Today’s Top Stories
1. A 30-year-old Israeli reserve officer, Eliav Gelman, succumbed to his wounds after being hit by errant IDF fire during a Palestinian stabbing attack this afternoon. The Palestinian terrorist was hospitalized after the attack at the Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem.
ISRAEL: PHOTO – Eliav Gelman Z'L (30) killed by friendly fire was a father of 2, Air Force captain in reserve corps. pic.twitter.com/7lMtOHlyvn
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) February 24, 2016
2. The PA’s top watchdog on corruption told Reuters his investigators haven’t uncovered evidence suggesting that hundreds of millions in PA money has disappeared.
Natsheh says he has heard the complaints, citing an article in the German weekly Der Spiegel alleging $1.7 billion had gone missing. But the commissioner, sipping tea and smoking Davidoff cigarettes, said there was nothing to back these claims.
“I asked everyone and I didn’t find any evidence,” he said.
3. Looks like Palestinians will benefit from Iran’s sanctions relief. Tehran announced it will pay $7,000 to the family of every Palestinian “martyr,” and $30,000 to every family whose home is demolished.
4. The Media IS Biased Against Israel: Tell Luke Baker and the Foreign Press Association that the Media IS biased against Israel — and we can prove it! Sign the letter.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
5. HonestReporting was honored by the prestigious Tel Aviv International Salon‘s invitation to participate in a panel discussion last night on Israel in the media. HR CEO Joe Hyams appeared with Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit and Charlotte Halle, who edits Haaretz’s English language paper.
The enlightening discussion before a packed hall touched on how editors judge what’s news, why the public has a stake in reliability of coverage, the role of media watchdogs, and how the public can follow news with a more discerning eye, among other issues.
The Salon is a non-partisan forum that brings top leaders and decision makers to speak in English to Tel Aviv’s community of young professionals, Olim, foreign press, and embassy staff.
Hyams expanded on the evening’s discussion in a special post at the Times of Israel: The Foreign Press Corps’ Dangerous Blind Spot.
A fantastic, spirited #TLVsalon debate on '#Israel & the Media', with @HonestReporting, @LTCPeterLerner & @haaretz! pic.twitter.com/D4TxCZBpmC
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) February 23, 2016
6. The Huffington Post’s Guide to Boycotting Israel?: The Huffington Post encourages its readers to adopt the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli goods.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Police discovered two pipe bombs and ammunition hidden in a food stand at Herod’s Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Two suspects were arrested and sappers neutralized the bombs.
• I used to be irritated by Arab meddling, but this would be an improvement over the incitement the Palestinians are feeding each other:
Arab League chief calls on Palestinians to engage in civil disobedience against Israel
• YNet obtained a recording of explosions and battle cries coming from a Hamas outpost along the Gaza border. Was it training, or preparations for a new round of fighting?
“For a quarter of an hour we heard the sounds of explosions, followed by total silence and then shouting in Arabic that sound like the battle cry of warriors,” recounted a resident of the Gaza envelope who lives not far from a Hamas outpost in northern Gaza. “It was very scary, it is clear that it is part of their intensive training.”
• An Israeli Arab family suspects their 24-year-old son joined up with Islamic State in Syria. More on the story at YNet.
• PA finance minister confirms talks held with Israel to boost economy
Around the World
• Even as the US pursues Hezbollah money launderers around the world, it hosts the organization’s political launderers in D.C. NOW Lebanon explains that a delegation of Lebanese figures due to visit Washington to “discuss” US financial sanctions on Hezbollah include front men for the terror group, possibly including Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.
With one hand, American and other Western officials slap sanctions on the Party of God; with the other hand, they embrace its front men on issues great and small.
• The Christian Science Monitor examines how much Hezbollah will benefit from the lifting of international sanctions on its Iranian sugar daddy. As more of its personnel are killed and wounded in Syria, Hezbollah’s welfare costs will become formidable.
• Two UK Labour activists who held influential roles in electing Jeremy Corbyn as party leader are facing anti-Semitism investigation. According to the Daily Mail:
Max Shanley and James Elliott, who both hold positions in the Labour party’s youth wing, face allegations that they harassed and intimidated Jewish students.
• YNet looks at how Jewish students in the US plan to fight back up against Israel Apartheid Week.
• This Israel Apartheid Week fail at Oxford reminds me of Why Mandela Would Be Run Out of Ramallah Today.
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/701898165524553730
• Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Vivian Berkovici, appeared on i24 News to discuss Ottawa’s condemnation of BDS, and the state of the movement in Canada.
• At Rutgers, Wisconsin and Vassar, anti-Semitic incidents prompt different responses.
• A group of South African Muslim lawyers are taking legal steps to arrest Shimon Peres, who will be traveling there at the end of February.
“We at the MRN, are deeply perturbed that Peres, known for various human rights violations and unspeakable war crimes such as the Kana massacre [shelling of a UN compound in Lebanon in 1996], has been invited to South Africa.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: Tom Harris says there’s no shame in Zionism. Some points are so obvious, we take them for granted and need to be reminded. It’s time to reclaim the Z-word.
The Left (and some on the Right, but mostly the Left) have succeeded in persuading us that the term refers to West Bank settlers, Israeli imperialists and Palestinian-haters. If you’re a Zionist you’re a hair’s breadth away from a National Front thug, the far Left would have us believe. And here, as in so many areas of life, they are entirely wrong.
Zionism is no more than the movement to re-establish and then protect the state of Israel. A Zionist is someone who defends Israel’s right to exist.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Judith Bergman: The hypocrisy of the foreign media
– Jonathan Tobin: Israeli self-defense isn’t debatable
– Frida Ghitis: Israel has breathing room — for now
– Eylon Aslan-Levy: Did Britain just ban boycotts of Israel? Not quite.
– Douglas Murray: Britain’s new mainstream racists
– Smadar Perry: Erdogan wants to visit Gaza
– Mohshin Habib: The moral cost of appeasing Iran
Featured image: CC BY-NC transguyjay;
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