News Nosh 10.29.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday October 29, 2015 
 
Quote of the day:
"It shocks me how the first thing the government did was to deny any connection between the wave of terror and the occupation. That is part of the racism and dehumanization that again turns an Arab into a person whose nature is murderous and who has a perverted sense of morals." 
-Israeli actor Itay Tiran opens his mouth in interview to Yedioth ahead of the broadcasting of the suspense series he stars in. 

You Must Be Kidding: 
“So it turns out Arabs do good things sometimes.”
--One of many Facebook posts by right-wing Israelis celebrating the death of American-Israeli left-wing activist Richard Lakin, who succumbed to the wounds he suffered from an attack in Jerusalem by two Palestinians two weeks ago. 


Breaking News:
Two Palestinians shot dead in two alleged attacks on Israeli soldiers in Hebron area. One Palestinian dies at E. Jerusalem checkpoint 
  • Nadim Shqeirat, 52, died on the way to hospital from a heart attack, with ambulance being delayed by newly erected checkpoint in Jabal Mukaber neighborhood and refusal of Magen David Adom intensive care ambulance to enter neighborhood. (Maan)
  • Palestinian and Israeli witnesses gave conflicting reports on alleged stabbing attack next to the Cave of the Patriarchs that ended with a Palestinian, Mahdi Mohammad Ramadan al-Muhtasib, 23, shot dead and an Israeli soldier lightly wounded. Palestinians accuse Israeli forces of planting a knife. (Haaretz, Ynet and Maan)
  • In an incident on Shuhada St. in downtown Hebron next to the Beit Hadassah settlement, Israeli soldiers shot dead Farouk Abdel Qader Omar Sidr, 19. Soldiers said he tried to stab them. They reported no injuries. A Palestinian witness said Sidr was shot while walking down a staircase. (Haaretz and Maan)
Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • The flood
  • Will we forever live in a puddle // Raanan Shaked
  • State Comptroller: The Electricity Corp’s great failure
  • 13-year-old Naor is recovering from the stabbing of the terrorist
  • Gilad stabbed a year after his brother was wounded in Gaza
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom
  • The water arrived – Stormy weather returned
  • State Comptroller on the Electricity Corp.: “Money-waster and thousands of extraneous employees; Competition is necessary”
  • Today: High Court to discuss destroying terrorists’ homes
  • Iberia Airlines captain to passengers: “We will soon be landing in Palestine”
  • The wheel flew off and killed
  • Until 120: Highest life expectancy is in Ramat Gan
  • State Comptroller report: Tax Authority owes citizens a billion shekels – and did not bother to tell them
  • Mystery: Why did a 1.5 year old return from nursery school injured and swollen?

 
News Summary:
The flooding, the anger at the Electricity Corp for the lack of electricity in some parts, two alleged Palestinian stabbing attacks, a terrorist woman declared not a terrorist by security services and a murdered peace activists slandered by right-wingers made top stories in today’s Hebrew papers.

On the diplomatic front, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of turning a political conflict into a religious one, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the current escalation illustrates a bi-national state reality, while Israel opposed the New Zealand UN bid to restart negotiations. And after Israel stopped the Waqf from installing cameras at the Temple Mount and insisted it had to be done in coordination with Israel, Jordan said Israel will have no role in the installation.
 
Two alleged Palestinian stabbing attacks took place in the southern West Bank yesterday. An Israeli woman was moderately wounded Wednesday in an attack in Gush Etzion, The woman’s attacker was apprehended. In Hebron, near Kiryat Arba settlement, soldiers shot dead Islam Rafiq Hammad Ibeido, 23, who they said tried to stab a soldier. Witnesses told Ma'an that “Israeli soldiers shot 11 live bullets at the youth, let him bleed there, and put a knife in his hand."
  
Amnesty International demanded Israel stop unlawful killings saying Israeli forces have 'ripped up the rulebook' by “shooting to kill in situations where it is completely unjustified” and leaving injured Palestinians to bleed without medical attention, in violation of the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty said its research uncovered at least four incidents in which Israeli security forces used intentional and excessive force against assailants who were “deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces when they posed no imminent threat to life, in what appear to have been extrajudicial executions,” Times of Israel wrote. 
 
"Shadows of hatred"
Less than a day after Richard Lakin passed away Tuesday from the wounds he suffered in an attack by two Palestinians two weeks ago, thousands of right-wingers on the Internet celebrated his death. The flood of hate posts began after the right-wing Israeli rapper, ‘The Shadow,’ wrote on Facebook that the murder of Lakin, an activist with the ‘Tag Meir’ group, which visits Palestinians who were attacked by Jews, should be a wake-up call to left-wingers. “He needs to be buried in Gaza and people should shit on his gravestone,” posted one on Facebook over a picture of Lakin’s face. “Another dead terrorist,” wrote another. “So it turns out Arabs do good things sometimes.” “For me he is another terrorist.” “Since I really love the left-wing, I want to wish them the same thing,” other wrote. 
The day before his death, Lakins’s son Micha served as the lead plaintiff in filing a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, accusing the social media network of allowing incitement to kill Jews. Micha blamed Palestinian incitement on social media for his father's death. The day after his father’s death, Micha slammed how right-wing Israelis use it to incite against peace activists. He told journalist Ilana Dayan on Army Radio: “What happened to us in the last decade? Several new continents have been created called Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and these continents, still have no rules. The evil and incitement there come from all directions. However, I feel it personally from the attacks against us.” Micha said the incitement in Israel is accelerating at a dizzying pace into a third intifada.
 
Quick Hits:
  • Israeli Arab Woman Shot in Bus Station Not a Terrorist, Conclude Security Services - Video shows Asra’a Zidan Abed, a divorced mother who had lost custody of her child, did not intend to hurt anyone but rather to induce police to shoot her. Although investigators questioned security services shooting judgement, they decided forces had not crossed criminal threshold so no disciplinary measures to be taken against them. MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint Arab List): "The decision not to try the police who shot six bullets into Asra'a Abed gives a green light to other policemen to shoot without justification and legitimizes being light on the trigger." (Haaretz and Ynet)
  • Netanyahu Considers Implementing Special Security Court to Deal With Terrorism - The prime minister says the judicial system is stalling the implementation of punitive measures against terrorists. (Haaretz+) 
  • Israeli Arab MK Basel Ghattas Ascends to Temple Mount, Defying Netanyahu - Though from a Christian family, Ghattas says 'occupation will not prevent us from exercise our right to pray and visit Al-Aqsa.' After his visit, he added that "I saw a group of religious Jews prayer there with my own eyes… and the police just stood by." (Haaretz+ and Ynet +VIDEO and Maariv)
  • Palestinian gunmen fire at illegal Israeli settlement near Ramallah - Witnesses said that “more than one gunman showered an Israeli military watchtower (in Psagot settlement) with gunshots for more than 15 minutes.” (Maan
  • MK Causes Storm With Criticism of Judge Justice Minister Says Israeli Courts Have Assumed Too Much Powers - Ayelet Shaked said after Justice Uzi Vogelman spoke that, following constitutional revolution, courts have seized too much power. (Haaretz+)
  • Mother of 4 from Negev planned to murder Jews, says indictment - A Negev woman told her sister she wanted to be a martyr, and was later charged with carrying a knife with intent to attack. Two Israeli Arab teenagers arrested in northern Israel, investigation reveals they planned to attack a Jewish man with knives. (Israel Hayom)
  • Israel detains 42-year-old Palestinian mother of 5 for 'planning' attack  - Ghada Odatallah, 42, from Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, was apprehended after she was summoned to an Israeli police station. (Maan)
  • Israel confiscates Palestinian land near Nablus citing 'security'  - The Israeli army notified locals that dozens of acres of land would be seized in Beit Furik, Salem, Awarta, Yasuf, al-Sawiya, and Azmut. The Palestinian Authority is tasking a legal team to defend all Palestinian land included in the Israeli decision. (Maan)
  • Incitement thrives at prestigious East Jerusalem high school - A ceremony at the school in Sheikh Jarrah included a prayer for the souls of the 'martyrs' who 'sacrificed their lives for their country.’ (Ynet
  • Knesset approves Arabic education bill in preliminary reading - The Knesset decision was unusual because the bill has been promoted unsuccessfully for many years by MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint Arab List). This time it was proposed by a Likud MK. Coalition conditioned its support on further discussion in the cabinet, leading to assessments that it wants to bury the bill. (Haaretz+)
  • Fear of stabbing attacks: Knesset cafeteria moves silverware cart - Patrons of the Knesset cafeteria were forced to look for knives and forks yesterday, which were transferred from the public corridor, where hundreds of people pass every day, to an area near the cashier. Knesset source: It was meant to reduce the risk of a spontaneous attack. Likud MK Anat Berko asked for MKs to go through a security check: “The fear is that (Arab) MKs or their parliamentary aides could smuggle knives or other means into the Knesset that could be used to harm MKs in the wake of the security situation.” Knesset said that moving the cart had nothing to do with Berko’s petition. (Maariv)
  • State may compensate family of lynched Eritrean asylum seeker - Haftom Zarhum was lynched after a terror attack in Be'er Sheva; the State Prosecutor intends to charge two of the assailants; Zarhum's family could be entitled to compensation. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Prison officer who took part in lynching in Beer Sheva: 'I'm not sorry' - Ronen Cohen claims he saw police training their weapons on Habtom Zerhom, who had been mistakenly identified as a terrorist and after seeing him move, lunged at him. Even though he regrets what happened, Cohen says: "If a similar situation occurred again I would act in the same way." (Ynet)
  • West Bank town to name street after Palestinian behind Jerusalem stabbing attack - Becoming a street's namesake is the latest of several honors conferred upon Muhannad Halabi, who stabbed several Jews in Jerusalem before being shot and killed. (JTA, Haaretz
  • Explosive device damages Holon building, motive is criminal - Heavy damage and two lightly injured after explosion in a builiding combining commerce, residential apartments and a medical center. (Ynet
  • Meet the IDF's newish APC - The IDF is developing a new family of armored personnel carriers based on the hulls of old Merkava Mk.2 tanks which have been phased out, in an attempt to provide more protection at minimal cost. (Ynet)
  • J.K. Rowling criticizes Israel, but says Harry Potter would understand her opposition to boycott - "You are Zionist, our childhood was destroyed," wrote angry readers to Rowling following her opposition to boycott Israel. In response to criticism, she said she opposed cultural boycotts, but criticized Netanyahu and said: "The Palestinian community has suffered untold justice and brutality. I want to see the Israeli government held to account for that injustice and brutality."  (Haaretz and Yedioth, p. 20)
  • Rowling cites Dumbledor in arguing against Israel boycott - Hogwarts headmaster believes ‘certain channels of communication should always remain open,’ Rowling writes. On Facebook, a young Palestinian woman wrote: “My battle of Hogwarts dreams have always had the death eaters as Zionists, and Harry and his peers as Palestinians." The post has been shared over 7,000 times. (Times of Israel)
  • BDS is cooking - New initiative: Culinary boycott - Boycott follows boycott: After artists and academics, now it's the chefs' turn: BDS is pressuring the group of int'l chefs not to participate in the "Roundtables" event in Tel-Aviv. (Yedioth, p. 20 and JPost)
  • Is Israel's Oscar entry a 'Zionist plot' against Iran? - Iranian media accuse Persian-speaking film 'Baba Joon' of being a Zionist propaganda movie aimed at disconnecting Jews of Iranian descent from their heritage and brainwashing them. (Ynet)
  • Iberia Airlines pilot: "Welcome to Tel-Aviv, Palestine" - Unusual greeting was heard in Spanish yesterday as the plane landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. In English, the pilot just said "Welcome to Tel-Aviv." Some angry passengers went up to him after the flight and he locked himself in the cockpit. Iberia Spokesperson called the remark, "Unwise." (Yedioth, p. 20)


Features:
A champion of coexistence, felled by hatred, is laid to rest
Richard Lakin, Israeli-American killed in Jerusalem terror attack, spent his life working for social justice: from marching with the Civil Rights Movements to teaching Arab and Jewish kids to live in peace. (Danna Harman, Haaretz+)
Muslim women making the rulings
While in the Arab world, women are increasingly being appointed to be qadis (religious judges) in Shariah courts, in Israel that progressive move has not been adopted. Now, a bill to integrate female qadis was proposed by a number of Arab MKs and will be brought before debate in the Knesset, but the decision in the issue was postponed. “The Ministerial Legislative Committee turned Muslim women into hostages of the ultra-Orthodox, who demand to force Muslims to accept the Orthodox Jewish laws (of only male rabbinic judges),” said Arab MK Esawi Freij. (Carmit Sapir-Weitz, Maariv Magazine)
6 new books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for politicians and plebs
Here's a wealth of reading on everything from occupation to desalination. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu's Apartheid Vision for Israel's Future (Haaretz Editorial) In the real world, outside the realm of speechmaking, Netanyahu is only ready to hold empty and aimless talks with the Palestinians. 
Hagai Amir's arrest won't cure online incitement (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) The family of Prime Minister Rabin's assassin is the rotten fruit of Israeli society, but the real incitement can be found on President Rivlin's Facebook page, which contains hundreds of public comments and threats.
Bibi nation: Everyone can stop fighting over Israel's soul, Netanyahu has won (Asher Schechter, Haaretz+) Israel is now Bibi nation, wholly synonymous with Netanyahu: Bibi is Israel. Israel is Bibi. 
Extremists no longer welcome (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Arab nations have no interest in rewarding the Palestinians for fanning the flames in the name of religion.
Israeli settlers are only innocent in Netanyahu’s warped mind (B. Michael, Haaretz+) Actually, that group is the strongest, cruelest, most important, most determined and most dangerous power controlling the occupied territories.
Israeli Military’s Goal Must Be Total Victory (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) Those who are holding back the galloping horses are the senior commanders – and their civilian superiors – who have not made total victory over the terrorists the goal of the current campaign. 
A win for Israel on the Temple Mount (Omer Dostri, Israel Hayom) Israel will now be able to keep a closer eye on terrorist activity and resume strategic cooperation with moderate Arab states.
The Real Blackout Throughout Israel Can't Be Blamed on Israel Electric (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) While parts of Israel suffered a two-day blackout, Gazans have been living with minimal electricity for years. 
Netanyahu Will Meet With Obama From a Position of Weakness (Ari Shavit, Haaretz+) Israel may learn the hard way that without a deep ideological pact with the U.S., it will not have a viable strategic alliance either. 
Putting an end to PA's self-destructing playbook (Lars Adaktusson, Ynet) All EU funds to Palestinian territories should be conditional on a renouncement of hate and incitement to violence, says Swedish MEP.
Palestinian violence is either illegitimate or justifiable; there's no middle ground (Ayalon Eliach, Haaretz+) Attempts to conflate the two arguments have commentators contradicting themselves.
In Jerusalem, we’re all monsters now (Apo Sahagian, Haaretz+) When my European colleagues ask: What’s going on in Jerusalem? I try to brush them off. I know they can’t comprehend the dark reality, the knives, guns and blood, so alien to their lives. 
A step in the right direction (Dr. Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) We must build a detention facility and imprison the leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel who call for genocide.
Women’s liberation: Violence and Palestinian women in the third intifada (Devorah Margolin, Haaretz+) Women make good terrorists: They don’t conform to Israel’s traditional security profiles, arouse less suspicion, and their actions can attract more international media attention.
 
Interviews: 
The intifada according to Itay Tiran 
After actors Anat Waxman and Oded Kotler, the prince of theater opens his mouth and expresses his view on the political-societal situation in Israel. (Preview of intervew by Alon Hadar in Yedioth's '7 Nights' Magazine)
  • "Murder by knife is horrifying. No less horrifying is the way the Israeli institution succeeds in oppressing and starving to death, physically and mentally, a whole population." 
  • "It shocks me how the first thing the government did was to deny any connection between the wave of terror and the occupation. That is part of the racism and dehumanization that again turns an Arab into a person whose nature is murderous and who has a perverted sense of morals." 
  • On the Israeli left-wing: "What left-wing? The Labor party? Who is Buji (Isaac) Herzog? What is this apologetic defensive left-wing? You cannot separate the struggle for social justice from the struggle against the occupation."
  • On Israeli society: "We are a society that loves violence. Peace is out. This is not a people that pursues peace, but a people pursued by peace. They run from it and grab onto war."

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