Today’s Top Stories
1. It was busy day at Turtle Bay, where the UN General Assembly passed six resolutions bashing Israel. One called on Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria, another ignored Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites. See the Jerusalem Post and UN Watch for more.
The Jerusalem resolution was one of six resolutions condemning Israel and supporting the Palestinians that the General Assembly approved on Wednesday, as part of its special annual session for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which began on Tuesday.
2. Plans for Holocaust Education Week events at Toronto’s Ryerson University are in limbo, according to the Toronto Sun. The student union was going to vote on a resolution advanced by the campus Hillel when Muslim and pro-Palestinian students sought an amendment recognizing “all forms of genocide.”
When it became apparent there wasn’t enough support for the amendment, they walked out, “causing the meeting to lose quorum and the vote to die.”
The Ryersonian adds that Jewish students attending the meeting faced anti-Semitic taunts.
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3. According to AP, “President Barack Obama has nearly ruled out any major last-ditch effort to put pressure on Israel over stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians, U.S. officials said, indicating Obama will likely avoid one last row with Israel’s government as he leaves office.”
Contrast that with Secretary of State John Kerry’s veiled suggestion that the US could still take unspecified steps. The JTA reported:
There’s no way to “force-feed” peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said in a lengthy speech delivered Tuesday at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group conference, but there are “other things we can do” to preserve a two-state solution.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Fatah congress in a three-hour speech.
• Sanity prevails in a tiny corner of the Mideast.
Jerusalem neighborhoods reach muezzin agreement without politicians
• In the latest sign of re-normalizing ties, Israeli Ambassador Eitan Naeh arrived in Turkey.
• Reuters visited Amona for a nice overview of the controversial “Regulation bill,” which would retroactively recognize it and other illegally built settlement outposts.
• The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, arrived in Israel to finalize a major security deal.
Around the World
• Kosovo‘s president bans sale, distribution of anti-Semitic books
• Anti-BDS bill passes Ohio House of Representatives, moves to Senate.
• NYU president slams anti-Israel boycott movement as ‘affront to academic freedom.’
• After AFP picked up on the end of a Jenin cinema, IsraellyCool unpacked the wire service’s coverage.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Itamar Marcus: Will Mahmoud Abbas pay salaries to the arsonists?
– Salem Barahmeh: Now is the moment for us Palestinians to renew our national movement
– Aaron David Miller: Why Carter is wrong on state of Palestine
– Michael Oren: France should be ashamed of labeling products made by Jews
– Yoav Limor: Israel’s airstrike despite Russia’s eye in the sky
– Dennis Ross: How Trump could surprise the world on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking
– Norman Bailey: Trump will end the pro-Palestinian bias of the Obama administration
– Ottawa Citizen (staff-ed): MPPs can support Israel by opposing the boycott movement
– Alan Gold: If I forget thee, Oh Jerusalem . . .
Featured image: CC BY internets_dairy; United Nations CC BY-NC photos_mweber; Amona via YouTube/Wotchit News;
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