Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.

WikiLeaks may be responsible for yesterday’s hanging of a “Mossad agent” in Iran. Big court judgment for American victims of Palestinian terror. And did Iran’s foreign minister act as a front for illicit nuclear procurement activity?

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Israel and the Palestinians

• The family of Daniel Wultz won a $323 million judgment against Iran and Syria for their roles in a 2006 terror attack. The 16-year-old Jewish American resident was among 11 people killed in a Tel Aviv restaurant by an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber. I’m very pleased with this AP headline for two reasons.

1. The  judgement won’t bring back Daniel Wultz, but I’m relieved to see justice done. Even as doctors fought for the comatose teen’s life, Islamic Jihad brazenly called Wultz “the ideal target.”
2. An AP headline uses the word terror as its own word.

See also Miami Herald and Times of Israel coverage.

• Naqba Day came and went with relatively few clashes. A Times of Israel analysis attributes this to IDF readiness, a “weary and fractured Palestinian public.” The end of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike also helped as “the minor victory given to the Palestinians on the eve of Nakba day robbed many of the will to protest.”

• Over at the Times of London (paywall), Amir Taheri suggests Israel’s new coalition drop peace talks with the Palestinians and rebuild itself.

I suggested that the two-state formula had started as an empty slogan and was now a soiled cliché. There was no evidence that the Palestinian elite valued the creation of a state more than the “cause” of destroying Israel — and experience shows that every “peace initiative” has hardened positions on both sides, making an accord that much more elusive. Paradoxically, there may be a stronger chance of a lasting settlement if the coalition eschews wasting time and political capital on talks. Instead it should concentrate on rebuilding Israel and rethinking its links with the rest of the region . . .

The image of Israel as weak encourages those who favour revenge over coexistence, making the conversion of the Palestinian elite to a peace strategy more problematic. Israel also has to work out where it fits into the geopolitical landscape of a Middle East being reshaped by the Arab Spring.

• Two months after HonestReporting exposed the UN connection to Khulood Badawi’s false photo tweet, the UN’s investigation grinds on. The Jerusalem Post reports that the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Bragg, arrived in Jerusalem “to examine both OCHA’s work here and the fallout from the tweeting incident.”

Badawi was suspended from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in response to the Israeli backlash. Last month, HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams delivered a petition to OCHA signed by 15,000 people demanding her dismissal.

• Irish novelist Gerard Donovan skewers the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which tried to bully him into cancelling an appearance at the International Writers Festival in Jerusalem. The Irish Times picks up on Donovan’s blistering open letter to the IPSC:

Mr Donovan described the campaign group as “idiots” as he had cancelled his planned visit to Jerusalem two months ago, but solely on health grounds . . .

He added: “If I had been well, I would have gone to Jerusalem. It is the job of the novelist to write things people don’t want to read and to go places where other people don’t want to go.

“Nobody tells me where I can or cannot read my work.”

Continued on Page 2

It’s been two months since HonestReporting exposed “false photo tweeter” Khulood Badawi and the case continues to drag on. We delivered 15,000 signatures demanding the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) fire Badawi. Having promised to investigate, is the UN finally moving slowly through the gears?

The Jerusalem Post reports:

A small group of people demonstrated in front of a UN office in Jerusalem Tuesday in support of a worker who used her Twitter account to send an incendiary message against Israel when rockets were falling on the South in March.

The gathering took place at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) during a visit here by a senior UN official, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg.

Bragg came to examine both OCHA’s work here and the fallout from the tweeting incident. …

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor expressed outrage at Badawi’s conduct, and called for her dismissal in a letter at the time to the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos.

The UN, however, also came under pressure from Arab and Palestinian circles not to fire the worker.

Bragg, who arrived in the country Sunday and left Tuesday, is Amos’s deputy. She did not meet with Foreign Ministry officials during her visit, and Jerusalem is still waiting to hear from OCHA about how it intends to deal with the affair.

They’re not the only ones still waiting.

Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.

Turkish journalist calls Israeli detention “five-star” compared to Syrian prison. France’s new president already goes soft on Iran. Palestinian hunger strike ends, but Naqba Day clashes begin.

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Israel and the Palestinians

• The hunger strike’s over. Haaretz assesses the winners and losers. The Atlantic Wire rounds up the rest of the coverage.

• Palestinians mark Naqba Day. The Jerusalem Post rounds up the clashes. And the Times of Israel talks to an IDF officer responsible for combat doctrine in “non-warfare activities” about dealing with violent and non-violent protest.

• Irish Times: Ireland may push for EU boycott of goods on products from Israeli settlements.

• Worth reading: Ambassador Michael Oren asks, What Happened to Israel’s Reputation? See his Wall Street Journal op-ed (click via Google News).

• In The Australian (click via Google News), the Palestinian ambassador to Australia claims “Israel ignores hunger for freedom.”

• Israel activist and blogger Richard Millett was assaulted at a Palestine Society meeting at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). Here’s how you can respond.

Iranian Atomic Urgency

• Elliott Abrams worries that Francois Hollande is already going soft on Iran:

It is difficult to exaggerate how significant a softening of France’s hard line would be. France has been tougher than Russia and China of course, but has also stiffened the position of the “EU 3? by being tougher than Germany and the UK. More important, it has at many junctures been tougher than the United States, sharply asking the difficult questions, highlighting logical deficiencies in arguments, and slicing through wishful thinking. If France is now to abandon this stance and simply agree with the UK, Germany, and the United States, the negotiations with Iran are more likely than ever to produce an unsatisfactory result that will be labelled adequate by its proponents.

• Iran hanged “Mossad agent” it claimed was responsible for assassination of a nuclear scientist. More at Reuters.

Arab Spring Winter

• Turkish journalist Adem Ozkose tells AP that Israeli detention was “five-star” compared to the Syrian prison he was just released from after two months. Okose was aboard the Mavi Marmara as a journalist, detained by Israel for several days, and deported home. Syria also released cameraman Hamit Coskun.

• Aaron David Miller (Bloomberg News) gives a thumbs-down to creating Syrian safe zones. Here’s why:

To have even a chance of working, the right conditions would have to be present. Those would include full Turkish buy- in and an international mandate legitimizing intervention, preferably a resolution of the UN Security Council. Most important would be a sustained military commitment to protect the zones and the corridors leading to them. This would require air patrols and thus the suppression of Syrian air defenses. It would also mean carrying out offensive air strikes against the regime’s forces, if the Syrians respond militarily, and ultimately securing Syria’s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons to prevent their use against coalition troops.

Even if all that could be achieved (and it probably couldn’t), safe zones are real headaches. Protecting these areas from the air might not be possible and would thus require boots on the ground. The farther coalition forces got from Turkey’s border, the harder and messier this would be. Once in, there would be no choice but to prevail.

• Shlomo Avineri (Japan Times) and Harry Sterling (Edmonton Journal) both point out that the Arab Spring won’t result in real democracy until Arab society changes its nature.

• Time: Is Al-Qaida intervening in Syria?

Rest O’ the Roundup

• Jeremy Cooper (The Australian, via Google News) says Australia’s financial system could learn a lot from Israel.

For a country that was only invited to join the OECD in 2010, Israel can be proud of its willingness to confront shortcomings in its financial system and deal with them in a characteristically purposeful and robust manner.

European Bee Eater: The Mossad's latest tool

• Your daily dose of idiocy: Turkey suspects bird of being Israeli spy.

The bird had a ring reading “Israel” on one of its legs . . .

The bird-beak in question reportedly sported “unusually large nostrils,” which – combined with the identification ring – raised suspicions that the bird was “implanted with a surveillance device” and that it arrived in Turkey as part of an espionage mission.

(Image of bird via Flickr/ferran pestana)

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.

Clicking “Unsubscribe instantly” on your mailing will remove you from the Israel Daily News Stream list, but not from your regular HonestReporting emails.

We’ve seen Mossad Sharks in Egypt and Zionist Vultures in Saudi Arabia. Now, Turkey is claiming it caught a bird with “unusually large nostrils” spying for Israel.

According to Yediot Aharonot, which broke the latest installment of Israel’s conquest of the animal kingdom for intelligence purposes, a farmer spotted a dead bird with a ring bearing the word “Israel” on it’s leg. While that would be suspicious enough, it wasn’t what drew the attention of Turkish authorities. Apparently, it was the fact that the bird had a particularly big nose.

The bird-beak in question reportedly sported “unusually large nostrils,” which – combined with the identification ring – raised suspicions that the bird was “implanted with a surveillance device” and that it arrived in Turkey as part of an espionage mission.

The bird’s remains were originally handed over to the Turkish Agriculture Ministry, which then turned in over to Ankara’s security services.

When it comes to anti-Semitic tropes, Turkey has hit it, well…right on the nose. Hopefully the Mossad will stop using animals to do its dirty work – or at least the ones with classic Jewish features.

Richard Millett, an ardent activist, friend of HonestReporting and former SOAS student, who regularly stands up for Israel at hostile anti-Israel meetings across London, was abused and subjected to an horrendous ordeal at a Palestine Society meeting at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). Here is a link to his blog where he reports on the incident and shows video footage of it. http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/camera-grabbed-rucksack-snatched-and-racially-abused-at-soas/

This all took place in a room full of people – who taunted Richard – as well as speakers, Karma Nabulsi and Abdel-Bari Atwan, who are both well known on the anti-Israel circuit. Nabulsi teaches at Oxford University and is a former PLO representative while Atwan is a Palestinian journalist. Atwan is known for making the following statement: “If the Iranian missiles strikeIsrael – by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight if the Iranian missiles strike Israel.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first incident of this nature to take place on the SOAS campus. Last year a pro-Israel supporter was physically attacked and bitten.

Last night’s incident must not pass without comment and we need to highlight the dangerous atmosphere that exists on British campuses for anyone who is prepared to stand up for Israel. We urge you to do one or all of the following:

1. If you are in the UK, please write to your MP and ask what he/she is going to do about this.
2. Complain to the Director of SOAS, Professor Paul Webley – email: pw2@soas.ac.uk; tel: +44 207 898 4014.
3. Complain to Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, Andrew Hamilton – email – vcweb@admin.ox.ac.uk;  tel: +44 1865 270252
4. Complain to the President of the National Union of Students, Liam Burns – email – liam.burns@nus.org.uk

Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.

AP obtains an illustration from inside an Iranian nuclear facility. Is it a smoking gun? Fatah prisoners in Gaza embarrass Hamas with their own hunger strike. Hope is running out that Egypt can finalize a constitution defining the president’s powers before election day.

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Israel and the Palestinians

• Fatah prisoners in Gaza go on hunger strike to embarrass Hamas. According to the Jerusalem Post:

Hamas has denied arresting Palestinians because of their political affiliations. Hamas spokesman said that all the prisoners are being held for their involvement in criminal activities and collaborating with Israel.

• See HonestReporting’s response to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s ugly commentary about hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners. The Independent columnist:

1. Accuses Israel of charging its critics with anti-Semitism to shut down legitimate criticism.
2. Fails to acknowledge that hunger striking Palestinian prisoners may have been detained for legitimate reasons, including terrorism.
3. Portrays the majority of Israel-supporting British Jews as being “instructed to hate” Palestinians and lacking in integrity.

• The Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement against Israel remains hot in Ireland. According to the Irish Times, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is “targeting” novelist and poet Gerard Donovan. Donovan is scheduled to participate in this week’s International Writers Festival in Jerusalem.

Continued on Page 2

Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.

Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike continues. Syrian media revels in arrival of Gaza aid convoy. Why is the Palestinian journalists’ union attacking free press?

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Israel and the Palestinians

• Worth reading: I was impressed with the nuance in the National Post‘s explanation on the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike.

• A staff-ed in The Observer (UK) supports Palestinian hunger strikers. The editors are entitled to their views, but nothing in the commentary supports this over-the-top headline:

• Hamas now has a 300-man force in Gaza foiling rocket attacks against Israel. Haaretz adds a caveat: the unit won’t act if Hamas decides that “Israel is the one who strikes first.”

• Worth reading: Clifford May (National Review) dissects the UNRWA’s debased definition of Who is a Palestinian Refugee? Why does the agency’s delineation matter?

By increasing the number of refugees, by maintaining that population in poverty, dependence, and anger, by understanding that the “right of return” will be demanded by some Palestinian leaders, UNRWA is helping the extremists to prevent peace and continue to wage a war of annihilation against Israel. This anti-peace policy is being funded largely by Americans: We’ve always been the largest donor to UNRWA, contributing about $4.4 billion since 1950.

• Not so great moments in Palestinian press freedom: Khaled Abu Toameh explains why the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate is punishing its members who meet with Israeli counterparts. What Toameh can’t explain, however, is why

The syndicate, dominated by Fatah and affiliated with the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah, threatened sanctions against any Palestinian journalist who engages in “normalization” with Israel.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate functions more as a political body than a union that is supposed to defend the rights of its members.

The syndicate wants Palestinian journalists to serve as soldiers on behalf of the Palestinian cause. Journalists, according to the syndicate, should first and foremost be loyal to their president, prime minister, government, homeland and cause. As for the truth, it appears at the bottom of the syndicate’s list of priorities.

Toameh leaves unanswered the silence of international media and human rights groups.

•  The Australian apologized for a recent Israeli apartheid headline critiqued by HonestReporting.

• Ehud Olmert to CNN: I was very close to reaching peace with the Palestinians, but right-wing US elements foiled my plans. Dore Gold (Israel HaYom) responds: Israel wasn’t as close to an agreement as the former PM implies:

In fact, when carefully examined, Olmert’s secret talks with Abbas should be seen as the latest proof that the fundamental gaps between the most maximal concession made by an Israeli prime minister did not meet the minimal requirements of Abbas for an agreement. This was not the first time that the myth of an impending Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough, that never happened, was widely promoted.

Continued on Page 2

HonestReporting critiqued a particularly nasty piece of journalism in The Australian. While the newspaper hasn’t addressed the one-sided contents of the article itself, the editor has, at least, apologized for the appalling headline that originally appeared.

JTA reports:

The editor of the Weekend Australian newspaper apologized to the Jewish community for a headline that accused Israel of “cruel apartheid.”

Nick Cater, editor of the Australian broadsheet, said this week that the headline to a story in the May 5 issue — titled “Living under the cloud of Israel’s cruel apartheid” — should not have been published.

Cater told the Australian Jewish News that the incident was “deeply embarrassing” because of the “offensive nature” of the words used in the headline.

Amir Mizroch, editor of the English edition of Israel Hayom and an ace with Twitter (find him at @amirmizroch), make a great spot on an AP story published in The Daily Star of Lebanon. While the original AP story about Israel’s national unity government appeared with a Jerusalem dateline, The Daily Star altered the dateline to read Occupied Jerusalem.

So apparently even a story set entirely in the western part of Jerusalem is still referred to as occupied territory, begging the question of what wouldn’t. Another question to ask is what the AP makes of a newspaper altering its dateline and what action it intends to take to fix it.

The emailed letter to the editor is still the classic way to make yourselves heard and maybe even get published. These days, however, social media offers many alternative ways to deal directly with media outlets and the journalists themselves. That’s why our latest Letter of the Month isn’t a letter at all but a tweet.

Our winner goes by the Twitter name of @nushuktan. He decided to tweet New York Times correspondent Jodi Rudoren directly over her recent article concerning Palestinian hunger strikers, sending her the link to HonestReporting’s critique.

Although we were less than impressed with her “could have done more” comment, Jodi Rudoren actually responded, proving that Twitter offers another effective vehicle for holding the media to account.

Congratulations to @nushuktan, who will be receiving something from us in the mail very soon just as soon as we find out who the person is behind the Twitter alias!

Remember to keep writing those letters and contacting the press and let us know if you are published!