Today’s Top Stories
1. Denmark is on edge after a pair of shootings in Copenhagen killed two people and injured five. In the first attack, a terrorist sprayed gunfire on a cafe during a debate on freedom of speech and blasphemy, killing one person and injuring three policemen. One of the panelists was Lars Vilks, who in 2007 drew a series of cartoons depicting Mohammed as a dog.
Hours later, shots were fired on Copenhagen’s Great Synagogue during a bar mitzvah celebration, killing a Jewish guard identified as Dan Uzan, and injuring two policemen. Israeli radio reports said the guard prevented a larger attack on the synagogue and its 80 guests.
A suspect who police believe was responsible for both attacks was killed after he opened fire on police. The city’s in lockdown; Jews are scared to leave their homes. More at the Copenhagen Post and AP.
“Denmark has been hit by terror,” Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said on Sunday.
2. ISIS claims it’s holding a Palestinian who was sent to spy for the Mossad. The family of 19-year-old Muhammad Musallam acknowledges he traveled to Turkey to join up with ISIS, but denied he has any association with the Mossad.
3. Almost half of the names that appear on a Palestinian list of “journalists” killed during last summer’s conflict with Israel were members or operatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad media outlets. The Jerusalem Post picked up on a report (in Hebrew) by Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
Dr. Reuven Erlich, head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, compared the operatives to Islamic State cameramen who film the beheadings of hostages.
“To call them journalists is completely absurd. The fact that there are those in the world who bought into these lies is scandalous,” Erlich stated.
4. HonestReporting’s proud to announce two can’t-miss events. Advanced registration’s required for both activities, so don’t delay.
First up is An Evening With Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who will discuss “Fighting Terrorism Through the Courts. Its on Wed., Feb. 25 at Jerusalem’s Agron Guest House. Click for details.
We also have A Trip to Israel’s Northern Border guided by military analyst and IDF Major (res.) Elliot Chodoff. That’s on Tues. April 14, departing from Jerusalem’s Heichal Shlomo Building. Click for details.
Space is limited. Sign up now!
Israel and the Palestinians
• The Associated Press cranked out an in-depth study (with sidebar) on Israeli airstrikes on Gaza civilian homes during Operation Protective Edge. On one hand, I’m glad the Western press is taking a stab at independently verifying the info.
But investigative reporter Richard Behar‘s take-down rips AP’s methodology.
So what was AP’s methodology for its current “examination” of the 247 airstrikes on houses? We’ll never know, because the wire service doesn’t tell us.
• The Washington Post took a more general look at Gaza life six months after the war.
In the months since the summer war, Hamas has rid itself of many of the responsibilities of governing, but not its grip on power.
Last month, the group’s military wing ran training camps for 17,000 youths, ages 15 to 21, to learn to shoot Kalashnikov rifles, jump through hoops of fire and perform basic first aid in preparation for the next battle with Israel. The camps were staged even as Hamas municipal employees went unpaid.
There’s an accompanying photo spread of maimed Palestinians I found very emotive. After seeing something that powerful, I gotta ask: Is the Washington Post going to look at Israeli suffering from the war? Psychological trauma, rehabbing soldiers, and the thankfully comparatively small handful of fatalities aren’t as sexy as reveling in the rubble of Gaza. It’s bad enough there were almost no photos of Hamas during the war; six months later, it’s the Israeli victims who are invisible.
• After reading this Wall St. Journal dispatch, (via Google News) I’m wondering if Hamas is really cracking down on Gaza’s Salafists as hard as it would like to. The Daily Beast spent time with some rocket men from Gaza’s Popular Resistance Committee who are remarkably open about the support they get from Iran and Hezbollah.
• The Guardian was the paper of choice for a few hundred British musicians I never heard of to announce they’re boycotting Israel. If Roger Waters is removing himself from the argument, then this is hopefully the last time I mention his name here.
Around the World
• Argentine prosecutor wants to formally investigate President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and other lawmakers and judges. Alberto Nisman, who was investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing. Nisman mysteriously died while preparing to charge Kirchner with covering up Tehran’s role in the bombing in exchange for increased trade with Iran. More at the Buenos Aires Herald.
Buckle your seatbelts, the public’s not letting go of this scandal. According to the BBC:
Meanwhile, prosecutors are calling for a massive protest on the streets of Buenos Aires next week in what is expected to become the largest anti-government march in recent years.
Opposition leaders, unions and even the Catholic Church are joining calls for a fair and independent investigation into a death that has shocked this nation.
• Philadelphia city councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez regrets honoring visiting Palestinian governor Leila Ghannam after Palestinian Media Watch exposed Ghannam’s history of glorifying terrorists.
Related reading: Oops: Did I just honor a terror supporter?
• UK cabinet minister: A ‘creeping cultural acceptance’ of anti-Semitism is sweeping Britain.
• The Wall St. Journal takes a fascinating look at the Jewish community of Djerba, Tunisia.
Commentary/Analysis
• Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid speaks out:
Despite what we tell ourselves, Israel is here to stay. What’s more, it has a right to exist. It is the nation of the Jews but also a nation for Israeli Arabs who have better lives than Arabs anywhere in Arab countries. We must accept these facts and move on. The antisemitism promoted by Hamas, Fatah, and the BDS movement is not the answer for us Palestinians.
The answer is to live in peace and democracy, side by side with Israel. We missed many opportunities to do that . . .
What we Palestinians need is a strong civil society and strong democratic institutions, and we need an end to human rights violations, including those perpetrated by Palestinians and other Arabs. Well-meaning international donors must ensure that their money is spent towards this goal, and not towards propping up either Hamas or Fatah. There is no doubt that much work is needed, but at the very least we need to reverse the current trend that is causing Palestinian society to drift even further towards corrupt and brutal rule, both in Gaza and in the West Bank. Ironically, it is only in East Jerusalem, under Israeli rule, that most Palestinians feel adequately represented by their politicians.
• Daniel Siryoti: The recently announced PA boycott of Israeli products wasn’t a presidential decree, making it an empty declaration.
Both the vendors and the consumers in the Palestinian Authority assume that the boycott will not be very strictly enforced, if at all. They know that at best, a black market will develop whereby the boycotted products will be sold “under the table” at all the stores only without tax, and at worst, the Palestinian consumers will have to venture out just beyond the Green Line to the Israeli operated stores to purchase said items.
• Ambassador Ron Prosor: The inmates have taken over the UN asylum
• Worth reading: Ehud Yairi on Israel’s unprecedented efforts to save civilian lives in warfare Between Dresden and Gaza.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Einat Wilf (The Australian(via Google News — Palestinian moves in the ICC have nothing to do with justice), Eyal Zisser (The battle for the Golan), Ron Ben-Yishai (Assad and Hezbollah are taking advantage of rebels’ weakness), Dore Gold (anatomy of a bad nuclear deal), Yoram Ettinger (Israel’s BDS: bounce, develop, surge), Jasmine Garsd (In Argentina, an explosion triggers a life-long lesson), and Peter Kann (Wall St. Journal via Google News: Brian Williams and the things a war correspondent should never say).
Featured image: CC BY Roger H. Goun via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; Kirchner CC BY flickr/Expectativa Online; flag via openclipart/fofo; snacks via Wikimedia Commons/User Rav;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
