimon Peres and Reuven Rivlin, Ynet)

"We are allowed to argue. We even have to argue. We, all of us, have all the ways to express our pain, our opinion and our world view. But incitement is not the way. Collective accusation is not a solution.

It is our duty to stop the journey of incitement. We must understand that we have no other way but to live together. The bloodshed will only stop when we all realize that we have not been sentenced to live together, but destined to live together. Any hesitation or compromise on this issue will lead to deterioration which could be disastrous not just to our life together, but to our actual life."

‘Egypt’s Government by Baltaga‘ (Andrea Teti, MERIP)

"Most reactions to the farcical convictions of Australian journalist Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamad Fadel Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamad express shock and outrage at everything from the ridiculous evidence presented to the sentences that would have made Draco himself blush. The strongest reactions came from the British and US governments, with Foreign Minister William Hague and Prime Minister David Cameron saying they were ‘appalled,’ and Secretary of State John Kerry calling the verdict ‘chilling‘ and ‘deeply disturbing.’ Amnesty International Director Steve Crawshaw called the sentence ‘outrageous’ and an ‘absolute affront to justice.’

This outrage is entirely justified, but entirely misses the point. The arrest, trial and often torture of journalists, activists and students from across the political spectrum has nothing to do with the pursuit of justice or security. Even comedians are harassed. These actions are best understood as a mafia-style warning, the content of which is fairly obvious: For anyone opposing the regime installed since the 2013 army coup, there is no safety in the law, nor in Western governments, nor in the international media. The use of violence to repress or stir up conflict useful to the regime is nothing new."