Today’s Top Stories
1. Prominent Jordanian Christian writer Nahed Hattar was gunned down outside an Amman courthouse on his way to face charges for sharing on Facebook a cartoon portraying Allah and viewed as offensive to Islam.
The illustration was titled “God of Daesh”, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
The 56-year-old removed the cartoon from his Facebook page and apologised for posting it after it triggered outrage on social media, with many conservative Muslim Jordanians considering it offensive and against their religion.
He said he had shared the cartoon to make fun of “terrorists and how they imagine God and heaven, and does not insult God in any way”, and accused his Islamist opponents of using the cartoon to settle scores with him.
Here’s an English version of the cartoon.
Jordanian writer shot dead ahead of ‘anti-Islam’ cartoon trial https://t.co/MsCZzgfLxB pic.twitter.com/9zt6XlyTrH
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) September 25, 2016
2. As the UN General Assembly kicked off, Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas addressed the plenum and held talks with various world leaders on the sidelines. See below for the most noteworthy developments coming out of New York City, plus plenty of commentary.
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3. The Times of Israel reports that Al Aqsa preacher Sheikh Omar Abu Sara was sentenced to eight months in prison for a sermon in 2015 urging Muslims to kill Jews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhrQgqHVN8w
4. ABC News: Humanitarian Aid is Wrong! (When it Comes from Israel): ABC News takes a remarkable act of humanitarian care turns it into a bad thing.
5. NPR Omits Critical Context: The terrorist was killed in shoot out started by his Hamas cell. Other than that, the story’s fine.
6. Fatah Rips Off Disgraced Sydney Morning Herald Cartoon: As Fatah demonstrates, mainstream editors have a special responsibility not to give anti-Semitic illustrations legitimacy or legs.
7. HR Prompts Removal of Washington Post Racial Profiling Smear: HonestReporting gets the record corrected.
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Israel and the Palestinians
• Here’s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s UN address (transcript or video). Also, here the address Mahmoud Abbas delivered (transcript or video). For the first time, the Kuwaiti delegation stayed in the room to hear what Bibi had to say.
• At a meeting of officials from countries providing financial aid to the PA, an “extremely agitated” John Kerry put the onus on Israel for the lack of progress in Mideast peace efforts. According to Haaretz:
The Western diplomats noted that Kerry’s comments presented the despair on both sides, but also the understanding emerging not only on Kerry’s part but also among an increasing number of senior White House officials that they need to seriously consider the possibility of promoting a resolution at the United Nations Security Council or at another international forum. This would be immediately after the U.S. presidential election in November, and would deal with the Israeli-Palestinian issue and preserving the option of a two-state solution in the future.
• Jerusalem Post: On the sidelines of the General Assembly, Netanyahu met with a number of African heads of state and diplomats. Money quote comes from with Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe:
“Africa is beset by difficulties and Israel holds the key to them,” the Togolese leader said. Gnassingbe is planning to host an Israeli-Africa summit in the spring of 2017.
• In weekend interviews with the Israeli media, Netanyahu said he hopes President Obama won’t push any diplomatic initiatives helping the Palestinians unilaterally establish a state.
• Netanyahu was due to meet Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in New York City today.
• Oh no, C-SPAN!
• Despite initial technical difficulties, Israel’s newest spy satellite, Ofek 11, is operational and said to be sending back high quality photographs. YNet coverage.
• New York Daily News: Judge unfriends top NYC law firm for belittling his court after it ‘irresponsibly’ sent a rookie attorney to defend Facebook in a terrorism case filed by victims of Palestinian terror.
• Egyptian authorities at Cairo Airport intercepted a bag full of electrical circuits used for bombs which investigators indicate were being smuggled by Palestinian pilgrims from Mecca for terror groups in Rafah. Details at the Egypt Independent (hat tip Elder of Ziyon).
• Khaled Mashaal confirmed he’s stepping down as Hamas chief.
• The New York Times takes a closer look at Palestinian efforts to get settlement soccer teams kicked out of FIFA. Bureau chief Peter Baker doesn’t mention that there’s nothing to stop Palestinians from building sports facilities in Areas A and B or using existing grass or pitches, just as there is nothing stopping the PA from building, say, Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• I’m not sure how significant this is, but the General Court, a top European Court of Justice advisory body, recommends that Hamas (and the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka) should be removed from the EU’s terrorism blacklist “on technical grounds.”
The General Court did not address whether the groups’ actions merited inclusion on the list of terrorist organisations but ruled the procedures by which they had been put there were flawed.
• A delegation of Jordanian generals visited Israel for three days of touring, briefings, meetings with their IDF counterparts, and a below-the-radar international conference in Netanya. More at YNet.
Around the World
• Mauritania’s mufti called on the West African state to cut ties with Iran, saying, “The danger and evil posed by the [Shiite] ideology to any society it enters is no less than the danger and evil of Zionist ideology.” So in Sheikh Ahmad Ould Habib Al-Rahman’s world view, both Israel and Iran are “Little Satans,” right?
• The city of Munich cancelled a lecture on “Antisemitism Today” in a municipality-subsidized building, saying, “during the event the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism will be crossed.” The lecture was organized by the Salam Shalom Working Circle Palestine-Israel association, whose website promotes BDS.
• Tweet of the day goes to Eli Lake:
“You find a single Iranian official who has threatened to use force against Israel, you won’t find that.” —@jzarif, Iran's Minister of Lying
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) September 24, 2016
• Former Archbishop of Canterbury among critics of church’s Israel ‘checkpoint’
• If you’re following the World Series Baseball Classic, Israel beat Britain in the opening round, then shut out Brazil (highlights here and here). By the way, female coach Justine Siegal is making a mark for the blue and white team. More on Team Israel at the New York Times.
Commentary/Analysis
• Australia’s ABC News aired an hour-long show about recognizing Aboriginal identity. At one point in the show, Stan Grant, a veteran journalist of Aboriginal descent, made a very nice comment about Jewish peoplehood as a model for the Aborigines which was posted on YouTube.
That’s the background for this snide commentary by academic Anas Iqtait, published in several Fairfax papers, including The Age of Melbourne, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, Canberra Times and the Perth-based Western Australia Today. God forbid someone, somewhere, say something nice about Jews. Draw your own conclusions.
• After reading New York Times bureau chief Peter Baker’s take on the Netanyahu and Abbas speeches, I’m unimpressed with his disdainful attitude and irritated by his moral equivalence. It’s clearly an analysis piece, though it’s not labeled as such.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jonathan Tobin: Why Abbas won’t accept Bibi’s offer
– Bernard Avishai: A significant deal between the US and Israel
– Raphael Ahren: Why Netanyahu remains unfazed by Obama’s settlement critique
– Yaakov Katz: Ensuring Israel’s security
– Yossi Beilin: No meetings nor conferences needed
– Marc Schulman: The tragedy of the Palestinians
– Lenny Ben-David: Observations on US-Israel relations
– Walter Russell Mead: The real Middle East story
– Michael Bell: Why Israel’s Netanyahu is in a position of strength
– MK Michael Oren: Palestinian celebrations of Munich Olympic massacre shows they are not ready for peace
– Amos Harel: Terror wave unexpectedly returns to Israel, just in time for the High Holy Days
– Sherri Mandell: What you should know about terrorism’s impact
– Michael Laitman: Institutionalized anti-Semitism at UC Berkeley — facts and details
Featured image: CC BY Pedro Ribeiro Simoes with additions by HonestReporting; soccer CC BY-NC-ND Bronski Beat; UN flags CC BY-NC-ND United Nations Photo;
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