Everything you need to know about today’s coverage of Israel and the Mideast. Join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
Today’s Top Stories
1. Maan News: The PA’s financial crisis precludes it from joining international bodies.
2. Hamas and the PA are reportedly refusing to take in Palestinian refugees from Syria — but for different reasons. The Times of Israel explains:
According to the report, head of Hamas in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh told UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, that the Gaza Strip couldn’t take in Syria’s Palestinian refugees due to an ideological issue: If they take in the refugees from Syria, Israel could use it against them when it comes to the Palestinians’ demand for the “right to return” to villages inside present day Israel, by pointing out that the refugees no longer need to return to Israel because they have been relocated to new homes in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Authority’s refusal stems from a different reason — a financial one.
The Times adds that there are approximately 350,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria.
3. In his first public appearance in weeks, Bashar Assad gave a speech worthy of Shakespeare: A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. ‘Nuff said.
4. Israeli Children’s Trauma Ignored by Washington Post
Israel and the Palestinians
• Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree officially changing the name of the “Palestinian Authority” to “State of Palestine.” David Frum‘s reaction is worth reading.
• Don’t you hate it when this happens?
Part of an underground tunnel collapsed on Thursday in the Egyptian town of Rafah, bordering the Gaza Strip, creating a seven-meter wide hole in the road.
A public transport vehicle fell into the crater . . .
• For latest commentary, see Dore Gold‘s take on European settlements and double standards.
Arab Spring Winter
• An Israeli Arab who went to Syria (via Turkey) to fight Assad is unable to return home. Family members say the rebels burnt his passport and refuse to allow him to leave. YNet writes a second Israeli Arab is stuck as well.
• AFP: Egypt and the UAE are in a diplomatic tiff: The Gulf state arrested 11 Egyptian nationals it says are part of a “Muslim Brotherhood-linked” terror cell.
• Al-Qaeda Affiliate Leading Syrian Rebels’ Fight for Key Damascus Area
• According to The Daily Beast, Sinai jihadis have outgunned Egyptian security forces.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• German media’s in a tizzy over columnist from Der Spiegel included in the Wiesenthal Center’s 2012 top-ten list of anti-Semites. The debate surrounds Jakob Augstein, who also owns Der Freitag, a left-wing weekly. The Jerusalem Post writes:
Broder sees the debate as positive because it “brings clarity and light” to how anti-Semites think and to the modernity of Augstein’s expressions of Jew-hatred and demonization of Israel.
• What conclusions will Hamas draw from this fauxtography feud — in Washington’s highest echelons?
• AP: Al Gore’s taking a beating from conservatives and American Jewish activists for selling his Current TV to Al Jazeera.
American Jewish leaders are also expressing concern that Al-Jazeera could gain access to tens of millions of American homes via the Current TV deal. They accuse the network of anti-Israeli coverage and supporting extremist Islamic regimes.
• Ben Cohen assesses the sorry tale of Hugo Chavez and the Jews.
• On a lighter note: Dilbert.
(Image of Augstein via Flickr/xtranews.de)
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