APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday June 30, 2015
Quote of the day:
“I'm a little person, but I believe that if they gave a lot of freedom to (Palestinian) people and wouldn’t act
towards them at checkpoints as if they were animals, the situation would be much better. If more (Israeli)
people would come to visit Palestinian villages, they’d stop believing everything they say on the news and see
there are people like us who live there.”
--Uri Abutbul, whose views changed drastically after he renewed contact with his daughter who converted to Islam and married a Palestinian.**
--Uri Abutbul, whose views changed drastically after he renewed contact with his daughter who converted to Islam and married a Palestinian.**
Outrage of The Day:
"We are principally opposed to basic laws and a constitution because we believe Israel already has a constitution, the Bible.
--Habayit Hayehudi MK Nissan Slomiansky, Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, wants to change the judiciary.****
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Two attacks in a day: 4 wounded from shooting in West Bank, soldier stabbed at checkpoint
- Israel and Jordan discussing re-opening Temple Mount mosques to Israelis and tourists
- Cabinet approved: 200 million shekel fence to be built along border with Jordan
- In Greece, hoarding gas and food; European stock markets plummeted
- Khader Adnan, administrative detainee who was on hunger-strike, will be released
- Netanyahu did not succeed in drafting a majority and postponed vote on advancing gas agreement
- MKs: At US embassy, they called on us to support the gas agreement
- Head of a crime organization, Asi Abutbul, arrested on suspicion of assassinating his lawyer, Yoram Hacham, in 2008
- Universities refuse to divulge information about clinical trials on animals
- District court ruled: Kafka’s letters will be transferred to the National Library
- (Their arrogance) harms security // Haaretz Editorial
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Wave of terror
- The gas snarl
- “Why did Netanyahu choose secret medical treatment from controversial doctors”
- This is how the honorable judge reproached a woman who was sexually harassed
- 1.5 million elementary schools, kindergartens and pre-schools start their summer holiday today
- Sardines, the other side – Opposition in the periphery to reducing the number of students in classes: “It will hurt the weak”
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Nerve gas – Netanyahu forced to postpone vote on gas agreement
- The snarl // Ben Caspit
- Last night: Four injured in shooting attack near Shvut Rachel in Samaria
- The crisis in Greece - Merkel: Fall of Euro will bring collapse of the whole European block
- The Greek lesson // Yehuda Sharoni
- Without credit // Amir Tomer, Greece
- Arrested in the heart of the sea – The flotilla that left Greece to break the siege on Gaza, was stopped without opposition
Israel Hayom
- Day of terror: 2 attacks in 12 hours - 34 wounded in shooting attack on car in Binyamin
- “Gas agreement will be presented to the public, everyone can discuss it – and judge”
- Freedom is for them (school children on summer holiday)
- Bankruptcy or last-minute miracle? Today: Moment of truth for collapsing Greece
- Security budget to increase? Retirement age to drop? Today: Locker report to be presented to Prime Minister
- More compromises, another extension: Deadline is here – the agreement with Iran is not
- Police Commissioner Danino in a parting Op-Ed: Turning point years for the police
News Summary:
The Prime Minister was forced to postpone the vote on his controversial gas deal, five Israelis were wounded in the West Bank in two attacks by Palestinians and the papers concluded that the IDF takeover of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ to Gaza ‘didn’t make waves,’ making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, the latest on the Iran nuclear deal.
Four Israeli men were injured while driving in their car near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel in a drive-by shooting Monday evening. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. Twelve hours earlier a young Palestinian woman stabbed a female IDF soldier in the neck at the military checkpoint at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. The attacker, 20-year-old Misoun Mussa from Bethlehem, who was not known to security forces and did not have a criminal record said she came to the checkpoint to kill a soldier.
Israeli forces easily intercepted the Gaza-bound flotilla in 'casualty-free' operation, as the peace activists put up no fight. The 20 activists on the Marianne fishing vessel, which included Arab-Israeli MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) and former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, were rerouted to Ashdod port. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu justified the IDF overtake of the ship by accusing the activists of trying to bring in “weapons to terrorist organizations.” MK Ghattas told Maariv: "They brought us against our will to the port of Ashdod when our goal was Gaza. On the ship was a solar energy system and medical supplies for Gaza's Shifa Hospital… We refer to the raid on the boat as a kidnapping of former president of Tunisia and of the other passengers." Ynet has video.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon also tried to justify the takeover saying there was no humanitarian distress in Gaza. He suggested Gazans export strawberries instead of rockets. [Note: part of Israel’s siege prevent or drastically reduces the coastal enclaves exports, causing unemployment to skyrocket. – OH] But according to an Associated Press feature Gazans are so frustrated with the economic situation, the devastation following last summer’s Gaza war and the blockade that imprisons them in the Strip that half want to emigrate. They blame both Israel and Hamas. But things may improve. A Hamas official confirmed that Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks to work out a deal for long-term calm with Gaza: the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in exchange for calm. Sheikh Hassan Yousef told Channel 1 journalist Yoram Cohen that if Gaza is not rebuilt soon, a conflagration will result.
On Iran nuclear talks, a US official said an agreement between Iran and the nuclear powers on a system has been reached that will give the UN atomic watchdog access to all suspect sites. US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday it was too soon to tell if a deal will be sealed. Israeli Defense Minister Yaalon said that he “doesn't buy the U.S. narrative on Iran.”
The Prime Minister was forced to postpone the vote on his controversial gas deal, five Israelis were wounded in the West Bank in two attacks by Palestinians and the papers concluded that the IDF takeover of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ to Gaza ‘didn’t make waves,’ making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, the latest on the Iran nuclear deal.
Four Israeli men were injured while driving in their car near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel in a drive-by shooting Monday evening. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. Twelve hours earlier a young Palestinian woman stabbed a female IDF soldier in the neck at the military checkpoint at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. The attacker, 20-year-old Misoun Mussa from Bethlehem, who was not known to security forces and did not have a criminal record said she came to the checkpoint to kill a soldier.
Israeli forces easily intercepted the Gaza-bound flotilla in 'casualty-free' operation, as the peace activists put up no fight. The 20 activists on the Marianne fishing vessel, which included Arab-Israeli MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) and former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, were rerouted to Ashdod port. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu justified the IDF overtake of the ship by accusing the activists of trying to bring in “weapons to terrorist organizations.” MK Ghattas told Maariv: "They brought us against our will to the port of Ashdod when our goal was Gaza. On the ship was a solar energy system and medical supplies for Gaza's Shifa Hospital… We refer to the raid on the boat as a kidnapping of former president of Tunisia and of the other passengers." Ynet has video.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon also tried to justify the takeover saying there was no humanitarian distress in Gaza. He suggested Gazans export strawberries instead of rockets. [Note: part of Israel’s siege prevent or drastically reduces the coastal enclaves exports, causing unemployment to skyrocket. – OH] But according to an Associated Press feature Gazans are so frustrated with the economic situation, the devastation following last summer’s Gaza war and the blockade that imprisons them in the Strip that half want to emigrate. They blame both Israel and Hamas. But things may improve. A Hamas official confirmed that Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks to work out a deal for long-term calm with Gaza: the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in exchange for calm. Sheikh Hassan Yousef told Channel 1 journalist Yoram Cohen that if Gaza is not rebuilt soon, a conflagration will result.
On Iran nuclear talks, a US official said an agreement between Iran and the nuclear powers on a system has been reached that will give the UN atomic watchdog access to all suspect sites. US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday it was too soon to tell if a deal will be sealed. Israeli Defense Minister Yaalon said that he “doesn't buy the U.S. narrative on Iran.”
Quick Hits:
- Palestinian hunger striker to be released from Israeli detention after 56-day hunger strike - Khader Adnan, currently on the verge of death, will be released in two weeks and will gradually begin to eat and drink in the meantime. This was his second hunger-strike protest against being held without trial. Israel re-jailed him after releasing him after he almost died and made international headlines in the first hunger-strike. (Haaretz+, Israel Hayom and Ynet)
- Approved: Obligation to document interrogations not valid for interrogations of suspects of security offenses - The law will be for valid for 17 years. Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Nissan Slomiansky: "Opponents to the proposal presented only one side of the coin." Meretz chief MK Zehava Gal-On: "If interrogators are honest and act according to the rules, then what do they have to fear?" (Maariv)
- Discrimination in the marketing of apartments: "We don’t sell to Arabs" - The Givat Oranim neighborhood in Maalot-Tarshiha sells housing units to Jews only. Adalah NGO has approached the Israel Lands Authority to cancel the tender to the Maalot Hayerukah organization to sell the apartments. (Maariv)
- Arab community protests and warn about appointment of acting Israel Police chief - Leading figures in the Israeli-Arab community say they will not cooperate with the new acting police commissioner, Maj. Gen. Benzi Sao, because he was commander of the Wadi Ara region in October 2000, where 13 Arabs died following clashes with the police. Joint List: His appointment will spark unrest in the Arab street. Adalah NGO demands: Cancel his appointment. (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
- Israel, Palestinians say will investigate Gaza war crime accusations - During an often virulent three-hour debate at the UN Human Rights Council, boycotted by Israel, Mary McGowan Davis, chair of the UN commission on the inquiry in last summer’s Gaza war, told the forum that Israel's Military Advocate General "incorrectly applied international humanitarian law by reversing the presumption of civilian status in case of doubt.” Israel believes majority will vote to adopt report and form monitoring mechanism. Israel opposes putting the report before the Security Council. (Ynet)
- Some 1,200 rally for Israel at UN Human Rights Council - Protesters demand council end its 'obsession' with Israel and treat the Jewish state fairly. (JTA, Haaretz)
- Letter signed by 22 senators urges Obama to support Israel - Letter asks administration to oppose Palestinian efforts for membership in UN and other international bodies. (JTA, Haaretz)
- Report: Israel, Jordan in talks to readmit non-Muslim visitors to Temple Mount sites - Jewish and Christian visitors to the Temple Mount could visit the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Islamic Museum up until second intifada in 2000. (Haaretz+)
- Israel approves plan to build (fortified) fence along southern border with Jordan - Netanyahu announced plans years ago, but construction was postponed in favor of the Syria-Israel border fence. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
- Israeli advocacy group teaches foreign lawyers how to fight BDS - Seventy attorneys from U.S., Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Belgium attend week-long seminar by ‘Shurat Hadin, the Israel Law Center organization, on how to counter anti-Israel boycott, lawfare efforts worldwide. Participants volunteer to represent Israeli interests for free. (Israel Hayom)
- Report: Netanyahu 'smuggled' to medical appointments in disguised vans - Shortly before and after March elections, prime minister was taken to appointments in disguised pita delivery van and pest-control van. (JTA, Haaretz and Maariv)
- Ya'alon: Protecting Syrian Druze is condition of Israeli aid to rebels - Defense minister says Israel knew there were rebels among those it was helping, and conditioned its help on terrorist groups not approaching the fence, and the safety of the Druze. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Israeli scientists warn biometric ID scheme may endanger state security - Leading scientists say pilot program will 'damage privacy' and call for its cancellation, as Knesset prepares to vote on its extension. (Haaretz+)
- Hebrew in the huddle: U.S.-style football gains ground in Israel - Among games called 'football,' the American version still ranks a distant second in Israel to the sport that captivates the rest of the country. But progress is being made. (Haaretz+)
- Orange, Partner sign deal to terminate licensing agreement - Israel protested to France after Orange's CEO said earlier this month he would end branding deal with the Israeli firm if the contracts allowed. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Mariah Carey visits Western Wall (and has dinner with PM) - After landing in Tel Aviv with her twins and Australian partner, American singer heads to Jerusalem for a tour of city's holy site and dinner with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara. (Ynet)
- Hezbollah man jailed in Cyprus for plotting to bomb Jewish targets - Hussein Bassam Abdallah, 26, confesses stockpiles of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a potential explosive, were meant to be used against Jewish or Israeli interests on island. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Egypt’s state prosecutor dies after Cairo car bombing - Bomb attack which killed prosecutor general Hisham Barakat and wounded seven members of his entourage is the first assassination attempt on top official in two years. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Pentagon: ISIS lost quarter of its territory, but still holds key cities - A year after group's leader announced new caliphate, Pentagon says despite military pressure, attacks like in Kobani show group remains potent force. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Middle East Updates / U.S. says no evidence Jordan, Turkey considering Syria buffer zones - ISIS releases audio clip of suicide bomber that attacked Kuwaiti mosque; Cameron: ISIS planning attacks against Britain. (Haaretz)
Features:
**I was dead wrong: The disease that caused the father to reconcile with his daughter who married a
Palestinian
The cancer discovered in Uri Abutbul caused him to renew contact with daughter, who converted to Islam and started a family. Now Now Abutbul enjoys spending time with his Palestinian granddaughters in Dahariya (West Bank), who call him grandpa in Hebrew, just like the neighborhood children who never met an Israeli man before. Abutbul now wishes Israeli authorities will enable his son-in-law to live with them in Israel. (Yasser Ukabi, Maariv+Photos)
From lone soldier to military prison
Young American from L.A. came to Israel alone to serve in the IDF, but ended up entangled in a conspiracy to blow up the Dome of the Rock. The 21-year-old recently finished serving a six months prison term, one of the heaviest penalties imposed on a conscript soldier in the last decade, for removing weapons from the army and selling some of them to Adam Livix, an American Christian who infiltrated Israel and allegedly planned to bomb the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
Meet Netanyahu's new friend: a gambling mogul and Mariah Carey's dreamlover
Gambling, blows, Channel 10 and high notes: Meet the prime minister's new billionaire friend. (Sharon Shpurer and Nadan Feldman, Haaretz+)
Barcelona's Jews welcome long-lost Sephardim to their ranks
After passage of a new Spanish law offering citizenship to Jews tracing their roots back to 1492, the city's small community – with its one kosher restaurant and one school – is hopeful but skeptical about a mass influx of newcomers. (Danna Harman, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
The cancer discovered in Uri Abutbul caused him to renew contact with daughter, who converted to Islam and started a family. Now Now Abutbul enjoys spending time with his Palestinian granddaughters in Dahariya (West Bank), who call him grandpa in Hebrew, just like the neighborhood children who never met an Israeli man before. Abutbul now wishes Israeli authorities will enable his son-in-law to live with them in Israel. (Yasser Ukabi, Maariv+Photos)
From lone soldier to military prison
Young American from L.A. came to Israel alone to serve in the IDF, but ended up entangled in a conspiracy to blow up the Dome of the Rock. The 21-year-old recently finished serving a six months prison term, one of the heaviest penalties imposed on a conscript soldier in the last decade, for removing weapons from the army and selling some of them to Adam Livix, an American Christian who infiltrated Israel and allegedly planned to bomb the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
Meet Netanyahu's new friend: a gambling mogul and Mariah Carey's dreamlover
Gambling, blows, Channel 10 and high notes: Meet the prime minister's new billionaire friend. (Sharon Shpurer and Nadan Feldman, Haaretz+)
Barcelona's Jews welcome long-lost Sephardim to their ranks
After passage of a new Spanish law offering citizenship to Jews tracing their roots back to 1492, the city's small community – with its one kosher restaurant and one school – is hopeful but skeptical about a mass influx of newcomers. (Danna Harman, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
Moshe Ya'alon and Michael Oren's arrogance toward Obama harms Israel's
security (Haaretz Editorial) Israel's defense minister is helping erode the firm alliance between
the Pentagon and defense headquarters in the Kirya - Israel's most vital strategic asset.
Why I Broke the Silence (Nadav Weiman, Haaretz+) I was hoping I could use my knowledge to help defend my country, but when the moment of truth arrived, I was sent to the occupied territories to control a civilian population.
UN report shows accountability is key to peace in Israel and Gaza (Jimmy Carter and Gro Harlem Brundtland, Haaretz+) When institutions are loudly criticized by both parties to a conflict – in this case, Israel and Hamas – the likelihood is that they have achieved neutrality.
The price of fighting Islamic State (Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Understanding that its strategy against Islamic State has failed, the U.S. now seeks to form alliances with local Iraqi and Syrian militias, with potentially dangerous ramifications.
Not all Egyptians are laughing at new comedy (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) In a new TV series in which he plays a leftist professor, Egyptian actor Adel Imam has raised ire on all sides. Maybe Israel should acquire broadcasting rights?
Protective Edge: Soldiers under fire (Aharon Lapidot, Israel Hayom) This was not a war of drone strikes like in Afghanistan or Iraq, or the devil knows where, waged from a bunker in Nevada or New Jersey.
What I learned at the Louvre about boycotts and 'evil Israelis' (Sefy Hendler, Haaretz+) To ensure that Israelis won't be prevented from visiting the museum, it’s not enough to dismiss the worsening BDS situation with the usual responses.
Palestinians' words kill too (Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) The 'lone-wolf terrorist' may be 'alone' in their actions, but they are driven and influenced by the mass, systematic, Nazi incitement on the Palestinian Authority's official media outlets.
Dignity, not division, should be Jewish response to insignificant London skinhead rally (Daniella Peled, Haaretz+) The counter-demonstrations have been left to a plethora of activist groups, many making head-clutchingly clumsy links between neo-Nazis, Islamists, BDS and various other nebulous threats.
Why gay marriage is unlikely in Israel (Aeyal Gross, Haaretz+) Still, the U.S. Supreme Court decision may finally free us from the cliche that Israel is 'one of the most advanced countries in world' for same-sex couple rights.
Why I Broke the Silence (Nadav Weiman, Haaretz+) I was hoping I could use my knowledge to help defend my country, but when the moment of truth arrived, I was sent to the occupied territories to control a civilian population.
UN report shows accountability is key to peace in Israel and Gaza (Jimmy Carter and Gro Harlem Brundtland, Haaretz+) When institutions are loudly criticized by both parties to a conflict – in this case, Israel and Hamas – the likelihood is that they have achieved neutrality.
The price of fighting Islamic State (Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Understanding that its strategy against Islamic State has failed, the U.S. now seeks to form alliances with local Iraqi and Syrian militias, with potentially dangerous ramifications.
Not all Egyptians are laughing at new comedy (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) In a new TV series in which he plays a leftist professor, Egyptian actor Adel Imam has raised ire on all sides. Maybe Israel should acquire broadcasting rights?
Protective Edge: Soldiers under fire (Aharon Lapidot, Israel Hayom) This was not a war of drone strikes like in Afghanistan or Iraq, or the devil knows where, waged from a bunker in Nevada or New Jersey.
What I learned at the Louvre about boycotts and 'evil Israelis' (Sefy Hendler, Haaretz+) To ensure that Israelis won't be prevented from visiting the museum, it’s not enough to dismiss the worsening BDS situation with the usual responses.
Palestinians' words kill too (Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) The 'lone-wolf terrorist' may be 'alone' in their actions, but they are driven and influenced by the mass, systematic, Nazi incitement on the Palestinian Authority's official media outlets.
Dignity, not division, should be Jewish response to insignificant London skinhead rally (Daniella Peled, Haaretz+) The counter-demonstrations have been left to a plethora of activist groups, many making head-clutchingly clumsy links between neo-Nazis, Islamists, BDS and various other nebulous threats.
Why gay marriage is unlikely in Israel (Aeyal Gross, Haaretz+) Still, the U.S. Supreme Court decision may finally free us from the cliche that Israel is 'one of the most advanced countries in world' for same-sex couple rights.
Interviews:
****Habayit Hayehudi MK determined to redefine role of judiciary
Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Nissan Slomiansky says judicial restraint is key to court's legitimacy, and that past rulings alienated large segments of the population. Israel's constitution is the Bible, he notes. Interviewed by Gideon Allon in Israel Hayom)
'They told me: Dolev is dead, you're the battalion commander'
A year after Operation Protective Edge, Lt. Col. Eliad Maor -- who was placed in command of the Geffen Battalion after Lt. Col. Dolev Keidar was killed in a Hamas ambush -- talks with Israel Hayom about some of the darkest days of the 50-day war. (Interviewed by Lilach Shoval in Israel Hayom)
Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Nissan Slomiansky says judicial restraint is key to court's legitimacy, and that past rulings alienated large segments of the population. Israel's constitution is the Bible, he notes. Interviewed by Gideon Allon in Israel Hayom)
'They told me: Dolev is dead, you're the battalion commander'
A year after Operation Protective Edge, Lt. Col. Eliad Maor -- who was placed in command of the Geffen Battalion after Lt. Col. Dolev Keidar was killed in a Hamas ambush -- talks with Israel Hayom about some of the darkest days of the 50-day war. (Interviewed by Lilach Shoval in Israel Hayom)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.