Today’s Top Stories
1. Israel’s Interior Ministry is looking into deporting BDS activists and preventing others from entering the country. Israeli citizens too could face punitive measures.
2. The head of the Lebanese Olympic team was reprimanded by the IOC for refusing to let Israeli athletes board a bus they were supposed to share.
During the hearing on the matter, the IOC committee warned Salim al-Haj Nakoula the head of the Lebanese delegation, that they would not accept any further instances like this.
Al-Haj Nakoula responded that the whole incident was the result of a misunderstanding.
A source from the Lebanese Olympic committee told Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen on Saturday that the refusal to allow the Israeli delegation to ascend the bus on Friday was a group decision of the Lebanese Olympic delegation.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. World Vision disputes Israeli accusations that one of its aid workers funneled money to Hamas. According to World Vision, the amount of money Mohammed Halabi is accused of transferring is much more than the US-based Christian humanitarian group even budgeted for its Gaza operations.
4. Stuff that Israel-Haters Say We get lots of comments. Most are supportive but some are so off the wall that, well . . . see for yourself!
Israel and the Palestinians
• Ahead of Tisha B’Av, tensions are on the rise between Israeli police and the Islamic Waqf, which oversees the daily administration of the Temple Mount. A number of waqf employees have been arrested over unauthorized renovations, and a recent attack on Israeli archaeologists. Haaretz coverage.
• A Saudi judoka forfeited a match, apparently to avoid competing against an Israeli.
The Saudi team tweeted that Joud Fahmy hurt her arm and leg during training and was unable to compete against Christianne Legentil of Mauritius in a first round match. But Israeli media reported Fahmy dropped out so as not to face Israeli judoka Gilli Cohen in the second round. Legentil went on to defeat Cohen.
• Worth reading: The Jerusalem Post discussed the upcoming October PA elections with Palestinian analyst Jihad Harb. He talked about why “technocrats” may be a misnomer, why Hamas and Fatah can afford to cancel voting, and more. This particular snippet caught my eye:
If Hamas wins some of the municipal elections, it will likely mean that international aid to the Hamas-backed municipalities will come to a halt. But I think that reveals a contradiction, in which the international community calls for elections and democracy, but simultaneously rejects certain people and movements.
• Israeli Arab journalist Furat Nassar made some history.
Mazal Tov! Mabrook! // Journalist Furat Nassar becomes first Arab Israeli to anchor Israel's most-watched newscast. pic.twitter.com/KVWrZwLMTu
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) August 7, 2016
• Israeli-Arab arrested for supporting ISIS on Facebook.
Around the World
• Canadian Jews are raising alarm bells about the upcoming World Social Forum due to be held in Montreal. The European Jewish Press quoted Jewish leaders concerned about the “annual gathering of some of the most radical and extreme elements within the global left.” A Montreal Gazette op-ed by Reuben Poupko elaborates:
The organizing committee of the forum has vowed to implement four principled commitments concerning the way in which the conference will be held, one of which amounts to the systematic exclusion of pro-Israel voices and an expression of support for the widely discredited movement to boycott Israel, which even the president of the Palestinian Authority disavows. No fewer than 20 events are dedicated to the boycott and/or delegitimization of Israel, with some workshops openly calling for the end of the Jewish people’s inalienable right to national self-determination.
This conference should serve as an opportunity to advance legitimate issues and provide an atmosphere for meaningful and democratic dialogue. The thousands of people of good faith attending and planning activities at the forum should not have their otherwise noble agenda hijacked by anti-Israel extremists.
There’s also the matter of an anti-Semitic cartoon appearing on the WSF web site, later removed.
World Social Forum removed the racist cartoon in question from their website. Still troubling it was there at all… pic.twitter.com/hdOC7b2x8m
— Dan Delmar (@DanDelmar) August 5, 2016
• Canada’s Green Party is in the news after a resolution supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel was passed at the party’s national convention. The Globe & Mail reports that the Greens were deeply divided on the move, with party leader Elizabeth May opposed to it. See CTV for Canadian Jewish reactions. More at the National Post.
• Spain naturalized 220 Jews under the terms of a right of return law for the descendants of Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition. According to the JTA, 4,300 Jews have received Spanish citizenship since the law was passed last year.
• UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing pressure to explain an undeclared donation of £10,000 (NIS 50,000) from Friends of Al-Aqsa, a pro-Hamas group.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Khaled Abu Toameh: The ‘anti-normalization’ campaign and Israel’s right to exist
– Lauren Sonnenberg: Want to fight racism? Renounce Israel. This is my campus reality
– Judith Bergman: Fighting BDS: No more Mr. Nice Guy
– Colin Rubinstein: Diverting humanitarian aid is despicable
– The Australian: World Vision: A serious betrayal of donors’ trust (staff-ed)
– Seth Frantzman: An artificial Gaza island is an impractical pipe dream
Featured image: CC BY Nicholas Raymond with additions by HonestReporting;
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