News Nosh 09.11.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday September 11, 2015 
 
You Must Be Kidding: 
“The security establishment knows who is responsible for the arson attack in the village of Duma, but refrains from prosecution in order not to reveal sources."
--Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon knows who are the Jews who killed Sa’ad, 32, Riham, 27, and baby Ali, 18-months, of the Dawabshe family in the arson in Duma village in the West Bank.

Quote of the day:
“He wouldn’t have dared had the murdered been Jews.”
--Meretz Chairwoman MK Zehava Gal-On reacts to Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon’s remarks (above).


Front Page:
Haaretz
  • Haaretz survey maps the positions and habits of Israelis – Special project ahead of Rosh Hashana
  • The Republican Party of Netanyahu: Prime Minister tries to initiate center-right union
  • Despite the forecasts, the heavy haze did not clear, and the significant improvement is expected tomorrow
  • Hundreds of fighters from Iran were sent to aid Assad
  • Arieh Deri on Netanyahu, the gas agreement and his children’s apartments
  • Adi Keissar is the most surprising poet in Israel today
  • From public transportation to soccer: Sabbath as a battle zone
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Yaalon: We know who murdered in Duma village
  • When Obama wins // Nahum Barnea
  • When Yaalon searches // Sima Kadmon
  • Waiting for the haze to clear
  • The babies of Benaya – When Major Benaya Sarel was killed in Operation Protective Edge, three weeks before his wedding, it pinched the heart of a whole country. In a moving gesture, many couples decided to name their babies after him. Yedioth had the parents of 15 such babies meet with Sarel’s mother
Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)
  • Expose: The negotiations that failed - Netanyahu offered Herzog the Foreign, Defense and Justice Ministries
  • Anger in Israel over EU Parliament decision to label settlement products; Prime Minister: “Perversion of justice”; Zionist Camp: “An improper decision”
  • The tower of the Police Commissioner – Maariv revealed two months ago that former Police Chief Danino joined the Insurance groups of Shlomo Eliyahu
  • The Iranians are coming – Revolutionary Guards forces entered Syria to aid Assad; Israel’s red lines: Violating sovereignty and transferring weapons
  • Waiting for the heavy haze to lighten
  • The oil guidelines: 60 years since the promising discovery in Heletz, this is what’s left
  • The Man of the (Jewish) Year of 5775 – Netanyahu, without any competitors – No one and nothing stopped the Prime Minister. Ben Caspit continues the tradition and chooses the man of the year
  • The story of the blind woman working in the Intel Corps (Unit 8200), who for 18 years listens to the Arab leaders
Israel Hayom
  • Netanyahu: “We have a historic memory of labeling Jews”
  • Yellow patches, 2015 version // Dan Margalit 
  • “Hundreds of Iranian soldiers fighting in Syria for Assad – with Russia’s approval”
  • Long – and celebratory – weekend (ahead of Rosh Hashana eve on Sunday)
  • British study: Alzheimers can pass from one person to another
  • Exclusive: The queen of the sea – The first sail in the new ‘Tanin’ submarine, the most expensive warfare vessel of the IDF
  • Not afraid of anyone – Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev answers critics and promises: They won’t stop me
  • Everything is honey: Tom Garti, 15, is the youngest beekeeper in Israel
  • US exits, countries in the region collapse and millions of refugees escape: Earthquake in the Middle East // Boaz Bismuth and Aharon Lapidot

 
News Summary:
The dangerous heavy haze has yet to clear, the Defense Minister sparked outrage after saying he knows who are the Jews who murdered the Dawabshe family, but won’t charge them, the European Parliament sparked Israeli government outrage when it voted in support of labeling settlement products and Iran sparked Israeli concern after allegedly sending forces to Syria to help Assad making top stories in today’s Friday newspapers. Meanwhile, the UN overwhelmingly approved raising the Palestinian flag, 
and the commentators, MKs and others continued to discuss the powerful speech by Arab MK Jamal Zahalka, who accused the ‘Ashekenazi left-wing” of racism and the Labor party of harming Arab Israelis. Maariv’s Ben Caspit chose the ‘undefeatable’ Prime Minister Binaymin Netanyahu as Man of the Year and Haaretz+ chose ‘King BIbi's nemesis’: President Reuven Rivlin. Maariv reported that Israeli Prime Minister Binaymin Netanyahu tried to make a center-right party, but Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog rejected the offer, while Haaretz+ reported that Netanyahu is now trying to form a large right-wing party, similar to the Republican party.
 
Defense Minister Yaalon told a closed meeting of young Likud activists, “We know who was behind Duma attack” and they are Jewish, but that no arrests were made in order to avoid exposing intelligence sources in court. The Dawabshe family and some left-wing MKs slammed the decision. Joint List MK Aida Toma-Suliman said, "Ya'alon's statement indicates the establishment’s forgiving attitude towards terrorism that comes from settlements and it lays the groundwork for the next murder.” (Maariv) Afterward, Ya'alon tried to calms winds, saying that administrative detention was used on Jewish extremists to prevent future attacks. Ynet reported that a campaign was launched to help the sole surviving member of the Dawabsheh family: 4-year-old Ahmed.
 
Netanyahu raised the spectre of the Holocaust when criticizing the landslide vote by the EU to label products from Jewish settlements. This is first time the European Parliament expressed support for differentiating between Israel and settlements; Netanyahu says motion is unjustified and harms peace. Haaretz+ reported that a new unofficial boycott against Israeli academics may already be underway.
 
The speech in Knesset by Arab MK Jamal Zahalka continues to make waves. Haaretz+ ran a fascinating interview by Nir Gontarz with MK Meir Cohen from Yesh Atid, after Cohen wrote an FB post saying: “MK Jamal Zahalka [Joint Arab List] this week gave us a glimpse into the bitter truth that characterizes one of the old and unending problems of the Israeli society. ‘You don’t say hello to me,’ Zahalka snapped at MK Stav Shaffir [Zionist Union]. ‘The Labor Party is the mother of racism,’ he added… The patronizing feeling that some in the Israeli left project toward Arabs, the members of the oriental communities and toward everyone who doesn’t speak ‘their language’ or look like them, is not vanishing from the Israeli landscape… Patronizing is the root of all evil. Be careful about respecting people, because it’s not being told ‘hello’ that they’re looking for, but the right to be part of the dialogue. They want their voice to be heard without your giving them a grade.” Gontarz challenged Cohen reminding him which MK called all the Arab MKs ‘Zouebis.’ (Answer: His party leader, MK Yair Lapid.)
Maariv’s right-wing commentator Kalman Libskind also wrote about the speech, saying “MK Jamal Zahalka put the truth on the table this week. In contrast to the right-wing, for generations the Zionist left-wing sold the Arabs tales about equality that never was…We established a state which is first and foremost a Jewish state and only afterward democratic. And in this state there is a need to give others personal rights, but it will never be for them what it is for us. That is the truth, our Arab neighbors, and not the bluffs that the left-wing sold you.”
 
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.