Israel Daily News Stream 03/20/2012
March 20, 2012 18:12 by Pesach Benson
Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.
A Pentagon war simulation is leaked to the NY Times — what’s the message to Israel? Is there any truth to reports of Russian forces operating in Syria? And what did Catherine Ashton say to anger Israeli officials?
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Israel and the Palestinians
• Don’t hold your breath waiting for the UN to dismiss Khulood Badawi for her false photo tweet. According to the Jerusalem Post:
Western diplomatic sources said the UN was coming under counter-pressure from Palestinian and Arab circles not to “succumb to Israeli pressure” and fire Kuhlood Badawi . . .
Meanwhile, HonestReporting’s CEO Joe Hyams looks at the bigger picture. He writes about the Blood Libel 2.0 in The Times of Israel:
For every Badawi, there are thousands of militant anti-Semites, armed with keyboards (and little else above the waist). A fair few of them serve institutions and NGOs; others work in public positions and welfare offices.
All will closely watch how Badawi’s case plays out.
If you haven’t already done so, sign HonestReporting’s petition calling on the UN to dismiss Badawi.
• The UN cancelled Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar’s address to the UN Human Rights Council. UN Watch describes what happened next:
Al-Ashqar did not speak before the HRC plenary session, but rather to a virtually empty room . . .
• EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton compared the massacre of Jewish kids in Toulouse with “what is happening in Gaza.” Israel demands a retraction, but Ashton denies any parallel. Here’s what Ashton said:
“When we think about what happened today in Toulouse, we remember what happened in Norway last year, we know what is happening in Syria, and we see what is happening in Gaza and other places – we remember young people and children who lose their lives.”
• Some reactions to Peter Beinart’s suggestion that BDS limit itself to settlements.
- Jeffrey Goldberg: Economic war against Jews is distasteful.
- Michael Oren: You can’t have peace without Palestinian commitment to two-state solution, irrespective of boycotts.
- Richard Silverstein: Beinart is “Liberal Zionism writing its own requiem.”
- David Frum: This is what happens when liberals partner up with movements led by illiberal radicals. A familiar trap.
- Ami Eden: “It will no longer be about whether boycotting other Jews is kosher, but about which Jews we should be boycotting.”
- Peter Reitzes: Force the PA to return to the peace talks — boycott Palestinian goods.
BTW, Beinart responds to some of the above.
• The charge that the IDF mistreats Palestinian minors really has legs. The Independent picks up on the latest NGO report. We addressed this issue here and here.
Israeli American
8:33 pm
Mar 20, 2012
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Martin Broschowitz
8:43 pm
Mar 20, 2012
One can’t be too surprised at i idiotic statements from UN or NGO employees. They often work in hostile places, where they can be killed for the truth. They know Israelis will not harm them for being truthful or lying The Palestinians however will. Therefore they
Play it. Safe and say what is safe and tell what amounts to lies about israel
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Lorence rubin
10:02 pm
Mar 20, 2012
My problem is quite simple. As an atheist, the religus dogm surrounding this quagmire seems almost impenatrable
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Lorence rubin
10:09 pm
Mar 20, 2012
My problem is quite simple. As an atheist, the religus dogm surrounding this quagmire seems almost impenetrable. As a Jew, I must defend Israels right to exist. There are no other Jewish countries. Whatever I
Israel must do to survive so be it. What I cannot understand, is the following. Perhaps I am naive or simply stupid. Israel is a democracy, I understand that Democracy’s allow freedom of access and information but surly the government of Israel can tell the EU, that Ms. Ashton is now unwelcome in Israel, and if she does come seeking to meet with Israeli officials, she should be granted access to only the lowest diplomatic cadre.
It’s time for Israel to stand up to these people.
L.R
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Ellery Block
10:41 pm
Mar 20, 2012
My comment on the NT Times article about the war simulation of an Israeli Strike Against Iran, in which the US suffered 200 casualties when its ship was struck by Iranian missiles. The article noted in paragraph two that “…the exercise’s results were not the only possible outcome…”. But the article did not point out an important feature of war simulations: the war simulation’s pre-defined scenario includes details that are assumed in advance, to occur for the purpose of examining how the US might respond to those occurences. One had to read between the lines to find out that, in the fifth paragraph, the 200 US casualties were pre-defined “…played out a narrative…killing about 200 Americans…”. Thus, the action was not a result of the war simulation, but a pre-defined assumption. Readers were not carefully, and unambiguously informed about this very important fact, and thus were led to believe that this was a very likely outcome of the war simulation. I am not accusing the authors of fear mongering, but of not placing this facet in full perspective in their opening paragraph.
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