APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday June 28, 2015 

Quote of the day:

---

Front Page:

Haaretz

• US Supreme Court approved same-sex marriages in all 50 states
• Marriage defeated homophobia // Aeyal Gross
• (Momentous) week for liberals in the US // Chemi Shalev
• 67 killed in series of terror attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France
• Government to discuss advancing gas compromise today; thousands demonstrated in Tel-Aviv against the agreement
• (Netanyahu's absurd and secret promise to gas) monopoly...can collect remuneration from its competitors (Hebrew)
• Flotilla expected to reach Gaza Strip beginning tonight , IDF preparing to stop it
• Parents to boycott schools today across the country in protest of crowded classrooms
• European championship: Three medals for Israel
• Druze artist Assad Azzi: Lone ranger looking for a kingdom (Hebrew)

• Where are the most crowded classrooms – the ‘Sardine protest’
• ISIS’ terror campaign: Tunisia, France, Kuwait
• Terror Qatar // Ben-Dror Yemini
• Wake up // Noah Klieger
• The battle over the gas: Fateful votes
• MKs to Attorney General: Netanyahu is in a conflict of interests
• American pride [photo of White House lit up in rainbow colors]
• Blue-and-white GOLD: Israeli achievement in Baku games – 2 medals
• The next generation: Swimmer Ziv Klontrov with gold medal in youth championships

• Sardine boycott (of schools) today – “The teacher can’t pass between our (desks), we don’t hear her”
• 11-year-old fell from roof of school in Jerusalem and died
• Europe on terror alert
• End to the illusions (in France: The image of the terrorist shows that they did not learn the lessons of the past) // Gideon Kotz
• Bring in soldiers // Yossi Melman
• The gas agreement goes back to the government
• Israeli gold (medals)
• US Supreme Court approved same-sex marriage
• 5.5-magnitude earthquake felt in Israel – no injuries or damage

• Terror on 3 continents
• Flotilla on way to Gaza: Knesset committee to discuss revoking rights of MK Ghattas, who is on the ship
• “No good deed goes unpunished” – Sheldon Adelson rejects the Haaretz report, “I never dealt with Noble Energy and never spoke with Netanyahu about Noble or about gas”
• We have medals!
• Protest of the crowded classrooms: Today – strike in more than 70 communities
• History of pride: US Supreme Court ruled – same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states
• Special project: One year since Operation Protective Edge

---

News Summary:
Israelis protested against a gas agreement compromise with the gas cartel as the government makes a fateful decision today, parents keep kids out of school today to protest crowded classrooms, and the Gaza flotilla nears the Gaza coast and the IDF prepares to stop it – making the top local stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, Khader Adnan, a Palestinian man on hunger-strike in an Israeli jail for not being charged, is on the edge of death and Palestinians warn of the consequences.

Khader Adnan, 37, is likely to die at any moment in Israeli custody from his hunger strike, but negotiations for his release between his lawyer and the IDF Military Advocate General Morris Hirsch fell through last night. "(Israel) is seeking to end Adnan’s hunger strike in a way that avoids them a feeling of crushing defeat," the Palestinian Prisoners' Society's chief lawyer Jawad Bolous said at a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday. Islamic Jihad announced it will consider itself exempt from the ceasefire with Israel if Adnan dies, Maariv reported. The organization appealed to the Egyptian authorities, the Palestinian Authority and the international community to intervene for Adnan’s release.  Adnan is what Israel calls ‘an administrative detainee,’ meaning he is being held in prison without charges. He is fighting this with his body - he is on day 54 of a hunger strike. On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians marched at Al-Aqsa mosque in support of Adnan and calling for his immediate release. Haaretz+ and Maariv were the only main Hebrew newspapers to report on his situation today.

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

Israelis telling the Middle East like it is
A new group of researchers think it's time for the public to be offered a calmer and more nuanced portrait of the Middle East's complex reality. Some of their colleagues in the ivory tower beg to differ. The ‘Forum for Regional Thinking,’ a brand-new initiative intends “to disseminate knowledge about the Middle East in the aim of fomenting perceptual and practical change in Israel.”  (Hilo Glazer, Haaretz+) 
Rift in Foreign Ministry prevents effective fight against BDS
Division developed in the ministry after professionals urged cooperating with Jewish left-wing organizations to fight boycott, with politicians choosing to brand all criticism as anti-Semitism -- thus excluding potentially powerful voices. (Shahar Ginosar, Yedioth/Ynet) 
Exploring roots
(Maariv commentator) Yitzhak Ben-Ner fulfilled an old dream, traveled to Morocco and returned with experiences, images, photos, tastes and cultural heritage. (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv)
Pt. 4 of Walking the Green Line: 48 years of occupation - The nowhere neighborhoods – Palestinian Jerusalem, Spring 2014-Summer 2015 - text+photo essay
It is now 48 years since the Six-Day War, a short military campaign with long-term consequences for Israel and the Palestinians. Writer Nir Baram spent a year meeting people on both sides of the Green Line (Nir Baram, Haaretz+)
A rare moment of humanity in an Israeli military court
Yafa and Suha Jarrar have spent their whole lives visiting their parents in Israeli custody. As children, it was their father. Now, it's their mother, Palestinian parliament member Khalid Jarrar. (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, Haaretz+)
Warrior's dream: Soldier, student and father beats the odds to become ace fighter pilot
Odyssey of one of the 170 graduatesof the IAF's Flight Academy - from the armored corps, to yeshiva studies, becoming a dad and finally being accepted into the prestigious flight academy. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
Why are the teachings of a one-time radical leftist enjoying a resurgence in Israel?
Could the legacy of the almost-forgotten philosopher Martin Buber rescue civil democracy in Israel? (Uri Ram, Haaretz+) 
'No other choice': For Palestinians, full-scale BDS remains a wish
Walking in the center of Ramallah, it is impossible to miss the message. At almost every lamppost, posters set up by the Palestinian political movement Al-Mubadara, or Palestinian National Initiative, are crying out: “Boycott Israeli goods” and “Don’t pay the price of bullets that kill our children.” (Anna Kokko, Maan)

Commentary/Analysis:

Stop the Knesset's avalanche of racism (Haaretz Editorial) A new bill designed to broaden the range of reasons used to disqualify candidates wishing to run for parliament is yet another assault on Israel's embattled democracy.
Zionist Union: Likud's shameful little helper (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Israel's 'center-left' party is preventing the formation of a legitimate opposition to the right wing. Its supporters must witness its supine acts and abandon it forever.
With an ally like Oren... (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) Michael Oren’s recent attack on President Barack Obama is all because of his own childhood trauma. Allow us to explain.
Trap of the gullible: This is how the left-wing fell into a pit that Netanyahu dug for them (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Caspit writes that the uproar that broke out in the Knesset Wednesday, when Deputy Minister Yaron Mazuz (Likud) called the Arab MKs collaborators in terror and told them they should turn in their national ID cards and that Israel was doing them a favor by letting them be citizens, was planned by Netanyahu to make the Zionist Camp take the side of the Arab-Jewish Joint List party. “The Prime Minister has positioned himself again as defending the Jewish state with his body, just a moment before Isaac Herzog would sell it to the Arabs. The Labor party is looking for a way back into the consensus.”
ISIS terror: How Tunisia and Kuwait differ from Syria and Iraq (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The goals of the recent attacks were to destabilize the governments of Tunisia and Kuwait and create a sense of solidarity with the perpetrators.
Being right about Gaza war report isn't enough (Giora Eiland, Yedioth/Ynet) Instead of reiterating UN report is biased and political and anti-Semitic, Israel should attack its fundamental weaknesses; it's a shallow and unprofessional report, and that's not hard to prove.
Within normal limits: the golden path between duty to security and moral duty in combat (Avi Benayahu, Maariv) The UN report on Operation Protective Edge was received in the world in a disinterested way, but Israel must not let itself off the hook easily…This week, I told Army Radio in an interview that since Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), the IDF changed its rules and adapted them to the new reality in the battlefield. In the hierarchy - a difficult word in this context - our citizens are in first place, our fighters are in second place, their citizens are in third place, and in fourth place are Hamas terrorists - or Hezbollah. It was not like that in the past. Hamas got used to if three of its commanders were driving to a meeting to plan attacks and they seated a woman with a baby near the front window of the vehicle - the vehicle was protected and secured by Jewish morals. Not anymore. The rules have changed. It is difficult and painful, but this is the case - although, of course, it is up to discretion at any given time. Hamas got used to us warning, phoning, knocking on a roof (Israeli euphemism for shooting a small missile on a house as a warning before dropping a bomb on it – OH), (warning) flyers and then afterward breaking into the house in which Hamas people are awaiting our troops. Now we "only" call, drop flyers, knock on the roof…and after having done everything so that the residents would leave the house where a device is operating or where there is a missile warehouse, etc. – we fire a shell. Afterward come the reports.  
How the right-wing already won Israel's culture war (Asher Schechter, Haaretz+) New Culture Minister Miri Regev spent 25 years in the Israeli army before becoming a politician, so it's no surprise she was happy to go to war with the local artistic community. 
No freedom of expression for Israeli anthropologists? (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Is it illegitimate for Israeli academics to believe that Gaza's problems stem from Hamas' jihadist ideology? Should they be threatened with a boycott if they fail to adopt 'the right stance'?
It will take lot more than a distorted UN report to bring Israelis down (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) Altogether – certainly as regards war ethics – we’re a more moral nation than any other nation fighting for its life.
Obama's Congress trick (Alex Mintz, Ynet) Those relying on Iran deal being thwarted by US Congress are in for a disappointment, unless final agreement is much worse than draft proposed in Lausanne – and in such a case, American president himself may be unwilling to approve it.  
The Druze mob attack that surprised no one (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The Hermon Brigade knew the Druze were threatening to use force to prevent the evacuation of wounded Syrian rebels to Israel, but it was nonetheless inadequately prepared to prevent the mob from killing.
Blame the victim (Emily Amrousi, Israel Hayom) In a land without unity, an Israeli can be blamed for his own murder just for hiking beyond the Green Line.
The most racist Knesset in Israel's history (Friday Haaretz Editorial) Lawmakers seem to compete against each other to the racist nadir, as Netanyahu is practically egging them on; and with such weak-kneed opposition, that's hardly a surprise. 
Keep things in proportion (Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Israel Hayom) Israel may think the upheaval in the Middle East should be the West's sole focus, but there are other, equally pressing international matters demanding its attention.
Is France betraying Israel in favor of Qatar? (Guy Bechor, Yedioth/Ynet) Is the strange French initiative to impose a Security Council resolution on a Palestinian state some kind of secret payment to the Gulf emirate, which has turned France into its playground?
Israel's government is silencing criticism by choking its wallet (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) The most effective way to silence voices that the government doesn’t want heard is to strike at the sources of funding. 
End the hypocrisy (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) A democratic nation is permitted to defend itself against enemy collaborators. 
The problem with Breaking the Silence (Benny Ziffer, Haaretz+) To treat soldiers' testimonies of the exception as reality is misleading, and particularly problematic when outsiders use them to vilify Israel.
When will world powers wake up? (Noah Klieger, Yedioth/Ynet) How long will it take the leaders of the free world to realize that ISIS and other Islamic terror groups are not fighting against Israel, but against Christianity and the Muslim factions that don't agree with radical Islam?
The fiction of the Israel-Palestine peace dividend (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) Sorry, RAND: Israel is doing fine economically without peace, and the Palestinians should be skeptical that their state will bring them much prosperity. 
How IDF Intelligence failed to predict 'Hamastan' in Gaza following Israeli pullot (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) A year before the evacuation, the Southern Command warned of 'Hamastan in Gaza,' but Army Intelligence was quick to dismiss it, while the Shin Bet estimated Hamas was interested in calm; those who did try to alert of the dangers of leaving Gaza were pushed aside, while the rest toed the line.
The one thing you won’t find Israelis doing after UN report on Gaza war (Don Futterman, Haaretz+) The United Nations might have minimal credibility in Israel, but that shouldn’t exempt us from asking ourselves tough questions about the high death toll in Gaza. 
Why are Israelis so afraid of a culture war? (Amos Oz, Haaretz+) A culture war creates a wonderful climate for the blossoming of culture, of creativity, of free thought. Societies in which there is no inkling of a culture war look more or less like North Korea. 
Momentous times for U.S. and Obama should make Israelis burn with envy (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) An America that marches forward, that welcomes change, that grows more tolerant, that can take pride in itself and its leader.
Settling scores (Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom) The U.N. Human Rights Council's report on Operation Protective Edge created less of a ripple than might have been expected. But the Palestinians will now try to use it in their international legal battle against Israel.
The lies Bibi and the gas barons are telling you (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Beyond the rhetoric, the numbers tell their own story.

Interviews: 

Michael Oren: Criticism of Obama had to be made
We spoke on the phone this week about the uproar over his book. He has been going around the US, talking about the book and about Israel. Contrary to the initial impression created, the former Israeli envoy to Washington and current Knesset legislator book meant for the book to serve political purposes, not to criticize President Obama. He accuses US president of adopting Arab narrative that Jews are in Israel because of the Holocaust; 'The Cairo speech was twice as long as Obama's inauguration speech. This is an indication of the importance he gives the Muslim world,' he says. (Interviewed by Yoaz Hendel in Yedioth/Ynet) 

Michael Oren: I obviously touched a nerve
After sparking controversy by saying President Barack Obama deliberately damaged U.S.-Israel ties, the former ambassador says he is anxious about Iran, questions the U.S.'s military credibility and can't keep quiet while Israel's future is in jeopardy. (Interviewed in Israel Hayom)

'In Israel, you can't help but become a Zionist'
"Islamism steals from Islam for its own totalitarian ambition," says Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a physician and Muslim intellectual who defends Israel to the world. U.S. officials can't distinguish between IDF volunteer and Muslim joining Islamic State, she says. (Interviewed by Dror Eydar in Israel Hayom)

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