Today’s Top Stories
1. The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas operative Salah Arouri left Turkey after Ankara came under “unprecedented American and Israeli pressure.”
The source claimed that Hamas has advised its top officials to refrain from settling in one country on a permanent basis and to move between different countries.
Al-Arouri is now shuttling between Qatar and Lebanon, the source revealed, denying that the Turkish authorities had imposed restrictions on Hamas activities and officials living in the country. The source also denied that Turkey had banned Al-Arouri from entering the country.
2. As expected, the Greek parliament voted unanimously in favor of recognizing Palestine. You can exhale: The resolution is non-binding.
Clarification: Greek parliament today did not RECOGNIZE the state of Palestine. It voted IN FAVOR OF RECOGNIZING it. #Greece
— The Greek Analyst (@GreekAnalyst) December 22, 2015
3. Mahmoud Abbas: New PA passports will be issued for “State of Palestine.”
4. How The Guardian’s Framing Frames Israel: How many revisions can the paper make to wire coverage before crossing the line.
5. Daily Mail Corrects “Settlement” Error: HonestReporting got the correction after Britain’s most widely-read paper flubbed some background on Samir Kuntar.
Israel and the Intifada
• Security forces in Hebron arrested a Palestinian woman who threatened Border Police officers with a knife. And in Jerusalem’s Old City, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl acting suspiciously was arrested after police found she was hiding a knife in her sleeve. According to Israeli media reports, it was the second time in three weeks that the girl was detained for carrying a knife.
• Ahead of Christmas, Israel announced it is easing travel restrictions on Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Tweets of the day: parts one and two because you can only understand them together.
#Hezbollah TV just aired what it says will of Samir Kantar asking #Nasrallah not to avenge his killing & be drawn to " #Israel trap" #Syria
— Sam Dagher (@samdagher) December 21, 2015
Hizbollah needs justification for continuing to kill Muslims in Syria instead of retaliating against Israel https://t.co/jGyH24DFoo
— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) December 22, 2015
• Samir Kuntar’s ex-wife says his death was justified. The Jerusalem Post picked up on a video flagged and translated by MEMRI.
“Kuntar and Hezbollah are on the Arab land of Syria not in order to fight Israel, the Zionist enemy, or any aggression,” she said in an interview with the Saudi al-Arabia Network.
“They are there to fight the Syrian people and the Palestinian people. We show no solidarity with murderers. Murders should be killed,” she added.
• Meanwhile, bad news from the northern Ukrainian city of Konotop . . .
Ukrainian Jews shocked after city elects neo-Nazi mayor https://t.co/Dp1wNEycVa #Diaspora pic.twitter.com/L1eCOmqw9n
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) December 21, 2015
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Ariel Ben Solomon: Israel-Turkey thaw may be only temporary
– Yoav Zitun: How Hezbollah may take revenge
– Jonathan Tobin: The importance of Samir Kuntar
– Washington Post (staff-ed): Iran provokes the world as Obama does nothing
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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