Today’s Top Stories
1. Still trying to reverse President Donald Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, the Palestinians are taking their fight to the UN General Assembly. While the Palestinians enjoy overwhelming support in the General Assembly, the GA’s resolutions are symbolic, carrying limited to no legal weight. The General Assembly already voted 176-7 on Tuesday “to affirm the Palestinian right to self-determination.”
More on the politicking scheduled for Thursday at the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Ynet and Times of Israel. To put the debate in perspective, Reuters notes:
Under a 1950 resolution, an emergency special session can be called for the General Assembly to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures” if the Security Council fails to act.
Only 10 such sessions have been convened, and the last time the General Assembly met in such a session was in 2009 on occupied East Jerusalem and Palestinian territories. Thursday’s meeting will be a resumption of that session.
2. In the aftermath of Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, the PA is recruiting Russia and China to “replace” the US and take leading roles in mediating Mideast peace. More at the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. A Berkeley councilwoman fired a commissioner who wouldn’t support Israel boycott. The JTA, picking up on local coverage, explains, “Cheryl Davila, who was elected to the Berkeley City Council last year, dismissed Transportation Commissioner Ben Gerhardstein last month after he declined to state a position on whether Berkeley should divest from companies that do business with Israel.”
4. Hot Debate: Do Israeli soldiers deserve to be attacked? Are Israelis and their MKs racists? Is the Arab world finally realizing that Jerusalem is holy to Jews and that they’ve missed opportunities for peace? Angry sparks flew as HR’s Daniel Pomerantz, Haaretz’s Gideon Levy and MK Meirav Ben Ari argued on i24 News’ Spin Room.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Contrary to earlier coverage, the Jerusalem Post reports that Vice President Mike Pence has a green light to hold a press conference by the Western Wall when he visits Israel in mid-January:
The source denied earlier reports that the administrator of the Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz had completely barred Pence from conducting a press conference at the Western Wall during his upcoming visit to the country.
According to the source, Pence would be able to hold the event in the upper plaza, but not the lower one, which is considered sacred.
• To curb rocket fire, Hamas is arresting and reportedly even torturing Salafists, according to Haaretz.
• Citing freedom of information laws, Israeli BDS activists demand details on Israel’s anti-BDS policy. Israel HaYom reports:
The activists want the state to reveal the identities of the international law firms working on the project and the nature of the services they are providing the Justice Ministry.
Bensouda further determined that the judges failed to properly address the context in which the IDF soldiers committed the alleged “crimes” and the violence resistance they encountered on the ship. She said the judges’ disregard of the activists’ resistance was particularly surprising in light of the fact that they determined that the IDF soldiers had used force which wasn’t necessarily required. According to the prosecutor, even if live ammunition was used before the takeover, that doesn’t necessarily point to the existence of a policy or plan to carry out crimes.
Israel’s most significant achievement, however, is convincing the prosecutor that it had investigated all aspects of the incident properly and thoroughly— both in the army and in through the Turkel Commission—and drawn conclusions in a way that would make any additional investigation redundant.
• USA Today finds that Jerusalem Palestinians are still seeking Israeli citizenship despite Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
Increasing numbers of East Jerusalem Palestinians are choosing to live in Jewish neighborhoods. Separately, greater numbers of local Palestinians are choosing to send their children to Arabic-language schools using Israeli curricula.
Between the 2016 and the 2017 school years, there was a 14% increase in Arab students studying for Israeli high school enrollment exams, according to municipal statistics. Parents want their children to be able to access Israeli universities.
• Germany’s foreign minister compared Israeli policy in the West Bank to apartheid.
• Deutsche Welle takes a closer look at the Hezbollah scouts program, where brainwashed kids as young as six aspire to “crush Israel” and serve as cannon fodder.
As a former child soldier, Ziad says he feels the pain of the children being politicized in Dahiya, and compares them to the Hitler Youth of World War II. “If God gave me one wish, I would ask for my childhood, my teenage years back,” Ziad said. He now gives lectures about his experiences and sense of loss, in the hope that the next generation might learn something from them.
Judging by 21st century Dahiya, it is a forlorn hope. A new generation of Zaids, Alis and Abbases are being taught that childhood is a time to prepare for the next war.
Around the World
• Canadian Jews are concerned after synagogues in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Hamilton received identical anti-Semitic hate messages. The letters featured a swastika inside a Jewish star dripping with blood, along with the words “Jewry must perish.”
Synagogues Across Canada Get Hate Mail Saying ‘Jewry Must Perish’ – https://t.co/J7wjHhai1E
— The Forward (@jdforward) December 19, 2017
• Brooklyn high school student arrested for bomb threat targeting ‘Jew-loving teachers’
• A New Jersey imam was suspended over a sermon caught on film demonizing Israel and the Jewish people.
Commentary
The world’s superpower finally did the right thing, and we opposed it – not on the principle, but on the “timing.” The timing? Now is the not the right time? Two thousand years later and it is still not the right time? As if there is a peace process that the Palestinians are committed to and pursuing with conviction.
There were critics who accused the civil rights movement of moving too quickly. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response: “The time is always ripe to do what is right.”
See also Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin‘s take.
– Lahav Harkov: The global media’s deranged ‘Jerusalem syndrome’
– Bassam Tawil: Is it really about Jerusalem?
– Raphael Ahren: Despite failing, UN Jerusalem bid paints Israel, US as alone against the world
– Michael Totten: Islamic governments cede West Jerusalem to Israel
– Colin Rubenstein: Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a welcome, symbolic move
– Denis MacEoin: The US embassy move to Jerusalem vs. the ‘peace process’
– Prof. Eyal Zisser: Why is Europe always against Israel?
– Simon Palamar: Jerusalem decision high-risk, low-reward for Trump
– Vijeta Uniyal: India’s stance on Jerusalem angers Arab regimes
– Benny Avni: Britain just betrayed America at the UN
– New York Daily News (staff-ed): Haley’s Chanukah gift in blocking nasty anti-Israel Security Council resolution
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Yoaz Hendel: How to deal with the Palestinian camera war
– Amos Harel: Assad regime prepares to expand its control over border area with Israel
– Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: If only peace were as easy to share as a selfie
– Nadav Eyal: Before Gaza turns into Somalia
– Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi: Obama and Hezbollah: No moral backbone
– Roger Boyes: Muslim migrants behind rise in UK anti-Semitism
– Eli Lake: Obama’s alternative facts on the Iran nuclear deal
Featured image: CC BY Matthew G; United Nations CC BY-NC UNAMA News; Bensouda via UN Photo/Loey Felipe; Yoffie via YouTube/Amy Yoffie; Jerusalem CC BY-SA Wikimedia Commons/Yonah baby;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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