Today’s Top Stories
1. France’s Foreign Minister threatened that Paris will recognize Palestine as a state if its efforts to revive Mideast peace talks fail.
You can imagine what happened next: Israel rejected the ultimatum:
Israeli officials explained that the objection to the French initiative comes from the fact it comes in the form of a threat and an incentive to the Palestinians to reach a dead end so they could get everything they want without having to negotiate and compromise.
2. Based on information leaked by National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden, The Intercept reports that the US and UK managed to hack into encrypted Israeli Air Force transmissions by intercepting aircraft signals to orbiting satellites.
They were primarily “monitoring military operations in Gaza, watching for a potential strike against Iran, and keeping tabs on the drone technology Israel exports around the world.” The snooping went on for 18 years. The Times of Israel asks, If the US can decrypt vital Israeli transmissions in real time, who else can?
3. The US reissued guidelines on labeling West Bank products as “made in Israel.” YNet takes a stab at why the old guidelines are in the news now.
This is not a new guideline, but rather a reissuing of one from 1995 – which is a byproduct of the Paris Agreement and the Oslo Accords – that set different customs regulations for Israel and the West Bank. Human rights groups complained to US Customs that it was not enforcing its own guidelines, so that products from the settlements are sold in the United States under label “Made in Israel” . . .
An Israeli official said that “it is hard to believe that customs officials would randomly decide to publish a notice just because someone complained that guidelines are not being enforced. It’s convenient for them to present it as being a technical issue but in the US things never happen just by chance.”
4. Double Standards? Memo to New York Times columnist Roger Cohen: There are two legal frameworks in the West Bank because that’s what international law demands.
Israel and the Intifada
• On Saturday evening, two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli teenager in Jerusalem near the Old City’s Damascus Gate. Today, the IDF foiled a car-ramming attack north of Jerusalem. And this morning, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement of Beit El this morning. Three Israelis were wounded. The terrorist — a PA security officer — was shot and killed by soldiers on the scene. But Reuters correspondent Dan Williams says the Palestinian was “slain.”
Slain?
Palestinian security man slain after shooting three Israelis said on Facebook: "Nothing worth living for as long as occupation smothers us."
— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) January 31, 2016
• Now that it’s acceptable for Palestinians to openly incite against Israelis, it was only a matter of time until Palestinians began inciting against each other too. A Palestinian professor openly called for Mahmoud Abbas’s execution on Palestinian TV.
According to Qassem, the Palestinian constitution states that the President of the Palestinian Authority is elected for a four-year term, while Abbas has already served 11 years with no elections. In addition, he claimed that the PLO Penal Code states that any PLO member who implements a policy of rapprochement with Israel or assistance to the Israeli occupation is to be executed.
• According to Palestinian media reports picked up by the Jerusalem Post, a Hamas naval commando drowned at sea during a “jihadi mission.”
• Palestinian incitement goes on: Songs in praise of stabbing are huge hits on Palestinian street, and may be motivators too, reports the Times of Israel.
“Lovers of Stabbing” is by far the most famous of the songs associated with the current wave of violence — others have such titles as “Stab the Zionist,” “Fill the Bottle with Fire” and “Raise Your Weapons” — and in its many incarnations on YouTube has garnered over 5 million views. The tune was described by Ma’an as “encouraging Jerusalemites and revolutionaries in the West Bank to carry out stabbing operations and to kill settlers.”
The catchy song runs seven and a half minutes long and lists those killed carrying out out attacks on Israelis, praising them as heroes “defending Al-Aqsa with their blood.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAuS0LY4u1s
• 5 Palestinians jailed for 15 years for stoning that led to Israeli toddler’s death.
• 3 Israeli teens were indicted for allegedly vandalizing Dormition Abbey with anti-Christian slogans.
• It’s official. Peter Baker is taking on one of journalism’s most closely scrutinized positions: Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times. Speaking of job shifts at the Times, Robert Mackey, who blogged foreign affairs is leaving to join The Intercept.
Worst-kept secret is out: Heading to Jerusalem as bureau chief, excited to share a new adventure with amazing @sbg1 https://t.co/V9XXclw03I
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 29, 2016
Mideast Matters
• Sign of the times? Israel’s Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Ze’ev Elkin, was interviewed by the Saudi newspaper, Elaph. In the unprecedented interview, Elkin discussed Palestinian incitement, the status of Jerusalem, and Iran. More at the Jerusalem Post.
• Aerial bombing by Russian jets just 20 km away from Syria’s borders with Israeli and Jordan may be raising concerns in both Jerusalem and Amman, according to Haaretz. A new Assad offensive may trigger a another rush of refugees, and increasing Russian air ops increases the chances of Israeli-Russian friction.
• France is suggesting new sanctions against Iran for its recent missile tests. Associated Press coverage.
• Frida Ghitis sums up a rare moment of Iranian candor.
https://twitter.com/FridaGhitis/status/693524359567314944
Around the World
• University of Waterloo students reject BDS referendum question
• World Medical Association chief rejected calls for Israel’s expulsion
• Indiana’s House of Representatives passed an anti-BDS bill unanimously. House Bill 1378 bans state dealings with entities that boycott Israel.
• 168 Italian academics call for boycott of Israeli universities “on the grounds that they participate in violations of international law and support the occupation.”
• Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily newspaper, uses Nazi language to blame Israel for Palestinian terrorism.
• Ira Stoll was on hand when Michael Douglas and Natan Sharansky came to Brown University to discuss Jewish identity in the face of dozens of shrill pro-Palestinian protesters.
But it’s nonetheless a sad moment for American higher education, for Israel, and for world Jewry when a campus conversation between an American actor with a Jewish identity and a human rights hero known for surviving nine years in the Soviet gulag is greeted — before it even happens — by an op-ed in the student newspaper summoning a rally “to speak out against this justification of Israeli crimes.” It’s a measure of the movement’s virulence that it targeted not an appearance by an Israeli general or a foreign policy talk but rather a discussion about Jewish identity.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: Palestinian democracy is, unfortunately, an impediment to peace. As a result, Eli Lake argues, the Palestinians have neither democracy nor peace.
• Here’s what else I’m reading this weekend . . .
– Raphael Ahren: So what if Paris recognizes a Palestinian state?
– Boaz Bismuth: France should just recognize Palestine and spare us its diplomacy
– Barak Ravid: France’s Fabius seeks out a legacy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
– David Horovitz: US spying, Hamas tunneling highlight malaise in Israel’s defenses
– Ben-Dror Yemini: The apartheid myth
– Nadav Shragai: Illegal settlements, EU-style
– Cary Nelson: Pushback for anti-Israel academics (click via Google News)
– Jonathan Greenblatt: When criticism of Israel becomes anti-Semitic
– Eyal Zisser: A European-Iranian honeymoon
– New York Times: Moderates under pressure in Iran (staff-ed)
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA Joris Belmans
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
