• The US will allocate $440 million to the PA in 2014, mostly through USAID development projects, reports Maan News.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Jonathan Tobin (Israeli sacrifices for peace), Eitan Haber (Kerry and the peace process), Eugene Kontorovich (prisoner release), Roger Cohen (recognizing Israel as a Jewish state), Zalman Shoval (responding to terror from a future Palestinian state), and Clifford May (Jesus of Palestine).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• If you’re still wondering what a quenelle is and why Jews, France, and a number of athletes are in an uproar over this gesture, The Independent describes it as a “half-inverted Hitler salute and half-traditional French insult,” gaining popularity with European anti-Semites.
It all started when French soccer player Nicolas Anelka celebrated a goal in a nationally televised game with a quenelle. The controversy features an apology from NBA star Tony Parker, and a racial incitment trial for the comedian who created the gesture, Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala. Background and links at The Lede and The Tablet.
• Linking the Mideast peace talks with Iran is tricky business. Washington wanted to “line up its ducks” before confronting Iran, but botched it, argues David Weinberg:
Now that the administration is seeking detente with Iran — a detente that explicitly includes American acceptance of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program to a certain degree — the linkage argument has lost its force.
Not only does Washington no longer “need” Israeli concessions to the Palestinians to draft moderate Arab countries into a coalition against Iran, but the U.S. has lost the support of the same Arab countries it wished to draft, such as Saudi Arabia. Without connection to anything Palestinian, President Barack Obama has pushed Israelis and Saudis into a coalition more than ever before, against both Teheran and Washington.
• Jeffrey Goldberg has harsh words for the state of the nuclear talks. It’s been a month since Iran and struck the interim deal, so why hasn’t it been implemented already?
• Hamas denounced Egypt’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror group. Meanwhile, Egypt is seizing the assets of more than 500 Islamist leaders.
• Imagine the outrage if Israel did this:
Barrel bombs kill 517 in Aleppo
(Image of Anelka via YouTube/BFMTV)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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