Today’s Top Stories
1. New Congressional legislation in the Capitol Hill pipeline would extend criminal penalties to compliance with BDS and settlement boycotts.
The House bill amends language in bills passed in the 1970s to combat the Arab League boycott of Israel to encompass the modern Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement – and to include efforts that would boycott settlement goods.
Whereas the original anti-boycott laws targeted companies cooperating with boycotts that were launched before Israel’s establishment as a means of squeezing its Jews, and then as a means of isolating the new Jewish state, the new bill appears to extend the definition to those who would use boycotts to pressure Israel into giving up territory.
2. French president Francois Hollande acknowledged Donald Trump will likely sink chances for Paris peace conference.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. A new International Criminal Court report takes Palestinians’ side “despite Israeli optimism.” According to the Jerusalem Post, we’re talking about two big questions. Regarding accusations of IDF war crimes during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, does Israel “occupy” Gaza? And regarding whether settlement activity is also an international crime, what exactly is the status of Jerusalem?
Though the document had many similarities with the 2015 report, it notably went out of its way to confirm that ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda views Gaza as legally still “occupied” by Israel for the purposes of her review of the 2014 Gaza war.
That determination could have a massive impact on whether Bensouda takes Israel’s or the Palestinians’ side on borderline laws of war issues as it frames the Palestinians more as the victims. It also makes it more likely that she will view even war-related issues more from the perspective of human rights law than from that of the law of armed conflict . . . .
While it is unclear what impact her statement about Jerusalem’s status will have on the war crimes examinations, it may show her leaning toward viewing Israel’s settlement enterprise as illegal as much of the world does, and perhaps even as war crimes.
4. Trump, Israel and the Media’s Epic Fail: Journalists admit presidential campaign coverage wasn’t based on reality. But the underlying problems go beyond the elections.
Israel and the Palestinians
• No international conference can be complete without Palestinians trying to politicize the matter at hand. At world climate talks in Morocco, PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah claimed Israeli factories in the West Bank are polluting the environment and water supply, and called for an international investigation.
• Canada restored funding to the UNRWA, which oversees humanitarian relief for Palestinian refugees.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, also known as UNRWA, lost federal funding in 2010 amid allegations it was tied too closely to Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Canada and others.
• Obama mulling support of UN resolution against Israeli settlements.
• Per Herb Keinon, Donald Trump is concerned with the Israeli right’s enthusiasm with his election. Hmmmmm.
Liberman: Israel has received messages from Trump transition team to "tone down" post-election enthusiasm & act with more humility.
— Herb Keinon (@HerbKeinon) November 16, 2016
• According to YNet, Donald Trump donated money to help Israel absorb and resettle Jews evacuated from the Sinai and Gaza back in the 1980s and in 2005.
• Worth reading: The Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) takes a closer look at how Israel is financially aiding the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. International aid to the PA is declining, Palestinian banks no longer loan money to the PA, and Washington’s own political transition now fuels even more uncertainty, which is why Israel is forced to step in:
Israeli authorities say the prospect of the Authority’s economic breakdown and even more tumult in Gaza is worse than the risk of indirectly sustaining Hamas, the Islamist military and political movement that has vowed for Israel’s destruction and fought Israel in three wars in the past eight years.
• Reuters: Hamas clamps down on Gaza’s ‘insecure’ Israeli SIM cards.
• President Reuven Rivlin’s visit to India continued with talk of an Israel-India free trade agreement. Rivlin also saw the Taj Mahal with his wife, Nechama.
A beautiful place where you can see that "love is as strong as death" Song of Songs 8:6 #India @IsraelinIndia #TajMahal pic.twitter.com/OuvtIdr8DN
— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) November 16, 2016
Around the World
• Hezbollah denied recent comments by its number two man who said the terror group “had become an army” that “does not need to rely on guerrilla tactics.” Meanwhile, the Washington Post wonders how Hezbollah got US armored personnel carriers it flaunted in a recent military parade.
• A top Parisian chef is fighting back at BDS activists over his attendance at an upcoming Tel Aviv culinary festival. Chef Stephane Jego accuses his critics — some of whom have picketed outside his bistro — of dishonesty and discrimination.
Visiting Great Britain, MK Yair Lapid didn’t mince words about European anti-Semitism and UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The Express picked up on his full BBC Newsnight interview.
• The French embassy in Tunisia reinstated a worker accused of posting anti-Semitic messages on Facebook. Selim Dakhlaoui, a consulting agent for the embassy, insists his Facebook account was hacked.
Dakhlaoui was suspended for three days in August following the surfacing online of messages made over the past year under his name, including one reading “Hitler didn’t finish the job” in a discussion about Israel’s alleged involvement in Islamist terrorism.
• Turkish Jews are increasingly planning to emigrate, prompted by anti-Semitic government rhetoric and authoritarian post-coup measures, the JTA reports.
• FYI, analysis by BuzzFeed found viral fake election news outperformed real news on Facebook during the final three months of the US election. But Jack Shafer says don’t fret.
Commentary/Analysis
• How typical of the New York Times. A staff-ed on Israeli settlements and the Trump election doesn’t give the full picture on a proposal put forward by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. He urges that Israel reach an understanding with the President-elect to freeze activity outside settlement blocs while allowing for building inside the settlement blocs. Feel free to agree or disagree with the trial balloon, but here’s what the Times wrote:
On Wednesday, Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that the government should strike a deal with the Trump administration to authorize expanded construction in the major West Bank settlements. Any move in that direction would be misguided and dangerous for the United States.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ira Rifkin: It’s Trump’s turn to deal with Middle East. Let the guesswork begin in earnest
– Raphael Ahren: What would Trump have to do to bring the US embassy to Jerusalem? Nothing at all
– Julian Ku: President Trump could unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
– Denis MacShane: Will Brexit open door to new BDS campaigns?
– Eylon Aslan-Levy: Britain’s parliament debates Balfour Declaration, revealing divides over Israel
– Ephraim Asculai, Emily Landau: Repairing the Iran nuclear deal’s damage
Image: CC BY-NC flickr/Abby; US Capitol CC BY-NC-ND Zach Stern;
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