APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday July 7, 2015
Quote of the day:
"...a historic opportunity has been created, which the Jews will miss if they don't act so that
Arab Israelis feel that this country is their home..."
--Yedioth commentator Yaron London calls
on Jewish Israelis to allow Arab Israelis to do a list of things that Jewish Israelis are
allowed.**
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Iran made new demands, extension of talks expected
- Netanyahu preparing for the day after the agreement – and the world war at Capitol Hill
- Greek Finance Minister resigned; Athens to renew negotiations with Europe
- US defeated Japan 2:5 and won the women’s World Cup
- Protest expanding in capital against moving of military colleges: “Jerusalem Forest will be destroyed”
- Zoglobeck Co. slaughterhouse to close due to suspicion of animal abuse
- High Court: Interior Minister must rule whether stores in Tel-Aviv can open on Shabbat
- (Darfuri) Leader of (African) asylum-seekers to be released form Holot detention facility
- Improve the (gas) agreement // Haaretz Editorial
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Israeli Commando – 4 elite units to unite into one
- A year since Operation Protective Edge: Promotion for commanders
- The injured and the minister: A friendly smile
- “Daddy, we didn’t know how to help” – Eulogies and tears from four children of Police Brig. Gen. Efraim Bracha, who committed suicide
- Doesn’t give a hoot about the boycott – Great Iranian director, Mohsen Mahmalbaf, does not hesitate to attack the Ayatollahs
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Already a year (since Operation Protective Edge)
- His last journey – Thousands participated in funeral of former head of police fraud squad, Efraim Bracha
- Teachers in the service of ISIS
- Hilary Clinton to Haim Saban: “The boycott on Israel is an existential threat”
Israel Hayom
- New in IDF: “The commando brigade”
- Today: Locker report, which will affect the security budget for coming year, to be submitted to PM
- “The shot echoes in all of our ears” – Police chief who committed suicide laid to rest
- Discrimination in Rechovot? Separate summer camp for Ethiopian-Israelis
- Moving gesture: Producer of ‘Schindler’s List’ donated his Oscar to Yad Vashem Museum
- Will there be an agreement? Today is deadline for deal with Iran – and apparently
News Summary:
The creation of a ‘commando brigade’ in the IDF, the burial of a police chief who committed suicide and a missing sentence in the reports on the ceremony honoring the Israelis who fell in Operation Protective Edge were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers along with the likely postponement of the deadline for an Iran nuclear deal. And Hilary Clinton and Maariv tell of the concerns of increased boycotts against Israel, the latter following a fiasco in the twinning of the cities of Amsterdam and Tel-Aviv.
At a state ceremony in Jerusalem honoring the soldiers and civilians killed in Operation Protective Edge a year ago, Israel’s President and Israel’s Prime Minister both blamed Palestinian violence for the war they called just, but only Haaretz+ reported that President Reuven Rivlin also called for the rebuilding of Gaza. “The rehabilitation and rebuilding of Gaza is an Israeli interest, with the sole condition that Gaza ceases to be a front to carry out attacks against Israel.” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave a warning message to Israel's enemies.
The deadline for the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers is tonight and the Israeli papers say it will be extended due to a new Iranian demand to lift the ban on arms sales, which the US opposes so as not to allow Tehran to expand military assistance for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Today was Haaretz+’s turn to write about the battle Netanyahu is preparing to fight against the US President in Congress over the Iran deal. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid slammed Netanyahu for lacking the influence to change the deal.
Meanwhile, Maariv reported that pro-Palestinian and left-wingers pressured the mayor of Amsterdam to drop a project for twin cities of Amsterdam and Tel-Aviv, but Israel pressured back and now the plan is to add a twinning of the cities of Amsterdam and Ramallah. Reporter Dana Somberg wrote that despite the Israeli claim of defeating BDS in this instance, Israel is following the growing boycott movement with concern. “Until now, we were used to the cancelling of performances…but if you look at the map of boycotts in Europe you see it is increasing…the general map is that the legitimacy of calls for a boycott is growing, and I'm worried because I know we'll run into this again,” said Eytan Schwartz, a member of the Tel Aviv City Council. The Foreign Ministry considers the crisis with FIFA last May as a turning point where it realized that all the rules in the battle against the boycott movement against Israel have changed. “In the past, the boycott movement only acted in the diplomatic zone,” said Amir Ofek, director of the department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is in charge of the subject of the boycott against Israel“…but since the Palestinians asked FIFA to boycott Israel, we see that the boycott movement is moving into more civilian directions because they see that increased attention to them there as well as increased effectiveness.” Indeed, US presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, was also 'alarmed' over boycott calls and wrote to Israeli-American businessman and donor Haim Saban, to seek advice on how to counter the attempts to 'delegitimize Israel.'
Quick Hits:
The creation of a ‘commando brigade’ in the IDF, the burial of a police chief who committed suicide and a missing sentence in the reports on the ceremony honoring the Israelis who fell in Operation Protective Edge were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers along with the likely postponement of the deadline for an Iran nuclear deal. And Hilary Clinton and Maariv tell of the concerns of increased boycotts against Israel, the latter following a fiasco in the twinning of the cities of Amsterdam and Tel-Aviv.
At a state ceremony in Jerusalem honoring the soldiers and civilians killed in Operation Protective Edge a year ago, Israel’s President and Israel’s Prime Minister both blamed Palestinian violence for the war they called just, but only Haaretz+ reported that President Reuven Rivlin also called for the rebuilding of Gaza. “The rehabilitation and rebuilding of Gaza is an Israeli interest, with the sole condition that Gaza ceases to be a front to carry out attacks against Israel.” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave a warning message to Israel's enemies.
The deadline for the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers is tonight and the Israeli papers say it will be extended due to a new Iranian demand to lift the ban on arms sales, which the US opposes so as not to allow Tehran to expand military assistance for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Today was Haaretz+’s turn to write about the battle Netanyahu is preparing to fight against the US President in Congress over the Iran deal. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid slammed Netanyahu for lacking the influence to change the deal.
Meanwhile, Maariv reported that pro-Palestinian and left-wingers pressured the mayor of Amsterdam to drop a project for twin cities of Amsterdam and Tel-Aviv, but Israel pressured back and now the plan is to add a twinning of the cities of Amsterdam and Ramallah. Reporter Dana Somberg wrote that despite the Israeli claim of defeating BDS in this instance, Israel is following the growing boycott movement with concern. “Until now, we were used to the cancelling of performances…but if you look at the map of boycotts in Europe you see it is increasing…the general map is that the legitimacy of calls for a boycott is growing, and I'm worried because I know we'll run into this again,” said Eytan Schwartz, a member of the Tel Aviv City Council. The Foreign Ministry considers the crisis with FIFA last May as a turning point where it realized that all the rules in the battle against the boycott movement against Israel have changed. “In the past, the boycott movement only acted in the diplomatic zone,” said Amir Ofek, director of the department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is in charge of the subject of the boycott against Israel“…but since the Palestinians asked FIFA to boycott Israel, we see that the boycott movement is moving into more civilian directions because they see that increased attention to them there as well as increased effectiveness.” Indeed, US presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, was also 'alarmed' over boycott calls and wrote to Israeli-American businessman and donor Haim Saban, to seek advice on how to counter the attempts to 'delegitimize Israel.'
Quick Hits:
- Rights group rejects Israeli account of Palestinian teen's death - Palestinian rights group, Al-Haq, said that a field investigation found that Israeli soldiers "arbitrarily shot and killed Muhammad (al-Kasbah), who posed no threat to the Israeli soldiers' lives at the time of the shooting." (Maan)
- Opposition MKs absent from vote on prisoner force-feeding bill - Decision to speed up legislation on controversial bill passes because 4 lawmakers representing the swing votes - Yair Lapid and Ofer Shelah of Yesh Atid, and Zouheir Bahloul and Miki Rosenthal of Zionist Camp - were absent. Interior Minister Erdan: "Hunger strike until death is a kind of suicide terror attack.” (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
- Palestinian prisoner begins hunger strike - A Palestinian prisoner from Bethlehem began a hunger strike on Sunday to protest his administrative detention, (i.e. trial without charges). Daoud Issa Hamdan, from Bethlehem, has been in administrative detention since June 3, 2014. (Maan)
- Six Negev Bedouin, including four teachers, arrested for pro-ISIS activity - The six allegedly preached doctrine to pupils and fellow teachers, tried to get relatives to join cell. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
- Netanyahu bars Mossad head from briefing opposition party on ISIS - Tamir Pardo reportedly agreed to brief Zionist Union, but conditioned talk on PM's approval, which wasn't forthcoming. (Haaretz+)
- Desperate Gazans resort to makeshift homes year after war - The delay has been blamed on a variety of reasons, including Israel's strict blockade preventing the shipment of construction material into the coastal enclave and the failure of promised money to arrive from international donors. The result has been Gazans seeking to house their families in whatever way they can, with some 18,000 homes either destroyed or severely damaged during the 50-day war. (Maan)
- New, moderate version of Jewish nation-state bill hopes to pass Knesset - In contrast to Netanyahu’s version, new bill by Benny Begin uses the word 'equality' in reference to the state’s non-Jewish citizens. (Haaretz+)
- Hamas, Fatah exchange threats after wave of arrests - PA security forces arrest 170 Hamas men in connection with shooting attacks against Israelis, raising the wrath of Gaza's ruling faction. (Ynet and Maan)
- **UNESCO settles Jesus baptism site controversy, says Jordan - Designation of World Heritage Site said to prove authentic biblical location does not lie in Israel, as Israeli officials deny existence of controversy. This could hurt tourism to Israeli-controlled site. [Note: Actually, the site on the ‘Israeli-side’ is in the West Bank. – OH] (Ynet)
- On eve of nuclear deal: Jordan reveals arrest of Iranian operative plotting terror attack - Suspected Quds Force member arrested two weeks ago in possession of powerful explosives, government-owned daily reports; number of Quds Force members arrested around world in recent years, plotting attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
- Ethiopian-Israeli parents charge racism at day camp - Dispute divides two Rehovot neighborhoods. The Havayot Rehovot network, which operates the community center, denies that any racism was involved. (Haaretz+)
- Knesset committee holds meeting with no MKs present - Zero members of the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee were around to hear about budget issues facing activities for the Ethiopian community. (Haaretz+)
- Protesters in U.K. shut down 2 Israeli-owned drone factories - 'Block the Factory' campaigners target plants in Staffordshire and Kent which are owned by Israeli arms company Elbit. (Haaretz)
- Noble rejects calls to alter gas framework deal with Israeli gov’t - Energy firm’s local manager tells Knesset panel that amendments could scuttle accord. (Haaretz+)
- Plan to move military colleges to Jerusalem Forest sparks outcry - While the original location would have placed colleges outside of Green Line, the new one has environmentalists and residents up in arms. (Haaretz)
- Greek foreign minister visits Israel, Palestinian territories - Nikolaos Kotzias thanks Israel for its support during country's economic crisis. (JTA, Haaretz)
- Teens honored for helping homefront cope with Gaza war - Or Shachar, 18, volunteered with security forces and medical emergency teams. Yam Pozner, 17, helped run activities for children. Gan Yavne mayor: "If our future is going to be shaped by this generation, we are going to fare extremely well." (Israel Hayom)
- Schindler's List producer to donate Oscar to Yad Vashem - Branko Lustig, a Holocaust survivor, said the Jerusalem museum is 'the place where the award should be kept after my death'. (Ynet)
- Spanish law 'welcomes' back descendants of expelled Jews - Spanish Justice Minister Rafael Catala visits Israel, tells Israel Hayom the expulsion of Jews from Spain was a "great loss" for country. He says door is open for descendants to return, and stresses need for Spain, Israel to cooperate to fight terrorism. (Israel Hayom)
- Israeli Study: Autism can be detected through smell - Researchers from Weizmann Institute of Science find difference in sniffing pattern between typically developing children and autistic children. (Ynet)
- Lebanese Christian village, shielded from Syrian war, says ready to fight if needed - Beyond the barren mountains separating the Lebanese village of Qaa from Syria, fears of missile attacks, abductions and incursions have persisted since the conflict erupted more than four years ago. (Agencies, Haaretz)
- Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen pound former president's headquarters, killing several - Strikes coincide with visit of UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who is seeking to arrange a pause in fighting. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Features:
Close encounters: A glimpse of Palestinian reality few American Jews ever see
Founded a decade ago, the Encounter program has quietly become a key route by which a new generation of American Jews meet Palestinians, learn about the realities on the ground, and come to new conclusions about the conflict. (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz+)
Poem of the Week / War movies as a way to prepare for his death
'He’s burned or gassed, he’s shot between the eyes' - Jehanne Dubrow watches her husband die a thousand deaths, fearing that one day it will be real. (Vivian Eden, Haaretz)
Commentary/Analysis:
Founded a decade ago, the Encounter program has quietly become a key route by which a new generation of American Jews meet Palestinians, learn about the realities on the ground, and come to new conclusions about the conflict. (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz+)
Poem of the Week / War movies as a way to prepare for his death
'He’s burned or gassed, he’s shot between the eyes' - Jehanne Dubrow watches her husband die a thousand deaths, fearing that one day it will be real. (Vivian Eden, Haaretz)
Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's deceptive diplomatic success (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The long-term effects of the 2014 Gaza war are still being felt: Israel’s
international credit is depleted, public opinion has turned hostile and prospects of boycott loom larger
than ever.
Size of the threat: We can deal with ISIS, the problem is the will lone attacks (Alon Ben-David, Maariv) The atmosphere of extreme violence that surrounds our region, under the auspices of ISIS, is also filtering in to our Palestinian neighbors. But the most significant development in the Middle East took place in Vienna, in the dream deal that Iran achieved.
Shared destiny - the conscientious group (Yaron London, Yedioth) London tells about the dinner he and his wife had last Friday at the home of a highly educated family. "I assume at least some of the readers will be surprised if I'll say that our hosts were Arab and the feast was to break the Ramadan fast...In the face of the mad experience (from Islamic extremism), which both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel fear alike, a historic opportunity has been created, which the Jews will miss if they don't act so that Arab Israelis feel that this country is their home..." London calls on Jewish Israelis to give Arab Israelis "an exemption from suspecting glances and from being categorized as stereotypes, to release them from the need to demonstrate their loyalty to the values of Zionism, to allow them to develop their culture without supervision from Jewish patrons, to allow them the right to live everywhere, even on JNF lands that were purchased with Jewish money, and to allow them to work everywhere even at the holies of holies in national security-related jobs."
When hate crimes breed hope (Hadani Ditmars, Haaretz+) Amid a wave of high-profile racially motivated violence, there seems to be a growing trend of interfaith solidarity. Can it make a difference in the world?
The ISIS threat: From north to south (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Israel must not wait until Islamic State's next attack is too close for comfort, whether in the north or the south.
Is Egypt witnessing the dawn of the Women's Spring? (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Women may play increasingly serious roles in Arab film and TV during Ramadan, but this is not reflected in their actual societal status – especially in Egypt.
The growing Hamas-PA rift (Dr. Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) The recent wave of arrests by PA security forces against Hamas operatives in the West Bank exposed a massive network designed to bring down the PA as well as target Israel.
The Curse of Meroz and other Zionist aspects of the American Revolution (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) On its 239th birthday, the U.S. continues to favor the reconstituted Jewish state, perhaps because it once cast itself in the very same role.
Netanyahu’s new monopoly rules: deception, destruction and denting democracy (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) While we messed about with the minutiae of the gas deal, we almost missed the sheer scale of the madness in which our government is fighting on behalf of an interest group.
Size of the threat: We can deal with ISIS, the problem is the will lone attacks (Alon Ben-David, Maariv) The atmosphere of extreme violence that surrounds our region, under the auspices of ISIS, is also filtering in to our Palestinian neighbors. But the most significant development in the Middle East took place in Vienna, in the dream deal that Iran achieved.
Shared destiny - the conscientious group (Yaron London, Yedioth) London tells about the dinner he and his wife had last Friday at the home of a highly educated family. "I assume at least some of the readers will be surprised if I'll say that our hosts were Arab and the feast was to break the Ramadan fast...In the face of the mad experience (from Islamic extremism), which both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel fear alike, a historic opportunity has been created, which the Jews will miss if they don't act so that Arab Israelis feel that this country is their home..." London calls on Jewish Israelis to give Arab Israelis "an exemption from suspecting glances and from being categorized as stereotypes, to release them from the need to demonstrate their loyalty to the values of Zionism, to allow them to develop their culture without supervision from Jewish patrons, to allow them the right to live everywhere, even on JNF lands that were purchased with Jewish money, and to allow them to work everywhere even at the holies of holies in national security-related jobs."
When hate crimes breed hope (Hadani Ditmars, Haaretz+) Amid a wave of high-profile racially motivated violence, there seems to be a growing trend of interfaith solidarity. Can it make a difference in the world?
The ISIS threat: From north to south (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Israel must not wait until Islamic State's next attack is too close for comfort, whether in the north or the south.
Is Egypt witnessing the dawn of the Women's Spring? (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Women may play increasingly serious roles in Arab film and TV during Ramadan, but this is not reflected in their actual societal status – especially in Egypt.
The growing Hamas-PA rift (Dr. Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) The recent wave of arrests by PA security forces against Hamas operatives in the West Bank exposed a massive network designed to bring down the PA as well as target Israel.
The Curse of Meroz and other Zionist aspects of the American Revolution (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) On its 239th birthday, the U.S. continues to favor the reconstituted Jewish state, perhaps because it once cast itself in the very same role.
Netanyahu’s new monopoly rules: deception, destruction and denting democracy (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) While we messed about with the minutiae of the gas deal, we almost missed the sheer scale of the madness in which our government is fighting on behalf of an interest group.
Interviews:
Goes against the boycott
He is considered the greatest Iranian director, Time Magazine crowned his film as one of the best of all times. A moment before the end of nuclear talks, Mohsen Mahmalbaf gives a courageous interview to Yedioth: He calls on artists not to bouycott Israel, fears for the moment the Ayatollahs will have a nuclear bomb and no, he is not afraid of another Iranian attempt to assassinate him. (Interviewed by Amir Kaminer in Yedioth, ’24 Hours’ supplement, cover)
Rudolf Kastner did not deserve to die - 60 years later, those who helped the murderer break their silence
Decades after the Kastner Affair, Dan Shemer, who collaborated with the murderer, Zeev Eckstein, speaks for the first time, no longer justifies the act and admits: "I’m not sure I would have acted differently if I were in his place during the Holocaust.” (Interviewed by Yaakov Bar-On in Maariv)
He is considered the greatest Iranian director, Time Magazine crowned his film as one of the best of all times. A moment before the end of nuclear talks, Mohsen Mahmalbaf gives a courageous interview to Yedioth: He calls on artists not to bouycott Israel, fears for the moment the Ayatollahs will have a nuclear bomb and no, he is not afraid of another Iranian attempt to assassinate him. (Interviewed by Amir Kaminer in Yedioth, ’24 Hours’ supplement, cover)
Rudolf Kastner did not deserve to die - 60 years later, those who helped the murderer break their silence
Decades after the Kastner Affair, Dan Shemer, who collaborated with the murderer, Zeev Eckstein, speaks for the first time, no longer justifies the act and admits: "I’m not sure I would have acted differently if I were in his place during the Holocaust.” (Interviewed by Yaakov Bar-On in Maariv)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.