News Roundup for October 11, 2019

October 11, 2019

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Top News and Analysis

Netanyahu condemns Turkish invasion of Syrian Kurdistan, offers aid, Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denounced Turkey’s invasion of Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria and said Israel was prepared to offer humanitarian aid to the Kurds in Syria facing an onslaught from Ankara.

Israel’s Likud party passes Netanyahu confidence vote, AP
The Likud party’s Central Committee convened Thursday to vote on a resolution asserting that it would only join a government headed by Netanyahu. The party’s Facebook page said roughly 500 of the committee’s nearly 4,000 members “unanimously” voted in favor.

The Arrested Giuliani Associates, Linked to Trump’s Ukraine Scandal, Have Ties to Israel’s Right, Haaretz
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who have been arrested while trying to leave the U.S., were pictured next to Netanyahu’s son and envoy Friedman at a Jerusalem party.

News

Pro-Israel stalwart Nita Lowey won’t seek re-election to Congress, JTA
“As the Chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee that writes the foreign aid bill, I have advanced record funding for women’s health and basic education — especially for girls — around the world, a strong U.S.-Israel relationship with bipartisan support, and other investments that support American interests abroad,” Lowey said.

White Nationalists on Telegram Are Hailing the Germany Synagogue Shooter as a ‘Saint’, Vice
Far-right extremists on the encrypted messaging app Telegram hailed the gunman who killed two people near a synagogue in Halle, Germany, Thursday as a “saint,” a title reserved for white nationalists who’ve carried out previous attacks.

German leaders vow better security for Jews after synagogue attack, Times of Israel
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who visited the synagogue Thursday, promised wider security improvements for Jewish facilities, including full police protection for synagogues and said the German government also was examining how to better combat hate speech online.

With little to show, Gazans question mass border protests, AP
A growing number of Gazans believe the protests have lost their way. With little to show from 18 months of demonstrations beyond the hundreds of people killed or wounded by Israeli fire, many Gazans are beginning to question and even criticize the Hamas-led protests, a rarity in a territory where dissent is barely tolerated by the ruling Islamic militant group.

‘I’m the Man Who Killed Your Husband’: Palestinian Women Recount Shin Bet Interrogations, Haaretz
For weeks, a team of 13 Shin Bet men interrogated women suspected of social activities linked to Hamas. Three filed torture complaints to the Justice Ministry after hundreds such cases were closed without charges.

Arab Israeli protest convoy arrives in Jerusalem for meet with police minister, Times of Israel
A convoy of Arab Israeli protesters demanding government action to curb violence in their communities reached Jerusalem Thursday afternoon for a meeting with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and police officials.

From Jewish Settlers to West Bank Palestinians: The Young Women Sharing Language in Jerusalem, Haaretz
It all began with two friends, an Arab and a Jew, who wanted to learn each other’s languages; now it involves hundreds of people around Jerusalem.

Opinion and Analysis

Trump’s Kurdish Treachery Casts Netanyahu as Lone Rider on Paper Tiger, Haaretz
Chemi Shalev writes, “The prime minister’s reckless gamble on a shameless U.S. president unravels before Israel’s startled eyes.”

How Israel’s post-truth elections sent a fact-checker into overdrive, Times of Israel
Simona Weinglass writes, “False claims that prominent journalists and celebrities were backing the prime minister for another term. A false report that a party leader was determined to ban circumcision. A false quote by a leading politician ostensibly denigrating rivals because of their ethnicity. False allegations that April’s elections had been stolen. In the weeks before Israel’s latest elections on September 17, wild rumors and misrepresentations of fact circulated widely before the truth, as they say, had a chance to put its boots on.”

My Day With the West Bank Settlers Who Are Destroying Zionism, Haaretz
Chuck Freilich writes, “I found good and caring people. The only problem was that they are living in denial, in a fervent but alternative reality where the occupation is not only sustainable but irreversible.”