Netanyahu in Australia

Today’s Top Stories

1. Netanyahu in Australia: Meeting with Australian PM Malcom Turnbull, the two PM’s reiterated messages of mutual support and cooperation. PM Turnball strongly criticized the United Nations over its unfair treatment of Israel and both leaders recalled the history of Australia in events leading to Israel’s formation. Responding to members of Australia’s Labor Party who had called for immediate recognition of “Palestinian statehood,” Netanyahu challenged Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd to define what they mean by that phrase, pointing out the dangers that such a state could become a terrorist entity. The meeting is not limited to issues of security or conflict, with major deals involving cybersecurity and technology expected to be signed in the next four days. However, the visit is not without opposition: 60 prominent Australians, including former Commonwealth Solicitor-General Gavan Griffiths and former Federal Court judge Murray Willcox, have signed a letter opposing the Israeli visit.

2. Amnesty International’s annual report blasts Israel: According to an initial analysis by NGO Monitor, Amnesty alleges that “Israel’s government … failed to ensure accountability either for the extensive war crimes and other grave violations of international law…”  as well as accusing Israel of “torture, unlawful killings, excessive force, [and] unfair military trials…” However, the report apparently lacks any coherent methodology, ignores numerous contradicting facts, and sometimes even expresses conclusions that lack any source whatsoever.

3.  An Israeli Justice Ministry report reportedly found that a Bedouin man who was shot dead as his car struck and killed a police officer in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran was not a terrorist, as originally claimed by some Israeli officials. According to what we know of the report, Abu Al-Qia’an was shot by mistake in the chaos of protests against a court ordered demolition, as security forces were evacuating buildings in the illegally-built village.

4. An ABC (Australia) guide to the two-state solution aims to clear up any confusion on the issue for its readers. Instead it leads its readers to adopt the Palestinians’ favored and distorted version of history and the conflict, leading to only more confusion.

Mideast Matters

• Iranian chess authorities have banned a brother and sister from competing after the brother played a match against an Israeli national and the sister did not wear a hijab (traditional Muslim head covering) in a tournament. Last year saw popular protests around the world against proposed European bans of the Burka (another traditional Muslim covering) and against the the so-called “Burkini Ban” in France (the law was later repealed). I can’t help but wonder where all those protesters are now? After all, if it’s wrong to prohibit a woman from wearing a traditional Muslim head covering, isn’t it also wrong to force a woman to wear one? Not to mention that when a country hosts an international competition, should the country really be allowed to disqualify competitors for having played against an Israeli? Again, where’s the popular outcry?

• Gazans are excited over a new luxury shopping mall. At first incorrectly calling it Gaza’s “first indoor shopping mall” (another mall was built about seven years ago) the Associated Press later corrected their mistake and instead is now saying, “While Gazans refer to a handful of small shopping centers as “malls,” the Capital Mall is the first to be built according to global standards.” We didn’t know there was a “global standard” for shopping malls but in any case, this story defies the common, one-dimensional portrayal of Gaza as a bombed out land of poverty and rubble.

• IDF intercepts unmanned Hamas drone flying into Israeli territory.

• Jerusalem Post’s Gil Hoffman tweets that Christian Arab judge George Kara, who convicted Jewish Israeli president Katsav of rape, has been appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court. In addition to Salim Joubran, Kara is now the second Arab judge on the 15 member Supreme Court. As Hoffman points out, this is the exact opposite of the “apartheid” that some anti-Israel activists falsely accuse.

"Apartheid" Israel appoints to its Supreme Court Christian Arab judge George Kara, who convicted Jewish Israeli president Katsav of rape.

— Gil Hoffman (@Gil_Hoffman) February 22, 2017

• Turkey called on Israel to halt “illegal settlement policies” on “Palestinian land.” It is not clear why Turkey suddenly felt the need to express the sentiment at this particular moment.

Around the World

• A former double agent for Israel and Iraq faces deportation from Canada — again. The question for Canadian authorities: if he were returned to his father’s birthplace of Tunisia, would he be likely to be tortured? According to former secret agent Hussein Ali Sumaida, Canada simply doesn’t “get” the Arab world, saying, “Throwing anyone in the street of any Arab city who is related to the Jewish state would result in nothing less than a lynching mob. How can I possibly get you to understand this from behind Canada’s safe, loving multicultural borders?”

• The Washington Post published a view of PM Netanyahu’s circuitous flight path from Israel to Australia, apparently designed to avoid entering Indonesian air space. Rumor has it that Israel and Indonesia are working on opening official relationships, but when Netanyahu called upon Indonesia to normalize diplomatic relations last year, the Indonesian government said it would do so only when the Palestinians are granted an independent state.

• Since the beginning of January, 68 Jewish community centers in 26 US states and one Canadian province have received bomb threats. The BBC takes a look at how local communities are responding to “disruption and anxiety.”

• Years after it mysteriously disappeared, the stolen Dachau concentration camp gate has returned. After the theft, the missing gate with its infamous slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei,” was replaced by a replica. The replica will remain in place while the original will be displayed inside, behind glass.

• Prime Minister Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump on Wednesday for publicly condemning anti-Semitic acts after bomb threats to U.S. Jewish centers and vandalism in a Jewish cemetery. Prior to Wednesday, Trump came under criticism for not clearly condemning the events sooner, and even Netanyahu came under some local Israeli criticism for not speaking out more forcefully on the matter. In a related story, Muslim activists helped raise money to repair damaged headstones in the vandalized cemetary. The fundraising was led in part by Linda Sarsour, who gained recent publicity for her prominent role in organizing the Women’s March on Washington following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Sarsour is already well known as a BDS activist against Israel, raising the question: was the fundraising a genuine outreach to Jewish communities, or a publicity stunt designed to bolster credibility for Sarsour’s anti-Israel advocacy?

• Ending deadlock, US energy giant to finnance Israel’s largest offshore gas field. PM hails deal that will see Noble Energy invest $3.75 billion in the Leviathan project.

Commentary/Analysis

• Public Affairs Director for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin writes in The Australian about the hopes and expectations of the Jewish community for Israel’s official visit to Australia: including political/diplomatic cooperation and trade relations. Ryvchin touches on historic connections, such as the battle of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade which captured Beersheba from the Ottoman Empire, as well as Israeli lessons that might touch on uniquely Australian issues: such as reintegration of returned servicemen and women into society. In this video, the two PMs meet with the Sydney Jewish community:

• In keeping with the theme of PM Netanyahu’s comments to officials of the Australian Labor Party who had called for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, Canada’s Father Raymond J. de Souza asks: “What kind of state would Palestine be? A Jordan, or an ISIL-dominated Syria?” According to Souza, “Those questions are prompting a re-examination of whether a Palestinian state is still the consensus goal it has been for more than two decades.”

• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .

–Bruce Loudon: Yonatan and Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel’s brothers in arms.
–Voice of America: Iran Sends Military Students to Syrian Front
–Eli Lake: New U.S. National Security Adviser Has a Different Assessment of America’s Relationship with Islam

Featured image: CC BY-NC Elvin;

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