Today’s Top Stories
1. Mahmoud Abbas is resisting significant pressure from the Arab League to appoint a successor. MEMRI picked up on Egyptian press reports.
On November 16, the independent Egyptian Islamic daily Al-Misriyyoun published a lengthy report on this matter, according to which Abu Al-Gheit presented ‘Abbas with the names of three possible successors: former PA foreign minister and Arafat nephew Nasser Al-Qidwa; senior Fatah member Marwan Al-Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israel for orchestrating terrorist attacks during the second intifada; and Dahlan. The newspaper explained that the Arab countries, and particularly Egypt, were so insistent on lining up a successor to ‘Abbas because if ‘Abbas left the political scene without naming one, the post of PA president could go to PLC Speaker and Hamas official ‘Aziz Dweik, giving Hamas a foothold in the PA leadership.
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2. French prosecutors are looking for legal avenues to change the name of a baby whose parents named their son after the terrorist responsible for the massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012. The baby’s first name was registered as Mohammed Nizar Merah.
Estrosi said he would contest the registration of the baby’s name on several grounds, including regulations that prohibit names that are deemed “detrimental to the interests of the infant.” But the mayor also wrote that he would also fight the registration on grounds that [it] encourages violence and terrorism.
3. Foreign diplomats in Chile are rallying around the wife of Israel’s ambassador after she was snubbed from an annual charity event because it’s being held at a Palestinian venue this year. YNet explains:
“If we had been invited, we would’ve been happy to attend,” Michal Hayat told the organization’s head. “You are politicizing both the organization and the event, which is meant to raise money for the needy in Chile.”
The heads of the Chile Diplomatic Spouses Club did apologize, but stressed that it was too late to change the situation and that the event will go ahead as planned—without the Israeli ambassador’s wife.
The organization added that some of the other diplomatic spouses canceled their participation in the event because of Hayat’s exclusion.
4. The New Statesman’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Why is the British magazine literally rehashing Palestinian propaganda?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Trump’s election spurs plans for a Jerusalem building spree over the Green Line, say Israeli media reports.
Some 1,400 new apartments in the capital’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood would be approved by the Jerusalem Municipality Planning and Construction Committee later in the day, city officials told Channel 2, hailing Trump’s victory as an opportunity to expand Jewish building in the eastern part of Jerusalem unhindered.
• French officials denied a recent report quoting President Francois Hollande saying Donald Trump’s election would deep-six an upcoming Paris peace conference. PLO officials insist the confab will take place by the end of 2016 “whether the Israeli government consents or not.”
• It’s only an outrage if Israel does this:
Lebanon begins building ‘security wall’ around Palestinian refugee camp
Around the World
• President-elect Donald Trump builds his cabinet and White House staff and there’s plenty of chatter about the appointees and their views on Israel and the Jews. Here’s a roundup of what they’re saying about Gen. Michael Flynn (National Security Advisor) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (CIA director).
• Swastikas, ‘Go Trump’ graffiti deface Brooklyn children’s playground.
• While visiting Tel Aviv with a delegation of city councillors, businessmen and educators, the mayors of Toronto and Montreal say “Canada is open for business.” They’re especially interested in Israeli advances in cybersecurity, life sciences, and transportation. Toronto Mayor John Tory told The Media Line:
“It is amazing the kind of innovation they have achieved here,” he said. “I have seen many ideas that we can use in our own cities, on how to run our city smarter and better.”
Leafs Nation is everywhere! Happened to stumble upon this t-shirt in a market in the Old City of Jerusalem. #tmltalk pic.twitter.com/9E9Njtgfsw
— John Tory (@JohnTory) November 18, 2016
• The Jewish Agency notes a spike in aliya from Brazil.
• Portuguese eatery trashed during chef’s visit to Israeli food festival. BDS “activists” believed responsible.
• Why are Hezbollah militias involved in Peru’s violence?
• Although the Michigan U. student government recently voted down a BDS motion, pro-Palestinian students who supported the measure are sticking to a very strict policy of “non-normalization,” rejecting any and all overtures for dialogue, even refusing to shake hands with pro-Israel students.
“Central Student Government (CSG) has called on us to initiate cooperation and reach out to the other side,” she said. “But how can we follow up on a promise of dialogue and bettering the campus climate if they refuse to speak with us directly, and even call our attempts at communication disingenuous?”
• Satire alert (part 1):
• Satire alert (part 2):
Turkey Begins Releasing Jailed ISIS Members to Make Room for Journalists
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Kanchan Gupta: How Israel surprised the world
– Nadav Shragai: The muezzin of Rachel’s Tomb
– Aliza Lavie, Dov Lipman: A message to Diaspora Jews
– Moshe Kantor: UNESCO has been used as a weapon to wage a cultural war
– Lior Akerman: Is the Palestinian Authority on its last legs?
– Elliott Abrams: Israel’s population bomb is disappearing
– Barbara Kay: Only Palestinians inherit “refugee” status
– Ziva Dahl: West accepts Palestinian kleptocracy, people suffer consequences
– Amos Harel: Israeli army digging in against possible Hezbollah incursion
– Sheree Roth: Were the Arabs indigenous to Mandatory Palestine?
– Lesley Klaff: Why all Labour members need to read parliament’s anti-Semitism report
– Yves Mamou: Council of Europe recommends British press NOT report when terrorists are Muslims
– Washington Post (staff-ed): Israel’s emboldened radical right wing pushes the boundaries in the West Bank
– Los Angeles Times (staff-ed): Israel’s ‘muezzin law’ would muffle the call to prayer
Featured image: CC BY-NC Thom Sanders; Santiago CC BY-NC-ND alobos Life;
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