Today’s Top Stories
1. An Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed in a shootout with police after he tried to murder Yehuda Glick, who advocates Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
To keep Jerusalem’s simmering Israeli-Palestinian tensions from further boiling over, police closed the Temple Mount. Mahmoud Abbas called the holy site’s closure “a declaration of war.” According to Haaretz, the Temple Mount hasn’t been closed since September, 2000, when Ariel Sharon visited the site.
2. Sweden recognized Palestine as a state, becoming the first European country to officially do so. In doing so, Stockholm undermines the argument that Palestine is “occupied.” Eugene Kontorovich tweeted why.
3. Israel university will confront American Studies Association boycott. Haifa U. is going to send an official representative to the ASA’s November conference.
This puts the ASA on the spot. By their recent statements, there should be no problem with the Haifa academic attending. (Perhaps, depending on his position, his name tag will be left blank, but this will only further highlight the absurdity of the un-boycott.) If this is what all the allegedly path-breaking ASA action amounts to, it is a silly and neutered act.
On the other hand, the ASA may not be so happy to have the Israeli representative in attendance. For one, Haifa is one of the institutions whose supposed crimes the group invoked in justifying their boycott. Moreover, allowing representatives of Israeli schools to attend seems to contradict the boycott policy they adopted in February, before they recently “clarified” in response to lawsuit threats. But this means they are now implementing a policy that has not been approved by the membership. As one ASA member, UVA’s Prof. Siva Vaidhyanathan wisecracked, “I don’t even know what I voted against now.”
I see the ASA’s Curtis Marez got an op-ed soapbox in the San Diego Union-Tribune to explain the boycott, responding to Michael Rosen‘s takedown.
4. Haaretz Cartoon: Offensive to Israel, Offensive to the US: An offensive cartoon on U.S.-Israeli relations makes a mockery of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
5. The Guardian’s “Reputed” Jewish Temple: The Guardian places the same value on Palestinian lies as it does on historical truth.
6. Gary Kenzer Brings Media Lessons to All Ages: HonestReporting’s USA director had a busy month. Find out how you can bring him to your area.
7. Vote for This Year’s Dishonest Reporting Award: It’s that time of the year. Nominate this year’s worst news service or journalist and make your voice heard.
Israel and the Palestinians
• I wonder what dirty little secrets are in those documents. Adam Kredo reports:
Reporters are taking legal action to force a U.S. District Court to publicly disclose secret documents that are believed to provide new details about payments made to terrorists by the Palestinian government, according to court documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Lawyers have been fighting for months to force a U.S. District Court in New York to unseal scores of documents and testimony that allegedly detail how the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) has been paying salaries to convicted terrorists.
The sealed documents were submitted to the court as part of a 2004 lawsuit brought by terrorism victims seeking damages from the PLO as a result of their attacks on Israel.
• Diplomats at the UN Security Council slammed Israeli settlement activity during an emergency meeting. “But no resolution was adopted and there was no Security Council statement condemning Israel,” wrote AFP.
• Homeless Gazans sheltered in UNRWA schools are becoming entrenched while Hamas and Fatah feud over reconstruction. Here’s what the Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) found:
The Unrwa-operated shelter at the Kingdom of Bahrain Preparatory School for Boys, a three-story complex built around open-air courtyards, resembles a tenement more than a school.
Laundry hangs from railings. The classrooms, some partitioned with blankets to provide a semblance of privacy, are occupied by up to 30 members of an extended family. They share space with washing machines and televisions brought in by those residents who can afford them . . .
In an effort to clear the school and restore it to its original purpose, Unrwa offered to reimburse families for four months of rent if they would leave. But Mr. Al Gayad said very few apartments were available in Gaza and most landlords are demanding six months’ rent in advance. “I don’t have the money for one month,” he said.
Commentary/Analysis
• Lot of broken quills and spilled ink over the chickensh*t interview. See Herb Keinon (Spontaneous combustion or intelligent design?), Aaron David Miller (Spat won’t lead to divorce), Eli Lake (Obama’s love-hate relationship with Bibi), Vox (3 theories), John Allan Gay (Team Obama’s pointless attack on Israel), and David Bernstein (Some background to the controversy).
There’s another facet to the controversial comments which the Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation objected to: using Asperger Syndrome as an insult is derogatory to all the people who suffer from the disorder. For shame.
• Hamas using mafia-like tactics to make money
• The Wall St. Journal‘s Sohrab Ahmari weighs in on US-Iran detente and its implications for the Mideast.
• Dr. Reuven Berko: Using Al-Aqsa to whip up the Arabs is an old ploy.
Everyone knows the integrity of the Al-Aqsa mosque is assured, as Israel has every interest to see to it. Many Muslims understand that if the mosque were under their control, rival Sunni and Shiite groups would either defile it to spite each other, or simply blow it up.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Shlomo Shamir (UN won’t be a panacea for Abbas) and Burak Bekdil (Normalization between Ankara and Jerusalem? Guess again).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Egypt began flattening neighborhoods” to establish a buffer zone along the Gaza. New York Times coverage.
Image: CC BY-NC-SA flickr/Adam Fagen
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