The biggest story rocking Israel over the last few days focuses on the treatment of Palestinians by some IDF soldiers in the recent Gaza operation. The latest brouhaha resulted from the publication of t-shirt slogans worn by some IDF soldiers. The slogans exemplify blatant disregard for Palestinian lives with pictures of a sniper shooting a pregnant women and the caption reading: “one shot, two kills.” Some Israelis argue that media reporting, not necessarily the pictures themselves, actually harms Israel, an argument with which I personally disagree.
With abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in captivity for now more than 1000 days, Hamas threatened to abduct additional Israelis unless the government alters its stance towards the organization. Hamas requested an exchange of hundreds of its supporters currently held in Israeli prisons for Shalit, although the Israeli government would only release certain prisoners pending deportation.
The Durban II ant-racism conference, boycotted by multiple countries including the United States and Israel, released a new draft statement that removes singling-out Israel but reaffirms the findings of the first conference in 2001. While better than the original draft, Israeli officials still oppose the new incarnation of the event on grounds that support for the 2001 event shows anti-semitic sentiment.
With the Palestinian Authority planning events in Jerusalem today to mark the city as the center of Arab culture, the Israeli government refuses to permit organizaed events, citing orders prohibiting official PA events on Israeli soil.
