Today’s Top Stories
1. Oberlin College’s board of trustees fired Professor Joy Karega over a series of social media posts linking Israel and Islamic State, blaming the Mossad for the Charlie Hebdo and 9/11 attacks, and more.
The college initially affirmed Karega’s right to academic freedom when her inflammatory statements surfaced earlier this year, but placed her on leave in August, pending an investigation into her conduct. Beyond concerns about anti-Semitism, which fit into larger complaints about escalating anti-Jewish rhetoric on campus, Karega’s case has raised questions about whether academic freedom covers statements that have no basis in fact.
Oberlin’s Board of Trustees ultimately voted to dismiss Karega for “failing to meet the academic standards that Oberlin requires of its faculty and failing to demonstrate intellectual honesty,” the college said in a statement released late Tuesday.
2. The German organizers of a Kristallnacht memorial event tried to ban participants from marching with Israeli flags, even though other participants were allowed to wear Palestinian keffiyehs. More on the sordid story at the Jerusalem Post:
A teacher confronted Behrens and said the flag has nothing to do with the memory of dead Jews.
3. Marking a formal re-establishment of diplomatic ties, Israel appointed a new ambassador to Turkey. Eitan Na’eh is a career diplomat who has previously served in different capacities at Israeli missions in London, Azerbaijan and even Ankara. Na’eh’s appointment requires the formality of cabinet approval.
Ankara in turn, announced the appointment Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, Kemal Okem.
Israeli-Turkish ties unraveled in 2010 after the Mavi Marmara flotilla affair.
4. Jewish Ties to Eastern Jerusalem Didn’t Begin in 1967: The only reason eastern Jerusalem was “entirely Arab” when Israel reunified the city was because the Jordanians expelled the Jews from its jurisdiction.
5. The Globe & Mail Makes Up News: With no basis in fact, a Canadian newspaper invents and falsifies Benjamin Netanyahu’s positions, emotions and thoughts on Donald Trump’s election.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• Regarding the Knesset’s controversial “muezzin bill” that seeks to bar mosques from using loudspeakers to amplify Muslim calls to prayer, Orthodox parties are now blocking the legislation. The bill’s wording “could potentially put the kibosh on religious Jewish communities using a siren to announce the commencement of the Sabbath on Friday evening.” Times of Israel coverage.
• Israel okays Palestinian village master plan in Area C.
Ti’anik, population around 1,000, will be able to obtain building permits for existing houses and new ones, and avoid having to face Israeli demolitions for illegal construction.
• Not many details, but Israel and India agreed to step up their counter-terror cooperation and defense ties. President Reuven Rivlin and his counterparts also signed agreements on agriculture and water resource management.
By the way, the Pakistani media is warily watching Rivlin’s trip:
India, Israel unite against Pakistan
Around the World
• A delegation of British Labour MPs — not including party chief Jeremy Corbyn — arrived in Israel for talks with their Israeli Labor counterparts, lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, meet with hi-tech entrepreneurs and visit the Palestinian Authority. As the British party became embroiled in a string of anti-Semitic controversies, Israeli party leader Isaac Herzog invited Corbyn to visit. More at The Guardian and Jewish Chronicle.
• The student government of Michigan U. shot down a non-binding resolution calling on the school to divest itself of businesses “profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
• Just who is Walid Phares, Trump’s Mideast adviser?
• Reporters at Politico are spooked by a spike in anti-Semitic correspondence. It’s gotten to the point (per Erik Wemple) that the magazine’s top figures sent a memo to reassuring the staff about security. Wemple also noted an October Anti-Defamation League study (pdf) which found, among other things:
At least 800 journalists received anti-Semitic tweets with an estimated reach of 45 million impressions. The top 10 most targeted journalists (all of whom are Jewish) received 83 percent of these anti-Semitic tweets.
Politico has to reassure staff after another spate of anti-Semitic threats https://t.co/5oUhHiauwv @ErikWemple Sorry my prediction came true
— Jane Eisner (@Jane_Eisner) November 16, 2016
• A Montana synagogue requested extra police protection after American Nazi flyers denouncing Jews were distributed around the town of Missoula.
• The FBI reports a spike in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents.
• Anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas were found scrawled on the home of an Ottawa Jewish woman who hosts a prayer service, and on a van belonging to a Stamford Hill Jewish girls school.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Elliott Abrams: Just how much should we boycott Israel?
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: The message remains no and no
– Bas Belder, Elise Coolegem: EU-Israeli relations: A new year, a new era?
– Amos Yadlin: A window of opportunity for Israel-US relations
– Giora Eiland: Trump era must not be wasted on ‘two-state’ solution
– Clifford May: Islam, UNESCO and the war against history
– Ottawa Citizen: No place for anti-semitism in Ottawa
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA HonestReporting, Natasha Mileshina, Giulio Bernardi; Turkey CC BY-ND Michal; Indian palm CC BY Yogesh Mhatre;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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