Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Politico, the US is considering quitting the UN Human Rights Council.
No immediate withdrawal is expected ahead of the council’s next session, which starts Monday, but discussion of abandoning the council is likely to alarm international activists already worried that the United States will take a lower profile on global human rights issues under President Donald Trump . . . .
A former State Department official briefed on the discussions said while the council’s targeting of Israel is likely part of the debate, there also are questions about its roster of members and doubts about its usefulness overall.
Countries known for human rights abuses, such as China and Saudi Arabia, have managed to snag seats on the 47-member council.
U.S. decision to quit the insanely anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council would send a moral message to the world.
— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) February 26, 2017
2. Hamas accused the Egyptian military of pumping poisonous gas into smuggling tunnels after three of its operatives died while repairing a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border on Saturday. Another five Palestinians were injured. The tunnel they were working on had been destroyed by the Egyptian military. Times of Israel coverage.
3. As branches of Students for Justice in Palestine across the US are connected to a Hamas front group operating in the US, the Stanford Review takes a closer look at SJP’s Stanford branch.
It is incontrovertible that Stanford students should not fund the acts of terrorists and war criminals. Stanford’s SJP receives ASSU standard grants, meaning that students’ tuition dollars may be funding a group with terrorist ties. That possibility is intolerable.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Jerusalem Post: Australia will press the International Criminal Court to avoid legal attacks on Israel.
• The Shin Bet reports a steep rise in the number of Arab Israelis jailed for Islamic State or Al-Qaida activity over the past year. Haaretz writes:
The number of Arabs jailed in Israel for activity inspired by radical jihadist movements soared by almost 600 percent over the last year. Eighty-three people have been detained, up from just 12 at the end of 2015.
The majority of those arrested, including all the examples above, are Israeli Arabs rather than Palestinians from the West Bank. In most cases, they were arrested either because they were in internet contact with Islamic State activists overseas, or because they were planning terror attacks.
Others were arrested when they tried to go to Iraq or Syria to fight with Islamic State and, in a few cases, people were arrested upon returning from those countries.
• In an interview with Reuters, Trump reiterated that he “likes” the two-state solution, but won’t force it on Israelis and Palestinians.
“No, I like the two-state solution,” Trump said when asked whether he had backed away from the concept during his joint White House appearance with the right-wing Israeli leader. “But I ultimately like what the both parties like.”
“People have been talking about it for so many years now. It so far hasn’t worked,” he added. But he then repeated his revised position, saying: “I like this two-state solution, but I am satisfied with whatever both parties agree with.”
• Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz discussed the peace process and the two-state solution in a Washington Post Q+A.
• Memo to EuroNews: You do a disservice to readers by referring to holy sites only by their Arab names. If I didn’t know that the site known to Muslims as the Al Ibrahimi mosque was the place Jews and Christians call the Tomb of the Patriarchs, what conclusions would I draw about the horrific Baruch Goldstein massacre and resulting Israeli security measures enacted in Hebron? (I’ll go easy on your “preying” typo.)
The street was closed after a Jewish extremist killed 29 Palestinians while they were preying in the Al Ibrahimi mosque in 1994.
At least the Associated Press filled in the basic context.
• Ongoing renovations at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre reached a milestone with the removal of a 70-year-old iron cage originally set up to prevent the collapse of the Edicule, the chamber where Jesus is believed to have been entombed, Haaretz reports.
Work on the Edicule is expected to be completed in mid-April. The head of the team supervising the restoration work has presented a plan to excavate the floor around the Edicule to repair the church’s drainage system.
Around the World
• Draw your own conclusions from the juxtaposition of these two headlines from Montreal.
– ‘Punch a Zionist’ tweeter quits McGill student government
– Police investigate as anti-Semitic vandalism raises concerns at McGill University
• 3rd Spanish municipality reverses own BDS vote following legal action.
• Setback for BDS in Belgium as authorities brush off calls to cancel participation in Israeli-led EU project.
• Montana legislators advanced a bill that would instruct the Big Sky state’s investment board to sever ties with companies that support BDS. More at the Billings Gazette.
• Jewish men attacked with hacksaw by men ‘shouting anti-Semitic abuse’ in Paris.
• French aliya climbs amid rise in anti-Semitism.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Giora Eiland: Hezbollah and Lebanon’s government are now one and the same
– Elliott Abrams: The problem of the Lebanese army collaborating with Hezbollah
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Hezbollah flexes its muscles
– Hanin Ghaddar: Tensions between Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards?
– Dr. Shaul Shay: Why Islamic State in the Sinai eyes more attacks on Israel
– Raphael Ahren: What is driving Netanyahu’s total alignment with Trump?
– Rod Liddle: Trump’s new ambassador is right: the UN is anti-Israel
– Richard Schifter and Eric Rozenman: A bold, common sense UN move for the Trump administration
– Nadiya Al-Noor: Anti-Semitism is the new social justice
– Daniella Greenbaum: Zionism is not racism
– Yoni Ben Menachem: The PA’s sucession struggle continues
– Boaz Bismuth: Anti-Semitism rises in France
Featured image: CC0 Pixabay/meineresterampe; Trump via YouTube/New York Times; Holy Sepulchre CC BY-NC-ND Michael Privorotsky; Montana CC BY-NC-ND Jeff Krause;
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