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Media Summary

Tiyas airbase hit after Syria launches chemical attack

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The Independent, Evening Standard, the Mirror, the Sun, BBC News Online and the Daily Mail report on the issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party. Labour Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said she has been “a little frustrated” with the speed at which the party has responded to a report on antisemitism. She said it was not right when action against “antisemitic rhetoric” was “far too slow” by all parties. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Labour’s headquarters in London to protest against antisemitism yesterday. A crowd waving British flags and placards braved the elements for the protest organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism. Messages on placards read “zero tolerance for antisemitism,” “Labour hold Corbyn to account” and “Antisemitism is racism”. There were shouts of “Corbyn out,” “racists” and “shame,” and boos when the Labour leader was named by speakers. Actress Maureen Lipman was among those who addressed the demonstration. She said she was attending “as a disenfranchised socialist” and identified with a placard reading “Corbyn made me a Tory”.

The Telegraph, Independent, BBC News Online, Guardian and the Times report on the Strikes on a Syrian airfield and the chemical attacks that prompted them. Monday’s attack hit the Tiyas airbase, known as T4, near the city of Homs. Syria initially said the West was involved. The US and France threatened to respond to the alleged chemical attack, but denied striking the base. Israel, which has previously hit Syrian targets, has not commented. US President Donald Trump said there would be a “big price to pay” after the chemical attack in Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region, near the capital of Damascus. Dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed after the Syrian government dropped a barrel bomb containing a chemical weapon in Eastern Ghouta. At least 25 people were killed and more than 500 injured after the attack in Douma, according to the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations.

 The Independent published an article by Slavoj Zizek where he argues that one “needs to examine the reasons why we equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism”. He argues that “when approaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one should stick to ruthless and cold standards, suspending the urge to try to ‘understand’ the situation: one should unconditionally resist the temptation to ‘understand’ the Arab antisemitism (where we really do encounter it) as a ‘natural’ reaction to the sad plight of the Palestinians, or to ‘understand’ the Israeli measures as a ‘natural’ reaction against the background of the memory of the Holocaust”.

The Daily Mail reports that an Anti-Israel demonstrator was filmed spitting on a Star of David flag in Melbourne where protesters for and against Palestine clashed outside the State Library on Saturday.

The Telegraph reports that Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday there were “no naive people” in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip after days of protests and clashes left 30 Palestinians dead, including a journalist.  Lieberman told Israel’s public radio: “Everyone’s connected to Hamas, everyone gets a salary from Hamas, and all the activists trying to challenge us and breach the border are Hamas military wing activists.” Lieberman used a Hebrew word that can also be translated as “innocent,” as AFP and other news media initially quoted him as saying. His office later insisted that his intended meaning was “naive”.

The Times reports that the Israeli army has been accused of deliberately targeting a Palestinian photojournalist who was killed by troops during protests on the Gaza border. Yasser Murtaja, 30, a freelance cameraman who had worked with the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and the BBC, was reporting on clashes at the Gaza border on Friday. He was wearing a flak jacket marked “Press” when he was shot in the side by an Israeli sniper. At least five other Palestinian journalists are understood to have been injured by gunfire from Israeli troops during the protest.

The Daily Mail reports that Australian-Indigenous popstar Jessica Mauboy was trolled on Instagram by anti-Israel critics. They accused her of being a “terrorist supporter” and ignoring Aboriginal ancestors after posting a photo from Israel. She is set to perform in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for Eurovision promotion.

Yahoo News via UK reports that the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has raised concerns that Israel and Hamas may have committed war crimes during the current round of violence in Gaza. In a statement Sunday, Fatou Bensouda’s office expressed “grave concern” over the shootings of Palestinians by Israeli troops during mass protests along Gaza’s border with Israel.

The Independent reports about FC Bnei Sakhnin, one of the Israeli Premier League’s smaller teams, deserves its scrappy reputation: it’s the only Arab team playing in the country’s top tier football league. Sakhnin in Israel’s north has an Arab majority population and is home to several high-profile community building initiatives, such as its Qatari-funded Doha Football Stadium. The club is a shining example of what is possible when Arab and Jewish communities are able to overcome their differences. The club is both managed and chaired by Jewish men, and Jewish players are welcome on the team, although most of the current players are Arab. The team’s coach says the footballers see each other as brothers – even if they usually have to communicate in English rather than Hebrew or Arabic.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports about Jerusalem’s Hapoel Katamon football club is making a name for itself on the pitch, but also for its approach and youth programmes to bring together Israelis and Palestinians. It is a fan-owned league club and has pursued programmes such as tournaments for Jewish and Arab youth with the help of philanthropic organisations.

Much of the Israeli media is focused on the chemical attack in eastern Ghouta over the weekend.

Haaretz reports that “Assad army attacks civilians with chemical weapons near Damascus”; Maariv reports that President Donald Trump hinted that he might attack Syria; Yediot Ahronoth discusses Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria under the headline “Assad the Murderer’; and Israel Hayom headlines “Children massacred in Syria” with another story quoting Israeli Officials who claim that Iran received a green light to entrench itself in Syria.

Maariv reports that Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, the former director of IDF Intelligence, suggested ways for the West to successfully respond to the Syrian tyrant’s aggression, saying: “It’s important that the Trump administration repeat what it did a year ago and hit the chemical weapons production and launching sites.” He also called on Israel to “hit the Syria helicopter squadron that drops the barrel bombs,” adding: “It is important that the State of Israel, at this sensitive time before Holocaust Remembrance Day, make its moral position clear to a murderer who does not hesitate to again use weapons of mass destruction. In this case, Israel’s strategic interests correspond to its moral obligation.” In related news, Maariv reports that MK Nachman Shai of the Zionist Union called for an urgent meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee to discuss what he described as the home front’s unpreparedness in the event of a chemical weapons attack.

In an opinion piece in Israel Hayom, Yoav Limor warns that while “this is not the first time that Assad has made use of prohibited weapons… this is a negative development because it attests to the Syrian president’s growing self-confidence”. Writing in Haaretz under the headline “The Preventable War Crime: How the West failed to prevent one Syrian Chemical attack after another,” Anshel Pfeffer argues that “in the history of war, no war crime has been so well documented and so predictable to those who had it in their power to prevent it from recurring”.

In other news, Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein have agreed that the Prime Minister will light a torch and make short congratulatory remarks at Israel’s Torch Lighting Ceremony for Independence Day. Israel Hayom also features this story under the headline “Compromise and Division”. Kan Radio News this morning reports a lack of clarity over what exactly was agreed and whether the prime minister will “give an address” at the ceremony (as Culture Minister Miri Regev claims) or whether he would merely “add a few congratulatory words” (as Edelstein has insisted).

YNet reports that Hezbollah operations in Columbia have been revealed, with a Columbian police investigation showing that ESO or Unit 910, which was responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria and Buenos Aires, maintains a presence under the guise of legitimate organisations while engaging in drug smuggling, money laundering and agent recruiting.

The Times of Israel reports that the State is set to tell the High Court of Justice that a deal to deport migrants to Uganda is still on.

The Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel report that a Palestinian man suspected of trying to stab an Israeli at a West Bank gas station was shot in the head by an armed civilian bystander.