Discredited Journalist Arrested for US Hoax Bomb Threats

Today’s Top Stories

1. The FBI arrested a discredited journalist who it says is responsible for hoax bomb threats against eight Jewish Community Centers and the Anti-Defamation League. Juan Thompson, formerly of St. Louis is said to have made the bomb threats in his ex-girlfriend’s name in a bid to ruin her reputation. It’s a local story for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. If Thompson’s responsible for only eight of the calls, investigators will still be searching who is responsible for the other 114.

Thompson had been employed by The Intercept, but was fired in January, 2016 for fabricating sources and quotes, said a statement issued by the online magazine and elaborated on by Haaretz.

Sources: Arrest made in some "copycat" threats to Jewish centers, but authorities do not believe suspect is behind larger wave across US.

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) March 3, 2017

2. An official US delegation is visiting Jerusalem to examine the possibility of transferring the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post writes:

The delegation’s visit is the first sign that there might be some movement on the issue.

3. On the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Thursday talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow: Preventing Iran from establishing a base of operations in Syria. So far, Russia’s playing coy. Haaretz reports:

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the Al-Hayat daily on Sunday that the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria would play only a part in reaching a final agreement in Syria.

 

“The lawful authorities that will be lawfully chosen in Syria would be the ones with the right to demand the withdrawal of all foreign powers from the country,” he said.

More at the Times of Israel.

4. You Can’t Expect Children to Fact Check News: Indeed, when serving as the font of knowledge for impressionable youngsters who do not know how to question sources, ABC must strive for accuracy, in nuance as well as facts, even harder than in its reporting for adults.

5. Rubinger’s Moment: A Lesson in Time: On the passing of acclaimed Israeli photographer David Rubinger, HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams pays a special tribute to a friend and mentor.

Israel and the Palestinians

• UN Human Rights Council targets Israel in 6 reports.

• Former British PM Tony Blair denied a report in the Mail on Sunday that he pitched himself to the Trump administration as a potential Mideast peace envoy. Or maybe this was a trial balloon. Who knows?

The story in the Mail on Sunday is an invention:https://t.co/kDnYW8IRJ7

— Tony Blair Institute (@InstituteGC) March 5, 2017

• Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, discussed the two-state solution, Israel and the UN, and more in a Jerusalem Post interview.

• Palestinian man caught with knife in Hebron near Tomb of the Patriarchs on Saturday.

• Turns out there’s a street in an Israeli-Arab town named after former terrorist and PLO chief Yasser Arafat. Netanyahu has vowed to get the street name changed, but an official from the Israeli Arab town of Jatt told the Times of Israel he doesn’t see what all the fuss is about:

Muhammad Tahar Wattad, head of the Jatt regional council, told Channel 2 earlier this week that while he did not know of the street’s existence, he did not see any problem with naming it for Arafat, as numerous Israeli prime ministers had met with the former PLO leader, including Netanyahu himself during his first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999.

Israel is not going to have a street named after Arafat, Netanyahu vows to remove Arafat street sign in Arab city of Jatt in Haifa District. pic.twitter.com/qTEq5uYlsk

— Behind The News (@Behind__News) March 4, 2017

Around the World

• New York police are investigating another Jewish cemetery desecration — this time in Brooklyn. Five granite and marble tombstones in Brooklyn’s Washington Cemetery were found toppled on Sunday morning, CNN added.

• Britain’s Jewish community is on a heightened state of alert following Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s warning of a “significant” threat based on online Islamic State chatter.

• National Post: Canadian Jewish groups are wondering why Ottawa allowed a Alison Chabloz — a British blogger accused of Holocaust denial — into Canada to speak at a neo-Nazi event in Calgary.

The incident comes amid concerns over rising hate crimes, including Holocaust denial posters at the University of Calgary . . .

 

According to a post on the Facebook page of white nationalist Paul [Frederick] Fromm she is on an eight-city tour of Canada that began last Friday in London, Ont.

• Students at Ryerson U. welcomed firing of teaching assistant over ‘purify filth of Jews’ comment. More on Ayman Elkasrawy’s dismissal at The Ryersonian, The Eyeopener and The Algemeiner.

• Dutch anti-Semitism watchdog asks government to ban ‘Hamas front’ conference.

• Montreal police investigate second hate-filled sermon against Jews at mosque.

• The Jerusalem Post takes a closer look at the rate of French aliyah.

• BDS Austria barred from holding event in a Vienna cultural institution.

• The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, which supports BDS, maintains bank accounts with the Texas-based Comerica and the Spain-based La Caixa. As a result, Texas lawmakers are considering barring public funds from being invested in either of the banking institutions.

• Say it ain’t so! French Arab coexistence champion Mehdi Meklat found to have authored anti-Semitic tweets under a pseudonym.

• Iran’s navy to benefit from an expiring UN ban, US study says.

Commentary/Analysis

• Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy took to the Washington Post to urge Israel to initiate direct contact with Hamas.

The international contacts of Hamas are growing. At the end of the last Gaza war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Mashal in Doha, Qatar, and invited him to visit Moscow. Mashal is leaving the position of head of the Hamas political bureau and is a serious candidate to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority.

 

There remains no good case for Israel to shun Hamas. Israel rightly prides itself as one of the strongest powers in the Middle East, but it will gain nothing from yet another round of fighting. Game changers must come from those who have the upper hand.

• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .

– Khaled Abu Toameh: Why a “regional peace process” will fail
– Avi Issacharoff: In Gaza, the road to escalation grows shorter
– Assaf Orion: Hezbollah and Lebanon: One and the same?
– Moshe Cohen, Yasser Okbi: The Lebanese army will fight alongside Hezbollah in war with Israel
– Steven Spiegel: Putting the US-Israel relationship to work
– Prof. Hillel Frisch: Myth: American ties to Israel harm US interests in the Mideast
– Anthony Bergin: Synergies at stake in better Israeli-Australian ties
– Fred Maroun: Anti-Semitism: Staring straight into darkness
– Robert Singer: Why is Amazon selling Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism?
– Melanie Phillips: Viewing anti-Semitism through a glass darkly
– Sever Plocker: Hate crimes: With opinions comes responsibility
– Yousef al Otaiba: Iran’s hostile behavior is growing worse

Featured image: CC BY Eugen Anghel; child CC0 mojzagrebinfo; Chabloz via YouTube/Alison Chabloz; Comerica CC BY-SA Rmhermen;

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.

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