Quote of the day:

"But there is a high risk that the recognition, logical and justified as it is, will spark - if it is done unilaterally and not part of an agreement - waves of violence across the world. People will be killed. Is this something that is justified? Not certain."
--Yedioth columnist Aviad Kleinberg on the expected unilateral declaration by US President Donald Trump that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

"In any other country, this statement would have been considered incitement to violence, but in Israel it is a voice that represents many - the belligerent, capricious and violent voice that calls for the destruction of all enemies."
--On Mako-Channel 12 Website, commentator Michal Yisraeli responds to the statement by TV presenter Avri Gilad that Jews sometimes need to be violent towards innocent Palestinians.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
In an attempt to brand Israel in an original, new way in the world, an Israeli PR company has brought six celebrity dogs from North America, who have thousands of followers each on social media, to participate in a doggy vacation in Israel.**

“It is not the role of the State of Israel to be the kashrut supervisor of American Jewry and to define for them who is truly a Jew. It’s their right to determine who is a Jew. We may define who is an Israeli or a Zionist, but not who is a Jew, and certainly not who is a good Jew."
—Co-founder of the Peres Center for Peace and the ‘Yallah - Young Leadership’ movement, Uri Savir, writes in an Op-Ed in Maariv, following the controversial remarks by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
Leading Sephardic Israeli rabbi bans followers from looking at new 50-shekel banknotes, which feature a Jewish Russian-Israeli poet who was married to a Christian.**

26.
--Percentage of Israelis who believe that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is suitable to be Prime Minister. Down from 36% three weeks ago.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
Jewish-Arab City of Haifa Refuses to Add Arabic Signage to Stadium Facade
The municipality says it won't add a sign in Arabic to the facade of the Sammy Ofer Stadium because of an 'agreement with the donor.'

You Must Be Kidding: 
Plans for expansion of the city of Acre, which is 1/3 Muslim Arab, don't include a mosque.**

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Breaking News:
A Jewish settler shot dead a Palestinian farmer in disputed circumstances in the northern West Bank
Settlers and IDF said Palestinians attacked the settlers with stones while the settlers hiked through Qusra village and Israeli media gave settler/IDF version. Associated Press and Israeli NGO Yesh DIn reported that Palestinian farmer Mahmoud Odeh, 47, was working on his land when settlers coming from Esh Kodesh outpost told him to leave. He refused and was shot in the chest, said Palestinian Authority settler watch official Ghassan Daghlas. (Associated Press, Ynet, Haaretz, Maariv)

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“Because in Israel there aren’t really political parties. A single governing bloc is made up of interchangeable parts, including everyone who seeks legitimacy by donning right-wing costumes. They’re ready to expel foreigners, support antidemocratic legislation, observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, stick a note in the Western Wall, and let the settlements do as they please.”
—Haaretz journalist Zvi Bar’el writes that the Israeli government is aiming for a one leader, one party, one people. And “if anyone is reminded of a party in a different country that adopted a similar slogan in the 1930s, that’s his problem.”*

"You are not a victim and you are not persecuted. You are the prime minister of Israel, and there are important things on the agenda. It is impossible to take this wonderful country and turn it into the private business of one person with everything aimed to save him from his interrogators."
—Yesh Atid Chairman, MK Yair Lapid, slams Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government for passing the bill to prevent police from giving recommendations regarding investigations into public officials to the Attorney General.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
Calling Palestinian petitions to the High Court of Justice a “legal intifada,” lawmakers from the Netanyahu government moved to raise the fees so that Palestinians and those representing them must pay triple what Israelis pay to petition Israel's High Court.**

“Tzipi Hotovely and her ilk constantly attack progressive Jews as ‘self-hating’ for protesting Israeli policy against Palestinians, but then have no problem disseminating popular white–nationalist talking points against American Jews.”
—In a Letter to the Editor, Haaretz reader Iftach Shavit compared Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely’s controversial remarks about US Jews living convenient lives and not serving in their military with quotes by a Nazi propagandist character from a Kurt Vonnegut novel.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
"I say with sincere regret, I have not yet come across the Palestinian Sadat who will declare his desire to end the conflict, who will recognize the State of Israel inside borders, whatever they may be, and support our right to live in peace and security.”
--In a speech at the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ignored the numerous statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in support for a two-state solution and the Israelis' and Palestinians' rights to live in peace and security.*