Today’s Top Stories
1. The head of the UN’s inquiry into the Gaza war, William Schabas, resigned after Israel uncovered that he was once a paid consultant for the PLO. Reuters got the scoop:
In a letter to the commission, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Schabas said he would step down immediately to prevent the issue from overshadowing the preparation of the report and its findings, which are due to be published in March . . .
In the letter, Schabas said a legal opinion he wrote for the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 2012, for which he was paid $1,300, was not different from advice he had given to many other governments and organisations.
It’s not clear yet which of the remaining investigators will replace Schabas: Mary McGowan Davis, or the more problematic Doudou Diene. More on the story at YNet and UN Watch.
2. The Palestinian Authority’s investigating a newspaper that published a cartoon depicting Mohammed. This just a few weeks after Mahmoud Abbas flew to Paris show solidarity with pay lip service to Charlie Hebdo. Reuters explains:
A drawing in the West Bank-based newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadidah on Sunday showed a robed man standing astride Earth and reaching into a heart-shaped pouch to sow seeds of love around the world. The caption reads: “Our Prophet Muhammad”.
Artist Mohammed Saba’aneh, a Muslim, said he meant no harm. The figure was not Muhammad but “a symbol of humanity enlightened by what the Prophet Muhammad brought”, he wrote on Facebook.
Not so long ago, an anonymous Palestinian journalist’s open letter to French President Francois Hollande laid out why Abbas’s presence in Paris would damage Palestinian freedom of expression. And so it has.
3. The Tim Willcox mess rumbles on, with Ofcom, the UK media regulator, wading into the controversy. While interviewing a French Jew during last month’s Paris solidarity rally, the news presenter said “Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well.” The Daily Express reports that Ofcom ruled that Willcox’s remarks don’t warrant censure. What’s strange here is that Ofcom has very limited purview over the publicly funded BBC. It’s the internal BBC inquiry that really matters here.
A spokesman said: “After assessing complaints about alleged anti-Semitic comments made by Tim Willcox at a Paris rally, Ofcom ruled that, while the comments had the potential to cause offence, they were justified by the context in which they were presented.”
Israel and the Palestinians
• Jordan announced it is ready to return its ambassador to Israel three months after Temple Mount tensions. The New York Times encouragingly writes:
In a telephone interview, Mr. Momani said that Jordan had seen “significant improvements” in the access Israel allowed Muslim worshipers to the mosque on Fridays, and that there had been better coordination on tourist visits between the Israeli authorities and the Islamic authorities who administer the site under Jordanian supervision.
• Victims of Palestinian terror shared their stories in a US courtroom as part of a trial against the PLO. Reuters and AP were on hand.
• Buzzfeed unpacked a photo a lot of people think is a real selfie by a Palestinian running from the IDF. Posted on Facebook and Twitter by the Palestinian rap group, DAM, the photo’s been retweeted more than 13,000 times. A few hours later, the group came clean on Facebook and Twitter.
It appears that the three people in the photo are band members Tamer Nafar, Suhell Nafar and Mahmoud Jreri.
An associate of the band has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the photo was staged, but did not want to be quoted on record as they’ve enjoyed watching the reaction the photo is generating online.
• Times of Israel: The PA detained 15 Palestinians for having links to ISIS, and said an Israeli-Arab from eastern Jerusalem is now in Raqqa with ISIS. The Times was also told that another ISIS fugitive is hunkering down in Gaza:
The Palestinian sources also said Tuesday that one of the most wanted men in Egypt, a leader of the Islamic State-affiliate Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has been hiding out in Gaza. Islamist leader Shadi al-Menei escaped from Sinai to the Gaza Strip, and is in contact with senior Hamas officials there, including Iman Nofel, one of the commanders of Hamas’s armed wing.
• Picking up on the Schabas resignation, the New York Times made an especially sloppy fact-checking fail.
His decision to resign came against a backdrop of resilient anger in the Israeli government over what it considers prejudicial attitudes at the United Nations over the Israeli military’s conduct during the Gaza conflict, in which Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets into Israel and the Israelis attacked targets in Gaza with bombs and missiles.
But the Times’s own post-war coverage put the number of rockets well in the thousands.
Hamas and other militant groups fired 4,564 rockets and mortars . . .
As this roundup went to press, the error remained uncorrected.
• Reuters: Egyptian troops fired warning shots on Palestinian positions in Gaza.
Egyptian security sources blamed Hamas for a blast on Gaza territory which they said targeted an Egyptian military convoy near the Salah al-Din checkpoint. They said they had fired warning shots back.
Around the World
• Greece’s new finance minister is accused of having anti-Semitic views. Yanis Varoufakis apparently also voiced empathy for Palestinian suicide bombers. The Times of Israel writes:
Varoufakis, who at the time was an economics professor at the University of Athens, defended himself a few years later by stating that in his criticism of Israeli policies he was merely basing himself on reports in the Israeli daily Haaretz.
• Rebel chief: Ukraine run by “miserable Jews”
• Anti-Semitic posters referencing Nisman appear in Buenos Aires.
• Egypt is expected to release jailed Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy after he renounced his Egyptian citizenship. According to reports, Egypt made this a condition for releasing Fahmy, who also holds Canadian citizenship. His colleague, Peter Greste, was already freed. Producer Baher Mohamed remains behind bars. CBC coverage.
Commentary/Analysis
• Omri Ceren discussed the US, Iran, and the nuclear issue with the Wall St. Journal.
• Iran and Hezbollah’s expansion into the Golan Heights spells disaster for Lebanon as Israel will inevitably have to re-establish its deterrance. Tony Badran argues that the Iranians will continue this for the duration of the Obama presidency:
The Iranians know they have two years left to press their advantage and maximize their gains, not only without any pushback from the US, but with its de facto consent. And the White House’s open hostility toward Netanyahu will only encourage the Iranians to take shots at Israel. Which is why, over time, a limited tit-for-tat Israeli approach would work to Tehran’s advantage, failing to deter it, and making the Golan front a fact. With Iran racing toward the nuclear bomb, its operational presence in the Golan, integrating the Lebanese and south Syrian fronts, is untenable for Israel. It is a matter of upholding Israeli deterrence and containing the Iranian expansion taking place with the seeming acquiescence of the Obama administration.
• A concerned Lebanese individual writes an open letter to Israel.
The reality is that Hezbollah is terrorizing not just Israel, but also Lebanon and its population. We are hostages in our own country, and have become subservient to Hezbollah’s foolish political, ideological and military ambitions, which the vast majority in Lebanon want nothing to do with . . .
But if you must strike within Lebanon, please spare it from total destruction and collateral damage, so you end up with an ally, and not an apocalypse. Make an effort to preserve Lebanon and its institutions, so we can end up as partners for a long-lasting peace, just as it was many years ago.
If you destroy Lebanon, it will become even more infested with rogue groups, terrorists and extremists; you might even have Islamic State at your doors . . .
Just as the US and Canada came to finally help the Jewish people from the Holocaust atrocities of World War II; and just as you have earned their respect and alliances for life, I’m hopeful that Israel will do the right thing and destroy the Nazi-style movements that are currently at its doors, while sparing the good people (and innocent civilians) in the process.
• Richard Cohen‘s take on anti-Semitism and its causes is spot-on. Here’s the money quote:
Anti-Semitism does not need a reason. It needs only an excuse.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Jonathan Tobin (New chair can’t salvage UN Gaza travesty), Guy Bechor (Let Hezbollah and Islamic State destroy each other), and AP (Hezbollah faces hard choices between fighting Israel, Sunnis).
Featured image: CC BY Jon S via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; cartoon via Jerusalem Post; Beirut CC BY flickr/Evan Bench
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
