Weekend long read

1) NGO Monitor reviews ‘Save the Children’s Misleading Report on Detention of Palestinians’.

“On Thursday, October 29, 2020, Save the Children will release a report on “the impact of the Israeli military detention system on Palestinian children.” NGO Monitor has obtained and reviewed an advance copy of this publication. Our analysis shows that Save the Children has produced an inaccurate report, which cannot support the (predetermined) legal and policy conclusions drawn. The numerous highly emotive illustrations present a very politicized narrative that is clearly designed to demonize Israelis, not to protect minors. The answer to violence by Palestinian minors, including acts of terrorism and murder, is to address the incitement behind such actions, and not to absolve them of accountability, as proposed in the report.”

2) At the JCPA Yoni Ben Menachem explains why ‘Hamas Is Very Concerned about Israel’s Normalization with Sudan’.

“Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel’s General Security Services, revealed at a government meeting in 2009 that in the months after Operation Cast Lead, 22 tons of standard explosives, 45 tons of raw materials to create weapons, dozens of standard rockets, hundreds of mortar shells, and dozens of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles had been smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

Egypt was aware of the weapons smuggling from Sudan to the Gaza Strip and also worked to thwart the smuggling during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak. In March 2011, Egypt officially announced that the Egyptian army had stopped five vehicles carrying any weapons from Sudan on their way to the Gaza Strip, and the weapons were seized in the border area between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The shipment included large quantities of mortar shells, grenades, and explosives that were supposed to be smuggled through the tunnels into the Gaza Strip.”

3) At the INSS Yoel Guzansky analyses the possibility of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia is gradually changing its attitude toward Israel, laying the groundwork for a process that could culminate in full bilateral relations. Saudi Arabia’s economic, religious, and political importance gives Israel an interest in achieving a normalization agreement with the kingdom, as long this would not result in the erosion of Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME). Riyadh, however, has various internal and external constraints, as well as a set of particular sensitivities. For Saudi Arabia, the question of relations with Israel relates primarily to the kingdom’s internal stability and regional status. It is quite possible that at the present time, full normalization with Israel is perceived as one step too far. This does not mean, however, that preparations are not underway for such an agreement, especially with regard to public opinion, which is still mostly opposed to normalization with Israel, including piecemeal measures tantamount to “creeping normalization.””

4) Amanda Borschel-Dan reports on a new initiative at Tel Aviv University at the Times of Israel.

“The university has just launched the only graduate program in the world to focus on the oral retelling of Ethiopian Jewish scriptures. Called “Orit Guardians,” it entails an interdisciplinary study of the Ethiopian Jewish scripture and its ancient liturgical language, Ge’ez, combined with the scientific study of biblical translation and interpretation, with the goal of recording the biblical scriptures that have been orally transmitted to the Beta Israel community in their own common tongues, Amharic or Tigrinya, for the past several hundred years at least.”