Everything you need to know about today’s media coverage of Israel and the Mideast.
Why was a Doha Debate featuring a former Israeli chief rabbi cancelled? What was Sheikh Raed Salah’s parting gift to the UK? And are Gazans no longer scared to speak their minds about Hamas?
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Israel and the Palestinians
• Must read: A Washington Post dispatch by Karin Brulliard quotes plenty of Gazans not scared to speak their mind about Hamas. The cumulative effect trashes the Islamists:
“We became like a police state,” said Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. “They became scared of any rally or demonstration.”
Also filing from Gaza was Irish Times correspondent Michael Jansen, who talked to the NGO community chafing under Hamas. Their criticism was more circumspect.
• Sheikh Raed Salah left a parting gift for the UK: a commentary in The Guardian‘s print edition titled “Britain’s Duty to the Palestinian People.” See HonestReporting’s response.
• The Australian (paywall) republished Khaled Abu Toameh’s excellent commentary on Abbas, peace talks, and demands for a settlement freeze.
• Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, stirred up controversy with a visit to Jerusalem. Breaking an unofficial boycott and accompanied by Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed, Gomaa visited the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. AP picks up on Islamist anger at the mufti while AFP looks at Gomaa’s damage control.
• Australian author Nick Dyrenfurth (Sydney Morning Herald) weighs in on the Gunter Grass furor.
• Canadian commentator Michael Coren weighs in on the Shalom Eisner furor.
• The US Supreme Court ruled that the PA and PLO were immune from a lawsuit brought by the family of Azzam Rahim — a US citizen tortured to death in a Jericho prison. Details at the SCOTUS blog.
