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. Judge bans all Hamas activities in Egypt.
2. Barack Obama hosted Benyamin Netanyahu at the White House for talks. Take your pick of AP or Reuters coverage. The NY Times emphasized the Russian/Ukrainian elephant. Commentaries by Haviv Rettig Gur and Joel Pollak elaborated on that angle.
3. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is laying down the law in the Syrian village of Raqqa. Christians beware: According to the Times of London, breaking these rules may result in forced conversion or execution.
- Christians must pay a special dhimmi tax (protection tax) in gold.
- No public display of crosses, no outdoor religious services, and no indoor religious activity loud enough for Muslims to hear outside.
- No renovations of churches and monasteries.
- Christians may not own firearms.
4. Hen Mazzig was on hand and tweeting as HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams appeared at AIPAC alongside CAMERA’s Andrea Levin and The Israel Project’s Josh Block.
“We don’t want journalist to sing Hatikva, we just want them to be good journalists..” -Joe Hyams of @HonestReporting pic.twitter.com/XTR7Bq7Ee9
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 3, 2014
5. South African News Puff Piece Promotes Israel Apartheid Week: Top morning show gives activists carte blanche to bash Israel.
Israel and the Palestinians
• An Israeli airstrike killed an Islamic Jihadnik setting up a rocket to fire at Israel. LA Times coverage.
• What the heck? Richard Falk’s wife, Hilal Elver, is a top nominee for the UN Human Rights Council job of “Special Rapporteur On the Right to Food.” Hillel Neuer writes:
In 2007, Elver connected the Jewish state to “genocide” and Israelis to “Nazis.”
As UN food expert, we know exactly what her first charge will be. At a December conference in Qatar, she gave a lecture on Israel entitled “Water Apartheid.” . . .
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Elver wrote that “the Jewish lobby” is “manipulating American politics” to ensure unlimited support for Israel.
In 2012, she warned about “the strong Zionist lobby” in the United States. Indeed, “many Muslim organizations are being controlled” in the American political arena by “pro-Israel lobbyist groups.”
• For more commentary/analysis, see Gideon Ben-Zvi (US might unveil framework without Israeli or PA acceptance) and Dan Margalit (the Bibi-Obama summit).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Diana Moukalled: Have we become too used to used to images of Syrian death, devastation and despair?
Choosing these images and publishing them, either in the media or on private websites, is a daily exercise that has become part of our routine as we monitor what is happening in Syria. We lift them from the videos and stills that reach us, whether taken by rebels, soldiers or civilians or even broadcast by the regime itself. We choose the ones we find shocking and expressive, but eschew the ones whose horror we are unable to bear.
And yet we find ourselves unable to resist this daily flogging of the soul. We have become like addicts who, while a small dose used to satisfy their craving, now cannot get their fix no matter how much they increase the dosage of their chosen poison. Our situation is just the same, as we find ourselves unmoved by everything going on around us.
• Eli Lake asks: Who’s really behind Ukrainian synagogue attacks? And Israelis in Crimea told YNet the Russian army has been a stabilizing presence.
Zlotnik, a medical student, says that the local and international media has not reported the full story, namely, that the Russian troop presence is maintaining law and order . . .
“I don’t support either Ukraine or Russia, however the situation here would be much worse if Putin hadn’t invaded Crimea. I realize that his sole motive is controlling this region; however it is better than having a civil war.”
Last but not least, the Ukrainian army is drafting yeshiva students (via The Muqata).
(Image of Elver via YouTube/American University of Beirut)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
[sc:bottomsignup]
