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. Israel holds Mahmoud Abbas responsible for a Gaza rocket that landed in southern Israel this morning. Abbas, for his part, offered a condemnation.
2. The family of Nadim Nuwara told Haaretz it’s willing to exhume his body in cooperation with Israeli officials to prove the teenager was killed by live fire during Nakba Day clashes in Beitunia.
The family has received a religious ruling from the Palestinian mufti allowing the exhumation.
The body will then be transferred to the Palestinian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Dis. The autopsy will be overseen by Dr. Saber Al-Aloul, the head of the institute, as well as a representative from the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir, and American, Danish and Portuguese pathologists.
3. As a Palestinian detainees enter the second month of a hunger strike, Haaretz reports that Mahmoud Abbas has formally appealed for UN intervention.
4. Watchdog of the Week: The Flavor of Biased Journalism: An HonestReporting reader prompts the NY Times to change a headline.
5. Hamas, the “Political Organization”: A Daily Mail photo essay depicts Hamas as a terror organization. So why the morally ambiguous captions?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Gaza banks are gradually reopening. Hamas security forces forcibly shut down Gaza’s banks in a dispute with Fatah over salaries for civil service employees. See Maan News‘ update. Meanwhile, the Fatah official in charge of reconciliation talks with Hamas, Azzam Al-Ahmad, told reporters that the PA doesn’t control Gaza — yet. No kidding . . .
• Here’s a selection of articles to help you get a better handle on Israel’s next president, Rubi Rivlin:
- 8 things you should know about Israel’s next president
- A president who opposes a Palestinian state — bad for Israel?
- US officials signal readiness to work with Rivlin
- President Rivlin, less foreign stardust, more domestic glue
• While visiting Canada, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat sat down with the National Post and shared his thoughts on efforts to divide the city.
“On the practical side, you cannot show me one example of a city that was split that ever functioned,” he said.
• For more commentary/analysis, see Alan Dershowitz (why BDS is a long-term strategic threat) and Jeff Jacoby (Palestinians must accept Jews as neighbors), and Elliott Abrams (it’s not a Hamas government — yet).
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Meet Li Fangwei, Tehran’s Chinese missile man.
• What’s to keeps Iran from running amok on the day after a nuke deal?
(Image of Barkat via Facebook/Nir Barkat)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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