Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Mideast media reports, Israeli and Arab diplomats from undisclosed Sunni states met in Jordan:
The report alleged that several Arab diplomats said that countries in the region should be preparing for a new reality as the United States’ influence on regional security begins to retreat.
They also were quoted as saying that Sunni countries in the Middle East are interested in cooperating with Israel on security issues.
2. The new Israeli cabinet was sworn in today. Silvan Shalom was tapped as Israel’s peace negotiator. The Tunisian-born Shalom, a former foreign minister, will also be in charge of strategic dialogue with the US and serve as Minister of Interior.
Confused? Join the club and check out Ruth Eglash’s take on some unusual cabinet portfolio combos, including the five ministries Bibi’s holding for himself. Netanyahu stops short of creating a Ministry of Magic.
3. The Illinois state legislature voted to divest itself from the boycotters of Israel. In a nutshell, the State Journal-Register explains that Illinois would be barred from investing in companies that boycott Israel, but those companies would still be eligible for government contracts. Governor Bruce Rauner already tweeted his support.
Illinois already has laws banning investment with companies friendly with Sudan and Iran. Illinois had a similar policy with South Africa during apartheid.
4. CNN and the Dubious Journalism of Assertion: If Don Melvin isn’t vetting his sources, fact-checking his stories, or being transparent with readers, what use is he to CNN? Or to us?
Israel and the Palestinians
• AP corrects the record after facing criticism about the way it handled a papal comment to Mahmoud Abbas.
In a story May 16 about Pope Francis meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, The Associated Press erroneously omitted two words when quoting the pope. Francis told Abbas “you are a bit an angel of peace,” not “you are an angel of peace.” The original Italian quote was, “Lei e un po un angelo della pace.”
The controversial quote also caught the attention of the New York Times.
• Hamas security forces assaulted and arrested a Palestinian reporter covering a Turkish official’s visit to Gaza. Judging from Maan News, Hamas wanted to send journos a message Muhammed Fayyad, who works for Al Jazeera, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, wants the EU to have a greater role in nudging, resuscitating, pushing, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Reuters notes that Europe has a lot of leverage as Israel’s biggest trading partner, but member states are divided on the Mideast.
• Reuters: Israel detained a Canadian-Jordanian man allegedly linked to Hamas.
• Nice AP story on Gazans getting medical treatment in Israel. It would’ve been apropos, though, to acknowledge some instances where Palestinians used medical permits to carry out terror attacks.
Around the World
• Reuters: Israel says Iran violated international sanctions by purchasing aircraft, and hinted at lax US enforcement. The Financial Times (click via Google News) elaborated on the aircraft sale that may have involved front companies connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
• A US appeals court allowed YouTube to show “Innocence of Muslims,” a low-budget film about Mohammed that led to deadly riots in the Mideast and Africa in 2012. Take your pick of Los Angeles Times or Hollywood Reporter coverage, Contrary to what you may have read at the time, the film was not funded by Israelis.
• Despite Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bluster, the Turkish government is reportedly pressuring an Istanbul court to drop its Mavi Marmara case. Last year, arrest warrants were issued for senior IDF officials involved in the naval intercept, but Ankara never pressed for Interpol Red Notices.
The latest allegation suggests that the Turkish government regards the ongoing case as a block to normalization of ties between Turkey and Israel. Sources told Today’s Zaman told that O.K. interrupted a meeting of Mavi Marmara judges and told them to drop the case. He reportedly said there is an instructive from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and judges should close the case.
• I’m used to Akiva Eldar covering and commenting on the news, not being the news like this. I hope he has speedy recovery.
• Truly bizarre:
Canadian editor: Some of the nicest people I ever met are Nazis
• Part of Lithuania’s power grid coated in Jewish tombstones.
Commentary/Analysis
• Eugene Kontorovich on US legislatures mulling anti-BDS bills:
The trade amendments do not take any definite action against boycotters. But they clearly establish that in the eyes of America, the BDS is not like the civil rights protests, as its supporters love to claim, but rather more like the anti-Jewish boycotts so common in Europe in the 20th century, and in the Arab world until this day. Indeed, two state legislatures have in recent weeks passed resolutions saying just that.
• As the head of the Palestine Football Association, Jibril Rajoub is spearheading efforts to get Israel kicked out of soccer’s world organization, FIFA. It doesn’t surprise me that The Guardian gave him a soapbox.
• Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian-Palestinian journalist, explains why Israel is vital to the US and Arabs.
Let’s not get confused here — we Arabs are most likely going to keep hating Israel and Jews for decades to come. Still, we may have reached the point where we publicly admit that Israel is a better partner than our so-called Muslim brothers in Iran, Syria or elsewhere.
After all, a strong Israel has never threatened us without a provocation, while Iran is burning up Syria, dismembering Lebanon and destabilizing Bahrain. Iran would also be threatening Saudi Arabia from Yemen, were it not for the tough and pragmatic Saudi deputy crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, who decided to lead the fight on Iran’s militias there.
An Iranian expansion into Arab states would destroy us Arabs and severely damage American interests and national security. Israel is now the only sane regional power capable of stopping Iran. Iran knows this and thus has limited its harassment of both Arabs and the U.S.
If Israel were to disappear tomorrow, Iran would be in Jordan, Bahrain and even Kuwait the next morning.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Irwin Cotler: Laundering anti-Semitism through universal public values
– Nadav Shelef: Which borders will states fight for?
– Jennifer Rubin: So why has Obama been hammering Israel for so long?
– Sean Savage: Meet the new neighborhood terrorists in Gaza
– Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser: The lessons of the Syrian chemical weapons discovery
– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (staff-ed): Papal recognition: Francis boosts the cause of Palestinian statehood
Featured image: CC BY flickr/GotCredit with additions by HonestReporting; CNN CC BY flickr/Charles Atkeison with additions by HonestReporting; Mogherini CC BY-NC-ND flickr/European External Action Service; dollar sign CC BY-NC-SA flickr/Jared Rodriguez/Truthout
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