DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

Israel Tests New Short-Range Missile Defense System - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
    The Iron Dome short-range missile defense system passed a series of tests over the last few days, successfully shooting down Kassam rockets, Grad rockets and mortar shells one after the other.
    It even succeeded in determining which missiles to shoot down - those likely to land in populated areas - and which to ignore.
    The first operational battery is expected to be deployed in May.

Holocaust Museum Shooter Dies in Prison - Del Quentin Wilber (Washington Post)
    James Von Brunn, 89, the white supremacist charged with killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June, died Wednesday at a hospital near the federal prison in Butner, N.C.

France to Set Up Unit to Investigate Genocide, War Crimes - Edward Cody (Washington Post)
    The French government announced Wednesday that it will set up a special judicial unit to investigate and bring charges against people accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in France or abroad.
    Unlike British law, France requires some connection between France and the alleged crime.

World Famous Pianist Protests Against BBC Anti-Israel Bias - Stephen Pollard and Robyn Rosen (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
    Evgeny Kissin, 38, a child prodigy in his native Russia who is now widely recognized as one of the greatest living pianists, has accused the BBC of "slander and bias" against Israel, broadcasting material he describes as "painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda."
    Kissin, who became a British citizen in 2002, said he intends from now on to speak out against media bias against Israel, which he sees as both fueling and being fueled by anti-Semitism.

Egyptian Threatened over Interest in Israel - Daniel Edelson (Ynet News)
    The Israeli Center in Cairo has been in place for almost 30 years, but Egyptian visitors say they have been harassed by the country's authorities.
    After his first visit to the center, Hussein Baker, 20, a fourth-year Hebrew student at Menoufia University, was accosted by a member of the Egyptian security service who asked him why he had visited the center, who he met there, and what he thought about Israel.
    A week later, Baker's girlfriend received a phone call from another security officer who asked about her boyfriend's political opinions.
    Then he received a phone call from the Israeli Center about an upcoming screening of a film. Several minutes later he received a call from an Egyptian officer who warned him: "Don't visit the center again."
    "I was so scared that I told him I would not visit the center anymore." This brought to an end "my dreams of normalization and peace."

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

How to Foil an Intelligent Enemy - David Lapin (Jerusalem Post)

• Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport is in one of the most targeted countries in the world for acts of terrorism. Yet it has successfully managed to avoid hijacking and bombing attempts, even though security checks are usually much quicker than at any U.S. airport of similar size. Security officers there do not mindlessly monitor people taking off shoes and belts as they walk through metal detectors. They are looking for intelligence by asking probing questions. Once, after clearing security there, an officer looked into my eyes and said, "Do you know why I am asking you these questions?...I really don't want anything to happen to you."
• To her, her job was not about checking boxes to make sure that if a plane went down, her own back was covered. Her job was much more meaningful than that. Her job was to care about me and tens of thousands of other travelers that day, and she was passionately committed to it. She was applying her considerable skill, training and intelligence to her job in the most caring way. Only wisdom and intelligence can foil an intelligent enemy. Machines and process alone cannot.

• I don't want to be profiled at the airport, but our airport security system is so half-baked and dysfunctional it may as well not even exist. So rather than doubling down on grandma and micromanaging everyone on the plane, we might want to pay as much attention to people as to their luggage, especially military-aged males who make unusual and suspicious-looking travel arrangements. That's what the Israelis do. At Ben-Gurion Airport you don't have to take off your shoes in the security line and you don't have to stand in front of invasive and expensive body-scanning machines.
• Israeli security agents interview everyone, and they subject travelers who fit certain profiles to additional scrutiny. They take me aside every time, partly because of my gender and age but mostly because a huge percentage of my passport stamps are from countries with serious terrorist problems. They've asked if I've ever met with anyone in Hizbullah. I am not going to lie, especially not when the answer can be easily found using Google. They know I've met with Hizbullah. That's why my luggage gets hand-searched one sock at a time while elderly tourists from Florida skate through. I don't take it personally, and it makes a lot more sense than letting me skate through while grandma's luggage is hand-searched instead.
• When I get on a plane in the U.S., I often breeze past women decades older than me while they're being frisked. Almost every single person in line knows it's ridiculous. We don't say anything because it feels vaguely "fair." Maybe it is, but it's no way to catch terrorists.