Today’s Top Stories
1. A leaked audiotape is further straining already uneasy relations between Hamas and Iran.
In an audiotape leaked to Arab media outlets, Musa Abu Marzouk is heard making a scathing attack on Iran’s leaders, saying they have not given Hamas anything since 2009.
It is not clear when, how or where Abu Marzouk was recorded. Nor is it clear who is responsible for leaking the audiotape . . .
“The story is different from than the one they [the Iranians] tell,” Abu Marzouk said. “They are among those who are unclear and ambiguous. They are also very cautious with politics. Since 2009, we haven’t received anything from them. Everything they are saying is a lie.”
2. The Israeli government approved an egalitarian section of the Western Wall. Two things worth noting:
– When the idea was first floated in 2013, the PA objected.
– Judaism’s holiest site is the Temple Mount, not the Western Wall.
UPDATE: After this roundup was sent out, Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti condemned the egalitarian prayer section.
3. The IDF blocked non-residents of Ramallah from entering the city. The restrictions were in response to a PA security officer opening fire on Israeli soldiers near Beit El yesterday.
While Israel demanded the PA to prevent terror attacks by Palestinian security personnel, PA police praised Amjad Sukkari:
In a statement it released following the attack, the Palestinian police announced that “with great pride, the members of the Palestinian police eulogize the brave martyrdom of their colleague, Master Sergeant Amjad Sukkari, “Abu Omar”, who committed the operation at V.I.P checkpoint in Beit El.”
4. Robert Fisk: A Few Words of History: A veteran journalist’s history concerning Israel doesn’t fit with the facts.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• This morning, a Palestinian trying to sneak into the West Bank settlement of Sal’fit (near Kfar Saba) was shot and killed after he tried to stab soldiers who confronted him.
• Ban Ki-moon’s war of words with Israel continued. The UN Secretary-General penned a New York Times op-ed denouncing Palestinian terror, Israeli security measures, and accused Israeli officials of twisting his words. Ban raised Israeli ire last week when he said of Palestinian terror, “it’s human nature to react to occupation.”
https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/693994786416672769
• Are Palestinian teens committing ‘suicide by soldier’?
• Supporters of boycotting Israeli academia often say they can distinguish between institutions and individuals. But Israeli academics tell the Associated Press it ain’t so:
Although the movement ostensibly targets universities, not individuals, Israeli academics say they are often shunned at the personal level. They experience snubs at academic conferences, struggle to get recommendations and can experience difficulty publishing their work in professional journals.
“This is highly personal and personalized,” said Rabinowitz . . .
Rachelle Alterman, a professor emeritus of urban planning at the Technion, said she still has strong working relationships with colleagues around the world, but the pro-boycott camp is a “rising minority” in academia. She said it is less of an issue in the hard sciences like medicine and physics, and much more palpable in more subjective social sciences. Younger academics trying to establish a reputation are especially vulnerable.
Alterman said she has begun to feel a “coldness” from some colleagues at conferences that was not there in the past. She said some colleagues refuse to attend conferences in Israel, and editors at professional journals tell her it is difficult to find people willing to review papers by Israeli academics.
• Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked discussed her controversial NGO transparency legislation in Q&As with the Washington Post and Der Spiegel.
• There’s a growing Israeli-Arab middle class. The Christian Science Monitor takes a look:
Meanwhile, the Arab middle class in Israel is modernizing: Birthrates are dropping and education levels are rising. In the past decade, Arab students have flooded into Israeli colleges and universities, accounting for 16 percent of the undergraduate student population compared with 10 percent a decade ago. . .
“These are social revolutions in terms of modernization and Israelization. We are becoming more and more similar to Israeli society in educational and employment habits, and also in our political participation,” says Mohammad Darawshe, a director at Givat Haviva, a nonprofit educational institute that promotes equality between Arabs and Jews.
• The Independent profiled Tair Kaminer, an Israeli teenager who refuses to serve in the IDF as a conscientious objector. In the absence of any figures indicating how many Israeli conscientious objectors there are, it’s impossible to judge if Kaminer represents a trend, or if reporter Lizzie Dearden is overplaying a marginal phenomenon.
Around the World
• The Australian stationery chain, Typo, pulled a world globe that named Palestine over Israel.
• An Israeli campaign against anti-Semitism and BDS in Scotland is getting positive results.
• I hope Ambassador Ibrahim Alzeben doesn’t get in trouble for this:
• Reuters: EgyptAir mechanic suspected in Russian plane crash
Commentary/Analysis
• In dueling Newsweek op-eds, Tzipi Hotovely and Ahmad Tibi squared off on incitement.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Eliezer Marom: Shooting attack in Beit El signals start of armed intifada
– Stephen Flatow: Let’s play the ‘blame Israel game’ with The New York Times
– Seth Frantzman: Stop pretending terror attacks don’t target Jews
– Natan Sharansky: Breaking the Silence is no human rights organization – and I should know
– Dana Beyer: We are not your enemies — Pinklying, Pinkwashing and the decline of the LGBTQ Left
Featured image: CC BY internets_dairy; Western Wall CC BY-NC Matas Petrikas; graduation CC BY David Goehring;
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