Today’s Top Stories
1. For sponsoring a day’s broadcast of Michigan Public Radio, Lisa Lis was told she was entitled to have a message broadcast on the air. She chose a four-word sentence, “Happy 68th birthday, Israel.” The station rejected that line as too radioactive, saying, “this message would compromise the station’s commitment to impartiality and that it crosses over into advocacy, or could imply advocacy,” reports Deadline Detroit.
Rabbi Jason Miller weighed in at the Huffington Post, asking, When did wishing Israel a happy birthday become so controversial?
My hope for Israel as it celebrates 68 years of statehood is that the public will cease to treat any mention of Israel as a controversial topic. A non-political offering of congratulations to Israel on its anniversary of independence should be taken at face value and not made into a controversy.
2. Dieudonne, the French comedian who has had several run-ins with the law over anti-Semitism and hate speech, was barred from entering Canada. He was booked for 10 shows in Montreal, which are now cancelled. The Montreal Gazette reports further legal trouble back in France for the comedian, whose real name is Dieudonne M’bala M’bala:
Dieudonne’s arrival came a few hours after a fresh conviction in France for another violation of that country’s hate-speech laws.
He was sentenced to pay 10,000 euros and given a suspended two-month prison sentence for anti-Semitic language during a performance.
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3. The US Senate Commerce Committee wants answers from Facebook about allegations the social media giant manipulated its trending news section.
4. Real People Real Stories: Part 1. Terror on a Bus: As Israel pauses to remember its fallen soldiers and victims of terror, meet Miri Bachar, whose life has been touched by terror several times.
In the first of a three-part series, Miri tells the story of terrorists attacking her on a public bus. In parts two and three, she talks about the death of her uncle and the near-stabbing of her eight-year-old sister.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Pipe bombs planted near an IDF checkpoint by a Palestinian village blew up, injuring a soldier last night. Sappers found five more bombs that failed to detonate.
• Fiamma Nirenstein renounced her candidacy for the post of Israeli ambassador to Italy. According to Haaretz, Nirenstein opted out after harsh comments she made years ago against Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, surfaced.
The nomination of the former Italian journalist, parliamentarian, and Jewish activist ruffled a lot of feathers, both in Italy’s government and Jewish community. The current ambassador, Naor Gilon, is due to step down this summer.
• Due credit to The Guardian for its investigation of the deaths of a Palestinian brother and sister at a checkpoint last month. A lot of facts are disputed, but Peter Beaumont kicks over a lot of stones and acknowledges what’s known and what’s not.
• French PM Manuel Valls to visit Israel to breath new life into the Mideast peace process, ahead of a international conference Paris is organizing.
• Sheikh Raed Salah, who recently went to jail for incitement, denounced Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for naming one of its units, the Quds Force, after Jerusalem.
“From my cell at the Ramon Prison in the Negev, I announce the disassociation of Jerusalem from the Iranian military Quds Force which has been slaughtering our people in Syria, and especially in Aleppo,” Salah stated.
“In the name of Jerusalem, I emphasize that its transcendent name cannot be used by criminals who wish to legalize their crimes, such as the Quds Force’s criminals,” Salah added.
Does Salah feel the same way about the secular, Fatah-aligned Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades? Just wondering . . .
Memorial and Independence Days
• Israel commemorates Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, exactly one week after its Holocaust Remembrance Day. Tsur Ehrlich’s haunting poem is a powerful reminder of why the Jews need Israel. Share the image.
• A by the numbers look at Israel’s population, based on figures provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
– 8,522,000: overall population today
– 74%: Jewish population
– 20.8%: Arab population
– 4.4%: Non-Arab Christian population
– 2.2%: population growth in last year
– 195,000: babies born in last year
– 36,000: new immigrants in last year
– 47,000: deaths in last year
– 806,000: overall population in 1948
– 11.3 million: projected population by 2035
• Recent terror victims share grief, and strategies for moving forward.
• Apropos to the day, the Jewish Agency honored the memory of Jews killed in anti-Semitic attacks around the world. According to the Jewish Agency, more than 200 Jews have been killed in such attacks since 1948.
• The Times of Israel republished President Reuven Rivlin’s moving Memorial Day speech.
• Also worth reading:
– Ben Sales: 6 ways Israel is counting its blessings on Independence Day.
– Col. Richard Kemp: The meaning of true independence
Around the World
• Reuters: A Swiss panel said it found no evidence of a secret 1970s deal with the PLO. A book published earlier this year alleged that the Switzerland offered diplomatic assistance to the PLO in exchange for no terror attacks on Swiss interests.
• Rutgers Professor Jasbir Puar is again accused of anti-semitism for remarks made about Israel during panel discussion at Dartmouth. More on the story at The Dartmouth and The Algemeiner.
• Pressure continues building on Britain’s National Union of Students as more campus votes to cut ties gather steam.
While anti-Semitism and NUS president Malia Bouattia’s views on Israel are what triggered the disaffiliation debate, the Cambridge Student reports the controversy has exposed wider dissatisfaction.
Campaigns to disaffiliate from the NUS have been set up in at least twenty-five universities, and Newcastle and Exeter as well as Cambridge will shortly hold referenda on the issue.
Although many of the campaigns were founded in response to Bouattia’s victory, there are signs that their scope is broadening to encompass other frustrations with the NUS, which some have argued is becoming increasingly extreme, censorious, and authoritarian.
• A bill that would require New Jersey‘s $68 billion pension fund to divest itself of companies that boycott Israel was unanimously approved by the state senate. It now moves to the state assembly, which is expected to pass the bill. It’s part of a larger trend of fighting BDS on the state level.
• London’s new Mayor, Sadiq Khan, says he plans to lead trade delegation to Israel.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jytte Klausen: The link between anti-Semitism and terrorism
– David Bernstein: When ‘antiracists’ are the racists: Left-wing anti-Semitism in Britain
– James Kirchick: Who is responsible for Labour Party anti-Semitism? Jeremy Corbyn
– Emily Landau: How Iran is twisting reality to get what it wants
– Jonathan Tobin: Iran deal lies have consequences
– Nikahang Kowsar: Javad Zarif, Holocaust cartoons, and lies
Image: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90; Bouattia via YouTube/Troll;
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