Today’s Top Stories
1. Hamas finally admitted that rockets were fired from residential areas. Spokesman Ghazi Hamad told AP:
Increasingly, the discussion is not about whether the Hamas rockets were fired from civilian areas, but exactly how close they were to the actual buildings.
“The Israelis kept saying rockets were fired from schools or hospitals when in fact they were fired 200 or 300 meters (yards) away. Still, there were some mistakes made and they were quickly dealt with,” Hamad told The Associated Press, offering the first acknowledgment by a Hamas official that, in some cases, militants fired rockets from or near residential areas or civilian facilities.
Jonathan Tobin and a New York Daily News staff-ed nail the issue. Tobin writes:
But Hamas officials quoted by the news service now say that when they did fire from such places, the rocket launchers were always at a “safe distance” from such structures or that the nearby buildings were deliberately kept vacant.
Given the evidence of civilian casualties from Israeli fire directed at such launchings, this is a transparent lie. More to the point, if human rights groups and the international press accept this excuse they will not only be validating an almost certainly false story but also moving the goalposts to accommodate the terrorists propaganda needs.
2. Now we’re getting some answers to my questions about all the rockets turning up in UNRWA schools.
Exclusive: Hamas threatened UNRWA personnel at gun-point during Gaza war
3. The Islamic State beheaded British aid worker David Haines. Just like the previous ISIS videos of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Haines was kneeling in an orange jump suit with the same murderer — a masked man with a British accent commonly referred to as “Jihadi John.” More at the Daily Telegraph.
4. The Book Review From Hell: Lara Marlowe “reviews” some of the most virulently anti-Israel books for the Irish Times.
5. Defending Violent Hate Speech: Los Angeles Times columnist sees hateful tweet as legitimate academic discourse.
6. CUNY Group Postpones BDS Vote Scheduled for Jewish Sabbath: Pro-Palestinian activists tried to underhandedly ram through an academic boycott measure.
7. Only 24 hours left to send in your application for the 2014 Blankfeld Award for media critique. An award of $2,000 will be made to one recipient currently in full-time education. Click for more details.
Israel and the Palestinians
• You probably read about a letter signed by 43 reserve soldiers from an elite intelligence unit who object to monitoring Palestinians. Haaretz points out that Unit 8200 has thousands of reservists, and that 43 doesn’t represent a major trend. Tell that to The Guardian, which wrote a disproportionately long 3,774 word-long piece on the “story.” That’s a disproportionate 94 column inches devoted to a fringe group.
A number of Unit 8200 veterans have told Haaretz that at any given time thousands of soldiers serve with the unit, so a letter by 43 people shouldn’t surprise anyone.
• Al Jazeera must have the Palestinian Authority squirming. The Qatari-based news station reports that the PA is stalling on a Gaza war crimes probe in the International Criminal Court. Officials in the Hague are reportedly ready and eager to put Israel in the docket, but chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda can’t be more Palestinian than the Palestinians.
• UN Watch dug up some fascinating history on William Schabas, who is heading the UN Human Rights Council’s investigation of Operation Protective Edge:
• Palestinian leaders are squirming over the world’s preoccupation with the Islamic State threat.
• Jerusalem Post: Shukri Bishara, now the PA finance minister, cut a check for thousands of dollars to Hamas while working at the Arab Bank. Bishara admitted this in a New York courtroom, where terror victims have taken legal action against the Arab Bank for helping finance terror attacks.
• Around the world: Brazilian school “sorry” for exam comparing Israelis to Nazis. Cardiff deputy lord mayor may resign after saying Hamas only fired “toy rockets.” Hillel wants Ohio U. to apologize for arrest of pro-Israel students. Angela Merkel to headline Berlin rally against anti-Semitism. Malaysia favors Palestinians, but buys from Israel.
• Confused by the variety names referring to the Islamic State? Associated Press explains the names, which one it’s using, and why getting the name right can is actually a life or death matter for some people:
Several residents in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city which fell to the extremist group in June, told The Associated Press that the militants threatened to cut the tongue of anyone who publicly used the acronym Daesh, instead of referring to the group by its full name, saying it shows defiance and disrespect. The residents spoke anonymously out of fear for their safety.
The inconsistency, while confusing for some, has not deterred the group’s growing exposure on social media, with so many hashtags, posts and tweets ultimately directing readers and viewers to their news. Despite being associated to about a half-dozen names and acronyms, the group’s brutal objectives are becoming increasingly clear.
Media Angles
• Yigal Palmor, who recently stepped down as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussed Israel’s media war with the Jerusalem Post:
As as far as space is concerned, though one might think that the Web’s limitless space would be to Israel’s advantage, with room to present lengthy, learned, nuanced arguments – in practice, it simply doesn’t work that way.
“Who reads very long articles on the Internet?” he asked.
The Web-driven news also does not allow for the time necessary to cover the Jewish state’s complicated stories – since the stories need to go online right away, with no time to verify, look up facts or check others.
• A study of IDF and Hamas Twitter use during Operation Protective Edge found the IDF tweeted out an impressive amount of statements, photos and videos, but was found lacking in using hashtags and interacting with people. More on this story at the Times of Israel:
Drawta says the IDF made a conscious decision to be less interactive than it was during Operation Pillar of Defense. Given the 140-character limit of a tweet, he says his desk decided hashtags were not best use of valuable space. The strategy was to monitor the conversation and to put out in-demand information quickly and accurately, trusting journalists and Israel advocates would make effective use of it.
• Somehow, I’m not surprised. Former AP correspondent Matti Friedman (along with journalist Tom Gross) discussed Western media bias against Israel with Haaretz’s Dafna Maor. Friedman’s unhappy that Haaretz’s English and Hebrew versions of the interview aren’t the same and that the English version attributes a quote to him he never said; Maor commented below Friedman’s comment the error was an honest mistake which will be fixed soon. Sheesh.
• New York Times reporter wonders whether Hamas really kidnapped those three teenagers. How much evidence does the Gray Lady need? asks Liel Leibovitz.
Commentary/Analysis
• Tariq Alhomayed heaps scorn on Hamas after Yusef Abu Marzook’s trial balloon that Islamic law permits directly negotiations with Israel. (Khaled Mashaal shot down that idea. Almohayed asks:
So is this a tacit apology from Hamas leader Abu-Marzuq regarding everything that Hamas said about Egypt and former president Anwar Sadat when he was negotiating with Israel? What about Yasser Arafat? Is this also an apology regarding everything that was said about the Arab Initiative? What about all the Palestinian blood that has been shed without justification or the destruction carried out by this so-called “resistance?”
There are many questions that must be asked, most importantly: where did Hamas obtain this sudden and surprising wisdom? Is it an attempt to catch up after Hamas finds itself in a world where Iran is negotiating with the US and Egypt has returned, once more, to its traditional place in the region? Or is this an attempt to absorb the anger of the people of Gaza?
• I liked very much Amira Hass’s 18 questions for Hamas.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Yossi Klein Halevi (How do Israelis cope?) Amos Yadlin (Dealing with Hamas’ military reconstruction), Ben-Dror Yemini (Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism), Irwin Cotler (The fatal flaws of the Schabas inquiry), and Ofer Zalzberg (How not to demilitarize Hamas).
Image: Palmor via YouTube/Fernando Henrique Cardoso
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