APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday July 13, 2015

Quote of the day:

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Breaking News:
Iran's President Rohani will address his nation at 5:30 P.M. GMT. Some issues for concluding the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers still remain unresolved as diplomats try to work them out in Vienna with just hours till the deadline.

Front Page:

Haaretz

• On the edge of an historic agreement: Rouhani declared the nuclear crisis was resolved
• In Teheran, preparing for celebrations // Zvi Bar’el
• At request of family, Ethiopian activists paused the battle for Mengistu
• Knesset committee to vote today on canceling the committee dealing with foreign workers
• Brigade commander who killed a stone-thrower was questioned under warning; video of incident shows the youth had begun to run
• Appointments ala' Israel Lands Authority: Deputy director rewrote the tender that she won
• Kafka’s estate: Suspicion that his documents that were smuggled from Israel to Germany
• For the sake of (Netanyahu’s) image // Haaretz Editorial

• Missile defense protection on flights to Eilat
• Likely: An agreement with Iran
• Brigade commander and battalion commander under investigation
• Careful, dangerous substances at the train station (in Acco and Nahariya)
• Father of captive in Gaza is homeless
• They don’t even consider us – Dozens of Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers go to battle: “Bring our relatives to Israel”

• Moment of truth of nuclear agreement
• Hundreds of employees of office tower in Givatayim were told: Your friends have measles
• Affair of the shooting of a young Palestinian - “Binyamin Brigade Commander acted appropriately” – After video was revealed, Commander of Central Command supported Col. Israel Shomer, who killed a Palestinian
• Running for a mortgage – all time high
• Embarrassment in police: Cellular phone of police commander (who committed suicide) disappeared

• Historic mistake – Yaalon on agreement with Iran
• Fateful day: Nuclear agreement on verge of being signed, in Teheran they are already preparing for celebrations
• The West’s shameful capitulation // Boaz Bismuth
• Obama’s ‘satchel of lies’ // Dan Margalit 
• Parents of Gal Beck: Re-open the case of his being runover
• The children will be shocked – Ketchup goes off the menu of the afternoon daycare
• The shooting of the Palestinian: Binyamin Brigade commander questioned under warning; “The youth was holding something in his hand”
• What happened in the Rafael factory? Last night: Train movement in the north was stopped

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News Summary:
The Iran nuclear deal is expected to be signed today and the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not happy, the brigade commander who shot dead a young Palestinian was questioned under warning after a video surfaced and Netanyahu thwarted the vote on the ‘death penalty for terrorists’ bill making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, eight months later, Israel responds to a European Union request.
 
Netanyahu vehemently attacked yesterday the emerging nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, which if concluded, will be signed today. Maariv’s Yossi Melman wrote that today is “Judgment Day in Vienna and it may be Yom Kippur for Netanyahu. If the agreement is indeed formulated and all the disputes are resolved, it will become clear that all of his efforts to thwart the agreement since talks began a year and eight months ago, failed. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon also criticized the impending deal, calling it a "historic mistake" filled with "unprecedented concessions." Iran's President Hassan Rohani hinted Sunday evening at an imminent agreement, and said that he has kept his election promise to resolve the nuclear issue. There are still issues to be resolved today before the final deadline.
 
Yedioth’s report listed ‘Compromises to Iran’:

Yedioth listed world powers' achievements as:

 
The IDF did not collect the videos from the nearby shops and gas stations in Al-Ram, E. Jerusalem as it does when an Israeli is attacked, but B’Tselem human rights organization did and revealed that the Palestinian stone-thrower killed by an IDF commander was fleeing when he was shot and killed, that the officer’s life was not in danger as he had claimed. As a result, Binyamin Brigade Commander Col. Israel Shomer was questioned under warning. (More from Ynet AND VIDEO and Haaretz+) The IDF had conducted a ‘preliminary investigation’ and found that Shomer had acted appropriately after the stone-thrower had thrown a rock on his jeep’s windshield, shattering it. And even after the video was revealed, GOC Central Command Gen. Roni Numa asserted that Shomer operated “as expected in mortal danger," Maariv reported.
 
Meanwhile, Armored Corps commander Lt. Col. Nerya Yeshurun was also questioned for ordering his soldiers to fire a “barrage of honor” on a Gaza medical clinic a day after one of his soldiers was killed by a sniper who fired from the clinic, during Operation Protective Edge.

Haaretz+'s Barak Ravid revealed that last November, the European Union requested from Israel to launch a dialogue on the situation in the West Bank and on the preservation of the two-state solution, but that only now did Israel respond. The response: Israel was only prepared to talk about improving the economic situation for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – but Israel would not talk about construction of settlements and steps that could threaten the two-state solution.

Quick Hits:

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Features:

The chilling film about Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's killer goes beyond the fear
If you hoped to find out why a married mother of four fell in love with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, the film 'Beyond the Fear' will not leave you any wiser. But the controversial documentary about Amir, his wife and son, has other lessons. (Nirit Anderman, Haaretz+) 
Coffee with Omar Sharif
Great Egyptian actor, who died Friday, told Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent Smadar Perry about his Jewish and Israeli ties during a casual 1980s meeting at a Cairo hotel. (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet)
 
Commentary/Analysis:

The Israeli army proposes teeny steps to help Gaza’s imploding economy (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) The easing of some of the harsher conditions of the closure may help as many as 100,000 Gazans, but it ignores the basic needs and rights of the other 1.7 million Palestinians in the Strip. 
Until an Arab plays for Beitar Jerusalem... (Yoav Borowitz, Haaretz+) In its near-80-year history, the capital’s largest club has yet to field an Arab player. The time has come to end this exclusion, but also to understand the reasons behind it. A Haaretz Sports special project.
Netanyahu's man for Israelis missing in Gaza: Improper behavior, but the man for the job (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The tone with which Netanyahu's envoy spoke to the family of the 28-year-old Israeli missing in Gaza was inexcusable. But his experience is still required.
Don't negotiate with terrorists (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) Now is the time for the government to adopt the conclusions of the Shamgar Commission and end mass prisoner swaps for abducted soldiers or civilians.
Israel: A country full of Atticus Finches (the 2.0 version) (Naomi Levitzky, Haaretz+) The bigoted, racist lawyer of Harper Lee’s new novel would feel completely at home in modern Israel. 
A salute to the Armored battalion commander who fired the honor salvo on the (Palestinian) medical clinic (Arieh Eldad, Maariv) Eldad thinks it's moral to avenge the death of a fallen warrior when the enemy took advantage of our morality.
A call to Hamas: Release Israeli civilians held in Gaza (Oudeh Basharat, Haaretz+) Palestinians should strive for a higher moral code than the one the Israeli army — and its chief ethicist — follow. 
Yedioth and the hate genes (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper is using the captivity of an Israeli who hopped the fence into Gaza to set Jews against each other, and also to hurt the prime minister.
Iran holding its breath for day after nuclear deal (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The parliament in Tehran has already signaled it is ready for the agreement with the West, and even the red lines it charted are fading fast as the final deal gets closer. 
Iran plays the West (Omer Dostri, Israel Hayom) The repeated extensions of the deadline have shown the West's desperation and its overriding desire to reach a nuclear deal with Iran at any price.
The Arab world’s anti-Israeli front is crumbling (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) For many Arab countries, averting the mortal dangers posed by ISIS and a nuclear Iran has become more important than backing the Palestinian cause. 
BDS' useful idiots at Haaretz (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Omar Barghouti, one of the leaders of the BDS movement, said in an interview recently that he wants Jews to live in peace under Arab democracy. He ignores a long and bloody history of persecution of Jews in Arab countries – and, surprisingly, there are some Israelis who buy that nonsense.
Netanyahu cannot act like an omnipotent ruler for the sake of his own image (Haaretz Editorial) There is importance in professional action that should include all officials essential to decision-making and oversight, and even in sharing information with the public. 
Netanyahu, prime minister or husband? (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) For Netanyahu, between the country and his family, between the family and the truth – the family wins.
Investigators missed the mark (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) Lt. Col. Nerya Yeshurun, who gave orders to shell an empty clinic from where Capt. Dmitri Levitas was shot and killed by a sniper, is being sacrificed to the diplomatic echelon like the proverbial pound of flesh.
Israeli politicians need to unite on Iran, Jewish identity (Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, Haaretz+) As Israeli officials exhort U.S. Jews to take action on Iran, the government in Jerusalem is busy stumbling from crisis to crisis.
Letters to the Editor / A vital voice against Israeli denial (Haaretz+)
 

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