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. US officials to the Jerusalem Post: Mideast peace talks will need more time than we thought.
Kerry and his team have suggested publishing a framework for negotiations going forward that the parties would collectively roll out before the April 29 deadline. But the Americans now view the hard date they originally set to be “artificial” and suggest that even the framework might need more time, given some important gaps that still remain.
2. Kerry Tells Senators That Obama’s Syria Policy is Collapsing
3. The same Danish bank, Danske Bank, which won’t do business with Israel’s Bank HaPoalim for “legal and ethical grounds,” didn’t have qualms when it helped finance a North Korean company that sold ballistic missiles to Iran. So much Danske Bank’s self-righteousness. Spengler connects the dots from Wikileaks.
4. The Case Against “Generic” News Images: Is photo bias having a cumulative effect on the world’s perception of the Palestinians?
5. A Correction Obscuring Real BDS Goals: Why is The Guardian correcting information that was reported correctly in the original text?
6. HonestReporting Coming to Limmud Winnipeg: Don’t miss Gary Kenzer in “The Peg.”
Israel and the Palestinians
• Jordan’s foreign minister says Amman won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state because the Hashemite kingdom fears becoming defined as a Palestinian state. The Times of Israel writes:
Now, official Jordan is concerned that defining Israel as a Jewish state may eventually lead to the forced deportation of Palestinians eastward across the Jordan river.
• BDS Movement Not Illegal, Says Israeli Official
• New Zealand’s foreign minister confirmed to Haaretz that the Batsheva Dance Company will receive visas to perform at a Wellington arts festival, despite BDS opposition.
• USA Today discussed the peace process with Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer.
• For more commentary/analysis on the peace process, see David Weinberg (Kerry’s not an equal opportunity threatener), Ron Ben-Yishai (what Abbas didn’t tell the NY Times), Max Boot (the PLO’s NATO gambit’s a non-starter), Uri Dromi (Israel as the UN’s punching bag), and Dan Margalit (recognizing Israel as a Jewish state). Weighing in on Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions issues are Matthew Kalman, Bernard Avishai, Oliver Kamm, the Albuquerque Journal, plus staff-eds in the Globe & Mail and NY Daily News.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Hassan Rouhani’s still moderate, right? Amir Taheri reports that Hashem Shaabani and Hadi Rashedi were hanged in an Iranian prison after Rouhani green-lighted their execution. Another 12 people convicted with Shaabani and Rashedi await their executions. What did they do to earn the regime’s wrath?
There, last July, an Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal with a single judge, Ayatollah Muhammad-Baqer Mussavi, sentenced the 14 to death on charges of “waging war on God” and “spreading corruption on earth” and “questioning the principle ofvelayat-e faqih” (the guardianship of the jurist).
• Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel is trying to get a foothold in Canada, and Jewish activists are concerned, reports the National Post:
“The primary concern of the Jewish community is that Al Jazeera Arabic is fairly notorious for broadcasting anti-Semitic comments,” he said. “Al Jazeera English is a much different channel — the content is different, the tone is different.”
“We would have no problem with Al Jazeera Arabic, provided that there would be some guarantee that anti-Semitic content would not be broadcast and I don’t think they can make that guarantee,” Mr. Sampson added.
• Another suicide bombing in Beirut. This Christian Science Monitor headline sums it all up:
• Bret Stephens (Wall St. Journal via Google News) and Gabriel Schoenfeld don’t believe the West will ever detect an Iranian break-out.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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