Today’s Top Stories
1. Egypt ordered to pay Israel Electric Corp $1.76 billion for years of barring gas transfers. Egypt vows to appeal.
2. Israel shuts down a Hebron-based radio station that was promoting violence against Israel.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli NGO whose monitoring is often used by the right-wing government to discredit the Palestinian Authority, said of Dream Radio: “In the last two months they switched focus very much to incitement against Israel and to a different format with a lot of songs calling for attacks.”
One such song was aired on 10 November. According to PMW’s translation, it exhorted listeners to “fill and burn a Molotov cocktail, ’cause he who did not see to see. Call the young people of Jerusalem come and they will answer your call… Fill [it] my son and do not hesitate, this is the only option for you.”
3. IDF planes responded to cross-border shooting in Gaza for the second time in recent days. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot warned of a “thin line” preventing an escalation.
“From time to time, they challenge us with rocket fire at Israeli territory, and at times, a line as thin as a hair separates us from an incident that ends with rocket fire on an open area, to rocket fire that can lead to casualties and an escalation.”
Israel and the Intifada
• Hamas is coming under increased domestic pressure as Palestinians take to social media to pressure Hamas to give up control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
“Hamas has to handover the control on Rafah crossing to the Palestinian (National) Authority or to an international parties to guarantee a permanent and steady opening of the crossing,” said Ayman A’loul, a local journalist and social media activist.
The activists called on Hamas to bear in mind the interests of the people instead of the interests of the party, and all agreed that Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, has to initiate a solution to the crisis of the closure of the crossing to rescue the humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave.
Hamas, however, rejected the demand out of hand.
• What’s the quietest city in the West Bank? Today, it’s Jenin, where citizens are cracking down on terrorists to promote their economic interests.
Jenin, once a stronghold of suicide bombers, is the quietest town in the West Bank these days. After four attempted terror attacks at the nearby Jalamah checkpoint, the people there understood their economic prosperity could be endangered and immediately took action to calm things down.
Israel and the World
• EU sets new guidelines for product labels for Israel. Irish officials insist that the labels are not support for BDS. Michael Oren takes issue with the European labeling, saying it evokes the EU’s 2,000 year history of anti-Semitism.
• Israel-Swedish rift widens.
• A Brookings Institute poll found that Evangelical Christians admire Benjamin Netanyahu more than any other world leader. Ronald Reagan placed second. Netanyahu tied with Reagan for first among Republicans in general. But he came in 6th among Democrats, among whom only 1% chose him as most admired leader.
Netanyahu’s disapproval rating among Democrats has soared since last year, rising from 22% in 2014 to 34% in 2015.
Commentary/Analysis
• Ari Shavit argues that convincing Israelis to lay aside their security concerns for the sake of a two state solution requires strong support from the international community. But the UN, which passed six more anti-Israel resolutions last week, proves to be doing just the opposite.
What makes last week’s UN vote-against-Israel day all the more absurd is the resolution regarding the Golan Heights. With a majority of 105 against 6 (US, Canada, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, and Israel) the General Assembly made the following statement: “Occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constitute a stumbling block on the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.”
Really? Has any one of the distinguished diplomats favoring this resolution read a newspaper over the last few years? Do they really think that with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against his own people and with ISIS forces beheading men, stoning women and burning infidels, Israel’s rule over the Golan region is the “stumbling block… to achieving… peace in the region”?
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Shlomo Brom, Emily B. Landau, Shimon Stein: It’s Time for Israel and the Arab States to Talk Mutual Security
– Ruth R. Wisse: Lighting Candles for Liberty
– Yardena Schwartz: Palestine’s Abortion Problem
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
Before you comment on this article, please remind yourself of our Comments Policy. Any comments deemed to be in breach of the policy will be removed at the editor’s discretion.
