Today’s Top Stories
1. Rocket from Gaza explodes in Israeli town of Sderot, no casualties, IDF responds with strike on two Hamas terror bases.
2. After a bombing attack on a wedding killed 30 people in Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogen announced that Islamic State is likely behind the attack, adding that there is “no difference” between accused coup plotter Gulen, the Kurdish insurgent group PKK and Islamic State.
3. The AP reports that Egypt has arrested 70 Sudanese refugees on their way to Israel. This after having reportedly shot at least 10 Sudanese nationals several months ago. HonestReporting has criticized news outlets in the past for singling out Israel for criticism on African refugees, even though such refugees head for Israel as a prime destination, unlike many of Israel’s neighbors who treat captured refugees in a manner that is especially harsh and sometimes deadly.
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4. The Observer features a story on British arms sales in the Middle East. Though the focus is not on Israel, it does mention Israel in passing, inferring that Tel Aviv is the place where Israel’s decision-making takes place. Honest mistake? Or a symptom of a deeper problem in news coverage about Israel? Either way, HonestReporting promptly obtained an appropriate correction.
Israel and the Palestinians
• In a piece by Sophie McNeill, Australia’s ABC news network referred to Gaza as being part of the “occupied territories.” The network has since admitted its error and issued a correction. Yet despite Israel’s complete and highly publicized withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, this particular mistake remains all too common.
• In local Palestinian affairs, the Palestinian Maan News Agency reports that two members of the Palestinian security forces were killed on Thursday, and two more were injured during clashes with wanted Palestinians in Nablus.
• A Palestinian reality television show allows you to vote for – not your favorite singer – but your favorite political leader (as portrayed by competing actors). NPR points out, that this is, “…the closest Palestinians have gotten to choosing a leader in more than a decade.” Mahmoud Abbas who heads the Palestinian Authority (which governs the West Bank) is in the eleventh year of his four year term, while the Hamas terror organization has ruled Gaza without a democratic process since its military takeover in 2007.
Around the World
• With the Turkish parliament’s ratification of a reconciliation deal with Israel, the Turkish deputy prime minister will soon be making a visit.
• Protesters from the campus based anti-Israel organization “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) disrupted a screening of the documentary about the Israeli army, “Beneath the Helmet,” at University of California, Irvine. This week, administrators determined that the disruption does indeed violate university policy. Among other measures, SJP will be required to train its members to, “better understand how to host constructive events and protests [that] add to the conversation, rather than detract.”
• The Council on Foreign Relations’ Elliot Abrams reports that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution at its triennial convention this past week that is not only highly critical of Israel, but also out of touch with much of factual reality. This is not to be confused with mainstream Evangelical Christians, who have typically expressed strong support for Israel as a Jewish state.
• Holocaust expert Yehuda Bauer says “British Jews are right to be worried,” citing, among other factors, troubling rhetoric by British political leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone. In particular, Bauer referred to Livingstone as a “violent anti-Semite.” Meanwhile almost 6,000 Labor supporters have been reported to the party’s National Executive Committee over accusations of abuse and anti-Semitism.
Commentary/Analysis
• In the New York Times, three Arab writers reflect on the the hopes and disappointments of the Arab Spring.
• The Wall Street Journal’s Jay Solomon, asks why, after the JCPOA (the “Iran Nuclear Deal”), “…the Ayatollah thinks he won?” Solomon explores the continued power of hardliners in Iran, and failure of moderates to gain influence since the signing of the JCPOA.
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– NPR: Natalie Portman’s “A Tale of Love and Darkness” based on the novel by Amos Oz.
– Jonathan Spyer, “Who Should Rule Syria?”
– INSS, “Not Just Sports: Mixed Sentiments in Egyptian Discourse about Israel.”
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA patrickdevries2003 via flickr with additions by HonestReporting
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