Today’s Top Stories
1. The Palestinian Authority threw its support behind Morocco and its occupation of Western Sahara. One man’s “occupation” is another man’s “territorial integrity,” as the Morocco World News explains:
The Palestinian position with regards to the Sahara comes as a rebuttal to the attempts made by Algeria and the Polisario in recent years to equate the question of Palestine with the dispute over Western Sahara.
The parallel that Algeria and the Polisario sought to establish between the two questions gained traction after Sweden recognized the Palestinian state in October 2014. The Swedish recognition of the Palestinian state gave the Polisario hope that Stockholm would recognize the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
However, the Swedish government made it clear last October that there is no parallel between the recognition of Palestine and Western Sahara.
2. Interviewed by CNBC in Davos, John Kerry admitted that some Iranian sanctions relief would wind up in the hands of terror groups. You can skip to the 2:42 point of this video. Kerry also said Hezbollah now has 80,000 rockets, and gets most of its weapons from Iran.
3. In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Israeli security forces busted a three-man terror cell — including a PA intelligence officer — that opened fire on an IDF soldier.
4. Dropping the Knife: The New York Times updates a headline, but still leaves out the most important detail.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• On Saturday, a Palestinian terrorist attempting to attack Israeli police in eastern Jerusalem was killed when a bomb he was holding detonated prematurely. Also that day, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl trying to stab a security guard in eastern Jerusalem was shot and killed. It led to this terribly botched Sky News Australia headline:
• Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli reporters in Ramallah on Thursday. The main buzz was when Abbas claimed he sought to meet Netanyahu, but was snubbed by the Prime Minister’s Office. Officials in Jerusalem denied the charge. More on the story at the Jerusalem Post, plus Avi Issacharoff‘s inside account.
• The IDF demolished two EU-funded illegally built Palestinian structures near Maale Adumim. The Jerusalem Post quoted a representative of the West Bank Bedouin community:
“The houses were funded by the European Union, and they put the European flag in order to be a deterrent to the occupation,” Mazar’a said. Netanyahu has charged that the EU is attempting to create new facts on the ground by supporting illegal Palestinian building in Area C of the West Bank.
• Over at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Netanyahu was interviewed by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. They discussed, Iran, Islamic State, the Mideast peace process, and more. Watch the full half-hourish video.
• David Collier dissects a BBC report on Gaza medics and how the non-story of their activism became “trending.” Via Elder of Ziyon.
• It turns out Dani Dayan isn’t the only Israeli ambassadorial appointment gummed up in the works. The Times of Israel reports that Fiamma Nirenstein hasn’t even begun the process she needs to go through to become ambassador to Italy.
Mideast Matters
• Indian authorities arrested an Iranian couple with fake Israeli passports.
• Khemaies Jhinaoui was approved as Tunisia’s foreign minister, but only after facing a gauntlet of opposing lawmakers. In the headier post-Oslo days of 1996, Jhinaoui opened Tunisia’s interest office in Tel Aviv. One of the opposing parliamentarians said of Jhinaoui, “his name is suspected of being tied to normalization” of relations with Israel. Jerusalem Post coverage.
Around the World
• Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down a Jewish reception at a gay conference in Chicago. More at the Times of Israel and the Windy City Times.
https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/691012353899393024
• Mercator, a Slovenian supermarket chain returned Israeli produce to its shelves after initially caving to BDS pressure.
• Bulgaria indicted a Lebanese-born Canadian linked to Hezbollah’s bombing of an Israeli tour bus in 2012. The National Post adds:
The Chasa daily in Sofia reported that Australian Meliad Farah had also been charged but that neither had been arrested. Both returned to Lebanon shortly after the July 18, 2012 attack.
• A French pro-Palestinian Jew created a stink when he said wearing a kippa “signals allegiance to Israeli policies.”
• France is considering extending its state of emergency until Islamic State is defeated, Prime Minister Emanuel said in a BBC interview.
• Angela Merkel: Anti-Semitism in Germany is “more widespread” than people realize. Haaretz picked up on comments the prime minister made in weekly a video on her website. More at Deutsche Welle.
Commentary/Analysis
• Palestinian national institutions are so discredited in the eyes of Palestinians, the time has come for the new generation of leaders to transform or rebuild them. However, the new “vanguard” is more interested in challenging “the occupation” than nation-building.
What can the international community do? Nathan Brown and Daniel Nerenberg weigh in with a deep, thought-provoking look:
To avoid prolonged and chaotic violence and to formulate a new consensus on goals, Palestinians will need space and support to rebuild their hollowed-out institutions . . .
If current trends continue, Palestine could become a failed state even before it becomes a real state. Palestinians will not be alone in paying a price for that development.
• Israeli cabinet minister Yoav Gallant got New York Times op-ed space to discuss the relationship between Israeli Jews and Arabs.
• You can’t help but enjoy Anne Applebaum‘s column describing her recent trip to Israel.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Todd Gitlin: On the logic and illogic of BDS
– Yossi Melman: The slippery slope to escalating Palestinian violence
– Reuven Berko: Abbas’ vertical flanking
– Jonathan Tobin: One last Obama-Israel showdown?
– Jennifer Rubin: Why it’s correct to label the Obama administration ‘anti-Israel’
– Angela Epstein: Universities must punish those who hijack civilised debate
– New York Post: The other refugees: Why Jews are leaving Europe (staff-ed)
– Melanie Phillips: Iran for dummies
– Jonathan Spyer: ISIS is not the main problem in the Mideast
Featured image: CC BY-SA kmf164; Palestinian flag CC BY-NC-SA AlHurriya;
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