Today’s Top Stories
1. Carnage in Paris after terrorists attacked a soccer match, concert, and several restaurants on Friday evening. As this round up went to press, the casualty count stood at 140 dead and 352 people injured. Islamic State claimed responsibility. I liked CNN‘s clear “What we know so far” breakdown, and the Daily Telegraph‘s live-blogging. Two Jews may be among the dead.
The Bataclan theater, where 80 people were massacred, was apparently targeted because it had been owned by Jews for decades and hosted pro-Israel events. But the owners told Israeli media they sold the theater and moved to Israel in September.
Parisian Jews shared their reactions with the Times of Israel, YNet and Haaretz. And the JTA reports that Jewish institutional activities have understandably ground to a halt.
2. Rabbi Yaakov Litman and his 18-year-old son, Netanel, were laid to rest Saturday night after Palestinian terrorists opened fire on their car late Friday afternoon. They were on their way to celebrate their daughter’s upcoming wedding. Three younger children were also injured in the attack.
The incident took a darker turn over reports that a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance saw the dead and injured in the car, but drove away. The PRC denied the allegation. Israel has a suspect in custody.
3. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is looking into 66 reports of alleged war crimes committed by Israelis and Palestinians over the past year. Details at the Jerusalem Post and JTA.
Israel and the Intifada
• Four Israelis injured in what police believe was a car-ramming attack Saturday night. The Palestinian driver was killed when his car collided with an Israeli car at the entrance to the Psagot settlement, north of Jerusalem.
• The juxtaposition of these four headlines makes me go hmmm.
– Palestinian President Abbas condemns Paris attack
– Abbas declines to condemn murder of Israelis
– Hamas, Islamic Jihad welcome attack near Hevron
– Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad denounce Paris attacks
• Hamas is using its Al-Aqsa TV station to whip up the Palestinians and stay relevant. I’m glad the New York Times acknowledges the incitement. The money quote?
After his show, there was a foot-stomping song so rousing that one presenter joked that he was worried about stabbings in the studio.
• A French diplomat raised a diplomatic tiff over the EU’s guidelines for labeling settlement products. Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to Washington, called the discrimination against Israel “positive” — but then deleted the tweet. Nurit Baytch got a screengrab. Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon has more background.
• Government officials speaking out against the EU’s settlement labeling guidelines were cabinet minister Naftali Bennett (on the BBC) and Yair Lapid (on CNN).
• Netanyahu and other government ministers faces possible arrest in Spain over the Mavi Marmara affair. More at the Jerusalem Post:
Other officials in the case include former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman; current and former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and Ehud Barak, respectively; former interior minister Eli Yishai; former minister of intelligence Dan Meridor; minster without portfolio Benny Begin; and former head of the Navy Eliezer Marom.
• A pro-Palestinian Scottish parliamentarian was strip-searched, refused entry into Israel, and is banned from entering the country for 10 years. AFP explains why:
Sabine Haddad, a spokesperson for the Israeli interior ministry, said Murray lied about his reason for travelling to Israel by saying he was a tourist.
“When the border control checked we found out that he came to a conference… so it means that he lied to border control,” she said.
Mideast Matters
• Ahead of a Europe trip that was postponed because of the Paris terror, Iranian Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani “refused to say whether he agreed that Israel should be wiped off a map, but called for a one-state end to the conflict with the Palestinians.”
The Times of Israel picks up on separate interviews Rouhani gave to France 2 TV and Italy’s Corriere della Sera.
• Report: Russia deploys missiles in Syria that could take down jets as far away as Tel Aviv, Cyprus, and southern Turkey.
• Reuters: Lebanon arrests five Syrians, one Palestinian suspect in Beirut bombings that killed 44 people in a Hezbollah neighborhood.
• It’s only an outrage when Israel does this:
Russia uses white phosphorus in Idlib: activists
Around the World
• Jonathan Pollard is due to be freed from prison on Friday. AP previews the release of the former naval intelligence analyst who was imprisoned 30 years for passing classified information to Israel.
• The Independent picked up on the story of an Israeli man who claims a Chilean border official in Chile defaced his passport with one sick doodle and the words “long live Palestine.”
• Italy stepped up security in Milan after an Orthodox Jew was stabbed seven times on Thursday outside a kosher restaurant. The 40-year-old Nathan Graff’s injuries are not life-threatening, Sky News reports.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Jeffrey Goldberg: ‘Crimes’ jihadists will sentence you to death for
– Chemi Shalev: 10 commenters on the Paris terror attacks I can do without
– David Harris: 5 lessons from the Paris tragedy
– Nahum Barnea: ISIS first – everything else will have to wait
– Eugene Kontorovich: Europe mislabels Israel
– Jonathan Tobin: EU, Obama backs bias, not a boycott
– Bassam Tawil: Bankruptcy and mud
– Yaakov Amidror: Palestinian crime and punishment
– Peter Berkowitz: Obama’s moral ambiguity about violence in Israel
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA Nick via flickr with additions by HonestReporting; Rouhani via YouTube/PressTV News Videos; Milan CC BY-NC flickr/Luci a Milano;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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