Today’s Top Stories
*** Breaking news *** Just before this round up was published, the UNRWA said it “discovered the existence of what appeared to be a tunnel underneath one of its schools in Gaza.”
1. The United Arab Emirates “apologized” after its judokas refused customary post-match handshakes with their Israeli competitors in Abu Dhabi. But the real outrage?
However, Israel and the UAE do not have diplomatic relations and the athletes were forced to compete as representatives of the International Judo Federation and without any Israeli symbols, citing security concerns. In addition, both the Israeli flag and national anthem were notably absent from medal ceremonies. Instead, organizers raised the flag of the International Judo Federation and played the anthem of the organization.
More at the Times of Israel. The Associated Press, Washington Post, Independent, CNN also picked up on the story.
Israeli judoka Tal Flicker won a gold medal at #JudoAbuDhabi2017! No Israeli anthem or flag. A disgrace to the spirit of sports. pic.twitter.com/XiP1YrwBms
— Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) October 26, 2017
2. FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, decided against taking any punitive steps against Israel over teams located in the West Bank. Palestinian sports officials sought kick Israel out of FIFA over six teams located in the West Bank. More at the Times of Israel and FIFA itself.
3. Montreal’s McGill U. student council is again in turmoil after a Jewish student removed over BDS issue. The university launched an investigation.
See also Richard Cravatts‘ take.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. HonestReporting is proud to co-sponsor a special free event — a panel discussion on Anti-Semitism in the European Left-Wing. Speakers include David Gurevich, David Hirsh, Einat Wilf, Avi Mayer and Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky.
When: Sunday, Nov. 5 (7:00 PM)
Where: Jerusalem’s Menachem Begin Heritage Center
Click for more info.
Israel and the Palestinians
• A Knesset committee vote on the controversial “Greater Jerusalem” bill scheduled for today was delayed. The legislation proposes to absorb the settlements of Ma’ale Adumim, Beitar Illit and Efrat, along with the Etzion bloc into the Jerusalem municipality without annexing them to Israel. The delay, an Israeli lawmaker confirmed, was due to US pressure.
• The IDF sealed off 10 tunnels under West Bank security fence in the Hebron area.
Last week, at least 100 Palestinians who crossed into Israeli territory via the massive drainage pipes carried out a series of agricultural thefts near Moshav Shekaf, in the Lachish region, stealing dozens of tons of tomatoes and grapes, according to the radio report.
• According to Israeli media reports, Hamas believes Islamic State was responsible for a car bomb near a Gaza refugee camp on Friday. The target, Hamas security chief Tawfiq Abu Naim, was moderately injured.
Abu Naim, who was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, “has been leading the recent Hamas efforts against IS.”
• BBC: For the first time, Israel honored an Arab for saving Jews during the Holocaust. “Egyptian doctor Mohamed Helmy hid a young Jewish woman and helped her family in Berlin, where he lived and had worked before World War Two.”
Today, Israel posthumously awarded the title, Righteous Among the Nations, to the first Arab, Egyptian doctor, Mohamed Helmy, who saved a young Jewish woman during the Holocaust. Egypt's own Oskar Schindler. https://t.co/fyu2ji712s Whoever saves one life saves the world entire. pic.twitter.com/WloX3QrR1k
— Alan Flynn ?? (@Ballykeith) October 27, 2017
• Must read: Israeli journalist Neri Zilber became the first reporter to visit Camp Mazor Ladach, the Israeli medical clinic treating Syrians on the “other side” of the border. His in-depth dispatch in Politico lays out undisclosed details about Israeli humanitarian efforts:
On any given night, the IDF is active on multiple points on the Syrian frontier, interacting with locals on the other side. More recently, this has also come to include the establishment of a medical clinic beyond the heavily fortified border fence, in territory that while still legally (de facto) Israel, is for all practical purposes inside Syria. The IDF, however, doesn’t operate the clinic; it only guarantees its security from afar. Rather, a little-known U.S. humanitarian NGO sent in volunteers to build and staff the place. U.S. citizens and devout Christians all, they believe they are doing God’s work – helping Israel by helping Syrians (and vice versa) – on the very edge of the closest thing to a modern-day hell.
https://twitter.com/NadavPollak/status/924549296195850240
• The ancient tomb of the Biblical prophet Nahum is in danger as Kurdish-Iraqi tensions rise, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Shelling in a Christian town near the Jewish tomb is the latest in years of turmoil that have affected the site.
The tomb is in the ancient Christian town of Al-Qosh, inside a complex that also served as a synagogue and has partly collapsed over the years. The Jewish community of this area of northern Iraq and Kurdistan left in the 1940s and 1950s.
Around the World
• A defiant ex-Argentine president Cristina Kirchner defended a secret pact with Iran at an inquiry into the AMIA bombing cover-up.
• Israel and Australia will mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheva. ABC News caught up with descendants of the Light Horse Brigade visiting the battlefield. So if you’re in Beersheva on October 31, don’t miss the re-enactment of the Light Horse Brigade’s charge.
Commentary/Analysis
• Descendants of some of the principle figures behind the Balfour declaration shared their thoughts on the statement itself, upcoming celebrations, and more with the Wall St. Journal. Read the essay or watch the video.
Plenty more Balfour commentary:
– Lord Roderick Balfour: ‘Balfour Declaration was one of history’s greatest ever acts’
– Dror Eydar: The ideal that moves me
– Stephen Pollard: Is it possible that the nation which helped create Israel now admires a Marxist-Islamist alliance which hates the West?
– Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks: Reflections on Balfour 100
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Horovitz: World judo must honor its own ethics code, stop UAE’s anti-Israel discrimination
– Raphael Ahren: When it comes to Israel, the Arab world isn’t a good sport
– Alan Dershowitz: Anti-Semitic caricature of me generates no criticism from Berkeley hard-Left
– Khaled Abu Toameh: Militias vs. Palestinian ‘reconciliation’
– Vivian Bercovici: Palestinians fool us again into believing they want peace with Israel
– Evelyn Gordon: What Raqqa says about Gaza’s death toll
– Paul Miller: The warped bias of anti-Israel boycotts
– Jake Wallis Simons: The left’s sinister disdain for Israel betrays their movement’s pro-Zionist origins
– Michael Mostyn: BDS is a dismal failure
Featured image: CC0 pgdouglas;
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