Today’s Top Stories
1. Do an upcoming pair of Roger Waters concerts violate New York legislation against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement? That’s the question posed by a local lawmaker on Facebook and picked up on by the JTA.
Given the stink Waters raised over Radiohead’s upcoming Tel Aviv show (and Radiohead’s reaction), Waters’ response to the Nassau issue is rich:
The lawmaker, Howard Kopel, asked the county attorney last week to determine whether the Nassau Coliseum lease requires compliance with the county law adopted in May 2016 that prevents the county from doing business with any company that participates in the economic boycott of Israel . . .
In a Facebook Live chat Saturday with the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Waters said he would play his shows in Nassau, saying an artist’s rights should not be attacked over his stand on an issue.
2. Gretchen Hammond, the reporter who broke the story of Jewish rainbow flags being banned from a Chicago LGBTQ parade, confirmed on Twitter that she was fired from the Windy City Times for her coverage. The JTA explains:
In a tweet Monday, Gretchen Rachel Hammond wrote to Dyke March’s Twitter account that “You attacked, humiliated and robbed me of a job.” Hammond confirmed to JTA on the same day that she wrote the tweet.
Hammond said she could not elaborate on her tweet, citing an agreement with her employer, the Windy City Times.
You attacked, humiliated and robbed me of a job. No tears. I forgive you. Just hope you learn how destructive and pointless hatred is.
— Gretchen R. Hammond (@GretchRHammond) July 17, 2017
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Saudi King Salman reportedly interceded in the deadlock over the Temple Mount by sending a message to Israel via Washington.
According to a Saudi media report cited by Haaretz, the king demanded that the holy site be re-opened to Muslims, to which Netanyahu “vowed that the status quo at the site won’t be harmed, and even invited senior Saudi officials to Al-Aqsa Mosque to examine it for themselves.”
Israel and the Palestinians
• Palestinians rioted overnight in eastern Jerusalem against new Temple Mount security measures, throwing stones and firebombs at security forces. The Times of Israel reports that most of the violence took place in the Silwan and Issawiya neighborhoods, and that at least 50 Palestinians and one officer were reported injured.
Oh yeah, Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party also called for a “Day of Rage” on Wednesday.
• Tweet of the day goes to Michele Chabin:
Article is 5 years old but….Explosives detectors to be installed at gates of Mecca's Holy Mosque https://t.co/pxnzda9OO9
— Michele Chabin (@MicheleChabin1) July 18, 2017
• The first medic to respond to Friday’s Temple Mount terror attack was Muslim. Here’s his story.
• IDF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian trying to run them over with his car at the entrance of a West Bank village near Hebron this afternoon. Two soldiers were injured.
• PA: The only precondition for peace talks is that Israel announce a commitment to two states.
• Palestinians return Israeli drone after crash in West Bank.
• Ynet takes a closer look at the Islamic State in the Sinai threat to Israel.
• National Public Radio takes a closer look at the Hamas-Fatah power struggle over Gaza.
Meanwhile, the JTA reports that CUFI will lobby the US Congress to cut all US funds to the PA over stipends paid to terrorists and their families.
• Israel’s Supreme Court was due to decide today the fate of Dkeika, an unrecognized Bedouin village in the West Bank’s Hebron Hills. The state wants to transfer the 300 people living there to a recognized Bedouin village two kilometers north and demolish the illegally built structures and tents. More at the Jerusalem Post.
Around the World
• Montreal police issued an arrest warrant for Sheikh Muhammad ibn Musa Al Nasr who called for Jews to be killed during a sermon last year. B’nai Brith Canada posted a video of the imam’s key snippets.
• I hope this is a teachable moment in media transparency. The Daily Telegraph reports that BBC newsreaders (US audiences would call them “anchors”) may have to stand down from work on Wednesday, when the taxpayer-funded BBC discloses its top salaries. The Telegraph earlier reported that the disclosures will reveal “a stark gender pay gap.”
News and current affairs presenters are bound by editorial guidelines to remain objective in their coverage, and cannot advance a position on “political or industry controversy or any other controversial subject”.
But with the report expected to reveal that the likes of John Humphrys, Fiona Bruce, Kirsty Wark and Laura Kuenssberg are among the 100 or more well-known names earning over £150,000, it is feared that they will be unable to report the subject or conduct interviews with impartiality.
Commentary/Analysis
• Dr. Rami Arav responds after the world’s oldest archaeological journal cancelled a conference in order to boycott Israel.
For Davies, Israel has a regime that violates “Cultural Property.” Moreover, for the sake of discriminating Israelis, Davies divided excavations into two kinds: “Jewish excavations” and all others. While his “Jewish excavations” should be banned from PEQ for being “illegal,” all the others are Kosher.
When I queried with him his use of the objectionable term “Jewish excavations” in his editorial, Davies stated in a written reply: “In my defense, I understand that the excavations in question are conducted by Jews and funded by Jews and have a Jewish purpose, so that you might perhaps be gracious enough to allow that I was factually correct.”
• Plenty of commentary on the Temple Mount situation.
– Seth Frantzman: The campaign to exploit Jerusalem terror and fan new violence
– Dr. Gabi Avital: Terrorism shapes reality
– Nahum Barnea: Temple Mount metal detectors won’t help
– Dror Eydar: The real battle for the Temple Mount
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Herb Keinon: Why do the Hungarians and Netanyahu want with each other?
– Cnaan Liphshiz: 6 reasons why Macron’s Holocaust speech was groundbreaking
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Abbas wants Hamas on its knees
– Fred Maroun: Arabs who do not love Israel are fools
– James Sorene: Ken Loach’s bullying rhetoric only incites more violence
– David Cohen: An open letter to open letter writers
– Eugene Kontorovichh: Canada corrects its ‘Made in Israel’ policy. It’ time for the US to do the same.
– Dow Marmur: Not enough being doing to halt persecution of Mideast Christians
Featured image: CC BY Shironeko Euro; Waters via YouTube/Roger Waters; Pence via YouTube/ABC News; Caesarea CC BY StateofIsrael;
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