Today’s Top Stories
1. The US declassified a number of documents from 1969-1972 dealing with Israel’s nuclear program. The Jerusalem Post wonders about the timing.
The publication of the documents comes as part of a routine release of historical information by the US State Department, however the timing of the revelations, on the background of the disagreement between Israel and the US over the nuclear agreement with Iran, lends them an extra meaning.
There are those who would claim that the timing of the release is not a coincidence, and is in fact intended to embarrass Israel, which staunchly opposes the deal with Iran, and embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues in his efforts to challenge the Obama administration and influence Congress to reject the deal.
2. Israel denies holding truce talks with Hamas.
3. Matisyahu, the American Jewish reggae star, denounced the organizers of a Spanish music festival who bowed to BDS pressure and cancelled his appearance. Music sites like Rolling Stone and Billboard Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post talked to one of the Spanish boycott activists involved in getting Matisyahu bounced.
Ramos repeated the timeworn BDS refrain that the movement is staunchly opposed to “all types of racism…” which he said includes anti-Semitism, homophobia and Islamophobia.” When asked if artists from other parts of the world should have to sign a document opposing global humanitarian crises around the world, such as the war in Syria or in Sudan, Ramos avoided the question, saying simply that his cause is Israel and the Palestinians, though he supports other human rights initiatives around the world.
4. Palestinian Stabbing Attack Prompts Media Headline Fails: An unarguably vital piece of context went missing from some headlines.
5. Watchdog of the Week: New York Times Letter Defends Israeli Morality: Gavin Gross is our watchdog of the week for getting a letter published in the New York Times.
6. A Reminder About Commenting Etiquette: Let’s make our comments section a place that we can all feel comfortable posting on.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Two Palestinian detainees launched hunger strikes in solidarity with Mohammed Allaan. Samir Issawi and his sister, Shireen, are also being detained without trial in a controversial Israeli measure known as administrative detention. Both are accused of membership in terror organizations. Meanwhile, Haaretz reported Allaan regained consciousness:
Allaan declared after awakening that he will continue his hunger strike, now in its 64th day, and rejects the state’s offer to release him if he leaves the country for four years.
• West Bank cleric Issam Amira fell for a satirical post on The Mideast Beast about a Donald Trump proposal to relocate Palestinians to Puerto Rico. The Times of Israel has the backstory on this video flagged by MEMRI.
• Malachi Rosenfeld’s murderers used PA money (inadvertently) to fund the attack, YNet reports.
• The Media Line: For the first time, a woman was appointed head of an official Palestinian news agency. Mahmoud Abbas tapped the 48-year-old Khoulud Asaf to head the Wafa News Agency.
Around the World
• CNN posted Ambassador Ron Dermer’s full interview with Fareed Zakaria about the Iran deal.
• According to an Iranian official, Tehran will next week sign a deal with Russia to buy an advanced S-300 air-defense missile system. More at the Jerusalem Post.
• Jeremy Corbyn, a front runner for leadership of Britain’s Labor Party, admitted he might have given cash to Holocaust denier Paul Eisen and confirmed attending ‘two or three’ of his events. But Corbyn maintains he was unaware of Eisen’s views at the time. The Daily Mail dished out the details, but this Times of Israel headline packed a punch.
• After four years, a quarter-million fatalities, and 12 million homeless, the UN Security Council for the first time agreed on a Syrian plan.
• Second Jewish congregation hit by anti-Semitic graffiti in San Antonio.
• Ofcom, Britain’s media regulatory body, rapped BBC, CNN, and other broadcasters for not disclosing that certain programs were funded by foreign governments, charities, and NGOs. The Independent picked up on the report
The media regulator discovered a series of contraventions of its impartiality guidelines and found hundreds of nominal-fee programmes had been paid for by bodies ranging from United Nations departments to the Indonesian ministry of trade and a Cambodian casino firm.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Dan Margalit: Exploiting the hunger striker
– Emmanuel Navon: An Israel-Turkey-Hamas rapprochement?
– Eyal Zisser: The problems of a truce
– Alan Dershowitz: Stop questioning the motivations of opponents of the Iran deal
– Roger Cohen: Iran and American Jews
– Eli Lake: Add to Obama’s to-do list: regime change in Iran
– Saeed Ghasseminejad: A raw deal for Iran’s dissidents
Featured image: CC BY flickr/Dustin Smous with additions by HonestReporting
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