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Today’s Top Stories
1. British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the Knesset. Take your pick of Jerusalem Post coverage, Haaretz liveblogging, or the Jewish Chronicle‘s full transcript.
More on Cameron’s visit below.
2. Why the heck is the National Summit to Reassess the U.S. – Israel “Special Relationship” being re-broadcast on C-Span? Sessions include “Does the ‘special relationship’ transcend rule of law?” “Has the lobby captured political parties and news media?”, and “Is Israel really a U.S. ally?” You get the picture. (Via Joshua Levitt.)
3. In case your wondering why the UN has been silent over the shipment of Iranian weapons, it’s because Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees are on strike, not because it’s business as usual at 760 United Nations Plaza. Haaretz explains:
. . . all public diplomacy activities have been halted. Thus, for example, Israeli missions abroad did not disseminate any of Israel’s messages regarding the Iranian arms shipment it intercepted last week, nor were politicians or journalists in foreign countries briefed on the matter.
Diplomats were also instructed to cut off all communication with the UN agencies in New York, Geneva and Vienna; not to attend debates in the Security Council, and not to participate in any votes or take any diplomatic action. As a result, the Israeli delegation to the United Nations did not approach the UN’s sanctions committee to report the seizure of the Iranian arms shipment, without which no international investigation will be opened.
See Matthew Kalman‘s take.
4. To Fight Anti-Semitism, We Must Define It: There’s no constructive discussion taking place about anti-Semitism.
David Cameron Visits Israel
• Matthew Gould, Britain’s ambassador to Israel, is under fire — from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees union. Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that the union’s unhappy the ambassador didn’t cancel the prime minister’s trip.
Aside from Gould and the MFA strike, the Telegraph seems to imply that Israel’s capital is Tel Aviv. (Yes, the British embassy is in Tel Aviv, but this is the second time in recent days the Telegraph has played fast and loose on the nuance.) What do you think?
In its letter, the employees’ union charges Mr Gould, UK’s ambassador to Tel Aviv since 2010, with a lack of solidarity for fellow diplomats by failing to advise the Prime Minister to postpone the visit.
By the way, the Palestinians are grumbling over Cameron’s visit, and it’s not in solidarity with their Israeli diplomatic counterparts.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Stephen Pollard (why Cameron doesn’t give a hoot about BDS).
- Norwegian Cruise Lines drops Tunisia over discrimination against Israeli passengers.
- What’s China’s shadowy connection to the Iranian weapons ship?
- Have Syrian Islamists seized chemical weapons?
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