Today’s Top Stories
1. The Jerusalem Post takes a closer look at Qatar’s efforts to nudge itself into a peacemaking role between Hamas and Israel.
It appears that Doha is willing to do whatever is necessary to play a role. This is in part because it has been trying to show its relevance to Washington. Last year, it sought to lobby influencers in DC through pro-Israel voices and paid lobbyists. That didn’t work.
2. Further revelations of UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s dalliances with Palestinian terror emerged. See below for the details.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Pepsico bought Israel’s Sodastream for $3.2 billion. The sale is expected to be closed in January, 2019.
Holy SodaStream! And the irony! Decades ago, @pepsi adhered to the Arab boycott of Israel, refusing to sell its products in Israel. To this day, some Israelis continue to boycott the boycotter, and refuse to buy Pepsi. I guess @BDS advocates will have to boycott @PepsiCo. https://t.co/XuDZ7UPzXG
— Michele Chabin (@MicheleChabin1) August 20, 2018
In the News
• Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump told Jordan’s King Abdullah that in a one-state scenario, “the prime minister of Israel in a few years will be called Mohammed.” Israeli media was buzzing about journalist Barak Ravid’s scoop.
Trump has said he would support whatever solution the parties can agree to. His remarks to the King of Jordan, made in their White House meeting on June 25, might suggest he thinks a one-state solution is a threat to the future of Israel as a Jewish state.
Scoop: Trump said one-state solution would lead to Israeli PM named Mohammed – My story on @axios and @news10https://t.co/dTLzXnKOCc
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 19, 2018
• Shots were fired at Israeli soldiers patrolling the Gaza border this morning. The IDF reported no injuries on their side and that the soldiers returned fire.
• Good news from The Hague. “In response to Israel Hayom query, International Criminal Court says judges’ call to actively seek Palestinian victims of “Israeli war crimes” will not affect Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s decision on jurisdiction in Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
• Overcoming opposition to West Bank location, Ariel University inaugurates medical school.
• Palestinian reactions are mixed to Mahmoud Abbas’ call for “popular resistance.”
• Israeli cabinet ministers, Knesset members and even President Reuven Rivlin were flooded with calls after an activist posted their private phone numbers online. “Barak Cohen, the attorney and political activist who compiled the list, explained in a Facebook post that he believed that his actions were a ‘public service’ and urged his social media followers to distribute the numbers ‘so that every citizen can benefit from accessible communication with their [public] servants.’”
• Drip drip drip: The Daily Telegraph reports that at a 2012 conference in Doha, Jeremy Corbyn sat on a panel with a Hamas terror leader with plenty of blood on his hands.
As Hamas’ top leader in the northern West Bank, Husam Badran orchestrated suicide bombings at Netanya’s Park Hotel (a.k.a. the Passover massacre: 30 killed, 140 injured), Tel Aviv’s Dolphinarium nightclub (21 killed, 120 injured) and Jerusalem’s Sbarro restaurant (15 dead, 130 injured).
He was joined at the conference by Khalid Mishaal, the former political leader of Hamas, who is on a UK sanction list, and Dr Abdul Aziz Umar, who received seven life sentences for aiding in the preparation of a suicide belt . . .
In a translation provided to The Daily Telegraph, Badran can be heard telling the conference: “The nakba [day of catastrophes] which made us refugees took place via force and the return will be only viable through military and armed resistance and nothing else.”
Three days after the conference, Mr Corbyn acknowledged in his regular column in the Morning Star that he had listened to speeches given by men who had been released “in return for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit”, adding that “their contribution was fascinating and electrifying”.
That column has apparently been removed from The Morning Star web site.
• Drip drip drip: It’s been revealed that Jeremy Corbyn shared a stage with Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. A long-time member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Khaled participated in the 1969 hijacking of a TWA flight 840.
The following year, she hijacked El Al flight 219, one of four planes simultaneously commandeered in what became known as the Dawson’s Field hijackings.
• US National Security Advisor John Bolton is in Jerusalem to discuss Iran with his Israeli counterparts. It’s Bolton’s first visit to Israel since taking the national security post in April. More at Haaretz.
• Episcopal Bishop Gayle Harris of Massachusetts apologized for falsely claiming she had witnessed Israeli soldiers executing a Palestinian youth.
• Per the Sydney Morning Herald: “A controversial academic at Sydney’s most prestigious university is under official investigation for defending a “death to Israel” badge worn by a Stalinist former colleague with whom he recently visited North Korea.”
Commentary
• Worth reading: Stockholm-based journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein (click via Twitter) reacts to American Jewish writer Peter Beinart’s account of being grilled by Israeli officials on arriving at Ben Gurion Airport.
.@truthandfiction is not left-wing, and has spent about 20x longer being questioned at Ben-Gurion airport than Beinart has. And, she was detained in Iran. Annika knows of scary airport interrogations and she sets the record straight. https://t.co/1993StvSy9
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 20, 2018
• On the domestic scene, Chemi Shalev weighs in on Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of reelection. Matthew Continetti comments on the debate over the nation state law.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Yossi Beilin: Oslo’s 25th anniversary: We weren’t thinking about Nobel peace prize
– Giora Eiland: What do the three players stand to gain from the Gaza ceasefire deal?
– Pinhas Inbari: Cairo talks may lead to a realignment of Palestinian organizations
– New York Post (staff-ed): Russians are now patrolling the Golan heights — and you can thank Barack Obama
– David Horovitz: Corbyn, who sought Israel’s demise, is an anti-Semite. Labour must kick him out
– Jonathan Greenblatt: British Jews say ‘enough is enough’
Featured image: CC0 eriger; Badran via YouTube/A24 News Agency; Dawson’s Field via YouTube/catzotto;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please note our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
