Today’s Top Stories
1. The International Criminal Court is sending a team of investigators to Israel at the end of June. A number of papers picked up on Haaretz‘s scoop:
The purpose of the preliminary examination is to determine if there is a reasonable basis to the claim that crimes have been committed that are within the court’s authority to investigate . . .
Israel has yet to respond to the prosecution request and will hold discussions about it over the next few days. “We will examine every request for a visit while taking into account all the relevant considerations, including Israel’s position that Palestine is not a state and therefore the court has no authority to consider the Palestinian complaint.”
2. Jihadis from the Nusra Front gunned down at least 20 Druze villagers in northwest Syria. The Nusra Front, which is affiliated with Al-Qaida, has already forced hundreds of Druze in the Idlib province to convert to Islam. More at the BBC and AP.
3. What steps are West Bank businesses taking to protect themselves from imminent EU labeling laws? The Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) finds entrepreneurs bypassing boycott-embracing importers by relocating factories, setting up warehouses abroad, and courting non-European customers.
4. Pulp Content and the New York Times’s Dead Palestinian: Hopefully, the paper’s one-sentence stories for smart watches will have more nuance than today’s bizarre headline.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Once again, Abbas calls for reviewing agreements with Israel. Big yawn.
• Academics from around the world gathered at Concordia University to discuss the problem of professors abusing their positions to advocate and recruit for BDS.
Educators discussed, among other things, the need for a working definition of “abuse of the podium,” and how pro-Israel professors can fight BDS without abusing their own positions.
• French telecom CEO Stephane Richard arrived in Israel to mend fences and clean up Orange’s blue and white mess.
• Cinemas reject BDS call to boycott the London Israel Film Festival.
• Palestinian activist Bassem Eid discussed his opposition to BDS with YNet. He elaborated on how the boycott movement has already taken away jobs from Palestinians, why it complicates efforts to restart peace talks, and questioned its international leverage.
• Government officials in Jerusalem denies reports it snooped on the Iranian nuclear talks through malware which infected the hotels hosting the negotiations.
• Israel concerned as US provides arms to Gulf states to deter Iran
Around the World
• Radio personality Diane Rehm apologized to Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for falsely claiming that the Jewish senator from Vermont had dual Israeli citizenship. Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you read on social media.
Rather than asking Senator and Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders whether he had dual U.S./Israeli citizenship, as I had read in a comment on Facebook, I stated it as fact.
Rehm works at the Washington D.C. radio station WAMU. Her show is carried nationally by National Public Radio.
• Ukrainian rights group blasts Russia for faking anti-Semitic news.
• The Israeli embassy in Germany blocked a Breaking the Silence exhibit from being part of a celebration of Israeli-German ties. The same exhibit recently drew criticism from Swiss politicians.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: Tim Marshall on BDS:
Whether or not you agree with that, it is necessary to look at the BDS in two ways. It is a failure insofar as the Israeli economy has doubled in size in the period BDS has been in operation, but it is a success when you see the effect of the campaign on thousands of university students, many who will go on to become opinion formers. It is a decades-long strategy.
• Britain’s outgoing ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, weighed in on BDS.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today
– Anshel Pfeffer: It tried to court boycotters — but Orange got squashed
– Emmanuel Navon: Why and how Orange got itself into a fine legal mess
– Aaron David Miller: It’s a happy Israel after all
– Hanin Ghaddar: What Iran will buy with Obama’s $50 billion
Featured image: CC BY flickr/Official GDC with additions by HonestReporting
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