Today’s Top Stories
1. London police confirmed that they have opened a formal investigation of antisemitism in the British Labour party. LBC Radio obtained a party dossier with details on 45 incidents, and turned it over to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick who has a regular phone-in with that station. More on the story at the Jewish Chronicle.
The commish emphasized to BBC News that the police were only investigating allegations against party members, not the party itself.
2. What may be the emerging Israel-Hamas deal reportedly includes a partial lifting of the Gaza blockade and and to Palestinian violence, according to Arab reports picked up by Haaretz. An Israeli official separately confirmed to Israel HaYom that the two sides were very close to an Egyptian-brokered deal.
It wasn’t clear if will the deal also include the return of two missing Israeli civilians or the bodies of two IDF soldiers.
3. Trying to understand the reinstated US sanctions on Iran now kicking in at midnight? Here are five things to know (click via Twitter), five more things to know, what it all means as the Mideast hold’s its breath.
4. Newsweek’s Fact-Checking Lynk Fail: At what point does an opinion piece turn into a work of fiction?
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Israel and the Palestinians
• Israeli security forces raid PA offices outside Jerusalem, sparking clashes. Times of Israel coverage.
• A Palestinian-American writer was deported from Israel. Officials said Susan Abulhawa’s expulsion wasn’t related to any BDS activity, explaining:
Immigration authority spokeswoman Sabine Haddad told AFP the writer was refused entry because of an incident in 2015 when she refused to answer questions by security personnel when attempting to enter though a land crossing from neighbouring Jordan.
“She was refused entry then and told that the next time she arrived she had to coordinate in advance,” Haddad said in Hebrew. This time “she landed without arranging entry in advance”.
• The new Egyptian and Jordanian ambassadors to Israel will present their credentials to President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday, the Times of Israel reports.
• Thanks to this IDF tweet, we’re going to be accused of veggie-washing the “occupation.”
With 10,000 vegan soldiers, we’re proud to be the most vegan army in the world! ?????#WorldVeganDay pic.twitter.com/oQ9N6pp3cX
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 1, 2018
• Ynet takes a deep dive: Who will succeed Mahmoud Abbas?
• A month has passed but the Palestinian terrorist who killed two Israelis in the Barkan Industrial Zone is still on the loose.
Window Into Israel
• Postmortem on municipal elections, part 1: The Jerusalem Post takes a closer look at what last week’s municipal elections results suggest about upcoming national elections. Unless the Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition collapses, Israel must hold elections by November 5, 2019.
• Postmortem on municipal elections, part 2: Among Israel’s haredi community, it’s (sort of) the year of the woman.
• Former Tel Aviv commander Moshe Edri tapped as next Israeli Police chief. You ask, Who is Moshe Edri?
Around the World
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the city’s largest paper, printed the Jewish mourner’s kaddish. On the front page. In Hebrew. Executive editor David Shribman explained the unusual move in a note to readers.
When you conclude there are no words to express a community’s feelings, then maybe you are thinking in the wrong language.
Lester Holt of NBC News was so moved by the front page he invited Cantor Azi Schwartz to recite the full prayer in tribute to the 11 victims.
• How to pick up the pieces? Pittsburgh’s Jewish leaders debriefed on a tragic week
• Howard University distances itself from professor who claimed Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was “strictly political,” not a hate crime.
• Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition?
Colorado gun shop owner offers rabbis free weapons
• What a weekend: “Kill all Jews” graffiti found in Brooklyn‘s Union Temple. (Police arrested a suspect). Swastikas were spray painted on a Las Vegas home. Ukrainian video game developers forced to scrap Auschwitz-themed game after outcry. Graffiti at a Jewish center in France mocks Pittsburgh shooting victims. Jewish cemetery vandalized in Moldova. A Swedish surgeon is accused of bullying Jewish employees.
Last but not least, Twitter apologized after listing “Kill all Jews” as a trending topic on Friday.
Oh it's okay, we're used to this term trending. Heck, it's the name of a town in Spain. https://t.co/WzyqxNd4Lc
— The Mossad: Zionists and Loving It (@TheMossadIL) November 3, 2018
• Drip drip drip: UK Labour blog published half of Hitler’s Nazi manifesto. And a Labour city councillor apologized for an Auschwitz image tweet.
• A Pompano Beach, Florida imam insists Palestine must be liberated, “even if this leads to the martyrdom of tens of millions of Muslims.” MEMRI flagged Imam Hasan Sabri’s comments with more info on his background, or just watch thevideo.
Commentary
• It’s not often that I cry while reading articles, but as an American ex-pat, Bari Weiss‘s take on Pittsburgh really touched a chord in me. No snippet does justice to her description of what it’s like when a terrorist comes to your hometown. This could be anybody’s hometown place of worship — even mine.
• Pittsburgh’s on my mind . . .
– Yaakov Katz: Don’t let the antisemites win
– Gary Rosenblatt: From the Rabin Center to Pittsburgh: When violence erodes democracy
– Cal Thomas: Hating the Jews
– Jaclyn Granick, Rebecca Kobrin: Pittsburgh showed the difference between US and UK antisemitism
– Jean-Paul Pagano: Anti-Semitism is a conspiracy theory
– David Weinberg: Israel has role in fighting anti-Semitism
– Avi Benlolo: Don’t ignore antisemitism. It’s too lethal.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Amos Harel: Why Netanyahu is willing to pay a political price for keeping Gaza talks alive
– Ben-Dror Yemini: The arrangement with Hamas will never happen
– Vivian Bercovici: Why are we ignoring the appalling human rights crisis in the PA?
– Aviv Ezra: Hamas war-mongering contrary to Palestinian interests
– Aaron David Miller: Progress without peace in the Middle East
– Clifford May: Peace processing 2.0
– Raman Ghavami: Why Iranians like me back Trump’s tough sanctions on our corrupt, destabilising regime
– Yaakov Ahimeir: Israel cannot afford a purist policy on Brazil
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Intensivtateraggressor; Cressida Dick via YouTube/BBC London;
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