Today’s Top Stories
*** UPDATE *** After this roundup was published, Egypt decided to postpone today’s Security Council vote. The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz reported this was due to heavy Israeli pressure on Cairo.
1. The UN Security Council is was due to vote on a resolution declaring that settlements “have no legal validity” and are a “flagrant violation” of international law. Haaretz reports that Israel and other countries were surprised by Egypt’s decision to rush the vote, while the Associated Press says the hurry may work against the draft. When this roundup was published the vote was due to be held at 3:00 PM New York time.
But Egypt’s call for a speedy vote leaves almost no time for negotiations among the 15 council members, and some language in the draft is highly likely to be unacceptable to the United States, Israel’s closest ally and a veto-wielding council member.
The Times of Israel obtained a copy of the draft. Israel’s urging the US to veto the resolution, but I haven’t seen any signs indicating how US Ambassador Samantha Power will vote.
2. Might Donald Trump recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan? Michael Oren, an MK who serves as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s adviser told journalists it wouldn’t hurt to ask. More at Bloomberg News.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
3. The US denied significant Israeli claims that Lebanese army APCs were given to Hezbollah.
Israel and the Palestinians
• YNet: Israeli security busted a Hamas cell planning suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa.
• The Jerusalem Post‘s man-on-the-street interviews found that A) Palestinians don’t really care if the US relocates its embassy to Jerusalem, and B) many weren’t aware that it’s currently in Tel Aviv or C) that there was even a debate on the matter.
Asked his reaction to the possible relocation, Hasan, a Palestinian man in his 60s, who requested his last name not be published, responded: “It does not matter to me. Why should I care about where the US Embassy is located? It does not change my life one bit.”
• Not your daddy’s global village:
• Turkey-Israel: A peace pipeline on the way?
• The body of one of the Berlin terror victims was positively identified as Israeli woman Daliya Elyakim of Herzliya. Her husband, Rami, remains hospitalized. German police are searching for a Tunisian national they believe responsible for plowing a truck into an outdoor Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring 48.
• Since this cartoon produced in Gaza is in Arabic, I have to assume it aims to brainwash Palestinian kids and not scare Israelis. MEMRI has more background.
Animated Music Video from Gaza Glorifies Palestinian Terrorist Attacks: I'm Coming for You with a Gun, an Axe, or a Knife pic.twitter.com/ZxnjRr3isZ
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 21, 2016
Around the World
• Dagens Nyheter, Sweden’s largest daily, reports that the country’s Jews are becoming radicalized. Annika Hernroth-Rothstein fires back.
In these Trumpian times, people like to talk about dog whistles, and the author of this expose, Bjorn Af Kleen, seems to have mastered the dog-whistle on an Olympic level . . .
As I’m reading all this, I wonder if the same type of article could have been written about the Muslims of Sweden? Would it be possible to write three pages on their division between men and women, about hijabs, Muslim laws on homosexuality or radicalization in their midst? There are several hundred thousand Muslims in Sweden and only 15,000 Jews, a handful of them identifying as religious. What is so fascinating about us? Why are we worthy of 6,000 words and all that muddled suspicion?
• A Jewish civil rights organization is threatening legal action against the Modern Language Association should it adopt a pro-BDS motion at the academic body’s 2017 convention. According to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB),
the motion “seeks unprecedented action from the MLA that is far beyond the capacity and powers set forth in the MLA’s corporate charter” and is “also inconsistent with the mission and programs that the MLA reports to the IRS.”
• The synagogue at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov was desecrated when several people broke into the building, splattered red paint on the walls and left behind a severed pig’s head on which a swastika was carved. The Hasidic master’s grave in the Ukranian town of Uman is a popular pilgrimage spot.
• These 4 factors trigger anti-Semitic hate crimes in the US.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Raphael Ahren: Will Palestinians get a Security Council motion passed – and will it matter?
– Ron Kampeas: Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem: the good, the bad and the unpredictable
– James Robbins: US embassy: Next year in Jerusalem
– Jack Saltzberg: How to fight the anti-Israel BDS movement
– Dore Gold: How did Israeli settlements become a legally contentious UN issue?
– Prof. Eugene Kontorovich: Israel’s settlement regulations bill and international law
– Yair Rosenberg: Why did the NY Times publish fake news about Trump, Zionism and Alan Dershowitz?
Featured image: CC BY-SA Rob Hurson with additions by HonestReporting;
Power via UN Photo/Loey Felipe;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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