News Nosh 07.14.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday July 14, 2016
 
Quote of the day:
“In an army in which Eyal Karim is the chief rabbi, there is no reason that Gidi Orsher won’t be the film critic.”
--MK Issawi Freij (Meretz) and right-wing Yedioth commentator Ben-Dror Yemini both write that it is unreasonable that a film critic who wrote a Facebook post ridiculing superstitious Mizrachi Jews be suspended from the IDF's Army Radio and a rabbi who expressed support for soldiers' raping female goyim during war and expressed opposition to women serving in the army and testifying in court be appointed IDF chief military rabbi.* (Maariv and Yedioth)

You Must Be Kidding: 
Israeli forces reportedly handed out parking tickets to Palestinian journalists in an attempt to keep them from entering an area where activists and villagers acted to stop Israeli bulldozers from leveling privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land owned.**

Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Prison release condition for (former president) Katsav: “He won’t besmirch the (his) victims”
  • “We, the Mizrachi Jews, are in a ghetto that is being spit on”
  • Military Rabbi retracts: “There is no acting against orders”
  • The Orsher test // Ben-Dror Yemini writes that Rabbi Eyal Karim’s statements are far worse than those of suspended Army Radio film critic, Gidi Orsher, and yet Orsher received no support and Karim got wide support on the Internet and even got his appointment approved by the Chief of Staff
  • The super salaries of the El-Al Airline pilots: 191,000 shekels/month
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The IDF Chief of Staff approved as the army’s chief rabbi a man who made highly controversial statements and expressed support for immoral and illegal acts against the enemy in war, (the rabbi, Eyal Karim, retracted his earlier statements) the gay pride parade in Beersheva was cancelled by organizers, who now plan a protest, after it was prohibited from going down the main street so as not to offend religious people, (but the IDF said gay soldiers could attend) and the rapist former president is likely to be released early from jail making top stories in the Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, an IDF paramedic testified in court against the ‘Shooting Soldier,’ Elor Azariya, and the prosecution announced it would not question any more of the other witnesses lined up as it had enough evidence to convict Azariya of manslaughter in the extrajudicial killing of Palestinian assailant Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron last March. (Maariv) The trial will resume on July 24th. Hours after the announcement, far-right-wing former MK Michael Ben-Ari led a couple dozen high school students to march through Tel-Aviv in support of Azariya. A masked youth threw a tear gas canister at the far-right-wing marchers and five minors were detained. 
 
Quick Hits:
  • Fearing next Lebanon war, Israel makes plans for temporary evacuations - If there’s another round of fighting, Hezbollah will aim to seize a locale for a few hours and fly its flags amid the burning ruins. IDF preparing plans to evacuate 64 communities on northern border and 29 on southern border. But the Israelis’ return is all part of the plan. (Haaretz and Maariv, p. 7)
  • UN: Without two-state solution, Middle East faces 'perpetual violence' - UNSCO Nickolay Mladenov said in an interview that two-state solution was more remote than ever; its alternative is 'perpetual violence'; he assesses little chance of a quick return to peace talks. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Israel Secretly Seeking Restitution for Jewish Property From Arab States, Iran - Avi Cohen, Director-General of Social Equality Ministry tells Knesset: “There is classified activity in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry in which we will invest millions (of shekels) to restore property belonging to Arab and Iranian Jewry, which will come to fruition within a month to a month-and-half. I cannot elaborate further.” (Haaretz+ and Maariv
  • Israeli lawmakers soften bill allowing suspension of colleagues - A larger majority and opposition support would be required to launch proceedings, making such moves – which Arab legislators call McCarthyism – less likely. (Haaretz+) 
  • Israeli University Reneges on Letting Students Skip Settler Critic's Exam - Lecturer Uri Weiss angers students by taking to Facebook after teen's stabbing death to point to 'collective psychosis.' (Haaretz+) 
  • Israeli forces demolish 3 homes in East Jerusalem neighborhood - Israeli forces claimed the owners lacked proper licenses. (Maan+PHOTOS
  • **Activists prevent Israeli bulldozers from continuing work on settler road in Ramallah - Activists and residents of the villages of Deir Qaddis and Nilin prevented Israeli bulldozers from leveling agricultural land owned by Palestinians on Wednesday morning, according to locals. Israeli forces also reportedly handed out parking tickets to Palestinian journalists in an attempt to keep them from entering the area. (Maan
  • Israeli forces detain Palestinian photojournalist - Kamil Barham, a 27-year-old freelance journalist, has been covering the weekly protests in the village of Kafr Qaddum for years. (Maan)
  • Israeli forces detain Palestinian activist at West Bank checkpoint - Hasan Karajeh, a former Arab Youth Ambassador and a well-known activist who works on youth issues and prisoners' rights was detained at a checkpoint. He is also the youth coordinator for grassroots organization Stop the Wall. (Maan
  • Israeli who jumped border into Gaza suffers from mental issues, family says - The man has been identified as Juma Ibrahim Abu Anima, 19, a resident of an unrecognized Bedouin village in southern Israel. (Haaretz and Ynet)
  • '120,000 Hezbollah missiles are aimed at Israel' - Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon presents U.N. Security Council with new intelligence information on Hezbollah activities in southern Lebanon. Danon calls on council to remove Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. (Israel Hayom and Ynet
  • Egypt Abducts and Tortures Hundreds, Amnesty Report Says - The report said enforced disappearances had spiked, with an average of three or four people reported disappeared every day. (Agencies, Haaretz
  • Video Showing Before-and-after Photos of Syrian Civil War Goes Viral - The video, compiled by Los Angeles resident David Wolfe, features pictures of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, where fighting continues to rage this week. (Agencies, Haaretz
  • ADL Leader 'Disappointed' in GOP's Dropping of Two-state Solution From Platform - The GOP platform rejects the notion that Israel is an 'occupier,' and states that 'support for Israel is an expression of Americanism.' (Haaretz)
  • Jewish Donors Shying Away From GOP Convention and Trump Candidacy - The Republican Jewish coalition has held major events at every GOP convention since 1988, but this year, a split in the community over Trump's rhetoric has many vowing to stay away. (Haaretz
  • Trump's Unlikely Fan Club: ex-Soviet Brooklyn Jews With anti-Muslim Sentiments - 'I like his honesty, that he’s against Muslims, that he’s against refugees,' said Valentina Albert, a former refugee from Moldova. (Haaretz


Features:
Not without my son: The father battling for the release of his son from the hands of Hamas  
More than a year has passed since Hisham Al-Sayed, a young mentally ill Bedouin man from the Negev, crossed the border into Gaza. His father Sha’aban tried to return his son home through contacts between Bedouin in Gaza and in the Negev. But the announcement by Hamas that Hisham is a ‘Zionist soldier’ and is being held by them caused him to go to the media and call for Hisham’s return. “When Hamas announced that he is a Zionist soldier, it hit me that they are like criminals. Those who follow Islam must know that the prophet Muhammad said that it is impossible to go along with people who lie. They lied when they announced that my son is a soldier. " (Yasir Ukbi, Maariv)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Eisenkot Failed in His Appointment of IDF's Top Rabbi (Haaretz Editorial) The appointment of a new chief rabbi is especially sensitive today when the question of who has the final authority in the army - the commander or the rabbi - is repeatedly raised. 
*The Orsher Test (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet Hebrew) By any standard, the dark statements by Rabbi Eyal Karim are much worse than the one-off remarks by Army Radio’s film critic Gideon Orsher. Yet in the case of Orsher, who fills a relatively minor role, no one stood up in his defense or tried to find explanations for his terrible words. But here, (in the case of Karim) the Internet became immediately filled with words of support - and even the chief of staff himself authorized the nomination. In the case of Orsher, Defense Minister Lieberman was quick to issue a condemnation and demand his dismissal, whereas in the case of a Karim, the minister in charge of the army remained silent. It is not necessary to punish every job candidate because of a random statement. Far from it. But Rabbi Karim comes to the job with a coherent worldview. In the spectrum of views within Orthodox Judaism, Rabbi Karim is at the darkest edge. With all due respect toward his combat service, it does not make him any less dark…
Haneen Zoabi Helps Forge Israel’s National Renewal (Dmitry Shumsky, Haaretz+) Without the mirror that the Arab legislator puts in front of us, there’s no chance for the national rehabilitation that every occupying and dispossessing power needs.
Nothing less than a blood libel (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The IDF chief rabbi-designate is being accused of saying that rape is permitted during war, when what he was talking about was an analysis of the biblical rulings on female captives.
No Incitement Necessary for a Palestinian Town to Hate Israel (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Sa’ir will recover; its people are well-trained and strong. But it’s not hard to imagine what sort of pent-up feelings are being reinforced by the lockdown of this southern West Bank town.
To protect and to serve (Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, Israel Hayom) The Israeli public's rallying around IDF soldier Elor Azaria is as heartening as the disconnect between American citizens and their police. 
Another war with Israel? It’s Syria that’s obsessing the Lebanese (Jack Khoury, Haaretz+) Lebanon has been rebuilt and even the tourists are back, but the economy is still sagging amid 1 million Syrian refugees. 
The Left should apologize (Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) Israeli democracy can't be bought off, so the frustrated Left is trying to do an end-run around the legal election process and isn't ashamed to take U.S. money to do so.
IDF radio and rabbinate: What are they good for? (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth/Ynet) At the foundation of the state, Ben-Gurion sought to unify a nation of immigrants, both with education and military service; but Israel isn't a nascent state anymore, and its military should not be educating, converting, or entertaining its citizenry any more, nor should a mostly secular army have such a powerful religious unit. 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.