APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday October 13, 2013

Quote of the day:

"Students need music in order to cry, she explained."
--Haaretz education affairs reporter Or Kashti describes how the Israeli education system manipulates Israeli teenagers' feelings of fear to instill nationalist messages.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

• IDF: Rise in limited violence, it is not an intifada; Third (Jew) killed in territories in less than a month
• Powerful cyclone hit East India. More than half a million ran from their homes
• Nobel Prize Winner: The Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria
• Coming to Geneva with positive energy - Ahead of nuclear talks, Iran is trying to change the atmosphere and lower expectations
• Rabin's grandson: "Netanyahu, you owe us peace"
• In war to save the humanities, marketing is no longer a bad word
• Biggest ports firm in Europe bids to run private port in Israel

Yedioth Ahronoth

•  "I ran barefoot in pyjamas, on thorns. I yelled: save him" - Palestinians bludgeoned to death former senior commander with an ax
• The rally in the protest: the generation that wasn't there
• On the day that Rabin was murdered, I was born // Maayan Kadmi
• Secret of success // Arieh Warshal

Maariv

• Shin Bet and IDF having difficulty solving series of attacks in Judea and Samaria (Hebrew)
• 18 years to Rabin's murder: Turning on iPhone in remembrance of the leader (Hebrew)
• Why do only two Arab communities have central branches of social security? (Hebrew)
• Netanyahu to "NY Times": "Churchill was lonelier than I am"
• Ahead of an explosion: Electricity Corp. employees will be demanded to return irregular wage supplements (Globes)

Israel Hayom

• Murder in the backyard - Security forces continue to investigate suspicion of terror attack; Examining other directions as well
• Question marks with dangerous potential // Yoav Limor
• PM to France and Britain: Sanctions on Iran working, need to continue
• Escaping - Cyclone in India
• The Iranian passenger, the Israeli passport
• Remembering at the square - 18 years to Rabin murder
• Populism committee // Boaz Bismuth on the Nobel Peace Prize
• Hello Freshman Year: Students return to campuses
• The G-20: US needs to urgently deal with economic crisis

News Summary:
The top stories in today's Israeli newspapers were the murder of a former senior IDF commander in the West Bank, a sad peace rally and commemoration for Yitzhak Rabin, and the interview Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave the New York Times, comparing himself to Winston Churchill. Meanwhile, a senior Labor MK blasted a senior Likud MK for declaring Israel can and should attack Iran and a Globes poll finds that Israelis are moving politically back to the right.
 
Security forces are now looking into the possibility that the murder of a former Israeli reserves colonel outside his Jordan Valley home in the West Bank was the result of a botched up plot by Palestinians to steal property from him, but Shin Bet officials are treating it as a terror attack until otherwise demonstrated. This is the fourth killing of an Israeli Jew in the West Bank in less than a month and three of them have yet to be solved. 

At Rabin's square filled with - only - 35,000 people, the grandson of murdered prime minister Yitzhak Rabin said: Netanyahu, you owe us peace. Maariv/NRG Hebrew noted how, if it weren't for the youth groups that attended en masse, there would not have been many people in the square to mark his death 18 years later.

The papers gave very different commentary on the profile of Netanyahu, written following an interview he gave to The New York Times' Jerusalem correspondent, Jodi Rudoren, and despite tensions with the paper over criticism of his policies. Most of the Israeli papers, with the exception of Israel Hayom [unsurprisingly -OH], wrote that the NYT was very critical of Netanyahu. Yedioth called it, 'The interview Netanyahu will want to forget.' They noted it was written about him that he is "isolated outside and at home, where he lost some of his most trusted associates and partners in his cabinet." The profile said he had few personal friends and little trust in his allies." And Netanyahu, who admires Winston Churchill and Theodore Herzl, compared himself to them saying, "The two of them were much more isolated than I." Yedioth wrote that the profile also noted his 'pessimistic character.' The interview was the latest in his media blitz to prevent the easing of sanctions against Iran.
 
Labor party MK Isaac Herzog responded to a claim made by Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, by saying it "completely poo--pooed Barack Obama" when he declared that "Israel can and needs to attack Iran," Maariv reported. (See Friday's News Nosh for Hanegbi interview.) "Such remarks can cause disasters," said Herzog. Hanegbi is considered a close associate of Netanyahu and his remarks were considered to be representing Netanyahu's. (NRG Hebrew)
 
Israel is moving rightwards, according to the latest "Globes"-Smith poll, which shows that Likud-Beteinu and Habayit Hayehudi are strengthening, and Labor and Meretz are weakening. Details in English here.
 

Quick Hits:

• Woman run over by settler's vehicle, sustains critical wounds - A 57-year-old Palestinian woman sustained serious injuries Saturday morning after she was run over by a settler's vehicle in the central West Bank village of Marda north of Salfit. She was evacuated to a hospital in Israel. (Maan)
• Returning to the Knesset: MKs preparing for Knesset session loaded with controversial bills - MKS to reconvene tomorrow will be forced to deal with: the negotiations with the Palestinians, the Governance Bill, the National Referendum Bill, the Prawer Bill [for the displacement of tens of thousands of Bedouin in the Negev -OH], the results of the Lieberman trial, and the selection of a new President. Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin: "If we arrive at the decision-making junction, we will face earthquakes." (Maariv, p. 10/NRG Hebrew)
• Palestinians mull appeal to UNSC over 'serious Israeli violations at Temple Mount' - President Mahmoud Abbas claimed Netanyahu's insistence that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state indicated that the Israeli PM wasn't interested in reaching a peace treaty. (Haaretz)
• Abbas: Palestinian Authority struggling to pay salaries - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed concern Friday that the Palestinian Authority would not be able to pay salaries for its employees in November due to the difficult economic situation. (Maan)
• Palestinian police officers unaccompanied by the IDF in Area C - Police vehicles were recorded traveling in Israeli- controlled territories of the West Bank, which constitutes a breach of arrangements. IDF: "The cases are being investigated." (NRG Hebrew)
• Islamic Jihad leader dies in Nablus - Yousef al-Arif, 65, a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, died on Friday in the West Bank following a severe heart attack. (Maan)
• Palestinian Authority report: 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli jails - The report highlighted that 2,450 Palestinians were detained by Israel in 2013 including 476 children and 49 women. Thirteen Palestinian lawmakers are still in Israel's custody, the report added. It noted that since 2000, Israel has detained about 60 Palestinian lawmakers and ministers. (Maan)
• Skewered at home, in the US Lapid feted as 'the next big thing' - As his popularity in Israel plummets, Finance Minister Yair Lapid receives a sympathetic welcome during week-long visit to U.S., his associates say. Halls were packed at every venue in which Lapid spoke, they say; media coverage was sympathetic. (Israel Hayom)
• Senior Navy officer accused of sex offenses - Navy officer convicted of various sex offenses against multiple female soldiers; soldiers say he touched them against their will, made sexually inappropriate remarks. (Ynet)
• IDF commander dismissed from post after soldier's death - Last May, soldier Roi Alfi was helping to clear a minefield in the Golan when an anti-tank mine exploded and killed him. The investigation shows his commander did not follow proper procedures • Commander dismissed from post, but not from IDF. (Israel Hayom)
• (Zionist Christian) Fundraising group gives $1m a year for subscriptions to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth
• In turn, the newspaper publishes features promoting the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, but the articles are not designated as advertisements but rather as news content. (Haaretz)
• Isolated Hamas faces money crisis in Gaza - Strip's government struggling to meet its payroll as income from taxes badly hit since neighboring Egypt started destroying network of tunnels used to smuggle food, fuel, weapons into Islamist-run enclave. (Agencies, Ynet)
• Irish minister visits Gaza, pledges $0.67 million to UNRWA - Irish Minister of Trade and Development Joe Costello announced a contribution of $0.67 million to the UN agency for Palestine refugees to support emergency food assistance to Gaza, UNRWA said Friday. (Maan)
• Gaza holds 3rd annual bodybuilding competition - Hamas, Palestinian sports association holding bodybuilding championship for third year; photos from Gaza. (Ynet)
• PFLP-GC: Thousands from Yarmouk camp have fled to Sweden - Twenty-three thousand Palestinian refugees from Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria have fled to Sweden since the war started. (Maan)
• Official: PA still awaiting Arafat test results - The results of a lab investigation into the cause of death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are yet to be announced, a Palestinian Authority official said Saturday. (Maan)
• 5 springs in Bethlehem area 'dangerously contaminated' - Five major springs which serve as a main source of water in the south Bethlehem area are inadequate for human use as a result of the high rates of fecal coliform bacteria contaminating that water. (Maan)
• Global chemical watchdog wins Nobel Peace Prize - Nobel committee cites group's efforts as key in defining chemical weapons use as forbidden under international law; on Monday economics prize winner to be announced. (Agencies, Ynet)
• Suspected Israeli spies stand trial in Iran - Judge says group of suspects confessed during interrogation, semiofficial Mehr news agency says. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• Yet again, Iranian caught with forged Israeli passport - Another serious incident of identity theft • Three travelers, one from Iran, are caught in Brussels with Israeli passports • Population, Immigration and Border Authority: "The current passport is easy to forge, biometric passports are a solution." (Israel Hayom)
• Death to America' chants challenge Iran president's diplomacy - Rohani calls for dialogue with West face staunch opposition from hardliners back home. 'America is the great Satan,' insists Tehran Friday prayer leader. (Agencies, Ynet)
• Netanyahu tells French, U.K. leaders: Sanctions are working, now hit Iran even harder - Prime Minister urges British PM, French president not to ease sanctions until Iran's nuclear program is fully dismantled. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Features:

Silence of the Lambs: A Palestinian hamlet on the brink of destruction
The lambs due to be born soon in the village of Halat Makhoul may not survive these chilly nights, nor may the residents, whose tents were destroyed yet again by the army. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz)
Peering into The Pit
The most well-guarded bunker in the country -- known as The Pit -- is where the top echelon of the military manages wars and operations. Israel Hayom was granted exclusive access to the beating heart of the IDF, deep underground. Here is a peek. (Israel Hayom)
What does an IDF mock-up of an Arab village tell us about Israel?
Two British artists took a close look at the training facility called Chicago. (Haaretz)
Children's channel
Envelopes with dollars, piles of clothing, packages of toys, and even a prosthesis for a girl who lost her leg. Ever since the Ziv Hospital (in Safed) turned into the last hope for injured Syrians, the donations from the world, and also from Israel, don't stop flowing in. (Yair Krauss, Maariv's daily 'Magazine' supplement)

Commentary/Analysis:

Stop the expulsions (Haaretz Editorial) Only the High Court has the power to bring an end to Israel's intentional and methodical policy of expelling Palestinians and Bedouin from the southern Hebron Hills to ensure the area's annexation. 
A dangerous illusion (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) The illusion that Israeli settlers can live peacefully in the land of apartheid was shattered with the murder of Seraiah 'Yaya' Ofer.
Iran? Not in our neighborhood (Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a permanent deal with the Palestinians, but one that won't let the Iranians take over Judea and Samaria the way they did in Gaza. Between speeches and negotiations, no one knows what the future will bring.
Precise missiles, cyber-attacks, mass border invasions: Israel's next war (Amos Harel, Haaretz) A speech delivered this week by Chief of Staff Benny Gantz provides a window into the IDF in 2025; the question of war is when, not if.
Dangerous slope in West Bank (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Terrorist attacks, murder prove that conditions on ground can lead to major eruption of popular terrorism, yet this is not a 'lite intifada.' What can security forces, Israeli government do, and what is impact of 'price tag' youth?
***Stop, you're scaring the children: Fear as a cornerstone in Israeli education (Or Kashti, Haaretz) How fear has become a necessary tool in justifying the status quo and fostering hostility toward all that is different. 
The two-way US-Israel street (Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom) Every Jew bothers someone. To the world, we are all settlers, no matter where in Israel we live.
On being an Israeli in Israel (Rachel Neeman, Haaretz) We are registered as Jews in the population registry but as Israelis in our passports; the court apparently wants to keep this duality intact. 
Washington is still dreaming (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) What else needs to happen for the Americans to finally understand what region we live in, and how there are places in the world where the values and rules that they hold so dearly do not necessarily hold sway?
Israelis need the Iranian threat to keep us from destroying each other (Yossi Klein, Haaretz) There are no longer any expectations from school. The expectation that a person will come out of it today better prepared for life are akin to the expectation that a driver will emerge from a defensive driving course better prepared for the road.
Bibi on the tree (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth/Ynet) PM Netanyahu's deterministic approach to Mideast conflict breeds diplomatic blindness.
Attacks in the West Bank: Signs of a brewing intifada? (Amos Harel, Haaretz) The deadly incidents of the past month may not share the same characteristics that defined past violent flare-ups, but Israel and the Palestinian Authority have to make parallel efforts to contain the unrest or risk a broader conflagration.
We are all one (Emily Amrousi, Israel Hayom) Every Jew bothers someone. To the world, we are all settlers, no matter where in Israel we live.
Israel has two nationalities, not one, and they need a federation (Dmitry Shumsky, Haaretz) Let both Jewish Israelis and Palestinian-Arab Israelis launch a movement to fight for the definition of Israel as a state of both nationalities.

Interviews: 

From French yeshivas to Israeli prison: Michel Warschawski recalls 50 years of peace activism
Since moving here some 50 years ago, Michel Warschawski, the French-born son of a rabbi, has been politically involved in far-left activities and has even gone to jail for it. On the occasion of the Hebrew publication of his memoir. (Interviewed by Maya Sela in Haaretz)

 

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