Today’s Top Stories
1. Fatah cadres pushing for the appointment of a vice president may get their wish at a party congress next month. The Media Line explains why Fatah’s feeling the urgency and Hamas is sure to object:
Concerns for the health of Abbas and the law of succession appear to be the driving force behind the call for the new position. Abbas is 78 years old and Palestinian Basic Law stipulates that the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) – by law a member of Hamas — be next in line in the event the PA president is unable to perform his functions.
Spoiler alert: Mohammed Dahlan is the most talked about name in this conversation.
2. Here’s an interesting juxtaposition of headlines:
– EU states said to be planning fresh sanctions against Israel
– US bill seeks to tie massive trade pact to EU rejection of BDS
3. The Obama administration was forced into damage control mode after the president described the terror attack on a Paris kosher supermarket as “random violence.” Barack Obama told Matthew Yglesias of Vox.com (see video, skip to 19:45; or read the transcript):
Look, the point is this: my first job is to protect the American people. It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.
France’s anti-Semitic watchdog organization denounced Obama’s language. But Yair Rosenberg attributes the mess to ineptitude, not malice.
4. Casualties of War: The media eyes Jordanian airstrikes on ISIS differently than Israeli airstrikes on Gaza terror targets.
5. Alan Parsons to Roger Waters: Don’t Meddle: Musician gives his former a colleague a slap, while demonstrating how BDS is an immoral movement.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Worth reading: Rights organizations losing Gaza battle against Hamas teen recruitment camps, Haaretz coverage.
• Hanan Ashrawi testified at the PLO terror trial in New York City. Sounds like she was all spin and little substance:
Plaintiffs lawyers had opposed allowing Ashrawi, a last-second addition by the defense, to testify. But the court noted that she could help explain the payments made to prisoners—a subject she never actually addressed. Plaintiffs had argued she had no specific knowledge of the events at issue in the trial. After a general testimony that largely chronicled her work in the Oslo Accords and other touchstone moments in the Arab-Israeli peace process, the plaintiffs lawyers hadn’t changed their minds.
• From the Association of Tennis Professionals:
The ATP dropped its investigation Tuesday into Tunisian player Malek Jaziri’s withdrawal before a possible match against an Israeli opponent, saying it was “fully satisfied” that he had a legitimate injury.
• According to Arab media reports picked up by the Jerusalem Post, Hezbollah planned to assassinate Ehud Olmert as revenge for the death of Imad Mughniyeh.
Mideast Matters
• Russia and Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding to build a nuclear power plant to address Egypt’s chronic electricity shortages. AP writes:
The plant would be built at an existing nuclear site in Dabaa, on the Mediterranean coast west of the port city of Alexandria, where a research reactor has stood for years.
Putin stressed that the deal was not finalized but that it had major potential. Egypt began its nuclear program in 1954 and in 1961, acquired a 2-megawatt research reactor, built by the Soviet Union. Plans to expand the site have been decades in the making but repeatedly fell through. In 2010, that reactor suffered a breakdown, though no radiation was reported to have leaked out.
• According to US intelligence estimates obtained by AP, foreigners are streaming into Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and other radical Muslim groups. We’re talking about 20,000 people, including 3,400 from Western countries.
Around the World
• NBC News suspended Brian Williams without pay for six months. And for the first time I’ve seen, someone fact-checking the anchor’s recollections bothered to quote the IDF about Williams’ puffed up helicopter ride during the Lebanon war. AP writes:
An Israeli army official who traveled with Williams that day, Jacob Dallal, on Tuesday called the anchor’s account “generally reasonable.” He said it was fair to assume rockets flew beneath their helicopter.
On a related note, Ben Shapiro gets the tweet of the day. 
• Australia foiled an “imminent” Sydney terror attack linked to ISIS. More on the story at Reuters.
• Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told the Washington Post the conspiracy charges aimed at him and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner surrounding the death of Alberto Nisman are “ridiculous,” and that Buenos Aires doesn’t need US help to solve the case.
• Jewish groups slam German government for creating anti-Semitism commission without Jews.
• Teacher quits French Muslim school, citing anti-Semitism and radicalism among students.
Commentary/Analysis
• If the Palestinians hanged Jews from trees instead of opting for suicide bombings, would the New York Times would call it terror? Just wondering . . .
• For more commentary/analysis, see David Stavrou (Why did Sweden fete Palestine?), Dana Kennedy (Terror is the new normal in France), and Al Tompkins (Here’s why NBC didn’t fire Brian Willaims).
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA Michael Holm via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; tennis CC BY-NC flickr/Mike Hoff
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
