Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel launched a diplomatic campaign against William Schabas and the UN Commission of Inquiry on Gaza. Schabas is scheduled to present his findings to the UN Human Rights Council on March 26; the council will vote on the findings a few days later. The Jerusalem Post explains:
According to a Foreign Ministry cable sent to Israel’s representatives abroad, the goal of the campaign is to get “as many countries as possible – with the hope that at least 24 will not approve the committee’s findings – to either vote against, abstain or not show up [for the vote].”
Meanwhile, Israelis will be giving testimony to the Schabas commission this week. YNet reports:
A delegation of residents from the western Negev, including Yarkoni and Yellin, has secretly embarked to Switzerland, and was expected to testify Wednesday . . .
The delegation is not an official one, having been created by the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists. The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry gave the green light for the delegation’s departure, but unequivocally clarified for its members that they would be testifying as Israeli citizens and not as official representatives of the state. Behind the scenes, however, official sources encouraged Israelis to testify before the committee.
2. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards acknowledged it runs missile manufacturing plants in Syria.
3. A lawsuit filed in the US against the PA and PLO A by terror victims finally began. Take your pick of Jerusalem Post, AP, Reuters, or Bloomberg News coverage.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer recounted the six deadly attacks that killed dozens, including suicide bombings on a bus and at a university cafeteria. He told jurors they would see payroll records and other documents proving the Palestinian Authority “embraced these crimes” by continuing to pay security officials who organized the attacks, even after they were convicted of murder.
After introducing two Palestinian officials who were attending the trial, Rochon argued that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority were victims of guilt by association with assailants in attacks that were never officially sanctioned.
4. The Hypocrisy of the Charlie Hebdo Critics: You can’t condemn anti-Islam cartoons while embracing anti-Semitic ones.
5. BBC’s “Apology” for “Jewish Hands” The BBC’s weak “apology” about Palestinians suffering at “Jewish hands” doesn’t go far enough.
Israel and the Palestinians
• An internal Foreign Ministry document obtained by YNet paints a grim deterioration of Israel’s diplomatic situation with the Palestinians in 2015.
The classified document, sent by the Foreign Ministry to Israeli missions worldwide, warns of possible diplomatic damage to Israel due to “moves to mark settlement products, stop the supply of replacement parts; debates on sanctions against Israel; demands for compensation for damage caused by Israel to European projects in the Palestinian territories; European activity in Area C, under Israeli rule; and more.”
The significance of a worsening diplomatic situation is clear: European states will not only continue to advance diplomatic steps such as recognition of a Palestinian state, but will at the same time work on an economic level to hurt the Israeli economy.
• Hamas threatened to quit the PA national unity government over money. Gaza’s civil servants (the ones on the Hamas payroll) are currently staging a sit-in. They haven’t been paid for seven months.
• Former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo weighed in on the Palestinian bid to join the court. The Jerusalem Post assesses what it all means.
Ocampo also said that Israel would need to do “damage control” on the West Bank settlements to avoid ICC prosecution that could go after those involved in the communities for war crimes as well . . .
But the post was also an unmistakable warning shot to Israel about going to easy on investigating its personnel by the founding prosecutor, who still looms large in the arena of public opinion of international law experts.
• What’s the impact of Israel freezing tax revenue transfers to the PA? The Financial Times takes a look — click via Google News.
• Egypt’s open to importing gas from Israel.
French Terror: The Aftershocks
• A Belgian arms dealer turned himself in to police, admitting that he sold the guns and grenade launcher used in the Paris kosher market attack to Amedy Coulibaly.
• Al-Qaida’s Yemen affiliate claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
• Charlie Hebdo’s post-terror edition hit the stands; the lines of people queuing up for a copy rivaled Harry Potter and Star Wars releases.
Copies quickly sold out. It’s cover, featuring a crying Mohammed under the words, “all is forgiven,” went viral while also raising Islamic ire.
• Anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne was arrested for being “an apologist for terror” over Facebook post sympathizing with Charlie Hebdo terrorist Amedy Coulibaly.
• UK papers picked up on a survey finding that 45 percent of Britons hold anti-Semitic views. Almost half the people questioned agreed with at least one of several anti-Semitic statements presented. Take your pick of The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, or Daily Mail. The full report‘s in pdf format.
• There’s a world of difference between how Israelis and Palestinians relate to the French terror, reports McClatchy News:
For Israelis, the shootings highlight the lack of protection for Jews in France. In Palestinian eyes, the Charlie Hebdo killings have triggered a debate on free speech and served as a reminder of their gratitude for French support at the United Nations.
• If you don’t understand French, or thought Charlie Hebdo only ridicules Islam (or both), check out Understanding Charlie Hebdo Cartoons (hat tip Harry’s Place via Fat Man on a Keyboard).
• Egyptian media reports: El-Sisi is moving to ban foreign publications offensive to religion. Zack Gold points out:
Commentary/Analysis
• For more commentary/analysis, see Jeff Jacoby (An anti-Semitic derangement),a New York Times staff-ed (‘France Without Jews Is Not France’), and Clifford May (From Salman Rushdie to Charlie Hebdo).
Image: CC BY-NC-SA flickr/Tobias Glatthard; Schabas via YouTube/RobertHJacksonCenter; Moreno-Ocampo CC BY flickr/Estonian Foreign Ministry; Charlie Hebdo via YouTube/euronews
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