Today’s Top Stories
1. Citing Palestinian threats against star player Lionel Messi, Argentina cancelled this weekend’s friendly pre-World Cup match against Israel in Jerusalem. Israel soccer officials are filing a formal complaint with FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.
Meanwhile, Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rajoub told the Times of Israel that the PA didn’t object to the game’s original Haifa venue, but blamed Israeli officials for moving the match to Jerusalem and making various statements politicizing it. Indeed, some Israelis pointed fingers at each other more than at BDS while Argentine pundits slammed what they described as the hypocrisy of the team’s decision.
More on the story — lots, in fact — at Ynet.
2. A preliminary IDF investigation of the death of Palestinian medic Razan al-Najar found that she wasn’t deliberately targeted by soldiers. The military stressed that the investigation is still ongoing. Haaretz and the Times of Israel had the clearest coverage.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that soldiers fired shots in the area, but said that they were not aimed at the 21-year-old volunteer medic, Razan Najjar.
“During the incident, a limited number of bullets were fired and no gunfire was directly or intentionally fired at her,” the army said in a statement.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. According to Israeli media reports, the Palestinian Authority warned French officials that Iran was financing and encouraging weeks of violent protests along the Israel-Gaza border.
4. ‘The Week Junior’ Gets an F: Teaching distortions, hate and anger is no way to begin a child’s education about Israel.
5. The 6 Questions About Paywalls You Were Afraid to Ask: I’m seeing a spike of emails about newspaper paywalls, which means it’s time to revisit this post.
Israel and the Palestinians
• What does this say about the Mideast, the Trump administration and bureaucracy?
US President Donald Trump on Monday signed a presidential waiver that suspends for six months a law mandating the US embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — despite the fact that the embassy officially opened in Jerusalem last month.
Trump’s move was necessitated by the fact that the ambassador’s official residence has not yet been relocated to the capital.
• Worth watching: This Reuters video takes a closer look at Gaza’s burning kites and how Israel’s trying to counter them.
Devastating fires in Israel started by homemade 'fire kites' https://t.co/rzJpkjOVYR via @ReutersTV pic.twitter.com/J6HZ0HKS7h
— Reuters TV (@ReutersTV) June 6, 2018
• The Jewish National Fund will sue Hamas in international court for damage to Israeli forests caused by burning kites from Gaza. Good luck trying to collect . . .
• Why are trials against IDF soldiers killing Palestinians falling apart?
• For whatever it’s worth, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert supported Ambassador David Friedman’s criticism of media coverage of the Gaza protests.
• Australian Jewish group complains to ABC News boss over ‘massive omission’ on Gaza rocket attacks.
• Ex-ambassador Michael Oren disputes former White House aid Ben Rhodes’ account of Israel’s reaction to the US-Syria “red lines crisis.”
• A cursed collision with karma, or crazy coincidence? Ahmed Said — the Egyptian radio announcer who claimed troops had reached Tel Aviv and destroyed dozens of Israeli fighter planes during the Six-Day War — died. Associated Press notes that “Said was buried Tuesday, the 51st anniversary of the start of the war on June 5.”
For more than a decade, Said was Egypt’s biggest media personality, working for for Sawt al-Arab (Voice of the Arabs), a mouthpiece of president Gamel Abdel Nasser.
Around the World
• South African radio personality Gareth Cliff is taking flak for defending the IDF’s handling of the Gaza border riots. Listen to Cliff’s comments, see Jenna Etheridge‘s response, then see the Daily Maverick‘s fact-check.
• Jerusalem Post: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund “gave grants to organizations which funnel money and support to terrorist groups, and continued to do so after being told about the NGOs’ activities.”
• Argentine lawmakers are discussing the removal of ex-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s immunity from prosecution over the AMIA bombing and the murder of prosecutor Alberto Nisman. The Algemeiner rounds up the latest from Buenos Aires.
• Ynet: The UN released its first education guide on fighting anti-Semitism, published online by UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
• Police investigating threatening graffiti on U. California San Diego Jewish student center sign.
Commentary
• Tweet of the day goes to Paul Gross:
So Israel can’t host one game against Argentina while Russia – invader of two its neighbors, murderer of political opponents and part of the alliance that’s slaughtered thousands in Syria – gets to host a World Cup?
The world’s screwed-up moral compass strikes again.— Paul Gross (@pauldgross) June 6, 2018
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Chemi Shalev: Israel should stop playing into BDS’ hands or Argentine soccer fiasco will only be the beginning
– Gil Hoffman: When mixing soccer and Israeli politics becomes messy
– Yair Lapid: Israel will not leave the Golan Heights
– Yaakov Lappin: Israel’s ‘active defense’ in Syria won’t be stopped by diplomatic deals
– Herb Keinon: What does Netanyahu hope to achieve on his European trip?
– William Galston: Bibi is bent on taking on Iran alone (click via Twitter)
– Roger Boyes: Israel must decide how it wants to fight Iran
– The Australian (staff-ed): Time for a reality check on Iran
– Abdulrahman Al-Rashed: The condition of Iran’s withdrawal for Assad to stay
– Daniel Friedmann: As far as Hamas is concerned, Israel was deterred
– Amos Harel: IDF believes Hamas willing to talk, though no signs of negotiations on the horizon
– Dr. Reuven Berko: Holding everyone else responsible
– Simon Waldman: Burning money: the urgent need to rethink UNRWA
– Emily Benedek: Will the world finally turn off the UNRWA spigot?
– Daniel Arbess: Is Trump following a grand Mideast strategy? (click via Twitter)
– Ed Husain: Jeremy Corbyn is pitting Britain’s Muslims against Jews
Featured image: CC BY-SA Estitxu Carton; Messi via YouTube/Henrik Lehmann; Oren via YouTube/MSBC; Netanyahu via YouTube/IsraeliPM; Obama via YouTube/CBS News; Rhodes via YouTube/Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Cliff via Vimeo/Design Indaba;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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