“He stated that he was particularly worried about antisemitism in the US because, he said, the majority of antisemitic incidents there take place on college campuses and that the America’s intellectual elite of the future could be influenced by such ideas. ‘This is very problematic and dangerous because the mentality and ideology of future leaders are growing over there,’ said Kantor. ‘That is why we appreciate the [Trump] administration’s resolution to prohibit funding of state universities which are not preventing antisemitism in the campuses.’”

“Benjamin Netanyahu did not invent the idea of leveraging the Holocaust for political gain. Yet, like so much else in current Israeli politics, he is taking even that low to new depths. According to Haaretz, Israel’s prime minister intends to exploit the Fifth World Holocaust Forum – convening this week in Jerusalem to mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz – to call on world leaders to publicly back Israel’s self-serving position that the International Criminal Court in The Hague has no jurisdiction in the occupied Palestinian territories…For Palestinians, quite literally, the International Criminal Court is their court of last resort. Yet Netanyahu, backed by Israel’s entire political leadership, is trying to quash even this faint hope.”

“Palestinians demonstrated in the Gaza Strip on Thursday to protest the visit of world leaders to Jerusalem to attend the World Holocaust Forum.During the demonstration, which took place outside the offices of the United Nations in Gaza City, the protesters said that the world leaders ‘chose the wrong site’ to celebrate the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in German-occupied Poland.”

“French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday condemned anti-Zionism as no different from anti-Semitism, as he met with Israeli leaders while in Jerusalem to attend the World Holocaust Forum.”

“The decision of Jared Kushner to cancel the peace team’s visit to Israel, citing weather conditions and a delayed flight, left experts in Washington and Jerusalem confused. It is not the first time the team shifted gear and sped up toward a release of the plan – just to hold back a few days later.”

“The White House intends to release a statement regarding President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan soon, Israeli officials believe.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief political rival Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz are expected to fly out to Washington next week to discuss the details of the U.S. administration’s plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.”

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz have both been invited to the White House to learn about the Trump Administration’s peace plan, Channel 12 News reported. One source stated in reference to the invitation that ‘great political drama is on the way.’”

“This does not mean that things need to get worse before they get better. Annexation will rattle the status quo of endless occupation and settlement expansion, which has become very comfortable for Israel. It will force Israeli society, and parts of the international community, to return to discussing a political solution to the conflict, which has all but disappeared. And it will force supporters of the two-state solution, and even supporters of a single state, to step outside their comfort zone and comport their vision to the reality on the ground.”

Gershon Baskin: “…these people, who live right next to the Palestinians, have no idea about what is going on in Palestine. They have not seen the economic developments over the years, the existence of a Palestinian government at the national and local level, which is struggling with the occupation but nonetheless exists and functions almost like a real state. With all of the roads that they have, businesses, schools, hospitals, shopping centers, etc., the main, by far, obstacle to Palestinian economic development is the Israeli occupation and its strangling impact on the Palestinians.”

“After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annex the Jordan Valley along with all of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank if he wins the upcoming elections, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday pushed for a cabinet vote to move ahead with the plan already next week.”

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met French President Emmanuel Macron in Ramallah late Wednesday evening and expressed his hope that France will recognize the State of Palestine, the official PA news site Wafa reported.”

“The latest public opinion polls published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research show that as support among Palestinians for a two-state solution to the conflict dwindles, the one-state solution is gaining traction. If Palestinians are permitted to vote, [Khalil] Shikaki believes it could finally pave the way for the creation of a proper Jewish-Arab party. ‘This is not a fantasy at all,’ he says. ‘I would say it is a distinct possibility, and this joint Arab-Jewish list could end up receiving the highest percentage of Arab votes.’”

“Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has instructed his office to look into what can be done to demolish illegal Palestinian businesses at the Ariel Junction, on the pretense that these companies were a party to the murder of Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger, who died in a terror attack there last year.”

“The UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned on Wednesday that Israel’s plan to annex “some or all of Area C in the West Bank” would be a ‘devastating blow’ to potential Israel-Palestinian negotiations and the prospect of regional peace.”

“Israeli forces have shot and killed three Palestinians by Gaza’s perimeter fence, the Israeli military has said. The Israeli army said the group threw an explosive device towards them after attempting to cross the fence from the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening.”

“The infiltration attempt by three Palestinian youth who got within two kilometers from Kibbutz Kissufim was not a spontaneous act, but one whose intent was to carry out a terrorist attack against IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians.

“The renewed plague of incendiary balloons being dispatched from the Gaza Strip into the skies of the Negev, was actually sparked by a dispute between Egypt and the Hamas leadership in the Strip. According to Israel Defense Forces sources, the recent period of relative quiet along the Gaza border – with no violent demonstrations and only few rocket launchings – was violated due to tension that has erupted between Cairo and Hamas.”

“Egypt and Hamas are holding intensive contacts in an attempt to stop the launching of incendiary bombs from Gaza toward southern Israel, Kan 11 News reported on Wednesday evening.”

“It was a video that landed Adel al-Mashwakhi in jail and another video that got him out.”

“For Israel, there have clearly been benefits to the ties with Oman – diplomatic, strategic, trade and public image – but one of the more significant benefits is the fact that Oman has also good relations with Iran, Israel’s most bitter enemy. Through its close contact with Omani officials, Israel was offered a window into Iran’s thinking. Israeli officials with long experience in the Omani game tend to think that the new Sultan, who served under Alawi as Director General of the Omani foreign ministry, will maintain Qaboos’ longstanding foreign policy and strategy, meaning a continuation of the Gulf state’s long history of both open and clandestine ties with Israel.”

“Israeli cyberattack firm NSO and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been involved in a plot to hack the phone of Amazon’s billionaire boss Jeff Bezos, United Nations experts said on Wednesday.”