Today’s Top Stories
1. The Palestinian Authority rejected President Donald Trump’s request to halt PA payments to terrorists and their families, the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel reported:
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ foreign affairs adviser Nabil Shaath on Thursday told Israel Radio the Trump administration’s demand was intentionally designed to sink any potential for renewed US-led Israeli-Palestinian peace talks . . .
“It’s absurd to request that we stop paying the families of prisoners,” he said. “That would be like asking Israel to stop paying its soldiers.”
See below for more coverage and commentary of Trump’s meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
2. Israeli Foreign Ministry workers are threatening to disrupt the upcoming Trump visit over a long-standing wage dispute, the Times of Israel reports:
The fight between the diplomatic service and the Finance Ministry over low pay has been ongoing for several years. The diplomats argue that past agreements are not being honored and budgets are not being approved . . .
Head of the workers’ union Hanan Goder, who is also Israel’s ambassador to South Sudan, told Army Radio in a Thursday interview “we will take all measures,” vowing that the US president’s visit will be seen as “embarrassing,” while declining to reveal what actions they will take.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Apologists for Hezbollah and Hamas need to get on the same page over the “new” Hamas charter.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Regarding the Trump-Abbas talks, the Wall St. Journal (click via Twitter) focused on the White House raising expectations of peace while articles in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and New York Times all look at Trump’s optimism for a deal.
• Israeli forces thwart Palestinian stabbing attack near Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs.
• During a West Bank raid, IDF forces discovered an M-16 assault rifle hidden in a child’s bed.
Despite their concerns and Steinmeier’s noncommittal stance on the matter, state officials believe that he will show the appropriate sensitivity and refrain from meeting the groups, knowing that it could serve as a prelude to yet another diplomatic conflict with Israel—something that Steinmeier, an experienced diplomat, will probably aim to avoid.
• The Guardian and Christian Today picked up on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s visit to the Holy Land.
Accompanied by British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for much of the time, the leader of the Anglican church visited Yad Vashem, the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, as well as friends of Hannah Bladon, a British student killed in a Palestinian terror attack last month.
Lamenting the Holocaust at @YadVashem with @ChiefRabbi today. We commit afresh to building bridges of friendship, tolerance and peace. pic.twitter.com/Vp3nR2ITC1
— Justin Welby ? (@JustinWelby) May 3, 2017
Around the World
• Man wanted for breaking into Jewish school bus in Brooklyn and lighting religious books on fire.
• Swastikas and other hate messages carved into Denver area cars.
• Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed an anti-BDS measure into law on Tuesday.
Commentary/Analysis
• Plenty of broken quills and burnt pixels over the Trump-Abbas meeting.
– David Horovitz: Trump’s welcome for Abbas is so warm he might have been hosting an Israeli leader
– Barak Ravid: Trump-Abbas summit: The more things change the more they stay the same
– Orly Azoulay: Trump’s new toy: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
– Chemi Shalev: Abbas unleashes adulation and flattery to win Trump over
– Raphael Ahren: Hope springs eternal as peace prospects run dry
– Oded Revivi: Opening White House doors to Abbas a losing proposition for Mideast peace
– Robert Danin: Can Abbas ever say yes to peace with Israel?
– John Hannah: Don’t waste Arab-Israeli cooperation on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
– Los Angeles Times (staff-ed): What Abbas and Trump can do for each other
• For a sense of what the critics had to say, see Hanan Ashrawi.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Avi Issacharoff: New Hamas policy document a PR exercise aimed at undermining PLO
– Ben Lynfield: Why is Egypt ‘indifferent’ to the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike?
– Amb. Alan Baker: UNESCO’s latest resolution on Jerusalem: Much of the same
– Ariel Bolstein: Jerusalem doesn’t need UNESCO
– Rabbis Abraham Cooper and Yitzchok Adlerstein: Despite UNESCO’s bias, Jews won’t abandon Israel’s holy Jewish sites
– Morton Klein and Daniel Mandel: Do Palestinians want a peaceful state alongside Israel?
– Ehud Yaari: Why Iran’s building two land corridors to the Mediterranean
Featured image: CC BY-NC takis katris; Steinmeier CC BY-NC-ND Utenriksdepartementet UD;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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