Today’s Top Stories
*** Breaking news *** Just before this roundup was published, police confirmed to the Times of Israel that a journalist who works for the Iranian news outlet al-Alam was arrested in the Golan Heights on terror suspicions.
Bassem Safadi is suspected of disseminating information promoting terror, which falls under an law forbidding incitement to violence of terror, according to a police statement.
1. Internet giants Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter signed on to new EU regulations, committing them to quickly remove online hate speech. The Daily Telegraph summed up:
On Tuesday, the companies announced a set of standards for dealing with hate speech, including:
– A promise to review the majority of reports of illegal hate speech and remove the offending content within 24 hours
– Making users aware about what is banned by each company
– Training staff to let them better spot and respond to online hate speech.
Jewish reactions to the new code of conduct ranged from upbeat to skeptical.
2. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance adopted a working definition of anti-Semitism. The IHRA is an intergovernmental body with 36 member countries (including Israel, the US, and most European states) so it’s definition will carry significant weight in diplomatic circles.
3. A French document obtained by Haaretz indicates that the peace plan that will be discussed at Friday’s Paris peace conference will feature rigid deadlines for every stage of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Why the urgency?
The document surveys the background of the French peace initiative and determines that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key issue in the Middle East. . .
[The document states] “Time is not a neutral factor, given the steady erosion of the two-state solution. An open-ended approach would be oblivious to the reality on the ground and the constant risks of escalation.”
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
4. HonestReporting’s Spring 2016 continued today. Participants visited the Ziv Hospital in Safed to meet the people providing medical care to Syrian civil war victims. The group also met Israel’s first Bedouin diplomat, Ishmael Khaldi, and visited the Druze village of Dalyat El Carmel.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The IDF arrested a Gazan who crossed into Israel with a knife.
• Thumbs up to the Washington Post for following up on the murder of Dafna Meir by visiting her family and the family of the now 16-year Palestinian who killed her.
Reporters Ruth Eglash and William Booth demonstrate that you can follow up on the families of terrorists and victims in a meaningful way without resorting to trite moral equivalence.
• The Media Line takes a closer look at BDS — its successes, failures, and where the movement’s going.
• Ahead of Ramadan, Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for four days.
• Memo to New York Times reporter Diaa Hadid: If Israel really “occupied” the Gaza Strip, the three Palestinians executed by Hamas would never have been subjected to capital punishment. Or are is this snippet merely editorializing?
Most Palestinians approve of the death penalty for those convicted of spying for Israel, a crime that is viewed as deeply shameful in a society long under the shadow of a military occupation.
Around the World
• Iran announced a new ‘Zionist caliphate’ cartoon contest. Tehran’s goal is tying Israel and Islamic State together. The contest’s themes? Zionism, terrorism and racism,” and “ISIL terrorism and genocide in the name of religion and to the benefit of the Zionists.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Iran’s just-completed Holocaust denial cartoon exhibit.
• Irish Foreign Minister: BDS is a “legitimate political viewpoint.”
• Israel hosted the largest ever anti-BDS summit at the UN headquarters, attended by 1,500 students, activists and representatives of various Jewish organizations.
• The Israel boycotters will be huffing and puffing over this:
Israeli medical cannabis company to build New Mexico plant
Commentary/Analysis
• Dr. Edy Cohen marks the 75th anniversary of the Farhud, a 1941 pogrom in which Iraqis whipped by Nazi propaganda killed about 180 Jews and looted and burnt down Jewish homes and businesses in Baghdad and other cities.
• Palestinian women in Gaza face a lot of sexual harassment. Social taboos, Hamas connections to the perps, immunity from prosecution enjoyed by many humanitarian officials, and gaps in the Palestinian basic law combine for a black hole of womens’ rights, Khaled Abu Toameh points out.
In a society where children are indoctrinated to murder Jews, it comes as no surprise that women are victims of different kinds of exploitation as well . . .
Where are the women’s rights organizations now? And where are the European and American overseers of the international human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip? Could it be that these worthy watchdogs only awaken from their slumber when they smell fresh Israeli meat? Meanwhile, how many women will be sexually assaulted and harassed while these watchdogs sleep?
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jonathan Tobin: Netanyahu and the peace charade
– Herb Keinon: Zigzagging on the Arab peace initiative
– Sebastian Bustle: Bangladesh: All about Israel-hating
– Daniel Pipes: The Left vs. Israel
– Jonathan Schanzer: Banking sanctions won’t put Hezbollah out of business
– Reuters: With Washington looking away, Iran fills a void in Iraq
Featured image: CC BY-NC Australian Broadcasting Corporation via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; marijuana CC BY Carlos Gracia;
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.
