Today’s Top Stories
*** BREAKING NEWS *** The IDF reports shots fired at civilian construction vehicles near the Gaza border. Developing . . .
1. It’s been about a month since a number of students walked out of Birthright, protesting what they said was a lack of balance. The other students of that Birthright group took to the Jerusalem Post to explain what really happened and why they stayed. I’m encouraged that Generation Z Jews are speaking up and taking back the media’s narrative of their experience.
The narrative being portrayed in the media and the carefully selected scenes from a particularly frustrating bus ride do not fully capture our group’s willingness, even eagerness, to discuss the conflict.
It became apparent only after the walkout that everything had been premeditated. Four of the six protesters had already been working prior to the trip with IfNotNow, an activist group with the goal of changing how Birthright presents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It did not matter that the reality of our group and our tour guide did not match with the experience that this organization led them to believe they would have with a staunchly pro-Israel and even Islamophobic guide. The efforts of our guide and our group leaders to create space for dialogue were not enough for them . . .
One of the fundamentals of being a good Jew is to be inquisitive. We are taught to ask questions and to debate, but also to be open-minded. We support the activists’ right to speak their beliefs, but we do not support the method by which they were expressed. We wish they had chosen to stay on our trip and had continued the conversation that we began on our first night in a more productive and friendly way.
https://twitter.com/Daniel_Sugarman/status/1027083526179631105
2. Ahmed Abu Artema, the Palestinian who spearheaded Gaza’s “March of Return,” says the Palestinians have “lost the battle for public opinion.” More at the Times of Israel and MEMRI (video or transcript). Does this strike you as a cautious dig at Hamas, or doublespeak.
“[The ‘Return March’] has been an attempt to create a certain model. Unfortunately, we have lost the battle for public opinion in the Return March, when it became associated in people’s minds with blood and the loss of limbs . . . The images of torn limbs, wounded people, blood, and martyrs are very painful, and must drive us to reexamine all our tactics and to invent new ones.”
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3. Trying to resolve the issue of haredi army conscription, the government had asked the Supreme Court for seven months to come up with new legislation. Instead, the court gave lawmakers three. The ruling raises expectations of early elections, with Gil Hoffman already forecasting Israelis going to the polls in early 2019. More at Israel HaYom.
4. Video: The New Face of Palestinian Protest: Ahed Tamimi: An AJ+ interview with Ahed Tamimi glorified the Palestinian teen. Here’s what the network didn’t say about the new protest icon.
Israel and the Mideast
• Just before this roundup was published, the IDF raised its level of alert after Hamas personnel were seen evacuating positions along the Gaza border. Yesterday, two Hamas snipers who opened fire on Israeli soldiers were killed. The IDF closed several roads near the border but issued no special instructions for residents.
• To Israeli consternation, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders met with Russian officials in Moscow.
• Russia and Israel reached an understanding to preserve the 1974 Golan buffer zone.
• US official to Haaretz: Trump’s peace plan will cause discomfort to both Israel and Palestinians.
• French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a previously postponed visit to Israel. “Paris did not provide a reason for the cancellation, but it is likely tied to the political crisis Macron is facing at home after his bodyguard was filmed assaulting May Day protesters.”
• UN peacekeepers monitoring the Israel-Lebanon border have new Italian commander. Per the Associated Press, “Maj.-Gen. Stefano Dal Col takes over from outgoing Irish army Maj.-Gen. Michael Beary as the new head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
• As debate over the Nation State Law continues, all eyes are turning towards Israel’s Supreme Court. Could the justices overturn it? Meanwhile, lawmakers interrupted their summer hiatus for a special parliamentary session to discuss the law. Per Ynet, “Only five members of the coaliton showed up for the discussion, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu notably absent.”
• The Times of Israel takes a deeper look at the Druze community and its grievances with the Nation State Law.
Around the World
• Israel’s envoy to Norway slammed an ‘anti-Semitic’ swastika cartoon of Netanyahu published in Dagbladet, one of the country’s leading dailies.
The image, from the poison pen of cartoonist Finn Griff, depicts the PM, whose body is shaped like a Nazi swastika, punching a Druze off a “whites only” bench. The cartoon online illustrates a commentary by columnist Jan-Erik Smilden. If you understand Norwegian, post your thoughts on Smilden in the comments section below. Ambassador Raphael Schutz is demanding an apology.
Today in @dagbladet, an example of the most repulsive imaginable #antisemitic imagery, with Israeli PM portrayed as a Nazi swastika punching off a Druze Israeli from a ‘whites only’ bench.
We demand dagbladet to remove this sickening image and apologize! pic.twitter.com/zy3OSuLJcu— Raphael Schutz ?? (@RafiSchutz) August 7, 2018
• A seven-year-old video surfaced of then-backbencher Jeremy Corbyn on Iran’s Press TV saying that the BBC “has a bias towards saying that…Israel has a right to exist” and heavy Israeli pressure on the news service. More at the Times of Israel and the Daily Telegraph. The latter explains its significance:
Mr Corbyn’s remarks prompted further warnings from Jewish leaders amid claims his comments may fall foul of the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism if it they were made now.
The guidance states it is anti-Semitic to: “Deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
• In a statement, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance warned the UK Labour party not to alter its working definition of antisemitism.
Any ‘modified’ version of the IHRA definition that does not include all of its 11 examples is no longer the IHRA definition. Adding or removing language undermines the months of international diplomacy and academic rigour that enabled this definition to exist. If one organisation or institution can amend the wording to suit its own needs, then logically anyone else could do the same. We would once again revert to a world where antisemitism goes unaddressed simply because different entities cannot agree on what it is.
• Kuwait Airways paid damages after an Israeli was barred from boarding a flight at London’s Heathrow Airport.
• Having won Michigan’s primary elections, Rashida Tlaib is set to become the first Palestinian-American congresswoman.
• Some of the world’s leading Holocaust experts want to help Mark Zuckerberg solve Facebook’s denial dilemma. Will Zuck take up their offer?
Commentary
• For commentary on the domestic scene, Ariel Bolstein, Sara Greenberg and Uri Heitner weigh in on the nation state law. And Daniel Gordis has what to say about a number of Israeli free speech issues.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Raphael Ahren: Fractured union: Israel has all but given up on the EU
– Ron Kampeas: Israel is suspected again of assassinating an enemy’s rocket scientist. Do these killings pay off?
– Yaakov Lappin: Deadly Gaza border incident underlines short path to escalation
– Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser: The Iranian regime is in deep trouble
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