Everything you need to know about today’s coverage of Israel and the Mideast. Join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
Today’s Top Stories
1. Saudi Arabia denied a visa to Jerusalem Post correspondent Michael Wilner, who was supposed to covering President Obama’s visit with the White Press corps. According to the Post:
Obama administration officials privately acknowledged the media outlet was discriminated against.
Wilner, a Jewish American, works for the Israeli English-language newspaper, but does not hold Israeli citizenship and has never lived in the Jewish state.
USA Today adds that the White House protested the move and promised to raise the issue with the Saudis. The NY Times, Politico and Michael Calderone also took note. I wonder if the wider White House press corps will acknowledge the discrimination against one of their own when the president arrives in Riyadh.
2. Canadian court orders seizure of Iranian assets for terror victims
3. An Israeli government document concludes that a population exchange with the Palestinians would be legal if certain conditions are met. According to Haaretz:
The document’s authors concluded that the move would comply with international law on condition that it were done with the consent of the Palestinians, did not leave anyone without citizenship and included a mechanism for providing compensation, similar to the one used with Jewish settlers during Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
This will give new traction to the proposal of transferring a cluster of Israeli towns (collectively known as The Triangle) to the Palestinians as part of a land swap. About 300,000 Israeli Arabs live in the area between Netanya, Haifa and the Green Line.
4. Jimmy Carter Rejects BDS: What to make of the president’s break with his own rhetoric?
5. Fighting BDS – The Power of Pro-Israel Images: How do you communicate with people in a media-saturated world?
Israel and the Palestinians
• UN Watch posted copies of the five Israel-bashing resolutions which the UN Human Rights Council for adoption later this week. And then there’s this Reuters story about Richard Falk, who is leaving his post monitoring human rights in the West Bank for the UN. (A NY Daily News staff-ed also wished him a good riddance).
• Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the original founders of Hamas, told the Times of Israel that Hamas would respect a peace agreement with Israel if it was accepted by a Palestinian referendum.
• The Media Line looks at the latest with Palestinian unity efforts. Spoiler alert: there’s not much reason for optimism.
• Al Quds U. held a Hamas pep rally complete with students masked in black carrying mock missiles. Tom Gross posted photos as did the Al Quds U. Islamic Bloc on Facebook.
The deja vu you’re feeling is from another Al Quds rally last November for Islamic Jihad. That scene — students in black military clothes making Nazi salutes and carrying mock rifles — was so ugly, several American universities severed ties with Al Quds. Don’t tell me there’s no incitement on Palestinian campuses.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Kobi Michael (Israel’s strategic view of Gaza), Jonathan Schanzer (the Palestinian plan for when peace talks fail), Malcolm Hoenlein (end the humiliation of Israel’s striking diplomats), and Jonathan Tobin (Carter blames Jews for Obama’s snubs).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Now Egypt’s interested in purchasing Israeli gas. Al-Monitor reports that Egypt faces a severe energy shortage. Thanks to government corruption, Egypt squandered a lot of money from gas sales to Israel.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Dennis Ross (Obama in for rough reception in Riyadh), Hanin Ghaddar (Hezbollah’s new mission) and Daniel Hannan (could privatizing the BBC make it even more biased?).
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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