Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Haaretz, Palestinian diplomats gauging support for statehood know it won’t get past the UN Security Council. Despite US and British opposition, the Palestinians seek a symbolic majority of council members.
2. An Egyptian activist who has advocated for the assassination of Israeli leaders was nominated for the EU’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Alaa Abd El Fattah was nominated in spite of (or maybe because of) tweets like this.
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate recently banned Abd El Fattah from its headquarters for using profane language during a symposium. More background at the Times of Israel.
3. As today’s IDNS went to press, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was due to address the UN. On the sidelines of the confab, Bibi met his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Take your pick of Israeli or Indian coverage.
4. New Year, Same Old Distortions in the New York Times: A New York Times opinion piece, published on the Jewish New Year portrays a distorted Israeli society that silences all dissent.
Israel and the Palestinians
• The Palestinian Authority’s cracking down on its Facebook critics, reports The Media Line:
But the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) says the number of West Bank residents arrested by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces for anti-PA comments on social media is on the rise. While precise statistics are hard to pin down, MADA says the number has doubled in the first six months of 2014 compared to the year before.
While the total numbers are still small, the increase is a cause for concern, they said, urging the Palestinian Authority to protect journalistic freedom of speech.
Some journalists say they have learned to practice self-censorship to avoid arrest.
• US resumes supply of Hellfire missiles to Israel
• Quote of the day: Ibrahim Daher, director of the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa radio station, to the Washington Post:
Above the street, in the upper reaches al-Aqsa’s building, Daher conceded that Gaza had significant problems. But he said that doesn’t mean al-Aqsa needs to talk about it.
“The main thing we stress is the activity of the resistance, and how much people support it,” Daher said. “We aren’t interested in showing other things, like any success by the Israelis or how business were hurt by the war, or Gazans who have fled the city because of it.”
He thought for a moment. “We choose what we cover.”
No pretense of Palestinian media honesty here. Is Gaza’s delusion of victory any wonder?
Commentary/Analysis
• A Wall Street Journal staff-ed (click via Google News) blasts the US for caving in to the Iranians on nuclear centrifuges and ballistic missiles.
The latest Administration brainstorm is to abandon the longstanding demand that Iran dismantle its uranium-enriching centrifuges, of which it currently has installed about 10,000, with an additional 9,000 built. Under one Western proposal, Iran would merely be asked to disconnect some of the pipes connecting one centrifuge to the next. Another idea, according to the Associated Press, is to allow Iran to keep as many as 4,500 centrifuges, provided Iran agrees to enrich uranium at a lower rate.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Dror Eydar (Abbas incites and we’re to blame?), Eitan Haber (Who cares about UN speeches?) and Fred Maroun (The Pinkwashing Accusation: A Smokescreen for Hatred).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Israel accused Iran of using the Parchin military site for testing nuclear detonation technology.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
