• U.S.: Iran's Recent Ballistic Missile Launch Was Fake - Lucas Tomlinson
  Iranian state television released video footage Friday claiming to show the launch of a new type of medium-range ballistic missile. But U.S. officials say the video was of a failed launch in January when the missile exploded shortly after liftoff. (Fox News)
• Russian Jets Strike U.S.-Backed Forces in Eastern Syria - Erin Cunningham and David Filipov
  The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Russian warplanes targeted SDF fighters in three locations in Deir al-Zour province Monday, including at a major gas field they had seized Saturday from militants. It was the second time this month that the SDF has been targeted by Russian strikes. (Washington Post)
• Funding Issues Threaten PA-Hamas Reconciliation - Kifah Ziboun
  The reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah was called into question after PA Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara said he was not able to pay an additional 43,000 Hamas military and civilian government employees. Bishara said the PA is suffering from a financial crisis and its debt exceeds $3 billion. (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

• Palestinian Kills Three Israelis near Jerusalem - Yotam Berger
  An Israeli Border Police officer and two Israeli security guards were shot dead and another seriously injured when a Palestinian attacker opened fire outside the West Bank community of Har Adar near Jerusalem. The attacker, who was part of a group of Palestinian workers entering the community, was killed. (Ha'aretz)
      See also Palestinian Terrorist Had Worked Inside Jewish Community for Years (Times of Israel)
      See also Netanyahu: Israel Expects Abbas to Condemn Terror Attack - Herb Keinon
  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the Har Adar terror attack Tuesday. Netanyahu said that the attack is the result of "systematic incitement by the Palestinian Authority."  (Jerusalem Post)
      See also Hamas, Islamic Jihad Praise Deadly Palestinian Shooting Attack - Adam Rasgon (Jerusalem Post)
• Palestinians Tortured by PA Want Israel to Pay Compensation from Seized PA Funds - Yotam Berger
  More than two months ago, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority was required within 30 days to pay hundreds of thousands of shekels in legal expenses to Palestinians who were tortured by the PA. The legal expenses are a preliminary measure to be followed by actual compensation for the torture.
      So far, the PA has not paid, prompting the Palestinian plaintiffs to apply to the Israeli Finance Ministry to seize the amount owed from PA funds held by Israel, as well as to impound 500 million shekels to satisfy the impending compensation awards. (Ha'aretz)

• How Trump Can Improve the Iran Deal - Mark Dubowitz and David Albright
  There is a way for President Trump to highlight the Iran nuclear deal's egregious deficiencies while showing his determination to improve the Iran nuclear deal or leave it. The president should refuse to certify the deal under the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act because its fundamentally flawed architecture makes it too dangerous to continue. By patiently following the deal, Iran can gain nuclear weapons, as well as a nuclear-capable arsenal of missiles giving it regional hegemony and the ability to threaten the U.S.  Decertifying doesn't mean breaking the deal. That happens only if the U.S. reimposes sanctions that have been lifted or suspended.
      The president should designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, as Congress has required he do by Oct. 31. He should also instruct the Treasury to blacklist companies with Revolutionary Guard and military ownership, and should redesignate Iran Air (which is buying planes from Boeing and Airbus) as a terrorist entity for airlifting weapons and fighters to Syria. A brutally repressive and aggressive Iranian regime should not be allowed to have a North Korean-style glide path to dozens of nuclear weapons and ICBMs.
      Mr. Dubowitz is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Albright is president of the Institute for Science and International Security. (Wall Street Journal)
• Support Kurdish Independence - Ron Prosor
  Anyone in the business of spotting winners should bet on an independent Kurdish state. Backing the Kurds is not only strategically smart - they are a steadfast ally in the fight against the Islamic State and Islamist extremism, doing battle alongside American soldiers - it's also the right thing to do.
      An independent Kurdish state would be a beacon of hope in a part of the world where hope is desperately needed. An independent Kurdish state would be a victory for democratic values, national self-determination and the rights of women and minorities. Over the past three years, Kurdistan, which is about the size of Maryland, has taken in nearly two million refugees, including Assyrians, Yazidis, Turkmen, Shabaks and Christians fleeing the Islamic State.
      Even without a formal state, the Kurds have built a society that is economically viable, with functioning institutions, including elections for Parliament and a relatively free media. And they've proved capable of defending themselves against Islamic State. With a state, the Kurds could become an even more valuable and constructive ally against extremism. Israel supports the Kurds' right to self-determination.
      The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to the UN and chairman of the Interdisciplinary Center's International Diplomacy Institute in Herzliya. (New York Times)
      See also The Future of Kurdistan: Between Turkey, the Iraq War, and the Syrian Revolt - Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2012)
• Trump Tries a New Tack on the Peace Process - Evelyn Gordon
  The Trump administration's refusal to publicly commit to a two-state solution as the goal of the peace process serves an important purpose. That's because insisting that the end goal be a Palestinian state is a major concession to the Palestinians that has never been accompanied by a corresponding Palestinian concession to Israel.
      Though the Palestinians insist on a Palestinian nation-state, they still refuse to accept a Jewish nation-state alongside it. Instead, they demand that millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees be allowed to relocate to Israel, turning it into a binational state.
      For the first time in the history of the peace process, the president has told the Palestinians that if they want to reinstate America's commitment to a Palestinian state, they will have to give something in exchange. (Commentary)

New U.S. Perspectives on Israeli-Palestinian Peace - U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman interviewed by Naama Lanski (Israel Hayom)

• Chief Palestinian negotiator "Saeb Erekat...asked [me] how he could talk to me when I sat with Netanyahu at the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem Day, which he called 'the worst day in our history.' I said to him, candidly, it's the best day in my history, it was the day that the Kotel [Western Wall] opened for Jewish prayer after 19 years. My parents cried when they heard that Jerusalem had been reunified and immediately made plans for my bar mitzvah at the Kotel, which we celebrated a few years later."
• "I told Erekat that our narratives are very different. I'll never try to convince you that your pain is not heartfelt, and I hope that you'll never try to convince me that our pain and our wishes are not heartfelt. That's not what this is about. It's not about convincing each other who is right and who is wrong. We have to respect our different views....We have to put these overarching emotional issues aside and find a way for Palestinians to have a better life, to achieve their ideals, in a way that doesn't threaten Israel."
• "I have no interest or tolerance to hear that the Jewish people don't have a connection to Jerusalem. It's a waste of time. Don't waste my time telling me something that I fundamentally reject."
• "Over the last eight years...there was an equivalence created between settlements and terrorism. Settlements are an issue...it's a fair point for discussion. But that's all it is - a point for discussion. Terrorism, meanwhile, is murder. And you can't say that one side should stop terror in exchange for the other side freezing settlements. There's no equivalence there."
• "A lot of academics will look at how Israel treats the Palestinians without recognizing...the security risks and the terrorism that led to this point....Here you have a conflict that has lasted for several generations and led to unspeakable acts of barbarism against innocent Jewish civilians. So in the context of that conflict, you get to a place where you impose a security apparatus that at least temporarily keeps people safe."
• "There's this...disconnect that holds Israel to an impossible standard. They expect Israel to accept incoming missiles without defending itself when every other nation in the world, including the United States, would do so....It doesn't mean that people can't criticize Israel. But that's different than expecting Israel to act differently than any other nation - that's where it becomes irrational and hateful."