Today’s Top Stories
1. A mob of Palestinians poured oil on a section of Route 443 between Jerusalem and Modiin, then proceeded to throw firebombs and rocks at passing cars last night. Responding soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and injured several others; the IDF later concluded that none of the injured Palestinians were involved in the violence.
Three Israelis were injured in the Palestinian barrage and several cars were damaged.
2. The Forward made waves for refusing to publish anything about Donald Trump or his campaign for 24 hours.
Editor Jane Eiser explained that the point was to make statement of protest against the presumptive Republican nominee’s attacks on free press, his supporters’ anti-Semitic attack, and even the media’s overall mishandling of the Trump campaign. Do you see this as a bold gesture, too little, too late for what The Forward wants to accomplish, or unfair to Trump?
But our Trumpatorium is also an acknowledgement of the role the media has, even unwittingly, played in elevating the worst in the Trump campaign. By first treating the campaign as a reality show instead of a serious challenge to the democratic order, we enabled the candidate to skirt substantive questions about his proposals and gloss over inconsistencies and lies. We amplified the name-calling and insults, focusing on polls and the political horse race instead of fitness and character. We gave him what seemed like unlimited air time, ignoring the old rules of fairness and balance. We let him do what he does best: define the world in his terms, civic consequences be damned.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. It’s been awhile since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack and BBC reporter Tim Willcox’s infamous interview (he told a Jewish woman that “Many critics of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well.”)
In response to complaints, the BBC Trust ruled (skip to page 11) that Willcox’s interview didn’t breach any editorial standards, though it acknowledged “the presenter’s error had been in the clumsy wording.” The Guardian picked up on the ruling.
Yet again, the BBC’s complaints procedure isn’t fit for purpose and we look forward to the implementation of a parliamentary plan to make the BBC answerable to Ofcom.
4. Why Won’t The Independent Remove This Article? Story based on a lie remains online. And click here to sign our letter to The Independent.
5. New York Times Misrepresents Israel’s Security Barrier: Barrier or wall? And what difference does it make?
6. HonestReporting Speakers in NYC: If you’re in New York City this week, be sure to catch up with our CEO Joe Hyams and our North American Director, Gary Kenzer. Don’t miss their Big Apple appearances.
Israel and the Palestinians
• EU foreign ministers endorsed the French peace initiative and called for a Mideast peace summit by the end of the year. Israeli officials denounced it as a “colonial” peace initiative.
• Hamas ‘Qassam’ Twitter account suspended.
• According to the Hollywood Reporter, Universal Cable Productions is fighting with an insurer over its refusal to recognize Hamas as a terrorist group. At stake is a $6.9 million claim after Universal was forced to relocate filming of the mystery-thriller, Dig, from Israel to New Mexico because of the 2014 Gaza conflict.
According to a complaint filed by Universal Cable Productions in California federal court on Monday, the U.S. State Department attributed the attacks to Hamas. When that happened, Universal says it submitted a claim to Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company, which denied coverage due to an exclusion for war or warlike action. Universal contends that coverage should have been provided because acts of terrorism are not excluded.
Thus, the very hot question this case poses is whether Hamas’ acts were symptomatic of war between sovereign nations or should be classified as an act of terrorism.
• If you’re following the renovation work underway at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, this Washington Post foreshadows future drama. Workers investigating a fracture in the rock of the tomb will lift the slab “where millions of pilgrims have knelt and prayed” and be the first people to look inside it in 200 years.
Archaeology at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been limited, not only by protective clerics but also by centuries of tradition. The site is considered the most sublime in Christendom, a place of pilgrimage, faith, passion and mystery — not digging and probing . . .
Here in the ancient alleys of Jerusalem, two centuries is not a long time. But in 1809, the last time clerics and workers exposed the Holy Rock, Thomas Jefferson was the American president, people didn’t know that germs caused disease and the science of archaeology did not exist.
• Media reports coming out of Turkey are upbeat about Israeli-Turkish reconciliation.
Around the World
• Dutch family reports anti-Semitic abuse after displaying Israeli flag. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to the JTA:
“The worst of it is that I didn’t even want the flag to fly very long because I know how sensitive the issue is,” the account manager said. “But even for just a few minutes, just to put up a flag for a photo is no longer possible.”
The man said he had decided not to put up a mezuzah on his door frame for fear of abuse.
“You have to wonder if doing so is wise,” he said about the mezuzah. “People in Amsterdam say they have once again taken off the mezuzah so their windows won’t be smashed.”
• Tweet of the day goes to Haviv Rettig Gur:
By Livingstone's logic, anyone who wants Jews gone – Nazis, Farhud lynchers, the KKK – is a "Zionist," while I'm not https://t.co/H2MOkLNXWV
— Haviv Rettig Gur (@havivrettiggur) June 21, 2016
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Zalman Shoval: Don’t rest on your laurels
– Hanin Ghaddar: Beyond Amin Maalouf and the BDS
– Adrian Hilton: A school of anti-Semitism?
Featured image: CC BY-SA Tom Woodward with additions by HonestReporting;
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