Today’s Top Stories
1. A Palestinian push to unilaterally join the UN World Tourism Organization was stymied by heavy US pressure. Haaretz reports the Palestinians ultimately backtracked and the UNWTO announced it would defer the issue to its next session — in two years.
According to the official, during recent visits by U.S. President Donald Trump’s special adviser Jared Kushner and Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, the two met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who promised them they wouldn’t renew their attempts to push through unilateral decisions against Israel in the UN.
The senior official noted that the Americans made it clear to the Palestinians that advancing the resolution at the UN’s tourism agency does not meet align with the Abbas’ [sic] promise to Trump.
2. As Iraqi Kurds await a referendum on declaring independence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Kurdish independence. The PM’s statement also rejected the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), calling it a terror organization. The Kurds vote on September 25 in a referendum opposed by the Iraqi government. More on that at Reuters.
An independent Kurdish state friendly with Israel and the West would complicate Iranian efforts to establish a land bridge to Syria and Lebanon. But being surrounded by other countries opposed to Kurdish statehood and a lack of support from the US and Russia would further muddle Mideast diplomacy.
3. Ynet: Russia urges Syria not to respond to Israel’s attack.
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4. Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and a security threat to Israel. That’s one of the takeaways from this exclusive HonestReporting interview with the former head of Israel’s Government Press Office, Danny Seaman. Seaman discusses how the Qatari network managed to get permission to operate in Israel, what changed since then, and more.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The cancelled Africa-Israel summit may be moved to Israel, the Jerusalem Post reports.
According to the senior diplomatic official, although there was some Arab pressure on Togo to scuttle the meeting that was intended to further promote Israel’s ties with Africa, the main reason had to do with internal political problems facing President Faure Gnassingbe.
Hundreds of thousands of people protested last week in the streets in the Togolese capital of Lome and other cities against Gnassingbé, who has been in power since 2005 . . .
Rotem said it was significant that 14 presidents had said they would participate in the now cancelled Togo summit.
• Egypt’s Education Ministry orders page removed from 8th grade school book featuring an Israeli flag in a map of the Mideast. Ynet describes Cairo’s over-the-top anxiety:
In light of the extensive press coverage the textbook received, the Egyptian Education Ministry announced it was launching an urgent investigation into the matter.
• Earlier this year, an Israeli judge ruled that 51 Palestinians tortured by the PA security could sue the PA for damages in an Israeli court. Some of those Palestinians recounted their torture to the Jerusalem Post.
Around the World
• Devastating UK survey finds half of Britons agree with anti-Israel statements.
It also establishes an “unambiguous” link between anti-Semitism and hostility towards Israel – suggesting that the stronger the level of anti-Israel feeling, the more likely it is to be accompanied by anti-Semitic attitudes – and probes the attitudes of those who support the far-left and the far-right, as well as British Muslims.
• Swedish Jews concerned as neo-Nazis plan march near Gothenburg’s main synagogue on Yom Kippur.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Zvi Bar’el: Russia seeks Hamas-Fatah reconciliation to save Assad, weaken Iran
– Zev Chafets: If Israel played by US rules, Iraq and Syria would have nuclear weapons
– Selin Nasi: Israel bares its teeth
– Bassam Tawil: The Palestinians’ Jewish problem
– Herb Keinon: As Latin American ties with US cool, so do its ties with Israel
– David Collier: Pro-Palestinian activism. Violent, intolerant, dangerous and racist
– Jonathan Greenblatt, Stuart Eizenstat: It’s time to update America’s important anti-boycott law for Israel
– Gil Troy: Sabra, Shatila and the rise of the Jewish voice for Israeli suicide
– Shmuel Levin: Iran will follow Kim Jong-un’s lead in defying the world
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND :Salihan; Africa CC0 Pixabay; Gothenburg CC BY-NC Beth;
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