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Today’s Top Stories
*** Breaking news *** Shortly after this roundup was published, Lauren Booth, a British journalist and Islamist tweeted to HonestReporting that Jews are indigenous to Eastern Europe. See Lauren Booth’s Anti-Semitic Tweet to HonestReporting.
1. As this roundup went to press, Hamas and Fatah apparently delayed the unveiling of their new national unity “technocrat” government. According to the Times of Israel, the two sides disagree on who will head the foreign and interior ministries. The Jerusalem Post reports that the two are also at loggerheads over A) the status of the PA security forces in Gaza, B) the choice of minister of religious affairs, and C) Hamas’ demand that “40,000 of its supporters be placed on the PA payroll.”
2. Former South African president F.W. De Klerk told Israel’s Channel 2 that Israel is not an apartheid state. Due credit to Israel Muse for creating and synchronizing the translation.
“I think it’s unfair to call Israel an apartheid state.”
3. As expected, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi won Egypt’s presidential elections, coming in with a comfortable 93 percent of the vote. So why does a Washington Post staff-ed say the former military chief “suffered an embarrassment at the polls?”
While an official newspaper reported a figure of 37 percent Wednesday, other sources, including the sole opposition candidate, said it was closer to 15?percent. The relentless propaganda by the regime of Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, which claimed he enjoyed overwhelming support from an adoring population, was proved false.
See also Avi Issacharoff‘s take.
4. Audacious Churnalism Smears Israel: The Independent repackages a flawed story off the internet.
5. Success: Daily Mail Corrects Western Wall Error: The Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site.
6. UK Press Regulator Appoints Former Ambassador to Israel: One member of the UK’s official media watchdog body caught our eye.
7. Reuters Shoots Truth in the Foot: The IDF suspended a soldier at the Nakba Day clash, but he didn’t fire any fatal shots.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Mahmoud Abbas to Israeli peace activists: the new unity government won’t negotiate with Israel, but will first focus on holding long-overdue elections.
• A Ramallah publishing house agreed to stop printing three Hamas newspapers after an Israeli raid/visit. The publishing company, Al Ayyam, began printing copies of the Hamas newspapers, Falastin, Al-Resala, and Al-Istiqlal after Hamas and Fatah agreed to allow distribution of each other’s newspapers in the West Bank as part of national reconciliation.
• Why am I not surprised by this anti-Semitism among professors shilling for BDS? Adam Kredo reports:
Leaked messages from an internal listserv of university professors involved in the debate surrounding an effort to boycott Israel have revealed a deep bias against the Jewish state and anti-Semitic accusations that Zionists and Jewish people control academia.
The highly charged rhetoric about Israel, revealed last week on a leaked listserv, show that some professors involved in the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) resolution to boycott Israel are motivated by the belief that Jewish people are nefariously pulling the strings in American academia.
• A BDS victory at DePaul was short- lived. After students voted for the Catholic university to divest its holdings in companies doing business in the West Bank, the president, Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, issued a statement pointing out that DePaul investment isn’t governed by student referendums. Holtschneider also suggested that “socially responsible investment” would hurt students more than the targeted companies:
These are the scholarship funds that generate earnings that can then be distributed to students to help them afford their education. Our students rely on these funds a great deal. In 2008, when the markets dropped precipitously, DePaul had less to give to students and, tragically, some students had to leave the university while others could not accept our admission invitations.
More on the DePaul at Breitbart.
- Was a plot to assassinate Maronite Patriarch foiled?
- Iran behind massive Facebook phishing scam targeting Israelis?
- Saudi royals in real-life game of thrones.
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