Jury’s out: 6 things to know for May 2

1. Israeli media on Wednesday is still abuzz with Iran’s purported nuclear program archive that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in a dramatic, prime-time televised press conference earlier this week. The trove of some 100,000 documents seized by Mossad agents from a facility in the heart of Tehran was hailed as an intelligence gathering success, but not everyone is convinced the prime minister did the right thing.

• Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom says that while Israeli intelligence operatives pulled off a “fantastic” operation, Netanyahu’s presentation revealed nothing new about Iran. “The nuclear program files do not have a smoking gun, because it smoked a long time ago,” he said. Unlike Netanyahu, Yatom — a former Labor Party MK — believes the United States should fix the Iran nuclear deal before the May 12 deadline rather than leave the multinational accord altogether.
• Yedioth Ahronoth daily leads Wednesday’s paper with a profile of a top Iranian nuclear physicist featured in Netanyahu’s presentation. Under the headline “Dangerous mind,” the paper says Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was of the “driving force” behind Tehran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Yedioth calls Fakhrizadeh Iran’s very own Dr. Strangelove, and said the elusive college physics professor has evaded a number of assassination attempts.

• But like Yatom, Yedioth columnist Ronen Bergman is not exactly impressed with Netanyahu’s multimedia presentation. Bergman harshly criticizes the Netanyahu’s “bombastic” press conference as an effort to detract from his own leadership failures, and accuses him of using the covert Mossad operation to “justify his controversial policy” regarding Iran.
• Meanwhile, Hadashot news reports that Netanyahu ordered his ministers to dial back their public comments about the Iranian intelligence, drawing ire from some, who accused the prime minister using them “like props” in a planned PR campaign aimed at whipping up public fear.

2. The head of the Bnei Zion pre-army academy that organized last week’s desert hike in which 10 teenagers were killed in flash floods is resigning his position.

• Yuval Kahan says he has been “torn and broken” since the tragedy and acknowledged that under his leadership the institution lost the trust of the students and parents. Speaking days after he was released from police custody, Kahan offered condolences to the families of the victims, saying he would “never be able to find words that can express the sorrow I feel.”

• Police are investigating whether Kahan and other school officials lied to participants about the safety of trail along the Tzafit riverbed, as well as about their coordination, or lack thereof, with relevant authorities.

3. European, Israeli and American leaders are slamming “anti-Semitic” remarks made by PA President Mahmoud Abbas who suggested in a speech earlier this week that the “social function” of Jews in the banking sector had led to massacres against them.

• In response, the Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian leader of fueling “religious and nationalist hatred against the Jewish people and Israel,” while Netanyahu said Abbas’s “anti-Semitic slogans” were the “pinnacle of ignorance.”
• David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, said Abbas had reached a “new low” and said “to all those who think Israel is the reason that we don’t have peace, think again.” US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt also responded to the remarks, calling them “very distressing and terribly disheartening.”
• The European Union called Abbas’s speech “unacceptable,” and warned that ant-Semitism “is not only a threat for Jews but a fundamental menace to our open and liberal societies.”

4. As Israel gears up for the Lag B’Omer holiday, officials are warning against the traditional bonfires citing hot and dry weather conditions across the country.

• The city of Haifa has banned residents from making fires inside city limits, and will instead hold community bonfires that will be monitored by firefighters. Other municipalities, including Tel Aviv and Hadera, are also limiting the fires to certain areas.

5. Guatemala is starting to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, transferring furniture and other equipment into a still-unfinished office in the capital’s Malha Technology Park. The Central American country’s flag was raised outside the unfinished building yesterday.

• Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales is scheduled to attend the embassy’s official opening in Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US is scheduled to move its mission to the Israeli capital.

6. Yesterday, previously unseen Dead Sea Scroll fragments were identified and unveiled at an international conference in honor of the 70th anniversary of the scrolls’ discovery in Jerusalem.

• Experts said one was from the Temple Scroll, while another was from the Great Psalms Scroll.
• NASA-developed multispectral imaging photographed and documented the tiny fragments of early Hebrew writing that experts say will provide essential clues toward completing the ancient manuscript.