Today’s Top Stories
1. Shortly before this roundup was published, Israeli media reported that “the medical status of former President Shimon Peres has drastically deteriorated,” and that “the neurological damage to the former president is irreversible.”
The 93-year-old Peres was hospitalized two weeks ago after suffering a major stroke. Developing . . .
2. Turkey’s Jews and Christians are growing increasingly fearful of Islamic extremism and being scapegoated for July’s failed coup attempt, reports Voice of America:
Christian and Jews represent about two-tenths of one percent of Turkey’s mostly Muslim population of 79 million.
But pro-government media outlets as well as some government officials have accused them of playing a role in the July coup attempt and have stepped up the rhetoric against Christians and Jews.
3. Facebook apologized for suspending the pages of two Palestinian news sites, the Shehab News Agency and Quds News Network.
The Arabic versions of the online newspapers are supportive of the Hamas terror group and have been accused of incitement to violence against Israelis.
“The pages were removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate,” Facebook said in a statement.
Meanwhile, MEMRI documented a wave of incitement on Palestinian social media pages following the recent spike in attacks on Israelis.
As during previous spikes of violence in the past year, Facebook pages of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods posted photos and footage from the scenes of attacks, as well as graphics and messages praising the perpetrators. Facebook pages associated with Hamas also posted calls for additional attacks.
4. HR Brazil Prompts Correction to Biased History in O Globo: When one of the country’s most influential papers called Acre a Palestinian city, our Brazilian affiliate secured its first correction.
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Israel and the Intifada
• The Media Line takes a closer look at efforts to cleanse remove Hamas from the European Union’s terror list.
Analysts are hoping that if the EU does decide to remove Hamas from the terrorist list, that it will pressure Israel to include Hamas in negotiations, just as it did with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1980s.
“Israel saw the PLO as a terrorist organization and used this as an argument not to negotiate with them. In 1988, after the PLO accepted Israel’s right to exist by accepting UN resolutions 242 and 338, a US presidential waiver permitted contact with the PLO and thus pressured Israel to have official contacts with the organization as well,” Liel Maghen, co-director of the Israel / Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) said.
• Worth reading: Nahum Barnea’s dispatch from Hebron in YNet.
• Reporter Johnny Harris of Vox takes a remarkably in-depth and balanced look at the Israeli settlement movement. He did certainly did his homework. Part 1 of his series looks at the history of the settlements, while Part 2 examines why settlements don’t feel like conflict zones and what motivates Israelis to move beyond the Green Line. I’m looking forward to part 3.
• Food for thought: Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon is pushing the UN to make kosher food available in the institution’s cafeterias and restaurants, and to lower the costs of kosher catering. Times of Israel coverage.
Around the World
• The Times of London picked up on an essay written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, asserting that the Anglican church bears some responsibility for British anti-Semitism. Writing for the Holocaust Education Trust (pdf, page 10), the Most Reverend Justin Welby explains:
It is a shameful truth that, through its theological teachings, the church, which should have offered an antidote, compounded the spread of this virus. The fact that antisemitism has infected the body of the Church is something of which we as Christians must be deeply repentant. We live with the consequences of our history of denial and complicity.
Even today, in the 21st century, it is shocking that antisemitism still has traction; the virus continues to seek a host. It latches onto a variety of different issues: financial inequality, wars and depressions, education, politics and government, grave international issues, such as the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, and interfaith tensions. It twists them to its own ends, with the perverted and absurd argument that a small group runs or plots against our society and manipulates international affairs.
Commentary/Analysis
• Tweet of the day from Dov Lieber:
Why does Jordan's gvt make deals with Israel despite their unpopularity? B/c it is desperate for cheap energy & cooking fuel trumps politics https://t.co/GTlcZJyN01
— Dov Lieber (@DovLieber) September 26, 2016
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Eugene Kontorovich: The Palestinians’ unsporting and illegal ‘football war’ against Israel
– Daniel Doron: What, exactly, would a Palestinian state look like?
– Nevet Basker: Dear anti-Israel activist
– Charles Moore: Christian criticism of Israel is myopic
Image: Newspaper map by Vladstudio;
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