Today’s Top Stories
1. An Israeli woman was killed by two Palestinian terrorists in a stabbing attack outside a market in the Beit Horon settlement last night. A 58-year-old woman was also injured in the attack. Both Palestinians were shot and killed by a security guard. Several home-made pipe bombs that failed to explode were found planted in the vicinity of the attack.
Shlomit Krigman, 23, was from the Jordan Valley community of Shadmot Mehola, and was buried next to Dafna Meir in Jerusalem. More at Haaretz, YNet, and the Times of Israel.
2. UNESCO chief ripped Iran over its Holocaust cartoon contest. The agency’s director-general Irina Bokova has already filed one complaint against the competition. If you didn’t the UN was askew, Haaretz adds:
Haaretz has learned that UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova plans to raise the issue when she meets Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who will be addressing the organization’s staff on Wednesday (January 27), International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
3. A US-based digital marketing company, Vidooly, apologized for advising video creators to use the word Holocaust as clickbait in titles on YouTube. The advise came ahead of tomorrow’s Holocaust Memorial Day.
In what appeared to be an email to clients, it suggested ideas for videos such as “5 Holocaust movies you must watch”, “Holocaust timeline explained for dummies” and “10 Holocaust stories you will NOT believe”.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. Haaretz’s Owner Proves Paper Has an Anti-Israel Political Agenda: Publisher Amos Schocken latest opinion piece sadly acknowledges that Haaretz is an accomplice to the demonization of Israel.
5. New York Times Correspondent Corrected (Again) by Editor: After being publicly chided by her editors twice, we can only wonder if Hadid’s oversights are a result of sloppy journalism or something more deliberate.
6. The Misplaced Focus of The Guardian and New York Times: Is an Israeli victim of terror not worthy of the same coverage as a Swedish victim of terror?
7. The Times Misplaces Judaism’s Holiest Site: HonestReporting got the correction after the Times of London identified the Western Wall as Judaism’s holiest site.
Israel and the Palestinians
• After the Beit Horon attack, the IDF was ordered to rethink settlement security.
• Strange Irish Independent headline erases the story’s terror component. Maybe the store was haunted . . .
• The Washington Post and YNet take a closer look at the incitement and hatred against Israel being spewed by Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV, which reaches every home in Gaza and the West Bank.
To complete the picture, the heads of the station, based in the Gaza Strip, set up a new studio decorated with burning tires, barbed wire and a wall of graffiti showing Palestinians holding knives and stones. The station’s hosts wear black and white keffiyehs to show solidarity with Palestinians who confront the IDF.
Al-Aqsa TV’s programming is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the incitement raging in Palestinian media in general and in recent months in particular. Channels such as Palestine al-Yom and al-Quds carry daily broadcasts with short interludes that unequivocally encourage attacks against Israelis.
• Norway’s Ambassador to Beirut, Lene Lind, met with Hamas‘s senior representative to Lebanon.
• This editor’s note correcting a recent New York Times report on Palestinians facing eviction highlights a problem with sourcing a story:
The descriptions were based on the tenants’ accounts; the article should have included additional information from court documents or from the landlords. (The landlords are organizations that have reclaimed properties owned by Jews before Israel was established in 1948.) . . .
While the reporter tried to reach representatives of the landlord in the Sub Laban case, The Times should also have tried to reach the landlords involved in the other cases and their lawyers.
The Times’s correction highlights the problem of taking Palestinian claims at face value. It also brings to mind a valuable News Literacy Project video explaining how you can evaluate a story’s sourcing and judge its credibility.
• I always get a little irritated when allies couch their criticisms as tough love from a friend. This time, it’s Canada.
• Shimon Peres was released from the hospital.
• Lebanon was on red alert over another silly Mossad spy vulture . . .
• Islamic State-affiliated media claims an Israeli airstrike in Sinai killed some of its fighters. I’m taking this with a grain of salt because A) Islamic State would love to delegitimize Egyptian counter-terror ops in the Sinai as being masterminded by the Zionists, and B) it’s safe to assume the Amaq “News Agency” didn’t contact Israeli defense officials for confirmation.
Around the World
• Israeli native Yonatan Shai visited one of Germany’s largest shelters for Muslim refugees. The Jerusalem Post picked up on Die Welt‘s story.
In one of the long corridors separating hangars that serve as living areas, the visiting Israeli came across anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled across the walls. According to the report, the graffiti included red swastikas, Stars of David accompanied by the satanically-affiliated number 666, and maps of Israel in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Die Welt cited Shai as linking the graffiti to refugees of Palestinian background.
With his traditional Jewish yarmulke visible, Shai was reportedly met initially by the inhabitants with a mix of refugee children proudly displaying their German language skills and grown men ominously whispering “Jew.”
• Latin America takes action to control Hezbollah’s activities
• An ongoing controversy at Toronto’s York University over a Palestinian mural escalated when a major donor threatened to withdraw support if the painting is not immediately removed. The mural in question depicts a Palestinian holding a stone in his hand as looks at a bulldozer near a building. On his back is a map of Israel without any borders, as well as a Palestinian flag. Media mogul Paul Bronfman donates thousands of dollars of video production equipment to the school.
If the target of the violence was any other nation or group, it would be off the wall in mins. Poor decision by York:https://t.co/yxRi3q3V4L
— Tim Hudak (@timhudak) January 26, 2016
• An Israeli government report on European anti-Semitism paints a bleak picture of the stats and their implications for European Jewry. The Jerusalem Post writes:
Bennett also cited statistics indicating that anti-Semitic incidents in London rose more than 60 percent during the 12-month period ending November 15 and that incidents in France shot up 84% in the first quarter of 2015 when compared to the same period the previous year . . .
Such trends, Bennett contended, “represent a significant challenge to the fabric of Jewish life in Europe and beyond,” adding that he viewed anti-Semitic violence as stemming from “European Muslims born in Europe and educated in European education systems” rather than from newly arrived refugees.
Aside from Islamic anti-Semitism, increasing support for BDS also presents a grave threat to Jews, he contended, stating that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement was “gaining momentum” in Europe and that it “promotes a boycott not only of Israel but the representatives and Jewish events, as well.”
• After anti-Israel rally at gay rights conference, an Israeli discovers BDS
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Emily Amrousi: Terror knocking on your door
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Is Abbas losing control?
– Moshe Arens: Israel’s ‘occupation’ keeps Palestinian society afloat
– Uri Heitner: IDF operations and moral considerations
– Aaron David Miller: Who lost the Middle East?
– Elliott Abrams: Two anniversaries, but no democracies
– Anne Applebaum: No, Iran is not ‘opening up’
Featured image: CC BY Kamyar Adl
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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