News Nosh 1.2.18

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday January 2, 2018
 
Quote of the day:
“KKL has turned from the Jewish National Fund into the Settler National Fund."
--Peace Now's Settlement Watch director, Hagit Ofran, slammed the Jewish National Fund for "playing a central role in an ugly process of using the Absentee Property Law and dubious testimonies" to help a right-wing organization evict Palestinians from their homes.*

Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • “I called hysterically to Shimron and asked him to thwart the meeting of Defense Ministry representatives with competitors of Thyssenkrup. Afterward, he reported to me: The issue has been dealt with” - (State witness in Submarines Affair) Miki Ganor testified: “The Prime Minister’s lawyer took them off the flight to S. Korea at the last minute”
  • There is no majority: The (voting on the) Supermarkets Law was postponed by a week
  • Iran: The demonstrations are spreading
  • The Islamic failure // Nadav Eyal
  • Special: The poems that Yafi Glick (deceased wife of MK Yehuda Glick) left behind
  • Expose - Lawsuit: “Teva Pharmaceuticals preferred profits over the good of the sick”
  • Smartphone at school: Prohibited during recess, allowed during class - Explanation for surprising move
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
  • Iran: The protesters aren’t stopping
  • (Ahed) Tamimi is charged with assault and becomes symbol in Britain
  • Holy fire - Firefighters rescued a Torah from flames and smoke at synagogue in Nahariya
  • Battle over ever vote: Approval of Supermarkets Law was postponed to next week
Israel Hayom
  • Netanyahu: “Good luck to the Iranian people in their noble struggle for freedom”
  • Revolt in the Movement for Quality Government - Storm continues over the ‘Traitors’ Speech’ by Eliad Shraga at the demonstration on Saturday night; Members leaving the organization: “It turned into a radical left-wing movement calling for a putsch”
  • 2018 opened with a storm
  • Petition to (Public Security) Minister Erdan: Why not reconsider the appointment of Ritman (as head the Police anti-fraud unit)
  • Storm of the Supermarkets Law: The vote was postponed by a week
  • To fly on the water: On the way to an airport on an island - five construction companies passed the first stage

News Summary:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wished success to Iranian protesters via a YouTube video and rejected accusations that Israel was behind the expanding anti-government protests in Iran, the coalition postponed by a week the Knesset vote over the controversial Supermarkets Law because two lawmakers of the coalition were missing, and Ahed Tamimi, the blonde Palestinian teenager filmed slapping and pushing a soldier off her property, was charged with assault along with her mother, making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also, in the news, a day after the Likud Central Committee voted in favor of annexing West Bank settlements, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of intending to create an apartheid regime with US backing and promised to revisit signed agreements.
 
Quick Hits:
  • INSS Think tank: Potential 'northern war' is Israel's gravest threat - Israel could find itself in "first northern war" against three adversaries simultaneously: Iran, Hezbollah and Syrian regime, says strategic assessment by Institute for National Strategic Studies. Jihadi groups could trigger flare-up with Hamas in Gaza. (Israel Hayom and Ynet)
  • Israel strikes Hamas compound in Gaza in response to earlier rocket fire at Eshkol region - The Israeli Air Force struck the compound early Tuesday morning. There were no casualties or damages reported in either incident. (Haaretz and Ynet)
  • *Jewish National Fund Involved in Effort to Evict East Jerusalem Family - A subsidiary of the JNF has filed several suits since 1991 seeking the Sumreen family's eviction. (Haaretz+)
  • Knesset Toughens Conditions for Separating Palestinian Neighborhoods From Jerusalem - In a late night debate, lawmakers pass an updated bill that makes it harder to divide Jerusalem without Knesset approval. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
  • 75 Percent Rise in Religious Jews Visiting Temple Mount in 2017 - Lowered tensions, easing of police restrictions contribute to growing number of visits to holy site. (Haaretz+)
  • Governor of Jerusalem's Seal Impression From First Temple Era Found Near Western Wall - The bible mentions the Governor of Jerusalem, a high appointment by the king, in the contexts of the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah. (Haaretz and VIDEO)
  • 5 members of Hamas terror cell arrested in West Bank - Hamas terrorist Abdullah Arar, involved in 2005 kidnapping and murder of Sasson Nuriel, operated West Bank terror cell; members of cell arrested, Shin Bet warns, 'Hamas in Gaza will be held responsible for any attack carried out at its behest.' (Ynet)
  • (Submarine affair: State witness) Ganor tells police: (Netanyahu's lawyer) Shimron helped stop  acquisition of ships from South Korea - At Ganor's request, attorney David Shimron, who has close ties to PM Netanyahu, made a call to prevent a Defense Ministry delegation from traveling to South Korea to discuss deal to acquire patrol boats for the Israeli Navy. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • Storm over the Likudiada (traditional Likud fun weekend): “It encourages use of the prostitution industry in Eilat" - A week before the ruling party's traditional event was held, the manager of Ayelet Shaked's Twitter account Tweeted a tweet that sparked a storm. Organizers of the Likudiada: "Blind and racist defamation of an entire sector of society.“ (*)
  • Poll sees voters 'returning home' to Likud in wake of anti-PM attacks - Two weeks after Yesh Atid outranks Likud in previous poll, governing party again projected to win plurality of seats. Pollster: Pro-Netanyahu voters who ditched him over alleged corruption now rallying behind the prime minister because of Left's attacks. (Israel Hayom)
  • Movement for Quality Government accused of turning radical left - Former supporters slash membership cards, take to Facebook after organization's president, Eliad Shraga, calls coalition chairman "mentally challenged, sniveling thug."  The movement has hidden its real face, with a facade of righteousness," says member. (Israel Hayom)
  • IDF launches special training school for commando soldiers - IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot announces establishment of training school for soldiers from elite 89th Oz Brigade, which was established in 2015 to bring together four special forces units • School head appointed, expected to open in 2019. (Israel Hayom)
  • 'Steps to prevent illegal migrants from entering Israel 100% effective' - Not one migrant entered Israel illegally in 2017 while 4,012 illegal residents left voluntarily, data shows • Cabinet to discuss closing Holot detention center, leaving illegal migrants with two options: voluntary departure or indefinite detention. (Israel Hayom)
  • Mike Pence's Israel trip delayed once again, this time indefinitely - The White House briefed reporters last month that the visit would take place on the week of January 14th, but a list of foreign senior officials due to visit Israel this month did not include Pence's name. (Haaretz+)
  • Mike Pence's Israel trip still slated for mid-January, White House says - The White House briefed reporters last month that the visit would take place on the week of January 14th, but a list of foreign senior officials due to visit Israel this month did not include Pence's name. (Haaretz+)
  • Celebrity rabbi calls singer Lorde 'bigot' for canceling Israel concert - In full-page ad in Washington Post, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach accuses pop singer of hypocrisy for canceling Tel Aviv show and "succumbing to the supporters of a small fanatic group of BDS movement that denies the right of the State of Israel to exist." (Israel Hayom)
  • Ringo Starr Coming to Israel, With a Little Help From His All Starr Friends - Legendary Beatles drummer to perform in Tel Aviv this June as part of European 'Give More Love' tour. (Haaretz)
  • U.S. Informed Israel: Netanayhu and His Wife Have American Bank Accounts - IRS says Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu among 40,000 Israelis with financial assets in the U.S. Accounts revived dividends. Netanyahu’s in response: a All funds are put in a blind trust and were reported. (Haaretz+)
  • Two Coptic Christians shot dead in Egypt liquor store attack - Officials say it is unclear if the shooter was an extremist, in the most recent attack on Egypt's Christian minority. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Syria's Assad reshuffles government as regime forces gain ground in ongoing war - Assad replaces his ministers of defense, information and industry, though state media did not clarify what was behind the changes. (Agencies, Haaretz)


Features:
Marking territory: The women behind the initiative to annex Judea and Samaria
Yehudit Katzover and Nadia Matar have already become accustomed to being perceived among the right-wing as "hallucinatory,” but at the vote (over annexation of West Bank settlements) at the Likud Central Committee they saw their years of efforts bearing fruit. “It was a breakthrough,” they admit. (Karni Eldad, Maariv's Magazine supplement, cover)
Neighbors ‘Death to Muslims,’ civil war Beirut style
New film ‘The Insult,’ banned in Ramallah, rips open old wounds from the Lebanese Civil War. (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+)
Letters to the Editor: Discrimination, Lorde and Ahed Tamimi (Haaretz)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Endless Detention (Haaretz Editorial) Israeli jurists and academics should speak out against the military courts' free hand with administrative detention orders, which allow Palestinians to be held without trial and can be renewed indefinitely.
IDF’s achievements in 2017 marred by political attacks (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) The past year proved the State of Israel faces no external existential threat and no real threat to its sovereignty and routine life; the Israeli army, however, was threatened by the blatant and unprecedented attempts to dictate a political agenda and a new set of moral and social values on the IDF and on its top commanders.
Unlike in Iran (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Here in Israel, when it comes to our domination over the Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line, the Jewish Israeli public is itself a regime of ayatollahs.
The unpredictability of revolution (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) The protests in Iran likely pose no real threat to the ayatollahs' regime, but the desire for change in Iran, along with revulsion for the regime and its symbols, very clearly run deep.
Iran Regime's Dilemma: End Protests With Force or Persuasion? (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Rohani's government is attempting to show the public immediate solutions that could shut down the economic protests, before it morphs into a political protest that would require a much heavier, more violent reaction.
Iran's split personality (Prof. Ze'ev Maghen, Israel Hayom) The Iranian pendulum, which has swung back and forth through the generations between nationalism and religion, is perhaps inching its way back toward nationalism.
Nukes, Riots and Proxy Wars: The Three Urgent Decisions Trump Must Make on Iran (Amir Tibon, Haaretz+) Experts on what Trump’s choices could mean for the Americans, Iranians and the Middle East.
The events in Iran are great news for the State of Israel and for the entire Middle East (Ephraim Ganor, Maariv) The success of the protest will liberate not only the citizens of Iran from the tyranny of the ayatollahs' regime, but will create a new order in the region. Without the support of Tehran, Hezbollah, Hamas and even the Palestinians, they will have to rethink their path.
In Iran, When Does a Protest Become a Revolution? (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Any outside intervention or statements by Western or Israeli politicians will mainly serve the regime in its claims that the protests are somehow being organized by foreign powers.
Iranian protestors keeping with revolutionary tradition (Nadav Eyal, Yedioth/Ynet) Iran is a much more open country than Israelis think, and people there are used to protests; only this time, unlike in 2009, the slogans they are chanting—‘Death to Khamenei,’ ‘Death to Hezbollah,’ ‘We don’t want an Islamic republic’—are no longer within the Iranian state’s norms.
Jerusalem and Now Iran: Is Donald Trump Turning Into a Morally Serious President? (Jonathan S. Tobin, Haaretz) Trump's detractors can't accept his moral legitimacy: he must be opposed under any and all circumstances. But the president has now shown he'll state important foreign policy truths, most recently on Iran - a moral test that Obama failed.
The "trauma,” according to which the right-wing overthrew a right-wing government in 1992 did not happen (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) The truth is different from what is now presented. If there were a lesson to be learned from those days, it is to wage an all-out war against corruption and unite around a worthy leader, faithful to the Land of Israel and clean of hands.
It Happened in Yesha-stan, So Who Gives a Damn? (Amira Hass, Haaretz) Raids seizing construction materials in Palestinian outposts in the West Bank are so commonplace they've become a non-story. Still, they happen.
Those refusing to serve in the army come from the left-wing, yet religious Zionism is being attacked for its loyalty to the IDF (Kalman Liebeskind, Maariv) We all know the eternal question: "To whom are the religious soldiers more loyal, to the rabbi or to the commander?" But history and facts show that the birth of refusal is rooted only in the gardens of the left-wing.
In the Name of Statesmanship (Nave Dromi, Haaretz+) The real threat to Israel is the loss of statesmanlike behavior, as a result of which we will become a violent, uncontrolled society.

Interviews:
I, an Israeli citizen, joined ISIS and lived to tell the tale
An Israeli recounts slipping into Syria under fire, fighting his first battle, taking part in a beheading and making an unlikely return home. (Interviewed by Jack Khoury in Haaretz includes photos and audio)
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.