Today’s Top Stories
1. According to Reuters, Israel will appoint a new ambassador to Jordan in a bid to heal ties. Relations between the countries dived when an Israeli security guard at the embassy in Amman killed two people in what the guard described as self-defense. But will replacing the ambassador be enough to assuage Jordan?
But Israel has shown no sign of meeting Jordan’s demand that it launch criminal proceedings against the guard, who killed two Jordanians in what he called self-defense.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
2. An unhappy Iranian wrestler admitted his coach told him to throw a match to avoid facing Israeli at a tournament in Poland. More at the New York Times.
Iranian wrestler Alireza Karimi about to beat Russian, but will have to face Israeli next round. His coach his calling him from the sidelines, telling him to “lose.” Iran forbids its athletes to play Israeli’s. Iranian wrestler gives up. pic.twitter.com/nX9KHaH8Jn
— Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) November 27, 2017
3. According to Palestinian media reports, the PA ordered its former Gaza civil servants to return to their posts, angering Hamas and casting doubt on national reconciliation and the future of thousands of Hamas’ own civil servants.
4. CNN Sexual Harassment Map: Israel an Arab State: CNN makes a mess of a Mideast map.
Israel and the Palestinians
• In yet another upgrade of African ties, Israel will open a new embassy in Rwanda, and is considering direct commercial flights there as well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this in Nairobi, where he joined celebrations for the inauguration of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. According to African media reports, the embassy will likely open in June or July. The Times of Israel explains:
At the sidelines of the luncheon in Nairobi, Netanyahu also met the presidents of Gabon, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Sudan, Botswana and Namibia, and the prime minister of Ethiopia.
Netanyahu may also have conducted secret meetings with African nations with which Israel does not have diplomatic ties.
• The World Chess Federation is vowing to go all-out for Israeli players to be included in a Saudi-hosted tournament at the end of December. Reuters reports that seven Israelis have requested visas to compete, while Haaretz adds that another three Israeli grandmasters will join other international chess players boycotting the Saudis over the kingdom’s human rights record and dress codes for women competitors.
But even if some Israeli players end up going, other competitors might refuse to play against them. Many times over the years pairings in tournaments have been switched around to let an Arab or Muslim player skirt a match against an Israeli.
• In recent weeks, leading Saudi wonks have been tweeting nice things about Israel. The Jerusalem Post rounds up what they’re saying.
• I can only imagine the nastygrams circulating around the Beirut news room of the Al Liwaa daily paper. A story about about Colette Vianfi — an alleged Mossad agent accused of recruiting a prominent Lebanese comedian/actor — was mistakenly illustrated with a photo of Israeli actress Gal Gadot.
Best known for her role as Wonder Woman, Gadot’s only known association with the Israeli spook agency was her role as a former Mossad agent in the Fast and Furious series. Oops.
A senior newspaper executive described the incident as “embarrassing” in a telephone interview with Arab News.
• Israel is barring Swiss officials from visiting Gaza after a delegation of diplomats held a pair of meetings with Hamas leaders, according to Israeli media reports. Swiss envoys are still free to enter the Strip from the Sinai.
• The leader of an Iran-backed militia in Syria says his forces are now “fully prepared” to fight Israel:
Hezbollah al-Nujaba is reportedly controlled by Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite foreign operations unit, the Qods Force.
Ka’abi, who controls a reported 10,000 men in Syria, also said his group was prepared to defend the Lebanese terror group and fellow Iranian proxy Hezbollah from any Israeli attack.
• The IDF declared maritime Iron Dome operational.
• Tensions are rising between Hamas and the Saudis. The Media Line reports that Riyadh is piqued that Hamas hasn’t really distanced itself from Iran and Hezbollah:
As attention is fixed on the Palestinian reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas factions and the prospect of elections for a unity government are atop the agenda, the Saudis are deeply concerned about the impact the incorporation of Hamas members into the Palestinian government will have given the Hamas commitment to warming its ties to Iran.
Around the World
• North Korea test fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile that experts said is capable of reaching anywhere in the US or Europe. It’s a major escalation for Kim Jong-un, but the Washington Post explains why the sky isn’t necessarily falling yet:
Although it may be cold comfort, it is still unlikely that North Korea is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland — despite Wednesday’s claims. That still requires mastering reentry technology and the difficult task of fitting a nuclear warhead into a missile and have it survive the extremes of temperature and vibrations involved with leaving and coming back into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But Pyongyang has been making rapid progress toward achieving that goal . . .
News reports continue to indicate Iranian cooperation with North Korea on missile technology. I wonder what conclusions Tehran will draw from the world’s response to Pyongyang.
• Come on, tell us what you really think!
– John Kerry: Israel, Egypt pushed US before deal to ‘bomb Iran’
– Michael Oren: Kerry has an ‘acrid and obsessive’ place in his heart for Israel
• The JTA examines why more and more kosher butchers in Western Europe are preparing to close their shops. If current trends hold, kosher meat is going to disappear from Europe.
But like other producers of kosher meat in Western Europe, the Levys are no longer certain of the viability of their business. In recent years they have been suffering both from declining revenues due to emigration from France by Jews fearful of jihadist violence and anti-Muslim measures targeting the ritual slaughter of animals.
“I want Maurice to learn a trade because with the meat industry, who knows what tomorrow will bring,” Levy told JTA about his 17-year-old son. “All kosher delis, they will be a thing of the past within one generation either because they’re made illegal, suffocated by anti-kosher regulations or defeated by supermarkets.”
On a related note, the Belgian Jewish community filed a lawsuit to overturn a ban on the religious slaughter of animals.
• German Jews stop wearing kippot due to Muslim attacks.
• Russian bishop: Jews killed Czar Nicholas II, the last czar, in a “ritual murder.”
• A Florida man who confessed to planning to bomb a synagogue last year “will be locked up while he undergoes medical treatment and is expected to serve a maximum of 25 years in prison,” the Sun-Sentinel reports.
• I haven’t been this excited since Scarlett Johannson freed the bubbles:
Gwyneth Paltrow likes Israeli Pesek Zman chocolate spread
Commentary
• David Makovsky weighs in on settlements and land swaps in a Washington Post video.
• Today marks the 70th anniversary of the UN Partition Plan, which paved the way for Israeli independence. Here’s what they’re saying about it:
– Martin Kramer: Why the 1947 UN partition resolution must be celebrated
– Michael Goodwin: The miracle of Israel lives on 70 years later
– Liora Chartouni: 70 years after UN resolution 181: An assessment
• Best line of the day goes to Benny Avni:
At Turtle Bay, meanwhile, the General Assembly will solemnly mark the date on Wednesday, as it does every year, by conducting an “international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people” — remembering one of the only consequential decisions the UN ever took by celebrating those who rejected it.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Avi Issacharoff: With victory assured, why is Assad suddenly wary of Iran’s embrace?
– Efraim Inbar: For how long will peace treaty with Egypt be robust?
– Yossi Shain: The Israeli embrace of ‘Zionist anti-Semites’
– Peter Reitzes: Duke University Press and the demonization of Israel
– Gil Troy: Hotovely’s faux pas: Telling the truth about American Jews
– Rachel Avraham: Israel should arm the Kurds
– New York Daily News (staff-ed): Queens Museum mystery as to who tried to cancel Israel’s celebration
Featured image: CC BY flash.pro; Rwanda via Twitter/Government of Rwanda; chess CC BY Christine Kongsvik; Gadot via YouTube/Movieclips; Iron Dome via IDF Spokesperson’s Unit; missile CC BY-SA Wikimedia Commons; cow CC0 Pixabay;
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