News Nosh: 8.17.18

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday, August 17, 2018

Quote of the day:
“In the summer of 2018, the lives of dozens of soldiers and civilians were spared. Their time may come in another year, two years or three. But today and tomorrow they’re here. Their families weren’t shattered, graves weren’t dug, eulogies were not delivered. What’s been said of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu many times in the past remains true today: He doesn’t rush to send soldiers into war, certainly a war that’s unnecessary and pointless and after which we will only return to square one. He has also succeeded in recruiting to this judicious and mature policy of containment a defense minister (Avigdor Lieberman), who took over that portfolio two years ago in the guise of James Bond, Rambo and Conan the Barbarian. The size and bitterness of the pill that Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman had to swallow for negotiating with Hamas, with vigorous Egyptian mediation, on the terms of an agreement or 'arrangement,' are beyond measure.”
—Haaretz+ political analyst, Yossi Verter, looks at the decision-making behind the one-year ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

You Must Be Kidding: 
“However, as a gesture, and in a step that went beyond the letter of the law, COGAT, with the assistance of the Ministry of Communications and the Customs Authority, allowed a one-time transfer of approximately ten and a half tons of mail that had been held in Jordan."
--Israel says that it did the Palestinians a favor when it allowed to be transferred to the West Bank this week over ten tons of Palestinian mail that it prevented delivery since 2010 because it was not properly addressed to Israel.

Front Page:
Haaretz
  • Rehabilitation of infrastructure and negotiations over the construction of ports: This is how the ceasefire agreement with Gaza looks
  • The weighed and responsible diplomatic conduct of the IDF prevented a war // Amos Harel
  • Netanyahu did not say a word, Lieberman denied. The right-wing feels betrayed// Yossi Verter
  • The agreement gives a flashback to Netanyahu’s defeat in 1999 // Chemi Shalev
  • Woman run over and killed near Havat Gilad outpost; Palestinian driver turned himself in
  • Claims of harassment and a harsh professional environment: Haaretz probe raises questions about the conduct of the director of the Health Ministry, Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov
  • In Israel they assess that Iran will try to preserve the nuclear agreement despite the sanctions
  • Prosecutor dealing with the Netanyahu cases: Speed of decision-making in Jerusalem is problematic
  • The Iraqi spy who infiltrated ISIS and prevented attacks became a hero after he was executed // NYT
  • Singer Aretha Franklin died - 1942-2018
  • The princess, the Nazi and the village fool: What caused people to endanger themselves to save the lives of Jews in the Holocaust
  • Between ego battles of the leaders, Turks wonder how to continue
  • Dr. Ido Magen wants to blur the border between drugs and medicine
  • Dalia Ravikovitz reveals herself in a collection of her articles to be an excellent prophet
Yedioth Ahronoth
Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)
  • Shin Bet recommends: No (long-term) arrangement that is only with Hamas
  • Attack or car accident? Israeli was run over and killed in Samaria
  • In south Tel-Aviv they are satisfied: “Now is the time to expel infiltrators”
  • The (Maj. Gen. Yair) Golan storm
  • Ticking time bomb // Ben Caspit
  • Shortcut processes // Kalman Libeskind
  • Dozens of parents: “The coach also molested our daughters”
  • Death of a legend - Aretha Franklin
  • Moshe Kahlon’s dilemma // Yehuda Sharoni
  • Strip in trauma: The psychologist from the Galilee who helps the injured in Gaza
  • The confidant in a special interview: Who gave the order for the ‘Bad Business’ (Israeli covert operation in Egypt also known as the ‘Lavon Affair’)
  • Uri Avnery and I: My beautiful days with the editor of ‘Olam Hazeh’
  • 1/8 page ad: Inauguration ceremony of the Medical School in the name of Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson at University Ariel in Samaria (+interesting Haaretz+ article about ceremony)
Israel Hayom
  • Test day: “The acts on the ground are what will decide”
  • Run over and killed in Samaria: 40-year-old Israeli woman killed when hit by Palestinian taxi; Driver turned himself in to the Palestinian Authority
  • Last respect - Aretha Franklin
  • Leptospirosis scare: Warnings and attempts to calm
  • Because of the failures: Change in ways to assess hospitals
  • Numerous video clips on the computer of the coach (suspected of molesting dozens of girls)
  • Corruption in the assignment of soldiers and in trips”: Commander of IDF military headquarters base, Maj. Yigal Ben-Ami, suspected of offense of integrity
  • Even without rivers: Wonderful weekend in the Golan and Galilee
  • European League: Macabbi Tel-Aviv goes to playoffs, Hapoel Beersheva was dismissed
  • Cases in darkness - Doctors forge and change medical files of patients to cover up mistakes
  • In the wake of the criticism over the relief for Gaza, Lieberman is busy with the appointment of the next chief of staff
  • The path to achieving the Zionist vision: Debate over the Nation-State Law and those trying to silence it // Dror Eydar

 
News Summary:
So a Gaza ceasefire went into effect today and an Israeli woman was hit and killed by a car driven in the West Bank by a Palestinian man making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, Netanyahu was questioned today for the 11th time in Case 4000, the corruption probe of the Bezeq-Walla affair. And, justice officials were accused of being unduly slow in making decision about the cases.

The Gaza-Israel ceasefire has a number of phases during which, if all goes well, a maritime route from Gaza to Cyprus will be created, a seaport will be built, the power supply will be repaired (much of which will be paid by Qatar, whose envoy Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with in June, Maariv reported) and eventually a prisoner swap will take place. To finalize this agreement, Egypt's intelligence chief  Abbas Kamel visited Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman Wednesday, Israel confirmed. But the Shin Bet warned that excluding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from truce talks with Gaza's rulers will bolster Hamas in the West Bank, prove to the Palestinians that violence is the way to get Israeli concessions, Shin Bet security agency head Nadav Argaman tells the cabinet (also Maariv). “The arrangement that is being formulated actually puts Qatar above Abu Mazen's head," wrote Maariv reporters Yasir Ukbi and Yanir Kuzin. "The chairman of the Palestinian Authority has raised difficulties in the talks, so the Americans have created a bypass route through Qatar. But Argaman said that in his experience Qatari money does not end with projects in the Gaza Strip, but also goes to terrorist activity. Israel insists that the first stage of the arrangement is only a cease-fire, and if it succeeds in a few months, they will discuss the Operation Protective Edge understandings. The arrangement was not approved by the Cabinet. The one who did not meet with the Egyptians is Abu Mazen, who said he was busy. Egyptian intelligence chief Kamal already intended to go to Ramallah, and then received the negative answer."

Most of the Israeli newspapers did not assume that the 63-year-old Palestinian taxi driver had intentionally run over and killed the 42-year-old Israeli woman on a West Bank road Thursday night. Even Israel Hayom, which rarely gives the Palestinians the benefit of the doubt, noted that the driver turned himself in to Palestinian police shortly after the incident. The driver said he fled the area for fear that the settlers or soldiers would harm him after they thought he intended to hurt the woman.The Israel Defense Forces said it was apparently an accident, but that they were looking into it. Oddly, Yedioth’s settler affairs reporter, Elisha Ben-Kimon, asked Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, for his view of what happened, despite Dagan not being there. Dagan claimed the incident was a terror attack because "The junction is lighted... there are no signs of an attempt to stop—not before the spot and not after.” [A video on Ynet Hebrew shows the site of the incident is near a bend in the road. - OH] Today, the army said that following an initial investigation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, the defense establishment concluded that this was not a ‘nationalistic incident,’ [i.e. an attack - OH]. (Maariv and Ynet Hebrew)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.