Today’s Top Stories
1. Terror struckJerusalem. Ibrahim al-Acari, a resident of eastern Jerusalem and known supporter of Hamas, plowed his car into a crowd of pedestrians. As this roundup went to press, the one fatality was identified as Jidan Assad, a Druze member of the Border Police was killed. At least 14 others were injured, and Hamas was claiming responsibility.
Acari ran over people at two locations along the city’s light rail track. He then jumped out of his car and attacked people with a crowbar before being shot and killed by police. More on the unfolding news at the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, YNet, Times of Israel, and i24 News.
See also BBC: Another Jerusalem Terror Attack, Another Headline Fail.
2. Amnesty International got itself the usual media attention for a report (pdf format) accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza. Even by Amnesty’s standards, the methodology’s pathetic. Unable to enter Gaza, Amnesty “had to carry out research remotely, supported by two fieldworkers based in Gaza who were contracted to work with the organization . . .”
What does remotely mean? And who were the fieldworkers in Gaza? More transparency, please.
The organization earned itself further brownie points when Amnesty’s Kristyan Benedict referred to Israel as the “Jewish State in the Levant.” YNet picked up on the fallout.
3. Israel briefly shut down the Temple Mount after Palestinian youths clashed with security. The violence was well-prepared. The Jerusalem Post explains how:
Police intelligence learned that a number of Palestinian youths had amassed a large stockpile of rocks, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in preparation for clashes with police. The goal of the youths, police said, was to disrupt the flow of visitors to the site.
The youths also erected a makeshift checkpoint designed to prevent the closure of entrance points to the mosque. They used iron bars, furniture, and ropes designed to keep the doors open.
Inside the mosques, the youths built fortified makeshift bunkers that were designed to be used as “battle stations” from which they would clash with police.
Authorities said these preparations indicate the careful planning and premeditation on the part of the Palestinian youths who hoped to prevent police from sealing the doors of the mosque and to hurl firebombs, rocks, and fireworks at police manning the site.
Ain’t it a shame AP missed that part of the story?
4. Sky News Amnesty Report Demonstrates Lazy Journalism: Sky News ignores Israeli response to Amnesty International’s war crimes allegations.
5. 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
• PA arrests 250 Islamist operatives to prevent West Bank violence after Hamas crossed one red line. According to the Times of Israel:
Hamas has also been trying to escalate activities against the PA itself.
• Heh: PLO warns international reporters not to use the term “Temple Mount”
• Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest over the Jerusalem situation.
• Only in Gaza: Civil servants hired by Hamas went on strike because they’re not getting paid. That’s a stark contrast with the Gaza civil servants hired by Fatah who get paid to do nothing. I hope the PA’s donors can explain that.
• Hmmmm. The Wall St. Journal (click via Google News) looks at some background on the Temple Mount controversy.
• The guy’s trying to light a Molotov cocktail, but the caption talks about stones? Thanks CNN, for today’s failed caption.
• AFP: French lawmakers are preparing a motion to recognize Palestine.
• Which story is out of place?
- Judge orders halt to Harare home demolitions; thousands left without shelter.
- $1 billion fund to demolish asbestos-filled Canberra homes
- Egypt demolishes 800 homes for Sinai buffer zone
- Two Jerusalem homes built without construction permits demolished.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: i24 News looks at the Israel-Cyprus-Turkey triangle that’s gaining importance thanks to offshore gas reserves all the players are drooling over.
This week, the [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’] foreign minister, Özdil Nami, was in Israel for a major energy conference. He was not here on official business, as Israel – like all other countries in the world – does not recognize his country. But his visit would not have been possible without explicit consent of the highest levels in Ankara and Jerusalem, senior officials said this week . . .
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is expected to visit Greek Cyprus in the coming days. Closer relations with Nicosia are appropriate for Israeli foreign policy under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lieberman. After all, Cyprus is the “little Mecca” of Turkish interests in the region, and why not hurt Turkish President Erdogan a bit given his hostility to Israel’s regional policy and his anti-Semitic attitudes. A strengthening of ties with Greek Cyprus will also please Russia, always in favor of Greek positions on the issue. Lieberman will have to weigh his words carefully, because people will be listening carefully beyond the fence that crosses Cyprus, and also in Ankara.
• Israeli cabinet minister Naftali Bennett got op-ed space in the New York Times on the two-state solution.
• Michael Singh: How the US, not Iran, is making concessions
• Los Angeles Times columnist Michael McGough has a very cynical take on the Israel lobby and the legal battle over Menachem Zivotofsky’s passport.
But the most interesting question about the case is one the court can’t consider: Did all of the members of Congress who approved the passport provision – part of a larger section titled “United States policy with respect to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel” – really want to see it carried out? Or did at least some of them cast an easy pro-Israel vote confident that the president, regardless of party, would ignore their action?
• For more commentary/analysis, see Yakub Halabi (Imagine Jews and Arabs praying side by side on the Temple Mount), Clifford May (Rawabi, a risky peace investment), Eugene Kontorovich (The origins of the Zivotofsky disclaimer),
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Steven Brill is worth reading:
• Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the Sinai’s largest and most active jihadi group, denies swearing allegiance to ISIS. More on that at the Jerusalem Post.
• How the Islamic State evolved in an American prison:
. . . Camp Bucca provided a unique setting for both prisoner radicalization and inmate collaboration — and was formative in the development of today’s most potent jihadist force.
• I wonder what this will mean for the Gray Lady’s Israel coverage: New York Times creates international managing editor position
Image: CC BY flickr/James Cridland
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