Today’s Top Stories
1. The Palestinian statehood bid fell short in the UN Security Council, with a draft resolution failing to get the nine votes necessary to pass. The money quote from US Ambassador Samantha Power:
“It is deeply imbalanced and contains many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the parties, including unconstructive deadlines that take no account of Israel’s legitimate security concerns,” she said, adding that it “was put to a vote without a discussion or due consideration among council members.”
Lacking nine votes, it wasn’t necessary for the US to cast a veto. Nigeria’s abstention, a surprise to the Palestinians, turned out to be the swing vote. YNet lays out in nice detail the Nigerian backstory.
2. Saudis are closely watching the health of 90-year-old King Abdullah, who was hospitalized for unspecified medical tests today.
Next in line for the throne is the king’s 77-year-old half-brother, Crown Prince Salman. Saudi royal succession is a complicated family affair, to put it mildly.
3. Concrete facts about rebuilding Gaza: Is the slow pace of reconstruction due to Israeli restrictions or a dearth of donor funds?
4. The Israel Daily News Stream is a roundup that takes many hours to put together. If this “cheat sheet” of news and commentary has helped you keep up to date on Israel, the Mideast, and the media, please help us continue our work in 2015 and donate now.
Israel and the Palestinians
• What next for the Palestinians after the UN embarrassment? According to reports, Mahmoud Abbas may sign up for the International Criminal Court as early as tonight.
• The PA’s envoy to Australia says Canberra damaged relations with the Arab world by opposing the resolution, reports The Guardian.
• Hussam Hassan Kawasme was convicted for masterminding the June kidnapping and murder of Gil-Ad Sha’er, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrah.
• JTA: A Jewish governor and former member of a Zionist youth movement was appointed Brazil’s next minister of defense.
• Looks like Jews, but not Israelis, will be allowed to work in Saudi Arabia, according to a report spotted by MEMRI.
He concluded: “It is difficult for us, as a Saudi Arab kingdom, to ban ties with a particular religion. The ban must apply only to Israeli citizens, because Israel is linked to the Zionist movement, which is an imperialist colonialist movement that exploits the Jewish faith and is therefore unrelated to Judaism and is totally different from it.”
• School atlases put out by HarperCollins omit Israel? Say it ain’t so!
Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specialises in maps, told The Tablet that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and the amendment incorporated “local preferences”.
• Israel’s economy grew 2.6 percent in 2014.
• Of The Independent’s 10 most-read stories of 2014, half of them are screeds about Israel during the Gaza crisis. What does it say about the paper and its audience that Mira Bar Hillel’s “Why I’m on the brink of burning my Israeli passport” was *the* most-read article, with twice the page views of the second place article? Read more about Bar Hillel’s foaming at the mouth vendetta.
Commentary/Analysis
• Best post-mortem on yesterday’s UNSC vote was actually a “pre-mortem” by Raphael Ahren back in November. He nailed it.
• While voting against the draft, US Ambassador Samantha Power reiterated support for the 1967 borders serving as the basis for peace talks, points out Chemi Shalev. Though Israel dodged a bullet, Raphael Ahren warns not to view the vote as a “victory.” And Khaled Abu Toameh explains that the resolution didn’t enjoy popular Palestinian support either.
• New York Times columnist Roger Cohen visits Gaza.
• John Kerry won’t call the Islamic State by its name anymore. Is that a good idea?
Mira Bar Hillel CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
