Today’s Top Stories
1. The IDF raided a Hamas-affiliated television station in Hebron, arresting four “journalists” and confiscating equipment. Earlier this month, Israel designated the Lebanon-based Al-Quds TV as a terror organization working as an arm of Hamas.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemned the arrests. In response, I’m going to quote a letter MK Yair Lapid sent to the International Federation of Journalists in 2016 after Israel arrested several “journalists” working for the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Palestine Today:
“However,” Lapid added, “freedom of the press does not extend to terrorist propaganda and to those who incite to murder. The content on Palestine Today would not pass the editorial guidelines of any of your members. I was a journalist for over three decades; this isn’t journalism. This isn’t free speech, this is hate speech…You are not defending press freedom; you are defending incitement to murder.”
2. Tunisia risks losing the opportunity to host the 2019 World Schools Chess Championship because it is refusing to give a visa to allow a seven-year-old Israeli girl Liel Levitan to compete. According to the Jerusalem Post, the World Chess Federation is refusing to confirm that the north African country will host the tournament unless the Tunisian Chess Federation confirms in writing that visas will be provided to all participants.
3. Israeli Prisons Service mulls steps to curb water use in prisons as Palestinian inmates deliberately waste “hundreds of thousands of cubic feet” of water.
4. Palestinian Christians: News Agency Parrots Propaganda: Given the provenance of this “interview,’ it’s disturbing that anything produced by the AfroPal Forum could find its way into the mainstream media as “news.”
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
In the News
• Israel prevented 72 Turkish citizens from entering the country at Ben Gurion Airport this afternoon, saying their group visa was falsified. Take your pick of Israeli or Turkish coverage.
• Indefensible? How two rockets from Syria landed in Israel’s Lake Kinneret.
• Zionist Union MK Eitan Broshi was suspended amid fresh sexual harassment allegation. He’s threatening to sue the party.
• Some Israeli minority leaders told Israel HaYom they support the nation state law.
• JTA: Scottish Labour Party councilor says on Facebook that three Jewish papers opposed to Jeremy Corbyn may be working for the Mossad. Mary Bain Lockhart was responding to the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph uniting to publish an identical front-page editorial last week denouncing Labour antisemitism.
• Anti-Semitic graffiti found at Indianapolis-area synagogue.
Commentary
• On the domestic scene, Yaakov Katz, Chemi Shalev and the Israel Democracy Institute’s Yuval Shani and weigh in on the nation state law.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Moshe Arens: Iranians in Syria, Hamas at the fence
– Tali Ben Ovadia: No policy, no security
– MK Nachman Shai: Ahed Tamimi and the battle for public opinion
– Allison Kaplan Sommer: Ahed Tamimi and her family: Israel’s ongoing PR disaster
– Stephen Flatow: The ‘games’ Palestinian children play
– Nadav Shragai: Reinforce the Western Wall and our sovereignty
– Boris Johnson: Jeremy Corbyn could end Labour’s anti-Semitism row in an instant. So why doesn’t he?
– Patrick Maguire: Labour is close to the point of no return on anti-Semitism
– Ian Austin: I’m angry about Labour antisemitism. But I didn’t scream abuse
– Irina Tsukerman: Towards an Arab NATO to counter Iran?
Featured image: CC BY Arvin Asadi; chess CC BY-NC-ND Kevin Goolsby;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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