News Nosh 12.23.14

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday December 23, 2014

Number of the day:
35.
Percent of Israel's children who live in poverty.

Front Page News:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Murder in front of the children
  • Peres against Netanyahu
  • Battle over the gas
  • Problematic move // Sever Plocker
  • King of the monkeys – Israeli millionaire from Hollywood paid $2 million to Mazor monkey form to release the monkeys held captive for experimental purposes
  • 75 years of real journalism at Yedioth – 75.ynet.co.il
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom
  • Campaign of hypocrisy – Right-wing against Peres: “His birthday budget could have fed masses of hungry”
  • State to (tycoon) Teshuva: We aren’t accepting a monopoly
  • Suspicion: Soldier who served in Hebron planned attack against Palestinians
  • Revenge? Internet in N. Korea collapsed
  • Horror in Rishon L’Tzion: Man stabbed to death his wife in front of their children – then committed suicide
  • 226 immigrants who survived the battles in Ukraine arrived in Israel: “We hope to start anew”
  • Tonight: 8th candle of Hannukah
  • Board of Directors: Yitzhak Laor won’t receive Landau Prize for 2014

News Summary:
Former president Shimon Peres hinted that the government was responsible for the severe poverty in Israel, raising the ire of the right-wing in government, and the Anti-Trust Authority said that an Israeli tycoon’s monopoly on gas must end making top stories in the Hebrew press today.

Quick Hits:
  • Former military commanders call: make a peace agreement - A conference was held yesterday to launch the “Commanders for the Security of Israel Movement,” which includes 152 former senior officers and commanders who intend to work towards getting the government to initiate a move that will formulate diplomatic-security arrangements with the Palestinians and the Arab states. They believe that this will give Israel recognized borders that will assure Israel’s security, Jewish majority and democratic character. (Israel Hayom, p. 15)
  • Israeli rightists tour Aqsa compound for Jewish holiday -Mosque guards say at least 68 Israelis entered and toured the compound under armed guard. Palestinians stood by and protested and three were detained. Local Palestinians have been infuriated by far-right Jewish campaign to potentially divide Al-Aqsa that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo. (Maan
  • Hebron: A soldier wanted to make a terror attack - and was expelled from the West Bank - The soldier, who serves as a driver and is close to far-right activists, left no room for doubt: he intends to attack Palestinians to avenge the terror attacks in Jerusalem – and he said so on a number of occasions. When it was discovered he went on R&R and lied and took his weapon with him, he was arrested and put in prison for 28 days, which he completed a few days ago. He is not allowed to enter the West Bank due to the fear that he will harm Palestinians. (Israel Hayom, p. 1)
  • Palestinian tries to stab IDF soldier near Tulkarem‎ - Soldiers at Nitzanei Oz crossing near Tulkarem‎ thwart stabbing attempt on Monday morning, arrest the Palestinian attacker. No one injured in the incident. Attacker taken in for questioning by security forces. (Israel Hayom)
  • Senior Hamas official: We have no interest in another war against Israel - Turkey-based Saleh Arouri tells Hamas-affiliated website in Gaza that continued siege will lead to an outbreak of rage. (Haaretz)
  • Palestinians say Gaza reconstruction pledges unfulfilled - Palestinian Deputy PM says 'not even one penny' has been received from Qatar, UAE, Turkey; notes rift between rival Palestinian factions, border crossings issue deterring donors. (Agencies, Ynet
  • Hamdallah forms committee to control Gaza crossings - Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday formed a committee to take control of Gaza's crossings in a move aimed at accelerating the reconstruction process. (Maan
  • Amid rubble of Gaza, construction of Coca-Cola plant begins - Trucks drive in with assembly line parts for factory approved by Israel, owned by two West Bank tycoons. (Haaretz+)
  • Gazans cross into Egypt as crossing opens temporarily - Egypt permitted passage to Palestinians through Rafah border crossing for two-day period, after long-term closure following deadly attack on Egyptian forces in Sinai. (Agencies, Ynet
  • 220 tons of medical supplies enter Gaza via Rafah -  
  • The Egyptian Red Crescent supervised the entry of 220 tons of medical supplies from Algeria and Qatar into Gaza on Monday. (Maan)
  • Jailed Fatah leader criticizes UN resolution on Palestine - In a letter received by Ma'an from jail, Barghouthi said the UN resolution is an "unjustified fallback, which will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian position." He urged the leadership to revise the wording of the draft resolution to focus on the major issues of settlement expansion, Jerusalem, prisoners, and the blockade on Gaza. (Maan
  • Palestinians cultivate village land near Bethlehem settlement - Palestinians from the village of Tuqu cultivated their land on Monday despite attempts by settlers and Israeli military forces to stop them, locals said. The land is located southeast of Bethlehem near the illegal settlement of Nokdim, home to Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. (Maan
  • Israeli forces issue demolition orders in Hebron - Demolition orders issued against a caravan provided by international NGOs to a family of six whose home was demolished and against a steel structures next to a home, both in Idnha. (Maan
  • Ultra-Orthodox groups get $3.1 million budget boost from the Knesset - Finance committee approves allocation at behest of Netanyahu-controlled treasury. (Haaretz+) 
  • 8 Palestinians indicted for inciting anti-Jewish violence on Facebook - East Jerusalem residents aged 18-45 charged with 'incitement to violence or terror and supporting a terrorist group' on social media. (Agencies, Ynet
  • Haaretz journalists Gideon Levy, Alex Levac detained by IDF in West Bank - Soldiers claim spitting, verbal abuse was directed at them; Journalists released after being questioned. (Haaretz and Maariv)
  • At least 60 journalists from around the world killed in 2014, new report says - Committee to Protect Journalists says journalists died on the job or because of their work, and 44 percent of them were targeted for murder. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Under siege in Egypt, Al Jazeera shuts down local channel - Move comes after Qatar, whose royal family owns network, reconciles with Cairo; three AJ journalists remain in prison for allegedly supporting outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. (Agencies, Haaretz
  • CIA shows agents how to keep their cover at Israeli airport, leaked file shows - WikiLeaks reveals document that advises agents using false identities how to survive secondary security checks at Ben-Gurion, among other international airports. (Haaretz+)
  • New app teaches kids about archaeology in Israel - Free English-language application for iPhones and iPads seeks 'to make the archaeological treasures of the Land of Israel available and accessible to audiences around the world.' (Ynet)
  • Israel National Lottery revokes poetry prize to Yitzhak Laor - Unproven allegations of sexual harassment and complaints about the writer's political views prompted Mifal Haypayis to reverse its decision. (Haaretz)
  • Report: India weighs dropping support for Palestinians at UN in wake of closer ties to Israel - Diplomatic ties between Israel and India have warmed considerably since the election of Narendra Modi in April. (Haaretz)
  • US fines Bank Leumi $400m in tax evasion case - Israeli financial outfit admits guilt, agrees to pay massive settlement to end probe of decade-long effort to conceal US taxpayers' assets. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Another attack in France: Van rams into Christmas market, hits 10 pedestrians - Assault marks third French incident in as many days; driver stabbed himself repeatedly with knife after mowing down shoppers. A local newspaper reported that the driver had shouted "Allahu Akbar," but witnesses told Reuters that he had not said it. (Agencies, Haaretz+)


Features: 
“The situation in Beitar (Illit) is fertile ground for radicals”
Protests outside the Rami Levy supermarkets that employ Arabs, two residents indicted for setting the Jewish-Arab Bi-Lingual School (in Jerusalem) on fire. And, complaints of night rioting. The residents of the ultra-Orthodox city (settlement) say that control over marginalized youth is being lost. The Beitar Illit municipality: There was a 50% drop in violent acts. Resident: “An ultra-Orthodox city does not grow criminals. The youth are bored and for them helping the [racist anti-Arab] Lehava organziations is a mitzvah (good deed).”  (Yedioth Jerusalem supplement, p. 30)
Lords of the Land
They were treated like kings and eventually began to act as rulers. A hidden report on the enormous Israeli military delegation that lived in Uganda and built Idi Amin's regime reveals, for the first time, the behind the scenes of the Israeli community. (Sarah Leibovitz-Dar, Maariv)
The story of a people
What are the roots of the Palestinian people, was there ever harmony between Arabs and Jews living here, and how is it possible to bridge the abyss between the narratives of the two sides? In the wake of the Jewish nation-state bill and the security escalation, a new film, ‘Hadrian's Curse,’ challenges our collective memory and reveals why our history lessons fall short. Prof. Menachem Klein, Bar-Ilan University: “At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in Jerusalem, Hebron and Jaffa, Jews and Muslims lived together, without separation and developed a local Palestinian identity that was not related to one’s religious identity. There were tensions, but Muslims rented apartments to Jews, Jewish children learned in Arab schools, and Arab children learned in Jewish schools. Some words in Arabic found their way into the Yiddish-Jerusalem dialect.” Prof. Moti Golani, Tel-Aviv University: “In the historical documentation there are many stories about co-existence here, but in one’s memory it’s always black and white, bad and good. In actuality, in history there were many contradictions. For example, it’s important that we judge what happened in ’48 also based on the Palestinian interests of that time and visa-versa the Palestinians should judge the past based on Zionist interests.” (Tamar Dressler, Maariv Magazine supplement, Dec. 2)

Commentary/Analysis:
Israel must ban racist group Lehava (Dror Mizrachi, Haaretz+) Lehava excels at inciting racism and should go the same way as its predecessor, the banned Kach party. 
The radical rabbis pulling Uri Ariel's strings (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Construction minister's religious leaders chose to secure their place in the Knesset, perhaps even in the government, with the votes of people who don't share their views.
Meretz should join Herzog-Livni bloc (Uri Avnery, Haaretz+) The combination would be worth far more than the sum of its parts. Together, this bloc could unseat Netanyahu and form the next government. 
Soft underbelly (Ben Caspit, Maariv) What did Peres say that was so awful? All he said was that the reality (which is reflected in the poverty report) “is an indictment against ourselves." Peres did not mention Netanyahu’s name and did not name the Likud or even the government. He threw one hint when he said, “You can’t feed the poor and the elderly with statements to the media.” This was one hint too many. Almost everyone jumped on him together. Suddenly they remembered the president’s budget during Peres’ term, which reached 60 million shekels, and “how many poor we could have fed with it.” They forgot that during Netanyahu's six years in power, the one who somehow held Israel's international standing on his shoulders was Peres.
The national partition plan (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel needs to separate itself from the Palestinians without gambling or conceding territory that could turn into a part of the Gaza Strip. This is how it could be done with minimum damage.
Regime repression on the rise in Turkey (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The recent arrests of journalists on apparently trumped-up charges have rolled off Erdogan’s back without leaving a trace.
'Eviction notice' for Israel on US campuses (Peretz Lavie, Ynet) What began several years ago as a local initiative in a few universities has turned into a poisonous, organized and well-funded campaign with clear goals – isolating and boycotting Israel in general and the Israeli academia in particular.
The stomach-turning campaign for an 'Israeli' Friday night dinner (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) How a $1.3 million campaign makes traditional Sabbath meal controversial in Israel.
Parties ought to stand for something (Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz+) While a two-party system like the one in the United States may not be appropriate for Israeli society, neither is it fitting to have new parties pop up and fade away on a regular basis.
Give Yitzhak Laor his prize, don't surrender to kangaroo court (Haaretz Editorial) By deciding not to grant Laor the Landau Prize in poetry, the board of directors appointed itself the investigator, prosecutor and judge. 
Netanyahu must fall, but center-left victory faces high hurdles (Carlo Strenger, Haaretz+) If the current polls’ predictions of the size of the major blocs (center-left, center and right) are roughly correct, chances for a government led by Herzog and Livni are, unfortunately, slim.
As Egypt and Qatar grow closer, Hamas stands to lose (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The rapprochement has cemented a coordinated block of Arab countries under Saudi leadership that is likely to dictate Hamas policy, isolate Turkey and assist the battle against ISIS.
As Hamas and Fatah quarrel, Gaza is orphaned (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Hamas' military spectacle stands in stark contrast to the ruin that plagues Gaza; meanwhile, Abbas and his ministers are shunning the strip.
 

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