Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Arab reports picked up by i24 News, many Palestinians who last week left Gaza via the Rafah border crossing to Egypt were forced to pay the Egyptians bribes of up to $3,000.
Al-Sawaf said that not only were people forced to pay bribes, but the amount differed between the authorities. Officials with Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID) asked for people to pay $1,500 in order to cross. Officials with the Military intelligence, however, asked for $3,000 per person and sent those who could not pay back to Gaza. One family of three payed $9,000 to cross, said al-Sawaf.
Khaled Abu Toameh broke the story yesterday.
Some Palestinians had to pay bribes of $1,500 – $3,000 to Egyptian security officers for permission to cross Rafah border crossing last week
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) May 15, 2016
2. CNN, BBC News, the Daily Telegraph and Wall St. Journal picked up on a British organization’s plans to clear mines, booby-traps and unexploded ordnance around Qasr al-Yahud, the site where Christians believe Jesus was baptized. To do this, Halo Trust had to negotiate with Israel, the PA, and various Christian denominations. The latter writes:
All told, eight Christian denominations will get access to land, five churches and monasteries, and a few outhouses that have lain dormant for almost five decades. More than 300,000 tourists already visit the site each year; officials say they expect that the mine clearance will only boost those numbers, something that could lead to further development in the area . . .
The Israeli, Palestinian and religious officials involved in the demining project said they hope it will broadcast a message of religious tolerance in the region.
3. France’s Union of Jewish Students joined forces with the country’s largest anti-racism and gay rights organizations in a lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for not removing anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic content. AFP reports that before taking legal action, the groups documented their findings:
The groups found “586 examples of content that is racist, anti-semitic or homophobic, denies the Holocaust or seeks to justify terrorism or crimes against humanity” in a social media survey they carried out from March 31 to May 10.
Denying the Holocaust and justifying terrorism are crimes in France, as is propagating racist, anti-semitic or homophobic messages.
“Only four per cent of this hate content was removed on Twitter, seven per cent on YouTube and 34 per cent on Facebook,” the groups said.
4. Daily Beast Anti-Semitic Image Shocker: HonestReporting got results when The Daily Beast illustrated a story with an offensive image.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli man in Jerusalem this morning.
• Despite Netanyahu’s objections, the Paris peace summit will convene. Haaretz updates how French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went.
• The Jerusalem Post reports that a BDS smartphone app is due to be unveiled at a Beirut symposium.
It’s not clear from the article what exactly the app will do, but if it disables the Israeli-made mobile chip technology found in hundreds of millions of phones, the BDSniks won’t have any smartphones left . . .
• Over at Forbes, investigative reporter Richard Behar profiles IDF Unit 8200, which engages in cyberwarfare, and whose personnel have launched many Israeli high-tech start-ups.
Around the World
• Iran has more volunteers for the Syrian war than it knows what to do with . . .
• Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, who writes primarily on defense and intelligence issues, lays out what’s known about Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah’s “mega-terrorist who never gave up on the good life.”
• Without commenting on the UK’s “Brexit” debate, I have to wonder: Why does the Financial Times (click via Google News) thinks it’s a story that one of the big financial supporters of Britain staying in the European Union, Nathan Kirsh, “is a shareholder in a company that provided technology for the controversial barrier dividing Israel from the occupied West Bank.”
Is the FT insinuating that Zionist Jews are trying to influence British politics?
• Former Argentine president claims son was killed by Hezbollah.
• Outrage over German university’s dismissal of anti-Semitism expert.
• Israeli-born economist Ilan Goldfajn eyed as Brazil’s central bank governor.
• UNESCO director-general condemns Iran’s Holocaust cartoon contest.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Judith Bergman: Did France get the memo?
– Smadar Perry: Hezbollah: No mention of Israel, please
– Yoav Limor: Hezbollah is hurt, but wants no escalation
– Ben-Dror Yemini: The double Nakba
– Eric Mandel: Is there a role for Holocaust education in fighting BDS?
– Alan Johnson: Alternative to demonisation of Israel on campus
– Moshe Arens: British anti-Semitism? What else is new?
– Zalman Shoval: Ben Rhodes: Lies and secrets in the White House
– Salman Al-dossary: Who to stop . . . terrorist “media”?
– Times of London (staff-ed) : Social media giants cannot continue to dodge responsibility for their content
Featured image: CC BY-NC John with additions by HonestReporting; Ayrault CC BY-NC-ND Parti socialiste;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
