Today’s Top Stories
1. Police arrested Sheikh Raed Salah for incitement, suspicion of supporting terror acts and membership in an illegal organization.
Salah has repeatedly spent time in jail for incitement, especially claiming that Israel is threatening to take over the Al-Aqsa mosque. He also founded the northern chapter of the Islamic Movement, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Israel banned in 2015. (Here’s why.)
2. The PA freed five Palestinian journalists arrested during a crackdown on free expression.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. Jerusalem Post: The UNRWA sealed a Hamas tunnel running underneath one of its schools in a Gaza refugee camp. The tunnel was discovered in June by workers renovating the building during summer recess.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Israeli security forces uncovered a Hamas terrorist payment network which funneled thousands of shekels to the families of convicted terrorists. Details at Ynet.
• Israeli and Egyptian officials are discussing re-opening Israel’s embassy in Cairo, Haaretz reports. The embassy was closed eight months ago over unspecified security concerns.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planning to visit Mexico and Argentina in September, which would make him the first sitting Israeli PM to go to Latin America.
Since [2014], Israel’s ties with Argentina have improved considerably as a result of the victory in the 2015 presidential election of Mauricio Macri, with whom Netanyahu has developed a strong relationship.
The trip to Mexico also sends a signal that its abstention in UNESCO votes on Jerusalem last year, as well as friction over a tweet Netanyahu posted regarding the efficacy of a border wall, are not hindering ties between the countries.
• Iran denies that it banned two of its soccer players who played against an Israeli team in Europe.
• Outgoing Times of London correspondent Gregg Carlstrom tweeted his farewell to Israel.
So, a bit of personal news: after 3.5 years here, I'm moving to Cairo next month to work as a Middle East correspondent for @TheEconomist.
— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) August 14, 2017
Around the World
• Jewish writer Dahlia Lithwick describes the scene in Charlottesville.
• Charlottesville’s Jewish mayor is an expert on demagogues, and now on anti-Semitism too.
• Tempers flared at Chicago’s Slutwalk as Jewish marchers were told the feminist movement has no room for Zionism. Tablet‘s Gretchen Hammond reports that “Zionist marchers waving Star-of-David posters were met with giant red umbrellas designed to block out their message.” More at the JTA.
• German media report: Iran and Russia violated UN weapons sanctions.
• British MPs demand universities stop accepting donations from dictatorships after the Daily Telegraph “identified dozens of cases where the UK’s leading universities have accepted sponsorship from regimes accused of links to terrorism or human rights violations,” particularly Arab regimes:
“By donating to higher education institutions, Arab and Islamic states are able to dictate a research agenda and influence public opinion in a way which we would not allow for our political parties,” he said.
“Foreign donors can not only shape the debate, but they can also influence students and impressionable young minds.”
• Times of Israel: Crime, unemployment and toxic mix of government corruption and demagoguery are driving a surge in Brazilian aliyah.
• Swiss hotelier apologizes for signs telling Jews to shower before entering pool.
• Rome reverses decision to honor Yasser Arafat as a “peace activist.”
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Avi Issacharoff: The terrible timing of the newest American peace delegation
– Charles Bybelezer: The peace process merry-go-round
– Bassam Tawil: The Palestinian-US honeymoon is over
– Dr. Mordechai Kedar: Israel-Jordan peace agreement: The emperor has no clothes
– Smadar Perry: Israel’s closed embassies in Cairo and Amman
– Rachel Avraham: The importance of saving Neda Amin
– Ariel Bolstein: Israeli-Kurdish friendship worth fostering
– Noah Klieger: Why am I not surprised by displays of anti-Semitism in Sweden?
– Yair Rosenberg: ‘Jews will not replace us’: Why white supremacists go after Jews
– Shmuel Rosner: Netanyahu’s fate doesn’t determine Israel’s future
– Ben-Dror Yemini: A letter to the PM: stop the media incitement now
• Last but not least, Fisk’s being Fisk again.
Featured image: CC BY-NC Ed Stevenson; Salah via YouTube/AP Archive; Mexico City CC BY Pablo Gonzalez; money CC BY Images Money;
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