Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.
Notice to readers: The Israel Daily News Stream will resume after Passover.
The International Criminal Court deals a setback to Palestinian lawfare. The Muslim Brotherhood launches a US charm offensive. And two pandering Palestinians suffer foot-in-mouth syndrome.
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Israel and the Palestinians
• The International Criminal Court dealt Palestinian lawfare a big setback, saying it won’t investigate PA complaints of alleged Israeli war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. The JPost writes:
In a written ruling, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that the court cannot investigate the PA’s allegations because the court only has jurisdiction over recognized states . . .
Tuesday’s long-anticipated decision is also a blow to the PA’s ongoing battle for recognition in the international community as an independent state.
Had the ICC accepted the PA’s recognition of its jurisdiction, it would have also tacitly accepted its statehood.
The full ICC statement‘s here.
• Despite Israel’s “dismal” record of jailed journalists per capita, Emma Hurd of Sky News picks up on the PA’s crackdown on press freedom. After Hurd’s piece was published, Jamal Hlaihel was arrested over comments he posted on Facebook. Hlaihel’s the fourth person arrested for criticizing the PA. UNESCO, where are you?
• Dr. Omar Ja’ara, lecturer at Al-Najah University in Nablus, thinks he’s taking a dig at the Jewish people by telling PA TV that Moses led Muslims out of Egypt. Ja’ara apparently has no use for Mohammed anymore, but that’s a religious fatwa debate he can deal with. Great spot by PalWatch.
• Hamas official Fathi Hammad is trying too hard to drum up Egpytian goodwill and gas for Gaza. Hammad, who serves as Minister of the Interior and National Security told Egypt’s Al-Hekma TV (via Memri) that the Palestinians didn’t really live in Israel “from time immemorial.” Key snippet:
Allah be praised, we all have Arab roots, and every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can prove his Arab roots – whether from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, or anywhere. We have blood ties. So where is your affection and mercy?
. . .
Personally, half my family is Egyptian. We are all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri [“Egyptian”]. Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis.
Well that certainly debunks the notion that the Canaanites were occupiers too, but don’t take my word for it. Watch the video:
• Tom Friedman‘s confused.
By Palestinians engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience in the West Bank with one hand and carrying a map of a reasonable two-state settlement in the other, they will be adopting the only strategy that will end the Israeli occupation: Making Israelis feel morally insecure but strategically secure. The Iron Law of the peace process is that whoever makes the Israeli silent majority feel morally insecure about occupation but strategically secure in Israel wins.
If the Palestinians present a map and act like peace partners, we could resolve the Mideast conflict quickly enough — not because of “moral insecurity,” but because Israelis wants peace too, as we pointed out in this video.
• The IDF has developed an artillary rocket with fantastic precision: landing within 10 meters of the target. With an accuracy like that, terrorist headquarters and ammo dumps embedded in civilian areas could be hit without an air strike. So what’s Haaretz‘s headline?
• Hamas blinks on fuel crisis, according to AFP:
Under the terms of a deal announced on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank will supply Gaza with fuel purchased from Israel for so long as the Hamas-controlled Gaza electricity authority pays for it.
