Today’s Top Stories
1. US Senators confirmed to Foreign Policy that Israel no longer has the PA’s back on US aid to the Palestinians. It’s a major Israeli shift.
“I cannot tell you the number of times the Israelis have engaged me to try and stop an emotional reaction by the Congress to terminate aid [to Palestine],” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Foreign Policy. “But now there’s a new game in town.” . . .
While it’s plausible that a halt in U.S. aid to Palestine could be offset by increases in aid from Arab states, previous promises of funding from those governments have failed to materialize — raising concerns about the impact of Jerusalem’s new policy shift.
This might explain the latest reports of Congressmen feeling emboldened to defund the PA.
2. International media showed solidarity with Charlie Hebdo on the day after 12 people were killed when Islamic terrorists stormed the satirical magazine’s headquarters. Kristen Hare rounded up some of the day’s best front pages and cartoons.
French and Tunisian Jews mourned the Georges Wolinski. See obits in the JTA and The Forward.
One cartoon that went viral was by David Pope (of the Canberra Times).
As this roundup went to press, French special forces were converging on a village where two men fitting the description of the terror suspects and armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers tried to rob a gas station.
More on the Charlie Hebdo fallout below.
3. Did tens of thousands of Israelis really move to Germany to flee Netanyahu’s rule? Nah, it’s just a fact-checking failure that earned the Suddeutsche Zeitung a rebuke from the German Press Council. The Jerusalem Post explains:
According to the decision, SZ violated the press code because the paper did not exercise “due diligence in examining the truth” of the article before publication.
4. Charie Hebdo and a CNN Anchor’s Bizarre Anti-Israel Twitter Outburst: Conjuring up an imaginary team of pro-Israel, anti-Muslim bigots to dismiss criticism, Jim Clancy gives us a window to his world view. And it’s not pleasant.
5. Charlie Hebdo Attack Brings Out the Conspiracy Theorists: Conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites claim Israel is responsible for the Charlie Hebdo terror attack. The International Business Times supplies the oxygen.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Hamas told to lower its profile in Qatar:
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal will stay in Qatar for now, but he wouldn’t be allowed to carry out any activities from the Gulf emirate . . .
• US State Dept: Palestine ain’t a state and doesn’t deserve membership in the International Criminal Court.
• Sweden’s foreign minister cancelled her trip to Israel as relations between the two states turn increasingly frosty. Ties began going downhill in October when Sweden became the first of several European countries to recognize Palestine. Times of Israel coverage.
Charlie Hebdo Fallout
• The Charlie Hebdo staff vowed to publish the magazine’s next week’s edition on time.
“There is no way, even if they kill 10 of us, that the newspaper won’t be out next week.”
• Journalists are debating whether to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that raised Islamist ire. (Papers that showed blurred out images aren’t doing any service to their readers.) I’m not going to upload images myself, and my high school French is of no use. Have a look-see at The Daily Beast and draw your own conclusions.
• Who were The Men Behind the Cartoons?
• Worth reading: Claire Berlinski‘s first-hand account from the scene.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Ayaan Hirsi Ali (How to respond to Islamist Kalashnikovs in the heart of Paris), Jonathan Chait (Charlie Hebdo and the right to commit blasphemy), David Horovitz (The first step towards defeating Islamist terror), and Brendan O’Neill (Defeating Islamists in their war on free thought — Wall St. Journal via Google News).
• Last word, for now, goes to Dutch cartoonist Joep Bertrams:
Commentary/Analysis
• For more commentary/analysis, see AP (Showdown looms at war crimes court), John Bolton (The PA could stop Obama’s penchant for internationalism), Danny Rubinstein (The Saudi “geriatric kingdom” under threat), and a Chicago Tribune staff-ed (A big mistake by Palestinian leaders).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Thanks to the winter storm, there were no reported deaths in Syria, and the water level of the Kinneret rose seven cm.
• YNet: Google Street View and it’s funny-looking photography cars are coming back to Israel to update the app.
Featured image: CC BY flickr/Robert Couse-Baker; Paris via YouTube/CNN
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
