Today’s Top Stories
*** Breaking news *** Just after this roundup was published, reports broke of a possible car-ramming attack in Gush Etziyon.
1. For the first time, the US seeks the extradition of a terrorist who killed Americans in Israel. Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, who was a Jordanian student journalist working in the West Bank, began working for Hamas and masterminded a 2001 suicide bombing in a downtown Jerusalem pizzaria.
Fifteen people — including seven children — were killed and around 130 people injured in what was known as the Sbarro massacre. Two of the fatalities, Judy Greenbaum and Malka Roth had US citizenship. In 2011, as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, Al-Tamimi was freed and sent back to Jordan.
She is currently a television host in Jordan, has hosted Hamas member Saleh Arouri (who ordered the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers in June 2014), bragged of her involvement in other murders of Israelis and is considered as a symbol of the Palestinians fight.
Jordan will have to decide between honoring its strong alliance to the US, and trying to avoid offending its majority Palestinian population and an anti-extradition trend in its court system, according to Shurat Hadin which is representing the family of the victim Chana Nachenberg who was grievously wounded in the bombing and remains in Israel to this day in a coma.
Indeed, Al-Tamimi’s proud of killing Jews — Palestine Media Watch documented several of her boastful interviews, including this one.
2. British MPs denounced Google and for not removing an anti-Semitic YouTube video by Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke titled, “Jewish People Admit Organising White Genocide.” But Google executive Peter Barron told astonished lawmakers the video didn’t meet guidelines for removal.
The 15-minute YouTube clip accuses “Zionists” of having “ethnically cleansed the Palestinians” and planning to do “the same thing to Europeans and Americans”. . .
[Barron] admitted the Duke video was “anti-Semitic, deeply offensive and shocking”, but insisted: “It doesn’t meet the test for removing under our guidelines. We are in favour of free speech and access to information.”
Judge Duke’s video for yourself.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Intel’s $15 billion deal for Mobileye is raising hopes that Israel can become an automotive tech hub. The Wall St. Journal (click via Twitter) explains why:
From cybersecurity to artificial intelligence, Israeli entrepreneurs have turned this Mediterranean country into a global innovation hub. Now they are disrupting almost every element of the car manufacturing chain, using local expertise to create cutting-edge technologies in everything from combustion engines to quick-charge batteries.
The country has come to occupy a prominent position in the global automotive supply chain despite not having much of an auto industry at home.
Meanwhile, Globes profiles other rising Israeli auto-tech start ups you may be hearing about in the near future.
4. If you’re in the Boca Raton area tonight, don’t miss HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams as he discusses defending Israel from media bias. Admission is free but advance registration is required.
Where: 17590 Military Trail, Boca Raton, 33496.
When: Wed. March 15 (tonight!!!), at 7:00 PM
Registration: Click here or call 561-994-6257.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Following US envoy Jason Greenblatt’s meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Haaretz reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects to reach a deal with the US for “restrained settlement construction.” Will a little creative ambiguity between the prime minister, his coalition partners give a nudge to peace talks?
Another formula discussed in the Prime Minister’s Bureau was unlimited construction in the large settlement blocs such as Ma’aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel, together with a quiet, unofficial freeze on construction in isolated settlements. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is in favor of that idea and believes it serves long-term Israeli interests. However, Netanyahu is concerned that moving ahead on it will lead Habayit Hayehudi to bolt the coalition and cause the government to fall.
Around the World
• March 17 marks the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, and for the first time, an Argentinian president, Mauricio Macri, will meet with a delegation of Israeli survivors and relatives of victims, the JTA reports.
In 1992, 29 people were killed and 242 were injured when a suicide bomber rammed a pick up truck laden with explosives into the embassy. Hezbollah and Iran have been linked to the attack, along with a separate 1994 bombing of the headquarters of the Buenos Aires Jewish community, which killed 85 people.
• ‘Punch a Zionist’ tweeter quits last McGill student government post.
• An ex-Israeli army vet who spoke out against Islamic extremists in Melbourne gets death threats – but won’t be silenced.
• A British Columbia man convicted of hate crimes for posting anti-Semitic conspiracies online was banned from using the internet. Arthur Topham, 70, managed to avoid a potential two-year sentence according. More at the Prince George Citizen and CBC.
Topham appeared unrepentant, telling the court before sentencing that it was ‘his duty … to alert the … public to the imminent threat …. [of] the Jewish lobby.”
• You can add Vienna hotels to the list of venues cancelling BDS events.
• JTA: Is the Turkey-Netherlands row a foreboding sign for Jews?
• Team Israel ran out of magic, losing 8-3 to Japan just before this roundup was published. The blue and white was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic, but it was fun ride. USA Today’s baseball columnist Bob Nightengale gets the last word.
The glass slipper finally breaks, but oh did Israel give us a story as they bow out of the World Baseball Classic. https://t.co/RuN8Kd2ucb
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 15, 2017
Commentary/Analysis
• Over at Ynet, Professor Edy Kaufman and Gal Hacohen examine whether Costa Rica, which has no army, could be a model for a demilitarized Palestinian state.
In Costa Rica, the disbandment of the army was not a dictate or demand by an enemy neighbor. The Patio de Agua declaration was self-proclaimed and popular. In interviews conducted with political, civil society and activist leaders in the West Bank, we found that there is overwhelming support for this idea. The main reason they support a Palestine without a military is simple: they want to be a democracy. They do not want to be another Arab a kingdom or a military dictatorship. Many hope to be much more like Israel than other Arab countries.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Horovitz: Advice for Trump’s would-be peacemaker
– Herb Keinon: Trump’s envoy, bareheaded, walks into the lion’s den
– Ron Kampeas: Trump the change agent looks positively traditional on Mideast peace
– Nadav Shragai: Understanding Israeli interests in the E1 area
– Andrew Silow-Carroll: The false choice between Zionism and feminism
– Marc Schulman: Warily welcoming a high-tech deal
– Michael Rubin: Does Iran really respect Jews?
– Suzanne Nossel: Beware the Ides of leaving the UN Human Rights Council
– Bassam Tawil: The real Hamas: Sorry, folks!
Featured image: CC0 WDnetStudio; Mobileye via YouTube/Mobileye; Costa Rica CC BY Bruce Thomson;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
