Today’s Top Stories
1. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven says Palestinian stabbing attacks may not qualify as terrorist attacks.
“No, it is not classified as that. There is an international classification when it is, or is not. What I know is not classified as terrorism,” he told Swedish news agency TT.
He later tried to clarify that he’s not sure the attacks are being directed by a recognized terrorist organization. Either way, his comments do little to quell the growing distrust between Israel and Sweden.
Meanwhile, an Israeli expert on terrorism said the attacks are more coordinated than people think.
“I don’t accept the idea that these are lone wolves. This wave of terror is directed from above. The incitement is insane. It’s on TV, satellite broadcasts, in mosques, on the street and in schools, including East Jerusalem, in schools that we actually pay for. It’s so bad that it’s a surprise that not everyone is a terrorist. If you look at the website of the Palestinian Authority, they speak of all of Palestine, pre-1948, not just pre-1967.”
2. BDS-supporting British academic who refused to answer a question from a 13 year old Israeli girl “until there is peace in the region,” is being investigated for a possible hate crime for claiming that “the Jews have become the Nazis.”
3. Four Israeli Arabs get jail time for conspiring to attack Jews on the Temple Mount.
4. Facebook vs. Golda: Facebook ignores anti-Semitism but claims that HonestReporting’s image of Golda Meir doesn’t follow community standards.
5. Terror in London but not Terror in Jerusalem: Why is a stabbing attack described as terrorism in London but questioned when it happens in Jerusalem?
6. HR Mission Gets Behind the News: HR’s Advocacy Mission to Israel gave participants from around the world an incredible opportunity to experience a week of high-level speakers and exclusive visits to the places in the news.
Israel and the Intifada
• Tim Marshall looks the futility of the Palestinian “Intifada of Knives” and their western cheerleaders.
A Gallup Poll this year suggests that more Palestinians now support a full armed struggle against Israel than at any time in the past ten years. There will be those in the West who encourage this despite surely being aware that the death and destruction rained down upon the heads of the Palestinians by the IDF would be far, far greater than the damage they could inflict on the Israelis.
And at the end of it? After the mass arrests, the increased settlement building, the withdrawal of work permits, and after all the funerals, where would the Palestinians be? They would be where they are now, without a state, but there would be fewer of them.
• Customs officials have seized a shipment of dolls shown wearing Keffiyehs and holding stones in a throwing position.
The dolls, which were dressed in the Palestinian colors of red, green, black, and white, and in face-covering keffiyehs which had the slogans “Jerusalem is ours,” and “Jerusalem, here we come” inscribed on them, were found in a container which was labeled by the importer as having had contained articles of clothing, rugs, and plastic products.
The dolls, which originated in the United Arab Emirates and were en route to the Palestinian Authority, were meant to be used as tools of incitement for Palestinian youth.
• The high profile terrorist attacks carried out by the Islamic State or people sympathetic to its cause has brought new attention to the use of social media for incitement and recruitment.
“The bottom line is that Twitter is not doing enough,” said Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group. “With the technology Twitter has, they can immediately stop these accounts, but they have done nothing to stop the dissemination and recruitment of lone wolf terrorists.”
In response, Twitter said it actively investigated potential terrorist threats. “Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter, and our rules make that clear,” a Twitter spokesman said. “We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, and they work with law enforcement entities around the world when appropriate.”
Around the World
• The academic boycott by the National Women’s Studies Association, a leading feminist organization, runs into opposition from pro-Israel feminists and others.
• Leaked documents show how Islamic State is planning on building a state, complete with controlled-economy and civil administration.
• Iran carried out missile test that was barred by the UN Security Council in 2010.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– David Horovitz: What John Kerry should have told the Saban Forum
– Danny Dannon: Artificial wound of Palestinian refugees has festered too long
Featured image: CC BY-SA The Next Web Photos via flickr with additions by HonestReporting
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