Today’s Top Stories
1. Editor’s note: In light of continuing Palestinian terror, I have decided to refer to the violence as an intifada. Here’s Why I’m Calling it an Intifada (and a dissent from my colleague, Yarden Frankl). See below for updates on the latest terror attacks.
See also today’s media critique, Palestinian Terror Wave Prompts Media Bias Wave.
2. Politico published an excerpt from Dennis Ross’s upcoming book describing the Obama-Netanyahu relationship as the Iranian nuclear deal unfolded.
The most explosive revelation is that National Security Advisor Susan Rice sees Israel as a burden to the US, deliberately failed to smooth out a significant misunderstanding with Netanyahu, and even played the race card against the Prime Minister.
Ross also discussed the book in a lengthy Q+A with Jeffrey Goldberg and NPR. See also Jonathan Tobin‘s take.
3. Two suicide bombers are believed responsible for a pair of explosions that ripped through an anti-government rally in Ankara yesterday. With 95 dead and around 250 injured, Turkey’s deadliest terror attack. The Erdogan government imposed restrictions on media coverage, and blocked Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.
4. Jerusalem Through the Lens of the New York Times: Aside from the content, timing, sources, accuracy, and ramifications, the New York Times did a pretty good background article on the Temple Mount.
5. More Media Cite False Tweet as Credible Source: A false tweet by Reuters’ bureau chief Luke Baker unfortunately spreads to other papers.
Israel and the Intifada
• A mob of around 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza rushed the border fence and briefly entered Israel. The group was surrounded by soldiers and turned back, though five were arrested and taken into Israel for interrogation. Hamas forces simply stood by and watched. Jerusalem Post coverage.
• More terror attacks of Palestinians stabbing Israelis, including Jerusalem, Kiryat Arba, Afula, plus a revenge attack in which a Jew stabbed four Arabs in Dimona.
• Abbas’s party distributes pro-terrorist leaflets
• A Palestinian woman pulled over for driving suspiciously near Maale Adumim detonated an explosive device. Officer Moshe Chen told the Jerusalem Post what happened. The Palestinian was also wounded in the explosion.
• Bar Kochba-era antiquities site razed by Palestinian vandals.
• Hamas leader declares intifada in the West Bank
• Arabs also rioted in Ramle and Nazareth.
• If a knife-wielding Palestinian came after Reuters bureau chief Luke Baker, he wouldn’t tweet stupid questions like this:
• The Iron Dome intercepted a Gaza rocket Saturday night. A battery covering Beersheva and Ofakim was deployed as a precaution. Afterwards, Israeli jets bombed two Hamas installations in Gaza.
• For more on the day’s violence, see live blogging at the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and the Times of Israel.
• On his last day at the UN, Ambassador Ron Prosor appealed to the world body to condemn Palestinian terror. Fat chance of that, unfortunately. Haaretz reports that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is pushing for a UN Security Council resolution “on settlements.”
Despite the fact that there is no draft or proposed text of a French resolution, Netanyahu, Molho and other participants at the meeting contended that it would state that the settlements are not legal. They presented Fabius’ initial idea as a highly dangerous process that could bring about a wave of boycotts and withdrawal of investment from any Israeli entity operating directly or indirectly in the settlements;
Tomorrow, Danny Danon formally replaces Prosor at Turtle Bay.
• Israel’s attorney general will investigate Haneen Zoabi for incitement after the Arab MK called for a “popular intifada” in an interview with a Hamas newspaper.
• The Jerusalem Post and Algemeiner looks at how the Palestinians are fighting on social media. #JerusalemIntifada is a popular hashtag on Twitter. Speaking of social media, Reuters reporter Nidal al-Mughrabi notes this little piece of good news:
• How bad Palestinian popular support for Mahmoud Abbas? Don’t ask:
Recent polling by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that two-thirds of the Palestinian public want Abbas to resign. For any politician, that is a stunning number. Palestinians haven’t held a presidential election since 2005, so Abbas’s legitimacy depends in part on such polling.
• Feminists might take comfort in seeing AFP report that more young women are participating in the clashes than ever before. But the New York Times describes a separate battle of the sexes:
One male student found the female presence frustrating, and he said half the boys had showed up only to stare at the girls. “I shouldn’t say this, but the girls are really causing tensions,” he said, because they shied away when things got intense. “That means we can’t throw rocks. We are too busy making sure the girls are O.K.”
• Four Seasons hotel chain evades questions about hosting Hamas terror leader.
• The Times of Israel discussed European plans to label settlement products with EU envoy Lars Faaborg-Andersen. While conceding that the labeling regime is politically motivated, Faaborg-Andersen claims the labeling will be good for Israel and work against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).
“Because BDS is a general boycott that targets all Israeli products, from settlements and other places [within the Green Line]. Here [with our labeling scheme] we’re making a very important distinction, saying this has nothing to do with BDS. This has to do with a certain policy that Israel is pursuing when it comes to settlements that we disagree with and that we don’t want to support.”
In that sense, the EU’s introduction of a labeling regime could be construed as “actually an advantage,” Faaborg-Andersen proposed. It clearly distances the EU from the BDS movement and “might even improve the situation for goods coming from Israel proper.”
• The Ohio state legislature is expected to pass an anti-BDS bill in the coming weeks after deputy Knesset speaker Hilik Bar visited lawmakers in Columbus.
Around the World
• How Syria is becoming a test zone for electronic warfare
• France closes Louvre museum Israeli discrimination case
Commentary/Analysis
• The UNRWA is a “toxic organization that needlessly perpetuates the Palestinian refugee crisis. Bassam Tawil really digs into the UN agency.
• From the poison pen of Michael Ramirez, of Investor’s Business Daily:
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Elhanan Miller: With terror raging, Abbas in state of denial
– Richard Baehr: Does the PA have a strategy?
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Hope won’t quell violence
– David Horovitz: A stabbing war born of hysterical intolerance
– Arsen Ostrovsky: Why is the world ignoring a wave of terror in Israel?
– Avi Issacharoff: Terror beneficiaries are Hamas and Israel’s Islamic Movement
– Daniel Gordis: In Jerusalem, Arabs are seething, Jews are afraid
– Josh Mitnick: How do you stop an intifada that has no leader?
– Nadav Pollack: Why Israel should be worried about Russia’s role in Syria
– Aaron David Miller: Betting on reform in Iran
– Guy Bechor: Europe’s refugee crisis driven by Iran deal
– Jonathan Schanzer: Can Obama counter Hezbollah after the nuclear deal?
Featured image: CC BY flickr/John Ragai with additions by HonestReporting; Ross CC BY-SA Wikimedia Commons/Nrbelex;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy.
