APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday January 21, 2015
Quote of the day:
"I call on all political elements – don't incite and inflame the sector for cynical, propagandistic
purposes. The only way to deal with terror is to deal with the factors that motivate terror."
--Left-wing Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On after remarks by right-wing leaders following the stabbing attack today in Tel-Aviv.**
--Left-wing Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On after remarks by right-wing leaders following the stabbing attack today in Tel-Aviv.**
Breaking News:
At around 7AM, a young man from Tulkarem in the West Bank stabbed and wounded Israelis on a Tel-Aviv bus. The Israeli news websites reported different numbers of people wounded, 12-17, and among them 2-4 seriously wounded. Most of the media outlets did not actually say how many were stabbed, however, Israel radio reported that seven were stabbed, another man was injured from a fall and others were ‘shock’ injuries. [Note: A couple years ago, reporters began counting people suffering from shock following terror attacks as ‘wounded.’ Not all reporters have adopted this and it is unknown what caused this change. – OH] The assailant was shot in the leg and taken into custody. [Note: Unlike in Jerusalem and the West Bank where Palestinian assailants and suspects are most often shot dead, Israeli security forces in Tel-Aviv have repeatedly shot Palestinian assailants in the leg. – OH]
**Right-wing Israeli politicians blamed the Palestinian Authority and even Israeli Arabs for the attack. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also compared it with the attack in Paris and said "it’s the same type of terror that hurt us in Paris, Brussels and everywhere."Foreign Avigdor Lieberman also blamed Israeli Arab leaders, saying they stood behind this attack, the attacks in Jerusalem and the ‘Rahat riots,’ referring to the riots in recent days over the police shooting and killing of a young Bedouin man and later a middle-aged man through tear gas. Meanwhile, chairwoman of the left-wing Meretz party, Zehava Gal-On, asked leaders to avoid using the attacks to further political goals. A member of Hamas' described the attack as a "heroic act and a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and terrorism against the Palestinian people."
Front Page:
Haaretz
- About 1/3 of the subsidies for village construction in Israel – go to settlements
- Senior Israeli official: The Iranian general was not the target of the attack in Syria
- Sources in Dept. for Investigating Police: There is a tangible suspicion that (police) illegally opened fire in the incident in Rahat
- Father of the killed person only wants the truth // Or Kashti
- Significant progress ahead of union of Arab parties
- The vaccine is less effective: Health Ministry prepares for sharp rise of incidences of winter flu
- Pope to Catholics: You don’t need to multiply like rabbits
- The real Islam // Salman Masalha
- Academic secrecy (on salaries)
Yedioth Ahronoth
- The embarrassment – The assassination and the confusion: In an effort to prevent escalation in north, senior Israeli security official said there was no intention to harm the Iranian general. But later, another senior security official changed the tone completely: Israel does not discuss the incident in Syria, its policy was meant to thwart any attempt to attack it
- Malfunction // Nahum Barnea
- Illogical // Alex Fishman
- Resisting the temptation // Eitan Haber
- Still scared – While Erez Efrati (former chief of staff bodyguard who violently raped young woman) gets early release from jail, his victims does not forget or forgive
- The courageous from Operation Protective Edge
- The drop of the Euro
- Eating with strangers – The new fad: meals in private homes with guests you never met
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- The assassination in the Syrian Golan: Israel hinted that it attacked, then returned to ambiguity
- War of nerves // Ben Caspit
- Livni in a salon meeting: “The conduct of Netanyahu and Bennett in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority prevented the release of Pollard”
- “I’d be very happy to also receive Israeli nationality” – The young man from Mali who saved Jews in the attack in Paris tells Maariv.
- After the lynch that was prevented: Riots in Rahat renew
- $200 million for the lives of two Japanese
Israel Hayom
- Preparedness in the north – Iran threatens: The Zionists should expect a lethal lighting strike
- Iran should climb down its ladder of threats // Dan Margalit.
- Absorbing (strikes) alert in attempt to prevent escalation // Yoav Limor.
- Rahat: (Pipe bomb) thrown on police
- Zionist? Yossi Yonah (#23 on ‘Zionist Campt’ list) supported refusing to serve in the Territories (as a soldier)
- ISIS threatens to kill two Japanese if doesn’t receive $200 million; Japanese PM: We cannot submit to terror
News Summary:
With the exception of Israel Hayom, which is considered the Israeli Prime Minister’s mouthpiece, the top story in today’s newspapers was the embarrassment over the Israeli attempt to avoid getting entangled with Iran by leaking that Israel had not intended to kill one of its generals. Also in most of the newspapers (with the exception of Yedioth), were the continued riots in the Negev Bedouin town of Rahat, following the killing of two people by police.
Yedioth and Maariv called it ‘embarrassing.’ Despite officially not commenting on the attack this week that killed six Hezbollah fighters and six Iranian soldiers, including, a high-ranking general, a ‘senior Israeli security source’ admitted Israel was behind it when he or she told Reuters that Israel had not intended to kill the Iranian general. Source: "We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general. We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence. We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation." The leak came after Iran threatened a ‘devastating response.’ Indeed said the Israeli source: "They are almost certain to respond. We are anticipating that, but I think it's a fair assumption that a major escalation is not in the interest of either side." Maariv’s Ben Caspit writes that he doesn’t believe the source was a ‘security’ person, but rather a political official trying to do damage control. He wrote that the IDF likely did know the general was there and had no problem with killing him. (See Commentary/Analysis below) Meanwhile, IDF troops and Israeli civilians in northern Israel are on high alert and a road near the border with Lebanon was closed as the IDF sent tanks to the northern front.
Today the Knesset is holding a special discussion on the police shooting and killing of Sami al-Ja’ar, a Bedouin youth, last week. Only Haaretz+ did some digging on the incident and learned from an anonymous official in the department that investigates the police that the police may have opened fire illegally, killing the young man. Al-Ajar was shot in front of his house during a drug raid on a building nearby.
Meanwhile, Maariv, Ynet and Israel Hayom reported on the continued clashes between police and local youth in the Bedouin village of Rahat, noting that a pipe bomb was hurled at police who were almost ‘lynched’ in their car. No one was injured. Maariv reported that Arab communities, as well as many in the far off north, also made a general strike closing shops in solidarity with Al-Ajar and another man who died at Al-Ajar’s funeral from tear gas inhalation. Yedioth has failed to properly cover this story that has outraged the Arab population of Israel.
Lastly, Maariv reported that Tzipi Livni had sharp accusations for Netanyahu when she spoke at a ‘salon discussion’ held in Tel-Aviv. The #2 on joint Labor-Hatnuah ‘Zionist Camp’ list said:
With the exception of Israel Hayom, which is considered the Israeli Prime Minister’s mouthpiece, the top story in today’s newspapers was the embarrassment over the Israeli attempt to avoid getting entangled with Iran by leaking that Israel had not intended to kill one of its generals. Also in most of the newspapers (with the exception of Yedioth), were the continued riots in the Negev Bedouin town of Rahat, following the killing of two people by police.
Yedioth and Maariv called it ‘embarrassing.’ Despite officially not commenting on the attack this week that killed six Hezbollah fighters and six Iranian soldiers, including, a high-ranking general, a ‘senior Israeli security source’ admitted Israel was behind it when he or she told Reuters that Israel had not intended to kill the Iranian general. Source: "We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general. We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence. We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation." The leak came after Iran threatened a ‘devastating response.’ Indeed said the Israeli source: "They are almost certain to respond. We are anticipating that, but I think it's a fair assumption that a major escalation is not in the interest of either side." Maariv’s Ben Caspit writes that he doesn’t believe the source was a ‘security’ person, but rather a political official trying to do damage control. He wrote that the IDF likely did know the general was there and had no problem with killing him. (See Commentary/Analysis below) Meanwhile, IDF troops and Israeli civilians in northern Israel are on high alert and a road near the border with Lebanon was closed as the IDF sent tanks to the northern front.
Today the Knesset is holding a special discussion on the police shooting and killing of Sami al-Ja’ar, a Bedouin youth, last week. Only Haaretz+ did some digging on the incident and learned from an anonymous official in the department that investigates the police that the police may have opened fire illegally, killing the young man. Al-Ajar was shot in front of his house during a drug raid on a building nearby.
Meanwhile, Maariv, Ynet and Israel Hayom reported on the continued clashes between police and local youth in the Bedouin village of Rahat, noting that a pipe bomb was hurled at police who were almost ‘lynched’ in their car. No one was injured. Maariv reported that Arab communities, as well as many in the far off north, also made a general strike closing shops in solidarity with Al-Ajar and another man who died at Al-Ajar’s funeral from tear gas inhalation. Yedioth has failed to properly cover this story that has outraged the Arab population of Israel.
Lastly, Maariv reported that Tzipi Livni had sharp accusations for Netanyahu when she spoke at a ‘salon discussion’ held in Tel-Aviv. The #2 on joint Labor-Hatnuah ‘Zionist Camp’ list said:
- That Netanyahu and Bennett’s insistence on certain points regarding negotiations with the Palestinians prevented the possibility of releasing Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from US jail and the fourth round of releases of Palestinian (pre-Oslo) prisoners.
- That Netanyahu claims “all of Europe is anti-Semitic and we need to transfer commerce to Asia, while the Japanese Prime Minister says we need to advance the peace process.”
- That “Bibi succeeded in brainwashing us. It doesn’t matter what we decide, the whole world is against us and so we will form a sort of closed ghetto here. It helps a politician to survive, but without feeling that we are flowing towards a one-state situation.”
- That “the Palestinians went to the UN Security Council knowing they would say no and then they would turn to
the ICC at The Hague. If we had said yes to the Americans, this could have been
avoided.”
Quick Hits:
- (Israeli) NGO accuses IDF of gross abuses during Gaza war - Report by Physicians for Human Rights accuses Israel of using human shields and attacking medical workers and facilities during last summer’s war. Calls on PM to establish a state commission of inquiry. (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
- State prosecutor says Haaretz’s Amira Hass did not incite violence - Finds journalist's oped 'The inner syntax of Palestinian stone-throwing' 'did not call to commit violence.' (Haaretz+)
- Temple Mount tourists unwittingly used for Palestinian propaganda - "Not for one moment did any of my friends or myself show any hostility towards anyone there. However, this extremist website claims we stormed the mount and that we attempted to fly a drone over the mosque twice," writes tourist Geoffrey Zalter. (Israel Hayom)
- Israeli military action not limited by election season, AG says - Attorney general's statements unrelated to air strike in Syria or to the question of whether Israel is behind it, his spokesman says. (Haaretz+)
- Israel admits: The Palestinian petition to The Hague (Int'l Criminal Court) "is a strategic danger" - Netanyahu's representative Yitzhak Molcho revealed Israel's fears to two foreign ambassadors: "Now also enemy states can sue us." (Yedioth, p. 10)
- Palestinians may lose US aid over ICC application - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham slams Palestinians' International Criminal Court bid as "bastardizing of the role of the ICC," threatens to cut U.S. aid to Ramallah. (Israel Hayom)
- PA pays partial salaries to civil servants in wake of (Israel) freeze on tax revenues - Israel froze more than $100 million a month in taxes after the Palestinians moved to join the International Criminal Court. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Galant: "I don’t want 8 million Palestinians, we must reach an agreement" - The ‘security man’ of Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party presented his ‘iron hand’ speech, which detailed his political-security principles: "Deterrence must be clear and present." On the present defense budget: "Too big for the country and too small of a threat.” (Maariv)
- Habayit Hayehudi candidate sought to block hiring of Arabs - Bezalel Smutrich, No. 9 on list, was co-founder of NGO that unsuccessfully pressured settlement council not to employ Arabs in 2011. (Haaretz+)
- Bennett to (former president Yitzhak) Navon: Do not put your name with Michaeli, Shafir and Bahlul – That’s not Zionism - Speaking to students at Sapir College, Chairman of Habayit Hayehudi called on former president, who joined the 120th spot on the (Herzog-Livin’s) "Zionist Camp" party: "I urge you not to put your name on the list that is contrary to the values of Zionism." (Maariv)
- 'Zionist camp' candidate endorsed military insubordination - Ten years ago, Professor Yossi Yonah signed a letter praising students who refused to serve in the territories and said Palestinian people are "held without basic human rights." Labor-Hatnuah: Yonah's position has changed. He regrets backing that stance. (Israel Hayom)
- IDF decorates 53 soldiers, officers for Gaza war bravery - Highest award goes to officer who led a unit into a tunnel to search for 1st Lt. Hadar Goldin, who had been snatched by Palestinian fighters. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
- Senior IDF officer: Hamas will improve ahead of the next round - Israeli military confirms reports of Gazan terror group rebuilding tunnel infrastructure, approves expansion of specialized subterranean engineering unit. (Ynet)
- Gaza-area residents miffed by army no-show - Residents came to Knesset c'tee hearing to speak against removal of IDF guards from their communities, and army sent no representative to hear them. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
- For Palestinian cartoonists, religion is off limits - While eulogizing staff of Charlie Hebdo killed by Islamic extremists, Palestinian illustrators generally agree that mocking Islam, or any religion, is overstepping the mark. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Israeli book store chain to sell latest Charlie Hebdo edition - Money from the sales will be donated for establishing a fund for the families of the victims. (Haaretz+)
- Who wants to have coffee with the president of Israel? - President Reuven Rivlin hosts 30 people living near President's Residence in Jerusalem for casual get-together. Rivlin seeks to ensure neighbors not disturbed by security on their street, inquires after best place to buy presents for his grandchildren. (Israel Hayom)
- Jews, Muslims of Tunisia mourn terror victim - Some 150,000 people light candles and hold hands at vigil for Tunisian-born Yoav Hattab, who was killed in Paris terror attack. (Ynet)
- U.S. victims' case against PLO opens new chaper in how courts address terror - Recent rulings found that victims can proceed under Anti-Terrorism Act, a more than 2-decade-old law that allows victims of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Top magazine showcases Israeli architects, designers, artists - Wallpaper*, one of the world’s most prominent design magazines, dedicates part of its January 2015 issue to Israel, focusing on a number of up-and-coming designers, as well as profiling leading architects. (Ynet)
- Autopsy finds 'no intervention' of others in Argentine prosecutor's death - Officials don't rule out possibility that Alberto Nisman was 'induced' to suicide hours before he was to testify about 1994 bombing of Buenos Aires Jewish center. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Features:
Discussion of the soldiers: The concealed recordings
Already then, in June 1967, they prophesied the break of Yom Kippur (war) and the dispute over the (occupied Palestinian) territories. But those voices were censored from a canonical book about the generation of the Six Day War. Now they are being heard for the first time in a movie, "Soldiers' Discussion - The Concealed Reels," which will be broadcast on YES Docu. A week after the Six Day War, a group of intellectual kibbutzniks went to talk with other kibbutzniks who returned from the war. Alongside the stories about the experiences of the war and the desire for peace that were later edited and put into a book called, "Soldiers' Discussion," other voices were also heard: hesitant, confused, depressed. VOices that expressed a great ideological break and prophesied the future Yom Kippur War, as well as the situation Israel is now in. "The next war will be much more brutal," said one of the soldiers. "We always considered ourselves weak...David. Weak but winning because we were right, because we were pure, because we were honest....Now we suddenly became strong," said another. "Only when we went up to the Old City (of Jerusalem) did I remember the Old City existed. I didn't remember at all that there is an Old City and that there is a Wailing Wall and that...nothing. Only when we arrived at the Temple Mount did I remember the existence of the Wailing Wall. And I was there really long minutes after the conquering," said another soldier. (Yedioth, p. 12)
Commentary/Analysis:
The Israeli general who spoke the truth about the Syria strike's timing (Tal
Niv, Haaretz+) Thank you, Yoav Galant, for laying bare the cynical, political dimension of
Sunday's assassination of six Hezbollah militants in Syria.
War of nerves (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Caspit blasts Israeli officials for not remaining ambiguous about Israel’s involvement in the attack, writing that Defense Minister Yaalon “was quick to celebrate” on a radio station and took responsibility, "then Israel Hayom, ‘the Bibipaper,’ ran an enormous headline saying our forces killed terrorists in Syria. And the climax was the Israeli source who told Reuters that Israel was unaware of the presence of the Iranian general in the convoy that was bombed and that he was not the target." Caspit believes the source was a political official, not a military one. “Someone in Jerusalem got cold feet from the Iranian declarations of revenge and quickly mumbled something he didn’t intend to, which on the way, incriminated himself and made the ambiguity that he has adopted a mockery. And now, for the grand finale: the security establishment did not get excited over that leak to Reuters. According to unofficial Israeli sources, no one was prepared to stand behind the apologizing declaration that they didn’t intend to kill the Iranian general. According to information that arrived on this subject to a number of Western capitals, the Iranian general regularly moved in this area and not once and not twice the Israeli intelligence knew about it… What is less desirable, and less proper, was the (Israeli) conduct after (the attack), and the puzzling apology to Reuters, which was more of a self-incrimination than stamping out fires.” Since in the IDF they are not enthusiastic about this leak to Reuters, as mentioned, probably someone in Jerusalem began to tremble and quickly issue unnecessary public statements. Talk about weak nerves. Well, we are before the elections.
Syria attack endangers Israel's tacit understandings with Iran (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The air strike on Sunday, attributed to Israel, could undermine the status quo in which Iran does not respond to such provocation as long as Israel focuses on Hezbollah targets.
Arabs of Israel, suspects until proven otherwise? (Haaretz Editorial) We must not accept a situation in which police 'errors' occur mainly with Arabs.
Nasrallah's revenge will come when he's ready (Yaron Friedman, Yedioth/Ynet) Hezbollah will respond to the deaths of six fighters and six Iranians in a strike in Syria; meanwhile, Israel has apparently sent a clear message.
Syria air strike: Ya'alon's penchant for preventive action often trumps generals' hesitance (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Opinions in the IDF General Staff are likely to be divided when it comes to military action abroad: The decisive factor is usually the defense minister.
Terrorism's roots lie in literal Islam (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) Only a root canal of Islam’s ideas can move the Arab and Muslim world toward modernity.
New threats in the Middle East (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) Sunday's strike in Syria sent a clear message to the terrorists -- Israel is on alert and it will pull the trigger, if necessary.
Analysis: Dangerous fog clouds Syria strike (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Some questions for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon.
A crisis in U.S.-Palestinian ties (Aaron Magid, Haaretz+) Unlike the United States' harmless verbal attacks against Israel, its hostile actions against the Palestinians comprise a strategic threat, spawning an ever-low point in their relationship.
Israel's extreme right uses European terror to promote racial agenda (Avirama Golan, i24 News, Ynet) Israel has undergone tragic change: As right grew in power it was able to isolate Israel from the outside and weaken and disintegrate society from within.
Aliyah is the cornerstone of Zionism (Isi Leibler, Israel Hayom) Netanyahu's message to French Jews was enormously comforting. If his call on Jews to make aliyah embarrassed or offended European leaders -- tough!
Zionist Camp’s ambiguity leaves Meretz a chance to shake its stupor (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) Labor-Hatnuah is maintaining an Israeli statesmanship-like stance, which unfortunately includes utter obeisance to the Moloch of security.
A post-Zionist right in the Likud (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Netanyahu's party is right to criticize different candidates on the Labor list; but the Likud itself is fulfilling the Palestinian dream of one large state, both ideologically and practically.
Herzog and Livni cooking up a sad, sorry soup (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Livni has proven that she can change her mind at a dizzying pace- but we have yet to hear her opinion about the collective rights of Israeli Arabs.
Israel and Germany: One-sided reconciliation (Eldad Beck, Yedioth/Ynet) While most Israelis have made peace with the Germans, most Germans feel animosity bordering on hatred towards Israel.
Should the ICC worry Israel? (Mohammed Wattad, Haaretz+) The international court will not have jurisdiction vis-à-vis Israel if the latter undertakes a serious investigation of any crimes its army may have committed.
The strange death of Alberto Nisman (Elliott Abrams, Israel Hayom) In today's Argentina, challenging corruption can be dangerous and even fatal. It's hard to believe there will be an honest investigation as long as Kirchner and Timerman are in power.
Alberto Nisman was a martyr in the fight for justice (Ronen Bergman, Yedioth/Ynet) When we met in Tel Aviv in 2007, I believed that the Argentine prosecutor's determination to expose the Hezbollah and Iranian role in the AMIA bombing was bravado; I was wrong and he paid with his life.
Argentine prosecutor's death: The latest act in the Iran-Israel saga (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Alberto Nisman was the Argentine prosecutor investigating Iran's hand in the 1992 and 1994 bombings of Jewish targets; Imad Mughneiyeh, father of the Hezbollah commander killed in Syria on Sunday, was suspected of organizing the Argentina attack.
War of nerves (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Caspit blasts Israeli officials for not remaining ambiguous about Israel’s involvement in the attack, writing that Defense Minister Yaalon “was quick to celebrate” on a radio station and took responsibility, "then Israel Hayom, ‘the Bibipaper,’ ran an enormous headline saying our forces killed terrorists in Syria. And the climax was the Israeli source who told Reuters that Israel was unaware of the presence of the Iranian general in the convoy that was bombed and that he was not the target." Caspit believes the source was a political official, not a military one. “Someone in Jerusalem got cold feet from the Iranian declarations of revenge and quickly mumbled something he didn’t intend to, which on the way, incriminated himself and made the ambiguity that he has adopted a mockery. And now, for the grand finale: the security establishment did not get excited over that leak to Reuters. According to unofficial Israeli sources, no one was prepared to stand behind the apologizing declaration that they didn’t intend to kill the Iranian general. According to information that arrived on this subject to a number of Western capitals, the Iranian general regularly moved in this area and not once and not twice the Israeli intelligence knew about it… What is less desirable, and less proper, was the (Israeli) conduct after (the attack), and the puzzling apology to Reuters, which was more of a self-incrimination than stamping out fires.” Since in the IDF they are not enthusiastic about this leak to Reuters, as mentioned, probably someone in Jerusalem began to tremble and quickly issue unnecessary public statements. Talk about weak nerves. Well, we are before the elections.
Syria attack endangers Israel's tacit understandings with Iran (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The air strike on Sunday, attributed to Israel, could undermine the status quo in which Iran does not respond to such provocation as long as Israel focuses on Hezbollah targets.
Arabs of Israel, suspects until proven otherwise? (Haaretz Editorial) We must not accept a situation in which police 'errors' occur mainly with Arabs.
Nasrallah's revenge will come when he's ready (Yaron Friedman, Yedioth/Ynet) Hezbollah will respond to the deaths of six fighters and six Iranians in a strike in Syria; meanwhile, Israel has apparently sent a clear message.
Syria air strike: Ya'alon's penchant for preventive action often trumps generals' hesitance (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Opinions in the IDF General Staff are likely to be divided when it comes to military action abroad: The decisive factor is usually the defense minister.
Terrorism's roots lie in literal Islam (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) Only a root canal of Islam’s ideas can move the Arab and Muslim world toward modernity.
New threats in the Middle East (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) Sunday's strike in Syria sent a clear message to the terrorists -- Israel is on alert and it will pull the trigger, if necessary.
Analysis: Dangerous fog clouds Syria strike (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Some questions for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon.
A crisis in U.S.-Palestinian ties (Aaron Magid, Haaretz+) Unlike the United States' harmless verbal attacks against Israel, its hostile actions against the Palestinians comprise a strategic threat, spawning an ever-low point in their relationship.
Israel's extreme right uses European terror to promote racial agenda (Avirama Golan, i24 News, Ynet) Israel has undergone tragic change: As right grew in power it was able to isolate Israel from the outside and weaken and disintegrate society from within.
Aliyah is the cornerstone of Zionism (Isi Leibler, Israel Hayom) Netanyahu's message to French Jews was enormously comforting. If his call on Jews to make aliyah embarrassed or offended European leaders -- tough!
Zionist Camp’s ambiguity leaves Meretz a chance to shake its stupor (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) Labor-Hatnuah is maintaining an Israeli statesmanship-like stance, which unfortunately includes utter obeisance to the Moloch of security.
A post-Zionist right in the Likud (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Netanyahu's party is right to criticize different candidates on the Labor list; but the Likud itself is fulfilling the Palestinian dream of one large state, both ideologically and practically.
Herzog and Livni cooking up a sad, sorry soup (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Livni has proven that she can change her mind at a dizzying pace- but we have yet to hear her opinion about the collective rights of Israeli Arabs.
Israel and Germany: One-sided reconciliation (Eldad Beck, Yedioth/Ynet) While most Israelis have made peace with the Germans, most Germans feel animosity bordering on hatred towards Israel.
Should the ICC worry Israel? (Mohammed Wattad, Haaretz+) The international court will not have jurisdiction vis-à-vis Israel if the latter undertakes a serious investigation of any crimes its army may have committed.
The strange death of Alberto Nisman (Elliott Abrams, Israel Hayom) In today's Argentina, challenging corruption can be dangerous and even fatal. It's hard to believe there will be an honest investigation as long as Kirchner and Timerman are in power.
Alberto Nisman was a martyr in the fight for justice (Ronen Bergman, Yedioth/Ynet) When we met in Tel Aviv in 2007, I believed that the Argentine prosecutor's determination to expose the Hezbollah and Iranian role in the AMIA bombing was bravado; I was wrong and he paid with his life.
Argentine prosecutor's death: The latest act in the Iran-Israel saga (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Alberto Nisman was the Argentine prosecutor investigating Iran's hand in the 1992 and 1994 bombings of Jewish targets; Imad Mughneiyeh, father of the Hezbollah commander killed in Syria on Sunday, was suspected of organizing the Argentina attack.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.