Today’s Top Stories
1. The international nuclear talks with Iran were extended. Negotiators will meet again in December; new deadline for resolving the crisis is March 1, with details to be worked out by the end of June.
2. The Israeli cabinet moved forward legislation defining Israel as a Jewish state. I don’t know what the legislation says, but it still has to pass through the Knesset, which could kill, delay or water down the proposal. The Israeli debate over the Jewish state bill focuses on the coalition politics (if it interests you, see what Dror Eydar and Haviv Rettig Gur have to say). In any event, AP writes:
The bill calls not only for recognizing Israel’s Jewish character but for institutionalizing Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and dropping Arabic as an official language.
The Times of London had this provocative headline:
3. PA delays statehood bid in UN due to US pressure and lack of support from the UN Security Council members. But the official line?
Malki said that the pre-occupation of the Security Council members with the Iranian issue in Vienna was another reason why the PA decided to delay the statehood bid.
4. The Post the NYT Public Editor Didn’t Want to Write: Will the Jerusalem bureau adopt the public editor’s suggestions for better Israeli-Palestinian coverage?
5. New York Times’ Broken Engagement: It must have slipped Nathan Filer’s mind that he’s associated with an organization supporting terrorists.
6. 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
• The European Parliament will discuss recognizing Palestine on Thursday. YNet says it’s a symbolic vote, but the outcome “could increase pressure on European member states to follow Stockholm’s lead.”
• Times of Israel: A border policeman was indicted on a charge of manslaughter for the Naqba day shooting of a Palestinian teen.
• Israel busted a West Bank terror network funded and directed by Hamas officials in Turkey. Saleh al-Arouri, who masterminded the kidnapping of three Israeli teens, has set up a “de-facto command center” in the NATO member state. Palestinians are furious that Arouri is plotting against the PA from the safety of Turkey.
• US judge rules PA, PLO to face US trial over terror support. According to YNet:
For the first time, the trial will be open to the public and to media reports in real time and evidence that have so far been confidential will be exposed. The plaintiffs claim this evidence is enough to prove the Palestinian Authority supports terror activity to this very day.
• Hamas member admitted to running over soldiers in Nov. 5 attack.
• Police arrest Israeli-Arab who attended ISIS training camp.
• Nice background piece on the Temple Mount controversy by New York Times bureau chief Jodi Rudoren.
• The Daily Telegraph‘s Robert Tait explores the “fear and loathing” along Jerusalem’s light rail line.
Mideast Matters
• The New York Times reports that Chuck Hagel will step down as Defense Secretary.
The officials described Mr. Obama’s decision to remove Mr. Hagel, 68, as a recognition that the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ.
• New York Times: Can a deal with Iran really block the possibility of a covert weapon?
• Former CIA chief: The intelligence community can’t track Iran’s nuclear development on its own. According to Michael Hayden,
without an “invasive inspections regime” attached to any deal, “I am unwilling to guarantee American intelligence can sufficiently verify the agreement on its own.”
• Pass the popcorn: The rift between Hezbollah and Assad continues to grow.
• Saudi Arabia doubled the size of its buffer zone with Iraq.
Commentary/Analysis
• Irish Independent columnist Carol Hunt is spot on with her assessment of the Left’s anti-Israel rhetoric leads down a road to anti-Semitism.
• After seeing how the media covered last week’s synagogue attack, Alan Johnson‘s take is very worth reading.
• Andrew Roberts wonders why Palestinian refugees are the only refugees in the world who haven’t moved on. He writes in the Wall St. Journal (via Google News):
Sadly, it has been the Arab states’ cynical and self-interested policy for nearly seven decades to keep the Palestinians boiling with indignation. No one can doubt that for those who have continued to live in camps intended for long-ago refugees, the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, when thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled, was indeed a catastrophe. But many other peoples have learned to deal with equal or worse by moving onward and upward; calling them refugees several generations after their forebears’ upheaval would be unthinkable.
• Elliott Abrams weighs in on Egypt shutting down the Rafah crossing. There’s a tale of two narratives at play.
My point is a different one: were it Israel keeping the key passage closed and simply saying security requires it, this would be a very big deal. The condemnations would be constant. Instead, near silence. Double standard? The usual uninterest in how Arabs treat other Arabs? The desire not to criticize General Sisi’s government in Cairo? So it seems. A Palestinian would be justified in concluding that the world hasn’t the slightest interest in the fate of Palestinians, other than as a battering ram to use against Israel.
• The Jewish State’s Newest Hero Wasn’t Jewish
For all the savagery of the terrorism that has sent so many innocents over the years to early graves, though, the funeral of Saif is poignant evidence that peaceful coexistence is not only possible in the Jewish state, it’s a daily reality, woven into the warp and woof of Israeli life.
• Israeli officials were busy speaking out this weekend. Ambassadors Shmuel Ben-Shmuel and Rafael Barak got op-ed space in The Australian and National Post respectively to discuss Palestinian terror. Ambassador Ron Prosor discussed Palestinian incitement with CNN. And Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed the extension of the Iranian talks with the BBC.
• Over at the Huffington Post, Rabbi Joseph Meszler’s Waiting for a Palestinian MLK.
• For more commentary/analysis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, see Aaron David Miller (Why Jerusalem is so explosive), Burak Bekdil (Turkish attitudes towards Israel and Jews), Glen Falkenstein (No place for BDS in Australia), Cal Thomas (Teaching hate), Steve Erlanger (Israel’s losing Europe),
See also Denis MacEoin (Qatar and terror), Bernard Avishai (Crisis in Jerusalem), and Eeta Price-Gibson (Jerusalem’s train to nowhere). Anshel Pfeffer, The Economist and David Gardner (Financial Times via Google News) all worry about the conflict becoming an increasingly religious war.
• For more commentary/analysis on the Iranian nuclear talks, see Yossi Melman (How much will a deal delay a bomb?)
Staff-eds: The Washington Post chides Washington for not being tougher on Iran. The Times of London says no nuclear deal is better than a bad nuclear deal.
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA flickr/A bloke called Jerm; justice CC BY-NC-SA flickr/Scott*
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