APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday October 25, 2017
 

Quote of the day #1:
"A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness."
-- Note that Alfred Einstein scribbled in German to a bellboy after he did not have cash to give him a tip. The note sold for $1.3 million Tuesday.*

Quote of the day #2:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The ‘Bibi Bill’ - to protect a sitting prime minister from criminal investigation - got more coalition support even as the Attorney General warned it would create a 'sanctuary for felons' and a Yedioth poll found that 63.1% of the Israeli public opposed the Likud bill - as well as about a half of Likud voters, the IDF named a Hezbollah general operating on the Syrian side of the Golan, Munir Shaito, as its latest target, just as a foreign report said that Hezbollah intended to withdraw all its forces from Syria in 2018 due to growing fears of an imminent war with Israel on the Lebanese border (Maariv), and the police uncovered a bribery scheme in an unnamed state security company, which was operating on an ‘enormous scale, which, along with the undiplomatic lipstick graffiti one (female) Zionist Camp MK scrawled on the car of another (female) Zionist Camp MK, made top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Barely making news was that Israel is hosting firefighters from the Palestinian Authority in a 400-person wide-scale regional emergency exercise that began yesterday and includes emergency response teams also from Jordan, Italy, France and Spain. They are drilling an extreme-case scenario in which a huge wildfire wreaks havoc on a regional scale. The EU paid for the drill. Interestingly, Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that the exercise “demonstrates a unique collaboration with the Jordanians, the Palestinians and the European Union." This comes after Erdan said last month about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that “It is impossible to speak about a nationalist territorial struggle. This conflict is religious.” This Israeli website has photos from the drill.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Is the Bible a True Story?
Despite feverish searching with Scripture in one hand and cutting-edge technology in the other, evidence backing the Bible remains elusive. But there are some surprising anomalies. (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+)
The Female Entrepreneur Behind Baghdad's Literary Revival Has Big Plans for Iraq's Future
On Al-Mutanabbi Street, the heart of Baghdad's cultural life, 28-year-old Baraa al-Bayati is disrupting a society steeped in male chauvinism. (Sofia Barbarani in Baghdad, Haaretz+)
In Ramallah, Vibrant Arts, Culture and Literature Build Palestinian Sanctuary
Despite awareness of the Israeli barbed wire, cultural activity builds the illusion of sovereignty or independence. From the spirited city, Palestine is almost whole. (Amira Hass, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Incitement Is Not Merely a Fashionable Word Used by Netanyahu's Critics (Haaretz Editorial) The prime minister can't play innocent to his targeting of rights groups, the media, Israeli Arabs and so many others.
In Netanyahu's Latest Rant, Iran's Meddling in Syria Overcame the Nuclear Threat (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Netanyahu may be dividing responsibilities: Trump will take care of changing the nuclear agreement, while Israel will deal with the Iranian-Hezbollah danger next door.
California Is Talking Secession. In an Ever-more Trumpian Israel, the Left Coast Should Do the Same (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) With sneers and dog-whistles, Netanyahu laid it out for his base to devour: There is this limp-wristed, sub-potent smattering of whining ingrates. Left Coasters. Let's face it: Not Really Israelis. Not Real Jews. Not Us.
Opinion Waiting Around for Trump's 'Ultimate Deal' Will Kill the Israeli Left (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Relying on an American panacea creates an idle left, a silent one drowning in inaction and paralyzed by fatalism.
There are teachers in Tel Aviv: Rehavam ‘Gandhi’ Zeevi Memorial Day will be the lesson day about that dark period (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Contrary to what recent voices are saying, one must preserve Rehavam Zeevi’s heritage for generations, so that the Jews will see and learn a lesson: That is how we were, this is the hero that our children were educated about at that time.
Trump and Netanyahu, Masters of Their Parallel Universes (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Many Americans believe a glitch in the matrix has transferred them to a Bizarro World in which a loutish red-haired charlatan is president.
A special column by MK Bitan: "They are trying to weaken my hand, I am not running away from my past and I am not ashamed of it”( MK David Bitan, Maariv) All I own is an apartment I bought together with my wife and our livelihood is my salary. My public activity is being attacked by recycled information that turned into a headline. The coalition chairman responds to the accusations that he is reportedly under police investigation for alleged corruption.
Opposition Leaders, Give Israelis the Democracy They Want (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) To harness public sentiment, Netanyahu's opposition must not hole up in the Knesset. It must be part of a great wave of public protest to wear down the government.
No one is above the law (Prof. Aviad Hacohen, Israel Hayom) The proposed "French law" bill prohibiting criminal investigations into sitting prime ministers would put them above the law. We must not let it pass.
Rivlin Blasts Netanyahu’s Dangerous Putsch and Likud’s Profiles in Cowardice (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Unlike several brave Republicans resisting Trump, no senior Israeli right-winger has stood up for Israeli democracy and the rule of law.
For the sake of stability (Dr. Gabi Avital, Israel Hayom) The French law upholds the people's will, because in a democracy a prime minister should be replaced by the voters, not through hollow investigations by purists waging a witch hunt.
Welcome to the golden age of Bibism (Attila Somfalvi, Ynet) Addressing the Knesset this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu presented the political world he wants to live in, a world in which criticism is a crime, free thought is sourness, and flattering the leader and his regime is a way of life.
How can anyone blame Netanyahu for future conflict with Iran? (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) In his claim that ‘the government is dragging us to war,’ Major-General (res.) Amiram Levin crossed a dangerous red line. It’s Iran that is moving forces. It’s Iran that is taking steps to change the strategic map. It’s Iran that is repeatedly declaring its intention to destroy Israel. But to hell with the facts.
Hamas and Fatah Must Transform to speak on behalf of Palestinians (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) The recent reconciliation agreement in Cairo is not an outcome of a new commitment to a Palestinian national project. Both Hamas and Fatah are out of options. Their regional politicking was a failure, and their political program ceased to impress Palestinians who are feeling orphaned and abandoned. For the Hamas-Fatah unity to become a true national unity, priorities would have to change entirely, where the interest of the Palestinian people - all of them, everywhere - would, once more, become paramount, above the interests of a faction or two, seeking limited legitimacy, fake sovereignty and American handouts.
The Democratic Gamble That Failed: Why Iraq's Kurds Lost Their Own Independence Referendum (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Kurds belatedly waking up to new reality that independence cost them - and the West - bolstering Iran and Iraq in the region.
 

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