Today’s Top Stories
1. Mahmoud Abbas can crack down on incitement when he wants to. The PA issued an arrest warrant for pro-Hamas cartoonist Baha Yassin. The Gaza-based Yassin accused Fatah of collaborating with Israel in a graphic cartoon that crossed even Palestinian norms.
2. Israeli officials brushed off as “nonsense” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest comments hinting at a thaw in Jerusalem-Ankara relations.
Erdogan told reporters normalized Israeli-Turkish ties would benefit the region though he refused to budge on his two conditions: a compensation deal for victims of the Mavi Marmara raid, and a lifting of the Gaza blockade. Jerusalem has issues with Ankara as well — most notably Turkey hosting Hamas terror commanders.
“The ball is in their court. We apologized and were ready to pay damages. He should stop talking nonsense about the removal of the Gaza blockade, because Turkey knows that there is no such thing, and we are not about to pay more for normalization,” officials in Jerusalem said.
Diplomatic officials said ever since the breakout of tensions over the downing of the Russian Jet by the Turks, it seems that Ankara wants to normalize relations with Israel, and is especially interested in the gas deal which will see Israel establishing a pipeline from their fields to Turkey and other places in the world.
3. IDF reserve officer briefly detained in UK for Gaza war crimes.
The officer, who came to Britain on a business trip, was released a few hours after being detained, thanks to the intervention of the Foreign Ministry with the assistance of the IDF’s Operations Directorate and the IDF’s international law division. British authorities apologized to Israel following the incident.
4. How to Write Like an Action Hero: 10 tips for writing effective letters to the editor.
Israel and the Intifada
• A Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop near the entrance to the city, and was shot dead by police. Eleven people, including a toddler, were injured in the attack.
• Guards return to Jerusalem busses as the city reactivates its public transport security unit. YNet coverage.
• A Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem was indicted for posting a video on social media calling on people to stab Jews.
• The Israeli Air Force hit two Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the Strip.
Around the World
• German newsweekly owner Jakob Augstein compared Israel to the National Front, and other fascists. The Jerusalem Post picked up on Augstein, who is part-owner and columnist at Der Spiegel.
In a column subtitled “Fascism is not a phenomenon of the past,” Augstein wrote, “so right-wing like the German right-wing populists is the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.” Augstein discussed Israel’s government within the context of the National Front.
• Texas A&M to open $6 million marine research center in Israel. The center replaces a cancelled Texas A&M campus that was planned for Nazareth. Inside Higher Ed reported that the Nazareth project was done in by Israeli bureaucracy and the university’s problems finding “a single deep-pocketed funder.” Texas A&M and Haifa University plan to open the marine center in February.
• Facing heavy losses, Tehran is reportedly withdrawing it’s Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Adam Harmon: Israel’s lessons for protecting Americans
– Jackson Diehl: A nightmare scenario in the Middle East
– Elyakim Haetzni: Russia: Israel’s friend or foe?
– Christoph Schult: Israeli-German relations: Polemics have no place in true friendships
Featured image: CC BY-NC Rowen Atkinson; Erdogan CC BY presidenciamx; Augstein CC BY Blaues Sofa;
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