Mitzpe Institute — Daily Brief

Israel Brief

Monday, October 12

Washington would like the Houthis hit by somebody else's pilots, and Oslo hands a Nobel to a genocide charge no court has upheld.

The requests landing in Jerusalem lately have one thing in common. Whoever's making them would like somebody else's name at the bottom. Allies want it there for the dangerous jobs, and both camps in the campaign want a prosecutor or a pardon to settle what voters are about to decide anyway. Everybody asking would rather go second.


Flash Brief: The Day in 90 Seconds or Less

  • Riyadh: A Houthi missile kills 12 at King Khalid airport, and US officials sound out Zamir on hitting Yemen. See The War Today.
  • Iran: Trump rules out striking Iran before the midterms, then hedges, and IDF officials say Tehran has largely rebuilt its missiles. See Briefly Noted.
  • Gaza: The IDF edges the Yellow Line west and clears a Board of Peace contractor to map weapons drop-off sites. See The War Today.
  • The courts: Mandelblit concedes police took steps he never approved, and Braverman reportedly ordered an October 7 call time changed. See Inside Israel.
  • The draft: Jerusalem Faction rioters block roads at Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, and police extract Deri from a Shas campaign event. See Inside Israel.
  • The polls: Netanyahu's bloc polls short of 61, and Likud officials set 55 as the target, enough to block anyone else. See Briefly Noted.
  • The ICC: Washington sanctions the court as an institution, with licences that give its member states until April. See Israel and the World.
  • Oslo: The Peace Prize goes to Navi Pillay, who chaired the UN commission that accused Israel of genocide. See Briefly Noted.
  • Ramallah: Abbas pushes November's legislative vote to September 2027 and blames Israel for a delay Fatah and Hamas agreed on. See Israel and the World.
  • The American right: Carlson pushes a false-flag theory of October 7, and NatCon speakers in Jerusalem wave off antisemitism charges. See Israel and the World.
  • Holborn: The Greens' leader loses the by-election, then says he agrees with his party's motion branding Zionism racism. See Israel and the World.
  • The envelope: About 66,000 people now live along the Gaza border, some 5,000 more than on the eve of the massacre. See Briefly Noted.

Europe has been doing this the longest. Paris recognized a Palestinian state partly on Abbas's promise of a November vote. Whoever lives next door to a promise like that ends up paying for it. Meanwhile the capital keeps filling up — on Wednesday Colombia opens the tenth embassy in Jerusalem.


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