Today’s Top Stories
1. In an effort to soften its image, Hamas released a new charter which nevertheless calls for “the complete liberation of Palestine,” advocates violence, and refuses to recognize Israel. In other words, nothing’s changed. The Jerusalem Post reports:
The document labels as “a national consensus” the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state along pre- 1967 lines with the return of refugees to their homes in Israel. However, it also “rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.” . . .
While the new document appears to bring Hamas somewhat closer to the international consensus of a two-state solution, it clearly reaffirms Hamas’s approval of armed conflict with Israel.
“Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws,” the document states. “At the heart of these lies armed resistance, which is regarded as the strategic choice for protecting the principles and the rights of the Palestinian people.”
The Israeli government dismissed the document as a ploy. Here’s the charter’s full text.
More at Ynet and the Times of Israel, with plenty of commentary below.
See also HonestReporting’s response to the news coverage: Media Goes Kumbaya For Hamas. And sign our petition demanding the media stop whitewashing Hamas.
Why are some media portraying Hamas' new manifesto as motivated by a desire for PEACE? Hamas is still a terror group https://t.co/sTx3Szh1AW
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 3, 2017
2. UNESCO rejected Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem. On Israeli Independence Day, no less.
The Arabs enjoy an automatic majority, but Israel claimed a moral victory in the numbers. The vote passed 22-10 with 23 abstentions and three countries absent, meaning more countries abstained than voted with the Arabs. You can see the full text of the resolution.
3. As this roundup was published, Presidents Donald Trump and Mahmoud Abbas were due to meet at the White House. According to Haaretz, Trump will ask Abbas to stop paying stipends to the families of terrorists. The Los Angeles Times, Jerusalem Post, NPR, Foreign Policy and Ron Kampeas also previewed today’s jaw-jaw.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The warm fuzzy feelings for Hamas didn’t reach the offices of Human Rights Watch. After years of radio silence on the fate of two Israelis held captive by Hamas, HRW finally denounced the Islamists for holding Avera Mangistu and Hisham al-Sayed, both Israeli nationals with mental health issues who wandered over the Gaza border in 2014 and 2015. More at Ynet.
• Regarding Hamas efforts to plug its new charter, AP’s Fares Akram noted this:
Hamas delays for 2hours presser after Intercontinental hotel in Qatar apologizes to host event for fears of US Treasury Department sanctions
— Fares Akram (@faresakram) May 1, 2017
• Israel reprimanded Sweden’s ambassador for being the only European country to vote for the resolution.
• After UNESCO vote, Israel cuts another $1 million from UN budget
• According to a new UN report, Palestinian in-fighting is exacerbates the Gaza crisis.
I didn’t need a full 26 page report to tell you that, but UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov says the Strip “is facing a downward spiral of de-development, while the people in Gaza are caught in a cycle of humanitarian need and perpetual aid dependency.”
• Memri flagged Jordan’s Prime TV’s look at the Protocols of the Elders of Ziyon. The Protocols are one the ugliest, most enduring anti-Semitic screeds ever written, yet the Jordanians treated it as authentic.
• Israel refuses to extend visa of critical Dutch journalist. The NRC Handelsblad daily accused the Government Press Office of trying to silence Derk Walters, while the GPO cited an administrative technicality and said Walters refused to comply with requests for clarifications. See Haaretz and JTA coverage.
Around the World
• Bogged down fighting in Syria, Hezbollah is nearly bankrupt, though Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders are managing to pad their wealth. The Times of Israel picked up on a German media report.
Despite $1 billion in aid that Israeli security officials estimate Hezbollah receives each year from its patron Iran, which is said to cover some 70 percent of the group’s annual finances, the increasing financial toll from its military involvement in Syria and lack of additional assistance from Tehran has forced the group to resort to extorting not only its “donors” in the country, but also Lebanese expatriates in Africa, South America, Europe and the United States, according to the report.
The blackmail has reportedly led to discontent within the Shiite group’s ranks and among its supporters, as Lebanese Shiites in the country have been forced into selling their assets and property in order to prop up Hezbollah and fund its operations . . .
Die Welt also reported that members of the terror group’s leadership have used Hezbollah funds for their own enrichment despite its dire fiscal situation, including the son of the organization’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who is said to have taken money to fund a chain of coffee houses in Beirut.
In addition, Nasrallah himself is said to be worth some $250 million, according to Die Welt.
• Does the end of the Turkish democracy also means the end for the country’s Jewish community?
• Confirming everything we already knew about Malia Bouattia, the controversial UK student leader ended her term as president of Britain’s National Union of Students with a tearful shout of ‘free, free Palestine.’ Watch the video (skip to 10:19); backstory at The Algemeiner.
‘Nuff said.
• Wisconsin U. student government blames Israel — for police violence against African-Americans!?
• Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee is trying to mend Israeli-Zealand ties.
• USA Today: On Yom HaZikaron, a Rutgers fraternity honored the legacy of Ezra Schwartz, who was shot and killed in a 2015 Palestinian terror attack.
Commentary/Analysis
• Plenty of broken reeds and burnt pixels over UNESCO, the Hamas charter and the Abbas-Trump meeting.
– Amb. Daniel Shapiro: Abbas in Washington: dancing in place or moving forward?
– David Makovsky: Low expectations for Abbas visit
– Aaron David Miller: What Trump’s meeting with Abbas means for the Middle East
– Grant Rumley: Can Trump make Mideast peace without Gaza?
– Nadav Shragai: UNESCO and fighting for the truth
– Herb Keinon: Losing at UNESCO isn’t everything
– Senators Chris Coons and Marco Rubio: Every Senator agrees the UN must change (click via Twitter)
– Jonathan Cristol: Don’t be fooled by Hamas’ rebranding — they’re still committed to anti-Semitism
– Andrew Bolt: Terrorist Hamas claims it’s now more moderate
– Adam Ragson: The new Hamas charter — no moderation here
– Kobi Michael: The new ‘softer’ Hamas position is nothing more than a front for plans of domination
– Maher Mughrabi: The new Hamas charter explained
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yossi Dahan: How Israel’s government caved to settlement boycott
– Ben-Dror Yemini: With ‘Zionists’ like that, who needs enemies?
– Doron Hindin: The UN’s campaign against business in Israel makes no sense
– Sima Kadmon: What was Netanyahu’s real reason for snubbing German FM?
– Mitchell Bard: The ‘occupation tour’
– Gary Rosenblatt: Confessions of a once-distant Zionist
– Johanna Meckel: My name is Marla Bennett
– Charles Bronfman and Susie Gelman: A first step to peace: Calm angers, then talk
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Tareq Baconi, Daoud Kuttab, Mairav Zonszein and Jibril Rajoub.
Featured image: CC0 unsplash; Abbas CC BY-NC-ND European External Action Service; Trump CC BY-SA Gage Skidmore; Nasrallah via YouTube/Sayed Hasan; Bouattia via YouTube/National Union of Students UK; quill CC0 Pixabay/Ashreila;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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