The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Netanyahu's choice for Egypt envoy known for diplomatic gaffes Despite of his history of diplomatic and security missteps, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering appointing Communications Minister Ayoub Kara to the extremely sensitive position of ambassador to Egypt. Egypt
Islamic Jihad mulls military action to foil US peace plan As the United States gets closer to officially revealing details of its Middle East peace plan, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad says it and its allies are ready to do whatever is necessary to stop the lopsided deal. Palestine
Who stands in the way of Israel’s Shaked premiership? Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked did not make it to the Knesset in the April elections, yet her high popularity generates several proposals for running in the September vote. Israel
Democrats want to tie Trump’s hands on Iran. Here are their options. Congress wants to take back its war-making authorities as tensions escalate with Iran. United States
US Syria envoy says ‘no role’ for Europe in proposed safe zone The United States has a “general” deal in place to establish a safe zone in northeastern Syria, the Trump administration’s top Syria policy official said, but the effort will not include European countries. Syria
Election of Israel’s state comptroller turning political For Giora Romm, the Blue and White party made no real effort to promote his candidacy for the position of state comptroller and did not try to mobilize other opposition parties for the vote. Israel
Which road will Israel’s new justice minister take? Justice Minister Amir Ohana has the opportunity to engage Israeli Supreme Court justices in a dialogue that could ultimately benefit the entire judicial system, but he might just as well continue to attack the court in ways pleasing to the person who appointed him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel
AKP's Istanbul campaign sinks to new lows Turkey's ruling AKP has insinuated that the opposition's winning mayoral candidate for Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu is secretly Greek to discredit his campaign in a move that seemed to backfire. Turkey
Iran says Mossad ‘fabricating intelligence’ on oil tanker attacks Iran’s foreign minister has condemned the UNSC meeting that will discuss UAE claims about oil tanker attacks. Saudi Arabia
Should Iranian guild associations be brought closer together? Iranian guild associations are separately pursuing a multitude of labor actions, including strikes. While many have called for closer collaboration, it is unclear whether such a convergence would aid their cause. Iran
Can Erdogan mend fences with US, Europe while saving face? Turkey is seeking to improve relations with the West to stave off further damage to its ailing economy, but wants to do so without appearing to concede any ground or make concessions. Syria
Syrian farmers suffer as Kurds' crops set ablaze Kurdish authorities in eastern Syria say politically motivated arsonists are setting fire to agricultural lands, destroying thousands of acres of farmers' crops. Syria
