November 23rd

Timely support ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am His Majesty King Abdullah’s visit to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the second, in time, but first in importance. The Palestinians are passing through difficult circumstances, so there couldn’t be a better time to stand by them in solidarity. The Monarch reassured the Palestinians that Jordan stands by them and that support for their steadfastness in unwavering, no matter how challenging the current developments in the Middle East are. » Read more

Leadership that makes history ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Leading is not easy. Leading Israel is certainly not a simple task. It is not surprising that many leaders of Israel, maybe even most of them, have made decisions in office that go against what they preached and believed in before they sat in the prime minister’s seat. As the saying goes, “what you see from here is not what you see from there.” Real leadership is measured when one is faced with real-life situations that place diametrically opposed values and principles on the scales of decision making. » Read more

Bibi's conspiracy of silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Attila Somfalvi - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am At the end of the day, the thing that will be remembered from Benjamin Netanyahu’s second premiership term is the harm to Israel’s democracy, freedom of expression, the media and the courts. In his three years in office, Israel's democracy went back 30 years. Instead of flourishing, it’s becoming defensive and pale. The prime minister is undermining the power of regular folk and boosting politicians at the people's expense. This is the entire aim of the so-called silencing law and of the series of laws against the court. No more and no less than that. » Read more

Netanyahu must choose the rule of law over Lieberman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is threatening to break up the coalition if the illegal outposts Migron and Givat Assaf are evacuated. "Migron is not an illegal outpost," the minister said Monday. "It's a community where then-Defense Minister Moshe Arens and the GOC Central Command stood beside the cornerstone at its founding. How did it suddenly become illegal?" » Read more

Over Netanyahu's New Israel, the B.S. light is on ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Blog) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am How does Israel expect to explain itself after this? How are people who support Israel supposed to understand the Black Flag legislation which has expropriated the business of the Knesset? Fortunately, the language of the Bible now has a word for all of it. It's spelled Bet Vav Lamed Shin Yud Tet. Sometimes written bull****. » Read more

Israel and 'Pinkwashing' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am “In dreams begin responsibilities,” wrote Yeats in 1914. These words resonate with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have witnessed dramatic shifts in our relationship to power. After generations of sacrifice and organization, gay people in parts of the world have won protection from discrimination and relationship recognition. But these changes have given rise to a nefarious phenomenon: the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim political forces in Western Europe and Israel. » Read more

Palestinian membership threatening UNESCO programs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Elaine Ganley - November 23, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinians can raise their flag alongside those of 194 full-fledged nations at UNESCO after signing a document Wednesday finally giving them a voice within the vast U.N. system — bringing pride across the Arab world yet hobbling the agency's pro-democracy projects around the globe. Last month's decision by the Paris-based U.N. education and cultural organization to give Palestine membership triggered an immediate funding cutoff by the U.S. that will force UNESCO to scale down literacy and development programs in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan or the new nation of South Sudan. » Read more

Israeli government press adviser quits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Roy Greenslade - November 23, 2011 - 1:00am One of the Israeli government's press advisers, Eva Berger, has resigned because she claims journalistic freedom is being eroded. Berger, a member of the government press office's advisory council (GPO), said: "The council's objective is to grant its approval of an old wrong, in the guise of democracy - and I will not lend my hand to this." She linked her resignation to government proposals that many see as restricting freedom of expression and creating obstacles to press freedom. » Read more

Ban calls on PM to hand over Palestinian money ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hand over tax payments owed to the Palestinian Authority and to stop settlement activity, his spokesman said. The UN secretary general "stressed the need to de-escalate" Israeli-Palestinian tensions that have heightened since the Palestinian bid to become a member of the United Nations, said spokesman Martin Nesirky, giving an account of telephone talks between Ban and Netanyahu Tuesday. » Read more

Palestinians charged with killing West Bank man, baby to avenge 'price tag' attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinians suspected in the killing of a West Bank resident and his infant son wished to avenge the '"price tag" torching of a nearby mosque, an indictment submitted to an Israel Defense Forces court said on Tuesday. In September, Israel Police confirmed that a road accident that killed Asher, who was 25-years-old and his one-year-old son Yonatan Palmer near Kiryat Arba, may have occurred after a rock was thrown at their vehicle. » Read more