Today’s Top Stories
1. Nepal was hit by another 7.3 magnitude earthquake this morning, strong enough to be felt in parts of India and Bangladesh. As this roundup was published, at least 60 people were reported killed, and 1,000 injured. Israel may send another aid team to the stricken Himalayan nation; 133 Israelis have taken shelter in Kathmandu’s Chabad House.
On a related note, check out Diary of an IDF Rescuer.
2. Is the Canadian government’s going to fight the BDS movement by invoking hate crime laws? There’s a lot of discussion sparked by Neil Macdonald’s CBC report.
The government’s intention was made clear in a response to inquiries from CBC News about statements by federal ministers of a “zero tolerance” approach to groups participating in a loose coalition called Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS), which was begun in 2006 at the request of Palestinian non-governmental organizations.
Asked to explain what zero tolerance means, and what is being done to enforce it, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney replied, four days later, with a detailed list of Canada’s updated hate laws, noting that Canada has one of the most comprehensive sets of such laws “anywhere in the world.”
But officials in Ottawa denied Macdonald’s report:
“This story is inaccurate and ridiculous. These laws have been on the books for many years and have not changed,” said the spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. “We won’t dignify this bizarre conspiracy theory with further comment.”
That said, the minister’s office refused to say unequivocally the government would never apply Canada’s hate laws to people who encourage, plan or take part in boycotts.
The CBC released its email exchange with Public Safety Canada spokesperson Josee Sirois. You’ll have to judge this one for yourself.
3. The Iranians are getting a foothold in Gaza: Beholden to Tehran, Hamas is allowing a Shiite group to operate in Sunni Gaza.
A-Sabrin runs several Shiite charity organizations, which benefit from full Iranian support and encourage the spread of Shiite Islam.
The presence of such a movement in the Gaza Strip is unheard-of, as is the fact that the Sunni Hamas movement – apparently due to the financial support it receives from Shiite Iran — has been tolerating its presence.
4. Disgusting Exploitation of a Disabled Palestinian Child: After a Gaza child’s life was saved by Israeli medics, an award-winning journalist used a photo to disingenuously claim the boy’s injuries were the result of Israeli atrocities.
5. Fighting Anti-Semitism in the Media: HonestReporting will be at the 5th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, presenting on anti-Semitism in the media.
6. HR Radio: Photo Abuse, Damaging Headlines, and Anonymous Sources: Yarden Frankl reviews this week’s media coverage of Israel. Click below to hear the Voice of Israel interview.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The New York Times takes the pulse of Bir Zeit University, where Hamas-affiliated candidates overwhelmingly won student elections.
• The Netherlands regrets cutting the pension of a 90 year-old Dutch Holocaust survivor because she lives in a West Bank settlement.
• With small shifts, Israel eases restrictions on some Palestinians, reports NPR.
Mideast Matters
• Mahan Air, an Iranian airliner, managed to acquire new air craft despite international sanctions. Is Mahan owned by the Revolutionary Guards? Is it ferrying weapons to Syria and Yemen? Were European companies hoodwinked by front companies? Both Eli Lake and the Financial Times (click via Google News) took closer looks.
• Iranian nuclear talks resume in Vienna.
• A Mideast nuclear weapons ban proposal is stumbling over UN politics, Reuters reports.
• CNN visited injured Syrians being treated in Israel’s Ziv Hospital.
• Kids — possibly thousands of them — have joined the fighting in Yemen’s civil war. According to the Washington Post, money and regular meals are difficult for poverty-stricken parents to turn down.
Many are between the ages of 13 and 16, the groups say. Experts cite worsening poverty in the Arabian Peninsula country as a major reason children are joining armed groups.
The child soldiers are found in nearly every faction battling in Yemen. According to some estimates, boys younger than 18 form nearly a third of the Houthi rebel force’s approximately 25,000 fighters.
• Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy is suing Al-Jazeera, claiming the network failed to protect him. Fahmy, along with Peter Greste and Baher Mohammed, were arrested in December, 2013. CNN writes:
According to his attorneys, Fahmy accuses the network of “epic negligence” by misinforming him about its legal status in Egypt and airing his reports on its Egyptian channel Jazeera Mubashir Masr, which was banned by an Egyptian court for alleged biased reporting favoring the Muslim Brotherhood . . .
Fahmy expanded that on Monday, stating that during his imprisonment, he learned that the network had been supplying cameras to Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers and using their footage without sourcing. “This is not journalism, this is propaganda,” Fahmy said.
• Tweet of the Day: Avi Mayer, in response to this report on civilian deaths in Yemen.
• Journalist Seymour Hersh is in the news for up-ending the White House’s story on Osama Bin Laden’s death. There’s a lot to digest in his report, published in the London Review of Books. Fortunately, Mashable condensed the revelations and rounded up key responses — including NBC News corroborating one of Hersh’s tidbits.
Around the World
• Anti-Semitic attacks in Germany rose 25 percent in 2014.
A November poll in Germany showed that one in four Germans equated Israel’s policies toward Palestinians with Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews during WWII. Survey results showed a spike in negative views toward Jews and Israel between June and September, during the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Commentary/Analysis
• Gilad Sharon argues why it’s in Israel’s interest to see Bashar Assad toppled (it would be a crippling blow to Hezbollah and Iran, and it would ease pressure on Israel to return the Golan). But what about ISIS taking over Syria?
Islamic State – unlike Assad and unlike Hezbollah – is the enemy of an international coalition that is fighting the organization; thus Israel wouldn’t have to face this new threat alone.
But Zalman Shoval urges Israelis caution: Beware the pan-Arab army.
• Breaking the Silence bids to (immorally?) place IDF, Hamas on level field.
• Snippet of the day: Eugene Kontorovich on the tale of two blockades: Gaza and Yemen
One also wonders whether the Yemen blockade, which by Oxfam’s description of it has turned it into what one would elsewhere call “the world’s largest open air prison” will manage to get half the international attention as the Gaza one.
• Other commentary I’m reading today:
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Using Bedouin issue as an anti-Israel propaganda tool
– Jonathan Tobin: Why the snub? Saudis know Obama replaced them with Iran
– Ariel Ben Solomon: Gulf states’ behavior against Obama unlikely to pay off
– Marni Soupcoff: BDS as “hate crime”: Do we believe in free speech or not?
– Washington Post (staff-ed): Israel’s fragile government
– Abdullah Bozkurt: Turkish Islamists exploit Palestine
– Moshe Zimmermann: Israeli-German golden jubilee; a tale of asymmetry
Featured image: CC BY flickrSilecyra with additions by HonestReporting; CC BY-SA flickr/RicLaf; soldiers CC BY-SA Wikimedia Commons/Alhadramy Alkendy;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
