Today’s Top Stories
Among the bones of contention between the US and the UNHRC is the Agenda Item 7 mandate which requires a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at each session. No other country has such a mandate leveled against it.
All concerns regarding human rights abuses in all the other countries around the world are debated under Agenda Item 4.
In the last month the US has waged a stiff behind the scenes battle at the UN to eliminate Agenda Item 7 but did not succeed in swaying countries to eliminate the mandate.
Ambassador Haley laid out the reasons for the withdrawal in a Wall St. Journal op-ed (click via Twitter). More on the story at the New York Times and Washington Post.
Next question is whether Israel will follow US lead on leaving @UNHumanRights. Would be odd if Washington leaves the org, in part because of its anti-Israel bias, but Jerusalem stays. Israel followed US lead on quitting ICC, and more slowly, UNESCO.
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) June 19, 2018
2. Gaza tensions escalated. After Palestinian terror kites and balloons sparked a number of brush fires, Israel launched overnight air strikes on the Strip, prompting a barrage of 45 Palestinian rockets and mortars, which in turn led to more Israeli air strikes. No Israelis were reported injured. Haaretz noted one change in Hamas tactics: Even non-lethal Israeli air strikes are now met with Palestinian rockets.
Take your pick of Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Ynet, Times of Israel or Israel HaYom coverage.
3. Organizers of Saturday’s Chicago Dyke March are doubling down on on their support for the Palestinians, with the Chicago Reader reporting that this year’s march is being held in solidarity with Palestine. Last year’s march made headlines when organizers expelled participants carrying Jewish pride flags.
Meanwhile, LGBT Jews wary of participating in this year’s event described their fears and frustration with Gay Star News.
4. UK Parliament’s Fake News Inquiry Publishes HR Submission: Our submission to a parliamentary inquiry on fake news was finally published. But was the publishing delayed because it dealt with fake news against Israel?
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• From flaming kites to explosive condoms, the new battle with Gazan terror.
• In the last few years, hundreds of Israelis have moved to communities adjacent to Gaza despite the rockets and mortars. They explained to Haaretz why they moved, coping with the threats and why they have no regrets.
Israelis who move to this part of the country, she says, are well aware of the dangers endemic to the region, but tend to view them within the larger context of trade-offs in life. “When I ask them if they’re not scared, many tell me that, barring the occasional outbreaks of violence, they feel that their kids are safer here than in the big city,” relays Yarchi.
“They also remind me that Hezbollah and Hamas missiles have the capability to strike cities in central Israel as well,” she adds. “But here at least, when they are under attack they feel there is a much bigger support system.”
• Prince William arrives in Israel for his historic royal visit. Haaretz has the full itinerary.
• A rare Gaza Strip protest directed at Hamas ended in familiar way: violence. One protester told The Media Line that Hamas goons assaulted the protesters, forced her to delete photos and video from her phone, and stole other individuals’ phones to stop them from filming. Here’s one video managed to get online.
Today, during a peaceful demonstration in Gaza City, the Hamas terror organization used force to disperse protesters just for expressing their opinions. Hamas proves again that while they call for protection of human rights they are in fact the ones who violate them. pic.twitter.com/9jlGLfQDyH
— COGAT (@cogatonline) June 18, 2018
• An Israeli court scrapped some confessions in a Jewish terror case that were obtained by unspecified “special means,” but ruled that most were admissible, Ynet reports.
Amiran Ben-Ulliel and a second defendant who cannot be identified because he is a minor, are charged with setting fire to a house in the West Bank village of Duma in 2015, killing Saad Dawabsheh, his wife Riham and their 18-month old son, Ali. Their other son, Ahmed, who was four, survived and spent a year in the hospital.
• An IDF Skylark aerial surveillance drone crashed in Syria, near the Israeli border. The IDF said it went down due to a “technical failure” and that no classified information was compromised.
• South African model and media personality Shashi Naidoo has received death threats after posting comments online defending Israel, criticizing Hamas, and calling Gaza “a sh*thole of immense proportions.” More at the Johannesburg Times and The Algemeiner.
According to screenshots of her now-deleted comments, the model rejected accusations that Israel was an “Apartheid state” and argued that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas was responsible for poor living conditions in Gaza.
• Russia seeks to force out foreign rabbis as a national security threat. “A new law targeting non-Orthodox Christian missionaries has been increasingly used by authorities to expel Chabad emissaries,”
• Psychology association faces pressure to boycott Israel.
Commentary
• Chicago-based writer Dahlia St. Knives, who describes herself as a black Jewish trans woman, denounces the Chicago Dyke March organizers for not creating a safe space for Jews.
Jewish people are more or less required to be subjected to a purity test with regard to their stance on the Occupation in Palestine. In no other circumstances within progressive communities can I think of examples of marginalized people having to denounce what a nation-state they have no connection with does. Jews, however, cannot simply march in pro-Palestine events or advocate for a Palestinian state. We must openly, loudly, and continuously disavow Israel, or we will be forcibly removed from any space that we share with progressives. We are guilty by association and must prove our innocence in order to be treated like human beings. Such behavior should not be tolerated at all, and the creation of special rules that apply only to Jewish people is inherently anti-Semitic . . .
It is now 2018. In the year after this debacle happened, the Chicago Dyke March has made zero effort to apologize for their wrongs or show that they have made any progress in better understanding how to treat Jewish women. It would be one thing if the organizers had used this as an opportunity to educate themselves on how to not be anti-Semitic, but that clearly has not been too high on their list of priorities. As such, their event remains a safe space for anyone but women like us.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Amb. Danny Danon: Trump and Nikki Haley are forcing the UN to change
– New York Daily News (staff-ed) The UN’s human wrongs: In defense of Trump’s Human Rights Council pullout
– Amnon Lord: The hypocrisy of the UNHRC
– Yoav Zitun: Hamas’ new equation: Rockets in response to every IDF strike
– Amos Harel: Israel and Hamas are on the verge of the first kite war
– Anna Ahronheim: IDF trying to establish new strike for kite equation in Gaza
Any kite or helium balloon armed with explosives or incendiary material – is a weapon and should be treated accordingly.
In the picture below- one of the #Israeli communities surrounding #Gaza, Kibbutz Beeri, before and after the fires. ( photo credit- @devorah555 ) pic.twitter.com/n4tHgHT81f— Avital Leibovich (@AvitalLeibovich) June 19, 2018
– Ron Ben-Yishai: Following ministers’ demands, IDF steps up response to kite terrorism
– Alexander Apfel: Israel’s defense establishment is abandoning the southern residents
– Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinian Authority’s policy of denormalization
– Elliott Abrams: More evidence that the UN’s automatic majority against Israel is fraying
– Yoram Ettinger: US interests require Israel on the Golan Heights
– Ira Rifkin: American and Israeli religious infighting: Could it destroy the world’s lone Jewish state?
Featured image: Ryan McGuire via Gratisography; Haley via UN Photo/Evan Schneider; Naidoo via YouTube/Mela on SABC;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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