So far the truce brings relief to Gazans and heat to Netanyahu:
- Gaza ceasefire: Thousands return home as calm returns (BBC)
- Gaza Truce Holding but Israel’s Netanyahu Under Fire at Home (Reuters)
Actor and playwright (and brother of one of my college roommates) Wallace Shawn “translates” an ad placed by the ADL in defense of the Israeli massacre of Gazan children:
- Wallace Shawn on Gaza: “The Anger of the Palestinians Cannot Be Ended by Killing Their Children” (Hollywood Reporter)
Unable to believe that it is his dictatorship that fuels the opposition, Sisi accuse Egypt’s “great minds and brilliant brains” of selling out to sinister foreign forces:
- Sisi Says Qatar, Turkey, US and the Muslim Brotherhood Are Funding Media Projects to Undermine Egypt’s Stability (Middle East Monitor)
In Syria, arms from Iran help the Kurds to defend against IS, while a border post falls to the rebels but Syria offer coordination with the US effort against IS while warning unilateral strikes will be treated as aggression:
- Iran Supplied Weapons to Iraqi Kurds; Baghdad Bomb Kills 12 (Reuters)
- Syrian Rebels Seize Border Crossing with Israel (AP / abc News)
- Syria Will Help US Fight Terrorism, Says Walid Muallem (BBC)
The US suspects the UAE and Qatar are behind the Libyan bombing raids, and that may only be the beginning of expanded military intervention from the Gulf states:
- UAE and Egypt behind bombing raids against Libyan militias, say US officials (Guardian)
- Libya Could Be Just the Beginning for a Newly Proactive Gulf (Guardian)
“The reported initiative by Qatar coincides with an effort by the tiny state to rebut accusations by some of its Arab neighbors and Western politicians that it supports the most anti-Western militant armed groups in Iraq and Syria”:
From Michigan to Noray Muslims denounce the IS:
- Mich. Muslim Leaders Call Islamic State ‘Crazy Criminals’ (Detroit Free Press)
- Muslims Protest Islamic State in Norway (Huffington Post)
Worse than stupid, Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar says that Israels attempt to equate Hamas with the IS is dangerous:
- Israel Says No Difference Between Hamas and Islamic State: True? (Christian Science Monitor)
“Fazal Ahmad Manawi, an adviser to Mr. Abdullah, told reporters in Kabul that the audit of more than 8 million ballots from the June 14 runoff election is a “joke” and called for the immediate adoption of stricter procedures in order to identify and destroy fraudulent ballots”:
- Afghanistan’s Abdullah Threatens to Withdraw from Recount Process (Christian Science Monitor)
