APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday March 15, 2015

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Netanyahu attacked: Bouji (Herzog) and Tzipi will give in to any dictate; Herzog: International community knows you are weak
• Material fatigue // Yossi Verter
• When Netanyahu is in a spin, the Scandinavian threat is pulled out // Barak Ravid
• The scenarios that are likely to surprise the polls // Yonatan Lis
• The education platforms: Without peace and without democracy // Yarden Skop
• Criminal sanctions will no longer dismantle governments // Yair Ettinger
• Putin not seen for 10 days, CIA thinks he got the flu
• Lia Van Leer, Israel Prize laureate, died 1924-2015

• Last effort – 48 hours to 2015 elections
• Dagan’s proof – He showed Channel 10 a letter he sent to PM, requesting to end his position as Mossad chief
• Uniting and not dividing // Sever Plocker
• Another factory closed down

• The last word
• National referendum // Ben Caspit
• In opposition to Likud claims: Dagan showed letter requesting to end his term in Mossad of his own initiative
• Choose logic // Sarah Beck
• The mystery intensifies: Where did Putin disappear to?

• Senate investigating “Funding from administration against Netanyahu”
• Tonight – big right-wing rally in Tel-Aviv
• Netanyahu defeated Herzog in ‘mini-debate’
• Without a strong Likud – the rule will transfer to the left // Haim Shine 
• Sick media went to hunt for the Prime Minister’s head // Michael Tuchfeld 
• Right-wing hopes that the rally will give them momentum // Dan Margalit 
• Priorities: Protecting the national home // Dror Eydar
• Mystery over Putin’s disappearance

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News Summary:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud party are trying to stop the tide against them, the papers reported today. Only Israel Hayom proclaimed a ‘victory’ for Netanyahu in a televised mini-debate against Zionist Camp co-chair Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu declared there was an international 'illegal' campaign to 'topple' him. Now everyone is waiting to see what turnout the right-wing rally tonight at Rabin Square will have, where Netanyahu will come to speak. The right-wing hopes that they will fill the square, writes Maariv.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said (again) that he hopes that Israel elects a government that will promote peace. Kerry held talks in Egypt with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II about the fight against ISIS and the economic crisis facing the Palestinian Authority, due to Israel withholding its tax revenues. The Palestinian Authority Finance Minister said things may spin out of control due to the lack of funds, Haaretz+ reported, and Abbas said that security coordination with Israel must be re-examined.

Quick Hits:

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Features:

When Herzog and Livni went to market
The Zionist Union leaders paid a visit to Tel Aviv's Carmel Market, a Likud stronghold; the market committee asked merchants to be nice and not shout support for Netanyahu. (Roy (Chicky) Arad, Haaretz+ and Moran Azulay, Ynet)
Promises, promises: Fact-checking the outgoing government's boasts
Likud, Habayit Hayehudi and Yesh Atid are all making great claims for their achievements in the outgoing government. But how many are actually true? (Lior Dattel, Haaretz+)
How is one of Israel's wealthiest men voting in the election?
Industrialist Stef Wertheimer says that, like many things in life, the answer is ‘simple.’ (Danna Harman, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:

Sicced by army dog, Palestinian teen Hamza still awaits his freedom (Haaretz Editorial) Despite the unusually shocking circumstances of his arrest, 16-year-old Hamza Abu Hashem of Beit Umar has been in detention for almost three months at the Ofer military prison. 
Amos Oz has a recipe for saving Israel (Amos Oz, Haaretz+) To prevent the emergence of a dictatorship of fanatic Jews, or of an Arab state in Israel, we must stop trying to 'manage the conflict' and create two states here. Now. Excerpts from two recent talks by Oz. 
Netanyahu's final throw of the dice (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) In a last-ditch effort to win back disillusioned Likud voters, Netanyahu was even willing to admit his mistakes; meanwhile, Herzog is playing his cards close to his chest.
Two days to elections, Netanyahu gripped by vertigo (Barak Ravid, Haaretz+) In describing a worldwide conspiracy bent on removing him from office, the tired, flailing Netanyahu has inserted himself into the questionable company of Mubarak, Chavez and Kirchner.
At the crossroads: Will the people see light or dark? (Prof. Cielo Rosenberg, Maariv) In these elections the people will decide if it wants light at the end of the tunnel of darkness or despair and conflicts. Whoever despairs at the efforts to bring peace is unfit to be a leader.
It's the Palestinian Territories, stupid (Eran Rolnik, Haaretz+) It is in the territories that the fate of our economy and health and education systems will be decided. Moreover, the future of culture and high-tech will also be determined by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
Netanyahu, tragic hero of 2015 elections (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) For all his in-depth surveys, for all his electoral experience, Netanyahu doesn't understand the extent of his problematic nature in the eyes of the electorate; maybe he simply is incapable of understanding.
Don't give Netanyahu another chance to prove his worthlessness (Yoel Marcus, Haaretz+) You tricked us once, twice, three times – shame on you. If we let you trick us a fourth time, shame on us. 
Ben Caspit is debating: should he vote for Yitzhak Herzog or Yair Lapid? (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Netanyahu is suffering now, and in the battle over his continued reign he brazenly breaks a new record, when he claimed there was an international conspiracy “to topple” him.One moment, Bibi, was it not you who called for elections? It's time to change this loony reality. The general trend is against him, but the mandates, like in a poker game, are counted on the steps, and the steps still ahead of us.
What the death of my father taught me about the demise of Israeli compassion (Eva Illouz, Haaretz+) The painful story of my father's death is actually the story of a far more elusive topic: of an indifference to human distress and of the collapse of something fundamental that is unseen and yet pervasive in our society.
Transparent ballot: No vote for Palestinians in West Bank (Sarit Michaeli, Yedioth/Ynet) Though voting ballots are created in the West Bank by Palestinians, they still do not enjoy voting rights, even though their settler neighbors do, because unlike settlers they are not Israeli citizens but subjects of an occupying military regime.
Change will only come from outside Israel's political system (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Don’t wake up on Wednesday expecting anything different from our politicians. That’s not how the system works.
Likud MKs must curb Netanyahu, even if it splits party (Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) As long as Likud leader supports the creation of a Palestinian state, his party cannot be considered part of 'national camp.'  
Netanyahu must be thinking, what the hell was I thinking? (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Make no mistake: The election is still an open game. But it's safe to bet that this weekend, the Netanyahus will reflect on whether it was a smart move to fire ministers and call an early election.
Voting for the sane option in Israel's elections (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) There is no single party that offers a mix of the right's just arguments and the just arguments of the Zionist left; in the end, it's a vote for the least-bad party. Such is democracy.
As Israel lets the Syrians battle it out, Iran deters Israel from next door (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Hezbollah is clearly determined to establish a new status quo along the Syrian and Lebanese border, which it sees as a single front with Israel.
Yadlin's mistake: there is no chance that Obama will approve an Israeli attack on Iran (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Zionist Camp candidate for defense minister suggests reaching an understanding with the US, which will enable even a military option. The problem is that no American administration is prepared to take responsibility for a step that will complicate things for Washington.
After four years of civil war in Syria, Assad's ouster is no longer the goal (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The West and Arab countries are now fighting for influence in the face of Iran and Russia. 
This election forgot the American Jews (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) At the same time as the continuing depreciation and erosion of Israel's standing in the eyes of the majority of the Jewish community, there is an increasing and deeper process by US Jews of distancing themselves from Israel. 
Another murder, another Chechen: Moscow has a history of scapegoating Muslims (Amie Ferris-Rotman, Haaretz+) Zaur Dadayev and Shagid Gubahsev have been charged with Boris Nemtsov’s murder, but the Kremlin has a long history of blaming Chechen for crimes they didn't commit.
A chance to end Netanyahu's rule (Haaretz Friday Editorial) There is a chance to change the rightist rule and put Israel back on the track of political moderation and social integration. This must be the voters’ goal next Tuesday.
Like Truman, Netanyahu's trying to 'scare the hell' out of Americans (Yousef Munayyer, Haaretz+) The Israeli prime minister has been compared to Winston Churchill, but when it comes to handling the Iranian threat, he's acting more like Harry Truman.
Why I’m voting Meretz and not for the Arab ticket (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) The Joint List includes not only the equivalent of Yisrael Beiteinu of the Arab street, in the form of the Arab nationalism of Balad; but also the racist parallel of Habayit Hayehudi in the shape of the Islamic Movement.
Israel's politicians must have the courage to make peace (Danny Yatom, Yedioth/Ynet) Parties which promise magic solutions to Israel's social-economic problems without offering a solution to our diplomatic-security problems are wrong and misleading.
Who will stop the Israeli settlers? (Akiva Eldar, Haaretz+) Herzog and Livni also bear responsibility for the growth of the settler population in the past decade.
What if Bibi loses? Imagining life without Netanyahu (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) Depending on who they are, the prospect fills Israelis with elation or dread. Either way, it feels surreal.
  

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