Today’s Top Stories
1. After U.S.-Israeli ties feature in the Republican leadership debate, prominent commentator Ann Coulter takes to Twitter accusing the candidates of pandering to ‘f—ing Jews.’
2. President Obama will host Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Nov. 9 in their first face-to-face meeting since their rupture over the international nuclear agreement with Iran.
According to White House press secretary Josh Earnest:
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit is a demonstration of the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel as well as the unprecedented security cooperation, including our close consultations to further enhance Israel’s security.
3. The New York Times’s abysmal coverage of a fatal Palestinian rock throwing attack has put the paper and its correspondent under the spotlight.
Writing in the National Review, Kevin Williamson serves up a satirical copy edit of the New York Times article:
HEAD: Jewish Man Dies as Rocks Pelt His Car in East Jerusalem [ED: “As rocks pelt his car”? How exactly did the rocks go about doing this? Are these special angry Palestinian rocks that get up off the ground and hurl themselves at Jews? Unless we’re talking about The Rock, in which case he’s going by “Dwayne Johnson” these days, I don’t think a rock is capable of committing an act of violence on its own.] …
COPY: A Jewish man died [ED: “was killed.”] early Monday morning after attackers pelted the road [ED: “pelted the road”? They were aiming at the pavement? Please clarify.] he was driving on with rocks as he was returning home from a dinner celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, the Israeli authorities said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency meeting to discuss rock-throwing, mostly [ED: “mostly”? Which other rock-throwers were discussed at the emergency meeting?] by Palestinian youths.
Correspondent Diaa Hadid’s background and previous writing for anti-Israel hate site Electronic Intifada is featured by Israellycool.
Meanwhile, HonestReporting’s own critique of the New York Times is featured in The Algemeiner:
In an interview with The Algemeiner, HonestReporting’s Managing Editor Simon Plosker said, “The New York Times continues to act as an apologist for Palestinian stone-throwing. This latest incident is tragic proof that attacking vehicles with rocks can be deadly. Alexander Levlovitz didn’t simply ‘die,’ as The New York Times’s headline suggests. He was killed by Palestinians who deliberately targeted his car with rocks… That The New York Times prefers to attribute responsibility to the rocks rather than those who threw them is a damning indictment on the moral compass of the newspaper.”
Israel and the Palestinians
• Hundreds attend the funeral of 64-year-old Alexander Levlovitz, the victim of the Palestinian rock throwing attack.
• Iceland’s capital Reykjavik passed a resolution Tuesday stating the municipality will boycott all products made in Israel, a move blasted in Israel as a “volcano of hate.”
• Despite Orange’s recent messy breakup with its Israeli franchisee, the French communications giant has made a major investment in the Israeli video distribution network Hola.
• Palestinians won’t allow Israelis to “desecrate” Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday, referring to the tensions surrounding visits by Jews to the Temple Mount.
Al-Aqsa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem.
• Palestinian children in Gaza recently participated in a kids’ TV show and expressed their desire to join the military wing of the Hamas organization in order to wage jihad and “blow up the Jews.” MEMRI has the video. More in The Times of Israel.
• Released hunger striker Mohammed Allaan has been re-arrested on a new administrative detention warrant.
• An Iron Dome anti-missile battery has been deployed in the southern coast city of Ashdod Thursday after a situation assessment in the southern command.
Around the World
• PM Netanyahu plans to travel to Russia next week for talks with President Putin about Russian forces stationed in Syria. A statement said: “Prime Minister Netanyahu will present the threats posed to Israel as a result of the increased flow of advanced war matériel to the Syrian arena.”
Alon Ben-David examines the reasons behind PM Netanyahu’s forthcoming visit to Russia:
It is important for Israel that Russia avoid deploying systems in the area that are liable to disturb the IAF’s freedom of flight, such as the S-400 or the S-300. Nor does Israel want to see Russia deploy advanced jets with stealth capabilities in Syria. As for the fear that advanced weapons systems could fall into the hands of Hezbollah, Netanyahu has already spoken to Putin about this in the past, but it did not stop him from selling such systems to Syria, with the clear knowledge that some of them were intended for Hezbollah.
Russia is a for-profit country. It does not pretend to have moral policy and it has no intention of taking into consideration a foreign interest which does not serve it. Moscow’s support for Assad actually serves Israel’s interests – it could potentially bring stability, which is currently the best scenario for Israel. Assad, bloodied and weak, will continue to control Damascus and the seaports, ISIS will remain in the east and Hezbollah will continue to be tied up in Syria.
• Turns out that Kremlin propaganda channel Russia Today is less popular than the TV station would have you believe.
Featured image: CC BY-SA Gage Skidmore via flickr with additions by HonestReporting
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