Today’s Top Stories
1. The EU’s anti-Semitism czar, Katharina von Schnurbein, discussed Europe’s efforts to formulate an updated definition of anti-Semitism with the Times of Israel.
“The definition of anti-Semitism is very disputed, even among Jews themselves. The main dissent revolves around the question of manifestations against the State of Israel. We’re currently looking into this issue,” Katharina von Schnurbein told The Times of Israel in a telephone interview last week from Brussels. “One thing is clear: Anti-Semitism can sometimes hide behind anti-Zionism. That is certainly our understanding here.”
HonestReporting already uses the definition that was previously in effect, and we welcome the EU’s efforts to update and restore it.
2. A pair of Palestinians stabbed Israelis outside the Jaffa Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City before being shot by Border Police officers on the scene. Three victims were seriously wounded.
3. Russia will begin work on constructing two nuclear reactors in Iran next week. AFP coverage.
4. The 2015 Dishonest Reporting Awards: Our annual review of the year’s worst cases of media bias.
Israel and the Intifada
• Israel busted a Hamas terror cell planning suicide bombings and producing explosives in its own makeshift laboratory. Most of the members were students at Abu Dis University in eastern Jerusalem. More at the Times of Israel.
• The US State Department rejected lawmakers’ calls to close PLO office in Washington. A letter signed by 32 congressmen urged Secretary of State John Kerry “to revoke a waiver that allows the PLO office in Washington to remain open.”
They argued that Palestinian leaders encouraged violence against Israelis, including a wave of knife-wielding attacks in recent months.
• This was for illustrative purposes only, right?
Palestinians angry with Hassan Nasrallah for covering map of 'Palestine' with colors of Iran flag. pic.twitter.com/3Nc8gg8cOa
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) December 22, 2015
• A photo of Samir Kuntar as plump-looking prisoner drew rare Arab praise of Israel on Facebook. The Times of Israel explains the story behind al-Jazeera journalist Faisal al-Qassem’s Facebook post that went viral.
“Samir Kuntar left an Israeli prison with a beer belly and a doctorate. At the other extreme, this is how Syrians leave Assad’s prisons,” read the text accompanying the photo.
Mohamed Jamila???? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ?????.
Posted by ???????? ???? ??????? on Sunday, December 20, 2015
• Jordan rejected a request by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to visit. According to the Jerusalem Post:
“The decision to prevent Mashaal from visiting Jordan is now politically motivated,” the sources said.
In 1999, Jordan expelled the Hamas leaders and closed the movement’s offices in Amman. Then, the Jordanians accused Hamas of meddling in the kingdom’s internal affairs. Mashaal and the Hamas officials were expelled despite the fact that they hold Jordanian citizenship.
• Ahead of Christmas, William Booth of the Washington Post takes the pulse of Bethlehem.
• Haaretz takes a closer look at the snarled appointment of Dani Dayan as ambassador to Brazil. It’s a perfect storm of A) Israel not having a foreign minister, B) Brazilian government paralysis due to a domestic political crisis, and C) Palestinians campaigning Brasilia to not approve the ex-settler leader for the diplomatic post.
• Worth reading: The Daily Mail takes a closer look at the Bedouin soldiers serving in the Israeli army.
• Today’s Jerusalem stabbing led to this bungled headline from Time. Is there no relevance to the fact that the Palestinians killed were the stabbers, or that Israelis were victims?
Around the World
• Surprise, surprise: Iran warns Turkey against renewing ties with Israel.
• Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden’s Jews live in a climate of fear.
• Amnesty International‘s taking on Russian air strikes in Syria it says have killed 200 civilians violate international law. The BBC and CNN, among others, picked up on the story.
• Iranian casualties rise in Syria as the Revolutionary Guards ramps up its role, reports Reuters.
• It’s only an outrage when Israel does this:
Syria regime bombs UNESCO Heritage Site
• In a dispatch from Iraqi Kurdistan, the Jerusalem Post‘s Seth Frantzman looks at Islamic State’s evolving tactics and what they mean.
Commentary/Analysis
• I was intrigued by Eyal Zisser‘s take on Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s speech after the assassination of Samir Kuntar:
In his speech, which was mostly dedicated to addressing the group’s problems in Lebanon and beyond while only briefly touching on Kuntar, Nasrallah spoke in general and noncommittal terms of avenging the assassination at some future point. Ultimately, Nasrallah knows that the Lebanese public, including even his own supporters, will not accept Hezbollah provoking war with Israel in southern Lebanon, especially given the fact that Kuntar, who was not a member of Hezbollah, was killed in Syria.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Howard Feldman: Fifty steps from terror
– Anshel Pfeffer: Is Russia’s hidden hand somewhere in the Samir Kuntar assassination?
– Yossi Melman: Hezbollah’s 100,000 rockets and Israel’s new missile defense system
• For a sense of what the critics are saying, see Hannah Weisfeld in The Guardian and Uri Blau in the Washington Post.
Featured image: CC BY-SA Garry Knight
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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