Quick quiz for Middle East beginners

Here's today's assignment, kids.

Part A

Go on your internet and see what comes up when you google "images of Muslims being abused by Israeli police."

Part B

Stay on your internet, and see what comes up when you google "images of Jews being abused by Iranian police."

The fact that you can't find any pictures of Iranian police beating Jews has nothing to do with the relative scarcity of Jews there. In fact, there's a thriving Jewish community in Tehran.

Jews in Iran are protected by government edict.

Did you have any trouble finding pictures of Muslims in Israel being beaten by Israeli police?

IDF forms up new Lions of Jordan Battalion to protect biggest nature reserve in Israel

According to Col. Ofir Livius, the occupied Jordan Valley is no longer part of the occupied territories; it is instead, "the biggest undeclared nature reserve in the country."

Hmm... as far as I know this marks the first time a new battalion has been struck just to secure a nature reserve. Perhaps the IDF want to pre-empt the poaching of local wildlife by ISIS recruiters? The native species are very much in danger of extinction, as everyone knows, and this IDF commitment to their conservation will no doubt be welcomed by environmentalists everywhere!

Or perhaps Col. Livius' blast 'o bullshit obscures a more unsettling reality. Abdullah Too, Israel's partner for peace in the West Bank, is living on borrowed time. A year from now he could well be domiciled in Monaco or Miami, and his country, including its military, could be swearing allegiance to the Caliph of the Islamic State.

Best get those Lions of Jordan on the ground a year early rather than a year too late.