Today’s Top Stories
1. A Syrian diplomat who accused Israelis of trafficking children’s organs is now a professor at Rutgers. Mazen Adi served in a number of roles for the Syrian Foreign Ministry, most recently as a diplomat and adviser for Syria’s UN mission. UN Watch called for the US to deport Adi, calling him “a liar and an apologist for mass murder.”
2. Turns out a prominent leader of London’s Finsbury Park Mosque was appointed to Hamas’s ruling politburo. The Times of London got the scoop on mosque trustee Mohammed Sawalha:
His role was revealed when it was announced that he was part of a Hamas delegation to Moscow in September which held a meeting with Mikhail Bogdanov, President Putin’s Middle East envoy, and a deputy foreign minister.
Hamas has been designated an outlawed terrorist organisation by the US and the EU, meaning that its assets can be seized and its members jailed. The UK has banned only its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, meaning that Mr Sawalha has committed no offence . . .
The Sunday Times reported in 2008 [or was it 2005?] that he had been named in US court documents as having previously been “in charge of Hamas terrorist operations in the West Bank” and had met two men accused of laundering millions of dollars to finance the group.
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3. Israel arrested seven Druze who tried to breach the border fence with Syria. The Israeli Druze community is agitated after a suicide bomber struck the Syrian Druze village of Hader just across the border last week. At least nine people were killed in the attack, which was carried out by a rebel militia affiliated with Al-Qaida.
Israel vowed to protect Hader’s residents, though officials haven’t disclosed how. The Media Line examines the risks of that pledge.
4. A Not So Priti Headline Fail: Guardian editors bungled a headline so we rewrote it for them.
In the News
• Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely’s scheduled talk at Princeton U. was cancelled by the campus Hillel “after a group called Alliance of Jewish Progressives (AIP) protested her scheduled appearance on campus.” Hotovely will instead speak at the campus Chabad. More at The Princetonian and Times of Israel.
• The U. of Ottawa‘s student government shoots down BDS resolution.
• Worth reading: Now that Argentine investigators have concluded that prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s death was a homicide, Haaretz nicely lays out where matters stand for the principle figures, including ex-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, ex-foreign minister Hector Timerman, and the Iranians.
If Fernandez is charged with treason, this will be a negative turn of events for Zarif and a stain on Iran’s international standing, just as it finds itself in a major public relations campaign following U.S. President Donald Trump’s refusal to recertify Iranian compliance with the Iran nuclear deal.
• Something’s cooking with Qatar’s charm offensive with American Jewish leaders. The Jerusalem Post reports that the head of the Orthodox Union’s kashrut department is visiting Qatar along with a small group of other unspecified Jewish leaders.
The trip was organized by Nick Muzin, a prominent Jewish Republican operative who is on retainer by the Persian Gulf nation to establish ties with the American Jewish community. The group is scheduled to meet with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Allen Fagin, the OU’s Executive Vice President, said that Genack’s visit was private and was not connected to his work with the Jewish organization.
• AFP looks at Israeli medical treatment for injured Syrians. Read the report or watch the video.
• Jewish author wins prominent French literary prize. Olivier Guez was awarded the Renaudot award, one of France’s top literary prizes, for his book “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.” Details at the European Jewish Press.
• Israel sends emergency aid to plague-hit Madagascar.
Commentary/Analysis
• Worth reading: CNN’s Doug Criss explains why the law enforcement officials labeled the New York truck rampage as terror but not this week’s Texas church shooting.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Daniel Shapiro: Is Saudi Arabia pushing Israel into war with Hezbollah and Iran?
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Each nation has its own ‘Nakba’
– Martin Kramer: Who saved Israel in 1947?
– Moshe Arens: Israeli Arabs, too, benefited from the Balfour Declaration
– Daniel Gordis: As Trump goes, so does Netanyahu
– David Collier: British unions supporting anti-Semitism and radical Islamic hate
Featured image: CC BY-SA The Next Web Photos; Sawalha via YouTube/inminds; Qatar via Wikimedia Commons;
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