Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel and the US boycotted today’s session of the UN Human Rights Council. Hillel Neuer explains in a nutshell council that the council debated seven reports (see ’em all at links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) targeting Israel. By the end of this week, the council will also adopt four resolutions against Israel.
Reuters initially reported that the US was going to leave Israel to fend for itself at council, but the Israeli media reports said the US joined Israel’s boycott of the session.
2. Haaretz: An Israeli delegation is traveling to France in a last ditch effort to influence the outcome of the Iranian nuclear talks. France is taking a tougher line than the US on the Iranian talks, and apparently succeeding. The Jerusalem Post examines why. Take for example, this tweet, by the French ambassador to Washington.
3. Moscow and Amman will sign a $10 billion agreement for Russia to build two nuclear reactors in Jordan. The Jerusalem Post picked up on Jordanian press reports.
4. Aussie Theater Rejects Jewish Group for “Colonialism”: Does incessant demonization of Israel lead to discrimination against Jews?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Ambassador Ron Dermer was on the firing line explaining to Meet the Press that Benyamin Netanyahu is committed to a two-state solution (video/transcript of full show). Here’s the key point.
• Israeli officials say US anger aims to distract world from Iranian deal, Washington knows it was the Palestinians who sank peace efforts. More at the Times of Israel.
• The Jerusalem Post takes a closer look at the new info revealed by the IDF’s third report on Operation Protective Edge.
Cutting through the fog of war, the report reveals that the IDF may have strong arguments to close cases on some of the thorniest war crimes allegations incidents, including a Shejaiya incident in which 31 Palestinians were killed, including 28 civilians and three Hamas fighters.
Next, the IDF reveals that in the incident its units came under coordinated anti-tank missile and massive coordinated gunfire from as many as five different positions on July 30.
The descriptions are nearly minute by minute.
• As expected, President Rivlin said he’ll task Benyamin Netanyahu with forming the next government. The next step in the game is the horse-trading that comes with doling out cabinet ministries, committee chairmanships, and political concessions in a way that satisfies nobody everybody. See YNet and Jerusalem Post coverage.
Rivlin will likely officially nominate Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday.
The Likud leader will then have until May 7 to form a coalition.
Around the World
• A Sydney theater apologized to Australian Jewish activists for refusing to let the local Hillel book their venue for a series of events about Holocaust survivors. The Australian (click via Google News), Daily Mail, and the Times of Israel all picked up on the story. So why did The Red Rattler’s management turn down the request?
‘Our policy does not support colonialism/Zionism. Therefore we do not host groups that support the colonisation and occupation of Palestine,’ the Marrickville Theatre group responded curtly.
• South African police arrested 21 BDS activists who violently raided a store selling made-in-Israel products.
• Jewish graves vandalized, human remains scattered in Hungary.
Commentary/Analysis
• Bob Schieffer weighed in on the US-Israel tensions on Face the Nation. It’s time for both leaders to put their differences aside, he said.
• What makes Netanyahu’s re-election so convenient for Arab leaders?
The Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and Gulf state rulers trust Israel’s re-elected prime minister to handle the Iranian issue, and the Americans to pressure him on the Palestinian issue.
• Commentary on the election aftermath looks like its petering out.
– Adi Schwartz: Netanyahu should appoint Shimon Peres as his FM
– Melanie Phillips: Netanyahu, the Jew among world leaders
– Mort Zuckerman: The myth of the Netanyahu flip-flop
– Robert Satloff: Bibi and Obama must rebuild burnt bridges
– Yossi Beilin: Netanyahu’s victory: the bright side
• President Obama recently cited Ayatollah Khamenei’s alleged nuclear fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. Show me the fatwa, says Thomas Joscelyn.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Dean Sherr (Why does the left downplay antisemitism? All forms of racism should be abhorred), Toni Kamins (Europe’s anti-Semitism is literally carved in stone), and Abdulrahman Al-Rashed (Iran’s creeping conquest of Iraq).
Image: CC BY flickr/Arend
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