Today’s Top Stories
1. YNet: An Israel-Spain World Cup qualifier coming up in March will be played in Gijon, northern Spanish city boycotting Israel:
In light of the city’s attitude towards Israel, the Israel national team is not expecting a warm reception. “It makes us sick that the team has to come and play in a place that is boycotting the State of Israel, even if it is just a declaration,” said state officials. “It is unclear to us why out of all places, Spain chose the hold the game in this city.”
2. A Chilean court threw out a lawsuit filed by Palestinians accusing current and former Israeli Supreme Court justices of war crimes for authorizing construction of the security fence on their property in the area of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. The plaintiffs’ lawyer said an appeal will be filed.
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3. Speaking at the Brookings Institute, Secretary of State John Kerry (coverage or video) blamed Israeli settlement activity for the lack of progress in Mideast peace efforts. His remarks came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (coverage or video) addressed a symposium by video link.
4. The Portrayal of Palestinian Terrorists: Along with denying Israel’s history, journalist Lara Marlowe doesn’t like the “ugly portrayal of Palestinian ‘terrorists.’”
Israel and the Palestinians
• The Washington Post takes a closer look at the just-completed, long-overdue Fatah congress.
The Fatah party congress, which ended Sunday, was the closest thing to democracy that Palestinians have seen in recent years — and it wasn’t especially democratic.
The 1,400 delegates voted unanimously to reelect Abbas, 81, as leader of the party, guaranteeing that he will rule until he dies or resigns or decides to hold long-overdue elections.
• Angering Israel, Ecuador’s ambassador to the UN quoted Fidel Castro equating Zionism with Nazism.
“We repudiate with all our strength the persecution and genocide that in its time unleashed Nazism against the Hebrew people. But I cannot remember anything more similar in our contemporary history than the eviction, persecution and genocide that today imperialism and Zionism do against the Palestinian people,” Horacio Sevilla Borja said on Thursday, quoting a speech from late Cuban President Fidel Castro at the UN in 1979, the Jewish news service Iton Gadol reported.
• Two Palestinians part of a security force in Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp were injured in an attack by unknown gunmen. This was the same refugee camp that the Lebanese Army sought to encircle with a security barrier before backing down from the idea.
There have been several reports that the camps have become a safe haven for extremists.
• Times of Israel: Officials from 13 West African states are visiting Israel for a first-ever agricultural summit.
Around the World
• Israeli-born BDS supporter vies to head Britain’s Jewish Student Union.
The surprise contender in this year’s elections for president of the Union of Jewish Students is Eran Cohen, a veteran pro-Palestinian activist and outspoken supporter of the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement.
• Iran opens military-religious amusement park to reinforce revolutionary values for kids. Memri explains:
. . . the children wear military uniforms and are accompanied through the stations by a guide in the role of a military commander whose orders they must obey. The children follow paths with activities including simulating fighting the enemies of the Revolution, ranging from the Iraqi enemy in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War to the current battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and against the Saudi royal family. At the various stations, the children can launch plastic missiles and fire plastic bullets at targets such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. and Israeli flags, effigies of ISIS fighters, and members of the Saudi royal family.
• Tehran’s spending a fortune for Russia’s S-300 surface to air missile system to protect Iran’s nuclear sites. Daniel Nisman tweeted this bizarre fiasco.
https://twitter.com/DannyNis/status/805669708796141568
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today. Kerry, Fatah, and more . . .
– David Horovitz: Jeremiah Kerry laments an Israel that wouldn’t heed his warnings
– Barak Ravid: Unpacking four years of frustration, Kerry leaves door open for Obama UN bid on Mideast conflict
– Nahum Barnea: Peace out
– Rebecca Shimoni Stoil: Kerry’s parting conclusion on peace deadlock: It’s Netanyahu’s fault
– Avi Issacharoff: At Fatah congress, Rajoub — and Abbas — walk away with big wins
– Amira Hass: Abbas the politician spoils it for Abbas the statesman
– Ben Lynfield: Fatah election fails to bring new group of leaders
– Bassam Tawil: The real illegal settlements
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Fighting anti-Semitism while demonizing Israel?
– Einat Wilf, Adi Schwartz: The war isn’t over yet
– Jonathan Tobin: Who keeps Shuafat orphaned?
– New York Post (staff-ed): As Syria burns, the United Nations again bashes … Israel
– Carole Cadwalladr: Google, democracy and the truth about internet search
Featured image: CC BY woodleywonderworks; Gijon CC0 Portal Jardin; flag CC BY-NC Arun Venkatesan;
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