APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday June 18, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Summary:
Israel made collective punishment moves against Palestinians after three Palestinians killed a Border Police soldier in E. Jerusalem and were killed themselves, another Israeli soldier was killed when a military jeep flipped over (and while most Israeli papers were vague about the location on ‘the Gaza border,’ Maariv reported that it took place inside the southern Gaza Strip during ‘operational activity’) and Israeli commentators expressed concern about the implications of the police raid on Yedioth Publishing House making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.
 
And on the peace process front, Haaretz+ reported that US President Donald Trump’s envoy Jason Greenblatt met with US Congressmen and Jewish groups to overcome obstacles in Washington to renew the peace process. But Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett initiated a law to prevent the division of Jerusalem, thereby complicating the coalition. According to the proposal a majority of at least 80 MKs is needed to give up land in the capital and the party said the bill aimed to prevent concessions made to the Palestinians. Many in the government have signed a similar proposal in the past and will have difficulty in opposing this one.

Channel 10 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered the Foreign Affairs portfolio that he holds to MK Tzipi Livni from the opposition in order to bolster his efforts to restart negotiations, after opposition leader Isaac Herzog didn’t take the offer. However Livni “got the impression that what Netanyahu is doing is nothing but hot air,” said an associate of hers. (Also Maariv) And The Times of London reported that Israel and Saudi Arabia are reportedly discussing establishing economic ties.
 
Three Palestinians from a West Bank village carried out a knife-and-gun attack at two spots near the Damascus Gate of the Old City in E. Jerusalem killing a Border Police soldier. Barely mentioned in the Hebrew newspapers was that two Palestinian bystanders, were also hospitalized for light to medium injuries sustained by being caught in the shoot-out. Witnesses later told Ma'an that several Palestinians were injured by shrapnel from bullets shot by Israeli forces, who shot “haphazardly” in every direction during the attack.
 
For the first time, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on Israelis here, but Hamas said that was false and that ISIS was trying to sow confusion and that one of the attackers belonged to Hamas and the other two to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the latter confirmed. Afterward came the “Punishment Stage,” as Yedioth called it: the cancellation of entry permits of 250,000 Palestinians given for Ramadan, the demolition of the homes of the parents’ of the attackers, who were in their twenties, a lockdown on their village Deir Abu Mash’al, and a police round up hundreds of undocumented Palestinians in Jerusalem. The Hebrew papers eulogized the killed soldier, Hadas Malka, 23, calling her a hero and thousands attended her funeral Saturday night. Malka’s friends were still in shock that she was gone.

Israeli commentators were concerned about the police raid on Yedioth Publishing house, in which it confiscated materials of the memoir that jailed former prime minister Ehud Olmert was writing on suspicion that some information was confidential and not cleared for publication - only two days before he was up for a review for shortening his sentence. The commentators suggested this was a political act meant to harm his chances for a shortened sentence. Moreover, along with Olmert’s material, other unrelated materials were taken: a draft of the book written by Ben Caspit about present Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a book about former defense minister Moshe Yaalon and the controversial submarines affair were also confiscated. Yedioth’s Eli Senor reported that “Police tried to distance themselves from the issue: ‘We are just the emissaries of the Director of Security of the Defense Establishment,’ it claimed. The Director of Security of the Defense Establishment office said: ‘The investigation is run by the police and is its responsibility.’” Haaretz+ noted that Ariel Sharon maintained a large private archive with confidential materials in his private farm home.

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Palestinian family left in the dark after teen's horrific death at checkpoint
Israeli agents told the family their 15-year-old son was wounded after waving a knife at border police; four days later, they returned his bullet-riddled body. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+)
What caused the combat soldiers to sign an unprecedented letter against the defense minister Ariel Sharon?
The document, signed by 24 Paratroopers, was shelved at the last minute and is published here for the first time. Thirty-five years later, members of the elite unit return to the Lebanese mud and explain where anger and protest grew. (Eyal Levy, Maariv Weekend Magazine)
Does the Israeli playwright who celebrates Palestinian prisoners support terrorism?
Einat Weizman is being called a baby killer, but she tells Haaretz she's just trying to highlight the situation in which censorship, occupation, nighttime arrests and home demolitions are considered sane. (Yair Ashkenazi, Haaretz+) 
The Druze Band That Fuses Tuareg Blues With Arab Rock
TootArd's new direction works particularly well in its instrumental tracks. (Ben Shalev, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
A Grave and Needless Raid (Haaretz Editorial) Wouldn't it have been simpler, more appropriate and more polite to openly approach the publishers of jailed ex-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's autobiography without resorting to police vans? 
*Another Gaza war looming? We'll manage (Einav Schiff, Yedioth/Ynet) The reports about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the cabinet’s decision to cut the power supply to the strip are being received in Israel with a collective shrug. A stranger may think that, as far as we’re concerned, the question of ‘will there be a war?’ falls into the same category as ‘where will we vacation this year?’ or ‘is Britney Spears worth the money?’ 
In the absence of a strategy: In a confused move, the Israeli government decided to bring us closer to the Gaza conflict (Alon Ben David, Maariv) No one in Israel believes that the Palestinian Authority will be able to control Gaza again, but the simplest step is to enlist in Abu Mazen's futile war against Hamas. First, some information that I think many Israelis do not know: We are not financing the electricity supplied to the Gaza Strip. Israel deducts the cost of the electricity from the tax money it transfers to the Palestinian Authority every month (about NIS 40 million a month). Mahmoud Abbas asked that we reduce the electricity transferred to Gaza by 40% and collect only 25 million of the money transferred to it. The meaning is seemingly marginal. In recent months, Gaza has ‘enjoyed’ four hours of electricity a day. Most of the Gaza Strip did not take a hot shower last winter. Following the cabinet's decision, the four hours will be reduced to three and a quarter hours of electricity supply. But now Hamas can blame Israel for its plight and if it does, it can also persuade the people of Gaza to embark on another war against us. Since Monday, everyone's eyes have been on Major General Yoav (Poli) Mordecai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, who will save us from ourselves and from the decision he himself made. He is vigorously making phone calls to Europe and to new friends in the Arab world in the hope that they will contribute money to help Gaza. But he also remembers how, after Operation Protective Edge, there was a conference in which dozens of countries promised to donate $4 billion to rebuild the Gaza Strip. Gaza has not yet seen 10% of this money…Gaza is a cage for two million people, which we built. We do not occupy their land, but when we decided that the Gazans could not fly, sail, or travel by land, we took responsibility for feeding the people in the cage. Every morning we put a thousand trucks of supplies into Gaza: food, fuel, cement (partially transferred to building tunnels), iron (partly use for rockets) - why do we choose to take responsibility? Soon there will be no drinking water in Gaza and then we will have to water two million people. Netanyahu finally agreed this week to allow a discussion of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz's proposal to build a seaport in Gaza, a proposal that receives unequivocal support from the army. It has the potential to distance the next confrontation in Gaza and dictate a split between it and the West Bank, just before the Americans land here with a draft peace agreement that will probably not be comfortable. Six cabinet ministers expressed support. Netanyahu and Lieberman blocked it. Why do [far right-wing – OH] Habayit Hayehudi ministers support the idea? Are they Hamas supporters? After all, they too see the tremendous political potential of dividing the Palestinians. Israel has no interest in supporting the connection between Gaza and Judea and Samaria. There is no way to reconcile one policy to these two territories. But it is doubtful whether the current Israeli leadership is ready to make a strategic decision. It is more convenient to hang on to someone else's wishes. In the meantime, we are facing tense weeks with Gaza, in the hope that someone has meanwhile spun the rope so we can get down the tree of the last decision. We can fight in Gaza once a year, even tomorrow morning. They will not defeat us, they will not win, and they will suffer more. But if our decisions lead to another unnecessary confrontation this year - what will we say to the dozens of families that will sacrifice their sons in this war? That they fell in order to strengthen Abu Mazen? 
Generous With State Secrets (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) If revealing classified information endangers security, as the Israeli defense establishment claims, then Netanyahu is a walking – or rather, a convoy-traveling – security risk. 
Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is inhumane and immoral (Meir Uziel, Maariv) From the look of the Gaza Strip without electricity, we learn in a painful way that, contrary to the usual claims, the end of the occupation actually leads to a terrible violation of the human rights of the Palestinians and not to their improvement. 
Beware the backlash: Trump in trouble means insecurity for U.S. Jews (Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, Haaretz+) All the scenarios of a truly cornered President Trump signal danger to U.S. Jews. But the bigger danger is to America herself. 
Electric shock: The defense establishment prefers to take a risk rather than weaken Abu Mazen (Udi Segal, Maariv) Lowering the power station's switch is not a policy, but a means. Without a specific target, Israel continues to act against Gaza on whims, and is carrying out moves that could in the end intensify hatred against us.
A false and misleading calm (Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth/Ynet) While Friday evening’s deadly attack in Jerusalem was carried out by a local cell, the kind of which Israeli security forces should've been able to thwart, their success in thwarting many other attacks should be noted, because below the surface, Hamas is encouraging terror cells to avenge the alleged Israeli assassination of commander Mazen Fukha. 
The Real Revelation Hidden Inside Netanyahu's Plan to Leave Settlers in Palestine (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) As usual, the logic on which the Israeli PM bases his 'peace' proposals does not take into account the Palestinian vision. 
A combined attack in Jerusalem: the open questions and worrying signs (Lior Ackerman, Maariv) The incident in which (Border Police soldiers) Hadas Malka was murdered paradoxically symbolizes terrorism in the Middle East. What can be done in the face of three young men full of religious and nationalist hatred who decide to kill? 
How Credible Is ISIS' Claim of Deadly Jerusalem Terror Attack? (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Jerusalem attack may encourage copycats – but it doesn't point to a new terror wave.
A Guide to Becoming a Billionaire in Israel Without Doing a Stroke of Work (Eytan Avriel, Haaretz+) In 2007, there were 173 millionaires on the list of Israel's 500 richest - today only 17, simply because the others have almost all become billionaires.
The Left Is Saving Israel (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Israel's future is secure and no existential threat hovers over it. Only over David Grossman's Israel does danger hover. It is a danger that is no less threatening than any existential one 
David Grossman, our very own world-famous author (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) The winning novel of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize represents not only an author with an unusual ability to write, filled with compassion and humor, but also Grossman's upbringing: A childhood in Jerusalem as the son of Holocaust survivors. 
A bill that looks ahead (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) As important as the law ensuring Jerusalem remains united is, it is far more important right now to relaunch construction that will create contiguous territory and keep residents in the city.
Could Mideast peace be a key battleground for Macron vs Trump? (Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Haaretz) France's president has a chance to push a distinctive new voice on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while strengthening Europe's fightback against Trump's threat to international norms and stability. 
Closing al-Jazeera's studios in Israel could do more damage than good (Jacky Khougy, Maariv) Although the Qatari network does not dance to the flute of the Prime Minister's Office, in the event of its closure, Israel will be the first to feel when Hamas has nothing to lose.
A Hubbub in Adelson’s Casino (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Is the prime minister in a lifeboat that's being lowered into the sea from a ship that is now sailing toward a post-Netanyahu era?
Jordan is initiating a move that is expected to help block Iranian land contiguity in the Middle East (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Evidence from the field of Iran's striving for hegemony in the region is very troubling to the West and Israel, but a positive development may come from King Abdullah, who initiated the establishment of a buffer zone in Syrian territory. 
Anger at Israel's Academic Code of Ethics Is Unjustified (Boaz Sanjero, Haaretz+) Tone and content of criticism actually indicate that some critics of the code of ethics could really use a code of ethics
Darwish that you did not know, Miri (Regev): the other faces of the Palestinian poet (Nathan Zehavi, Maariv) I found an article published 49 years ago in Ha'olam Hazeh that might prove to you that the songwriter is not only a cruel and hated enemy [written facetiously – OH]. This Op-Ed is dedicated to the Minister of Culture…And here is the translation of the Darwish poem that was sung by Miri Awad at the Israeli Oscar’s for which you left the festival:
When you make your breakfast, think about your fellow man
(Do not forget food for the pigeons)
When you run your wars, think of others
(Do not forget those who seek peace)
When you pay the water bill, think of someone else
(Do not forget those who nurse from the rain of clouds)
When you return to home, to your house, think of your fellow man
(Do not forget the people of the tents)
When you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(There are those who cannot find a place to sleep)
When you let your soul go free with questions, think of others
(Think of those who have lost their right to words)
When you think about others who are far away, think of yourself
(Say: I wish I were a candle in the dark)
 

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.