APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday November 11, 2015
Quote of the day:
"You're ISIS with a kippah."
--Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli shouts at LEHAVA leader Bentzi Gopstein in a stormy Knesset debate about whether to outlaw the racist organization.
--Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli shouts at LEHAVA leader Bentzi Gopstein in a stormy Knesset debate about whether to outlaw the racist organization.
You Must Be Kidding:
During his interrogation, the military prosecution’s key witness was presented with seven photos. He had to select the accused, who was female. Six of the photos were of men.
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Netanyahu to US: Jerusalem and Temple Mount issues are unsolvable”
- In Obama administration, cooling the excitement: The meeting with Netanyahu was “okay”
- Justice Ministry to advance bill to allow jail sentence for children from age 12
- Israel learns from Eritrea and Morocco // Ido Baum
- On removal of Army Radio from IDF: Chief of Staff has much more ambitious programs
- Public trust in justice system is much higher than trust in government
- UN in sharp criticism: Israel failing in dealing with child prostitution
- The condition for a demonstration with 100 people: 30 attendants
- “Murder,” the prophetic satire by Hanoch Levine, to be performed in Germany
Yedioth Ahronoth
- 11-year-old terrorist
- The next crisis? While Netanyahu is in the US, Jerusalem municipality expected to approve construction of 900 homes in Gilo neighborhood
- Shamelessly – MKs give themselves a raise
- Volunteering to help – Mayor of London, once volunteered on a kibbutz, came to promote businesses in Israel and ridicule the boycott
- Where are the prices dropping? In contradiction to Housing Ministry claim: Prices of apartments in most cities actually rose
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Revolution in the IDF: “Whatever doesn’t shoot, will be cut out”
- Don’t give up on Army Radio // Avi Benayahu
- Child terrorists
- Netanyahu in US: My remarks during elections about Arab Israelis were a mistake
Israel Hayom
- Netanyahu: There is no peace because of the Palestinians – “Unilateral steps are a possibility – if it suits security interests”
- 11-year-old and 14-year-old with knife – and murder in their eyes
- Chief of Staff: Remove Army Radio from IDF
- Despite the opposition: MKs decided to raise their salary by hundreds of shekels a year
- Nuclear agreement? Despite its commitments, Iran stopped dismantling centrifuges
News Summary:
An 11-year-old Palestinian boy allegedly stabbed an Israeli security guard on the light rail in E. Jerusalem, after which two more Palestinians allegedly attempted to stab Israeli security elsewhere and were shot dead, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made surprising statements in an interview at a liberal US think tank making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon shared IDF insight about Palestinian attacks, a storm broke out in a Knesset debate over the presence of the far-right-wing leader whose controversial organization was being discussed and a new poll revealed less Israeli faith in the government and parliamentarians and a widening divide between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.
The front page of every major Israeli newspaper showed the photo of handcuffed 13-year-old Ahmad Ali being taken away in a sort of hug by an undercover Israeli policemen after allegedly stabbing with his 11-year-old cousin a Jerusalem light rail security guard, who received superficial wounds. Only Maariv did not blur Ahmad’s distraught face, which appeared streaked by tears. The guard shot the 11-year-old cousin at the urging of a passenger, who then helped grab Ahmad. The video of the attack and the struggle was uploaded to the Internet, as was a video of the police removing the shot boy, who was stripped, from the light rail floor. He was shot three times in the torso and is recovering from surgery.
Only Yedioth/Ynet’s Elior Levy wrote about the "Ahmad Manasra effect": Palestinians say that the video released to the Palestinian media of the harsh police interrogation of 13-year-old Ahmad Mansara, who allegedly stabbed two Israelis, was what sparked two other boys to do the same. The Palestinian Authority demanded action against Israel for the video of Mansara’s interrogation, which it said was "indisputable evidence that can convict the Israeli government and its investigators for their practices that violate the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and relevant international laws.”
It is unclear whether Mansara will serve a jail sentence. By Israeli law, he can’t if he is convicted before the age of 14. But one paper said he reportedly denied accusations against him (although the interrogation video shows him accepting whatever the interrogator says) which could delay his trial to after he turns 14 in January. According to Israeli law, children aged 12 or 13 can be arrested and tried, but they can’t be sentenced to jail unless they have turned 14 by the time the sentence is handed down. Instead, they can be sent to closed treatment facilities and kept there until age 20. Now Israel’s Justice Ministry seeks to change the law allowing jail for offenders as young as 12. The Israel National Council for the Child opposes the bills.
Fifteen minutes after the children’s attack on the light rail guard, Muhammed Nimr, a father of three from the E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyah, allegedly tried to stab Israeli security guards near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. The guards shot him dead before he reached them. Video footage shows what happened.
A few hours later, 16-year-old Sadeq Ziad Gharbiyeh from the town of Sanur near Jenin was shot dead by Border Police at a checkpoint outside of Jerusalem after allegedly approaching them carrying a knife. The driver of the shared taxi he was traveling in at the checkpoint gave Maan more details about what happened.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon shared some deeper understanding about the motives of Palestinian attackers than the police investigators showed in the release of the interrogation video. “From their point of view, a student who came to Lions' Gate [in Jerusalem] and carried out a stabbing attack was doing so in self-defense because someone tried to remove her hijab. From their point of view, we are the aggressor and we are the ones who have to justify the fact that we killed [the attacker]. They feel they are simply defending themselves. That on its own adds fuel to the fire,” he told military correspondents. He said there has been a copycat effect among attackers, exacerbated by incitement on social networking sites, Israel Hayom reported. He also said that this wasn’t an intifada and that contrary to popular opinion, the current wave of violence did not begin with the murder of Eitam and Naama Henkin on Oct. 1, but earlier, on Sept. 11, when some 30 young Palestinians threw stones, Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs at a group of tourists on the Temple Mount. [Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff has an excellent analysis of this before it all broke out. - OH] Ya'alon also said that Israel has no intention of killing Palestinians stone-throwers in clashes with Israeli forces, but when it comes to stabbing and ramming attackers, security forces are left with no choice. In addition, Yaalon confirmed that the Jewish young men put under administrative detention were suspects in the deadly arson attack on the Dawabsheh family, Haaretz+ reported.
Netanyahu made some interesting statements in a Q&A session at the Center for American Progress, a US think tank.
1.) He declared that the issues of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are unsolvable.
2.) He said he doesn't rule out a unilateral pullout from the West Bank, if they met Israeli security criteria.
3.) He admitted that his remarks on the eve of elections about Israeli Arabs (going in droves to the polls) “was a mistake,” adding that “What matters is not words, but deeds. Check what I have done for the Arabs of Israel."
Netanyahu also reportedly told US President Barack Obama that Israel would like to hear the US position on Israel's annexation of Golan Heights, a move which was never recognized by international community.
What was unsurprising was what he said in his speech to the Jewish Federation, namely that there is no peace with the Palestinians “not because of the settlements or territorial disputes. The reason there isn't peace is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundaries.” At the think tank, he also defended Israel's record on tackling settler violence and said that "you can't compare settler violence to Palestinian terrorism."
Interestingly, the Israeli reports yesterday that the Obama-Netanyahu summit was a great success has met with a cool reaction from the White House, which said it was simply ‘OK,’ Haaretz reported. Moreover, Obama said he doesn't intend to intervene to allow Jonathan Pollard to travel to Israel after being released from jail. But one MK suggested that Israel support Pollard for life.
Chaos broke out in a Knesset committee when extremist LEHAVA leader Benzi Gopstein showed up at the session to discuss outlawing his far-right wing organization (video here). Meretz MK Ilan Galon shouted at Gopstein, "You are the juice of trash, you are the foreskin of the Jewish Ku Klux Klan, you're the trash of the trash." Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli shouted: "You're ISIS with a kippah. Don't make threats! What are you going to do? Send your 'Revolutionary Guard' to Lod as well?" MK Michal Rosin (Meretz), “Letting you sit in this discussion is like allowing the accused sit in front of raped women.” Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said he had no legal reason to bar Gopstein from attending, but urged lawmakers to outlaw LEHAVA. This year, two of LEHAVA activists were convicted of setting the Jewish-Arab Hand-in-Hand school in Jerusalem on fire. (Maariv)
However, a new poll found that 37% of Israeli citizens support organizations such as LEHAVA, which works to prevent intermarriage between Arabs and Jews and 60% of Jews support denying Arab citizens the right to vote unless they declare loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state and serve in the IDF or National Service. Another 37% of Jews say the State should encourage Arab emigration from Israel. The 2015 Democracy Index by the Israel Democracy Institute shows a deepening divide between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. According to the poll, most Arab citizens do not feel part of the State of Israel, but 76% do believe that it is possible to feel an inseparable part of the Palestinian people and still be loyal to the State of Israel. However, 55.5% of Jewish citizens don’t believe this is possible. (Ynet) More than one-third of Jews said they wouldn’t want to live next to an Arab family, while nearly half said they wouldn’t want to live next to foreign workers. More than 40 percent of Arabs said they would not want to live next to ultra-Orthodox Jews, though only 11 percent said they would be bothered by Jewish neighbors of any kind.
The poll also shows that the majority of Israelis still trusts the High Court, but has less faith in the government and parliamentarians. The annual survey, conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, found a strong correlation between respondents’ level of religiosity and level of education and their view of the court. The more religious and the less educated the more support they had for stripping the court of its power to overturn laws.
An 11-year-old Palestinian boy allegedly stabbed an Israeli security guard on the light rail in E. Jerusalem, after which two more Palestinians allegedly attempted to stab Israeli security elsewhere and were shot dead, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made surprising statements in an interview at a liberal US think tank making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon shared IDF insight about Palestinian attacks, a storm broke out in a Knesset debate over the presence of the far-right-wing leader whose controversial organization was being discussed and a new poll revealed less Israeli faith in the government and parliamentarians and a widening divide between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.
The front page of every major Israeli newspaper showed the photo of handcuffed 13-year-old Ahmad Ali being taken away in a sort of hug by an undercover Israeli policemen after allegedly stabbing with his 11-year-old cousin a Jerusalem light rail security guard, who received superficial wounds. Only Maariv did not blur Ahmad’s distraught face, which appeared streaked by tears. The guard shot the 11-year-old cousin at the urging of a passenger, who then helped grab Ahmad. The video of the attack and the struggle was uploaded to the Internet, as was a video of the police removing the shot boy, who was stripped, from the light rail floor. He was shot three times in the torso and is recovering from surgery.
Only Yedioth/Ynet’s Elior Levy wrote about the "Ahmad Manasra effect": Palestinians say that the video released to the Palestinian media of the harsh police interrogation of 13-year-old Ahmad Mansara, who allegedly stabbed two Israelis, was what sparked two other boys to do the same. The Palestinian Authority demanded action against Israel for the video of Mansara’s interrogation, which it said was "indisputable evidence that can convict the Israeli government and its investigators for their practices that violate the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and relevant international laws.”
It is unclear whether Mansara will serve a jail sentence. By Israeli law, he can’t if he is convicted before the age of 14. But one paper said he reportedly denied accusations against him (although the interrogation video shows him accepting whatever the interrogator says) which could delay his trial to after he turns 14 in January. According to Israeli law, children aged 12 or 13 can be arrested and tried, but they can’t be sentenced to jail unless they have turned 14 by the time the sentence is handed down. Instead, they can be sent to closed treatment facilities and kept there until age 20. Now Israel’s Justice Ministry seeks to change the law allowing jail for offenders as young as 12. The Israel National Council for the Child opposes the bills.
Fifteen minutes after the children’s attack on the light rail guard, Muhammed Nimr, a father of three from the E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyah, allegedly tried to stab Israeli security guards near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. The guards shot him dead before he reached them. Video footage shows what happened.
A few hours later, 16-year-old Sadeq Ziad Gharbiyeh from the town of Sanur near Jenin was shot dead by Border Police at a checkpoint outside of Jerusalem after allegedly approaching them carrying a knife. The driver of the shared taxi he was traveling in at the checkpoint gave Maan more details about what happened.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon shared some deeper understanding about the motives of Palestinian attackers than the police investigators showed in the release of the interrogation video. “From their point of view, a student who came to Lions' Gate [in Jerusalem] and carried out a stabbing attack was doing so in self-defense because someone tried to remove her hijab. From their point of view, we are the aggressor and we are the ones who have to justify the fact that we killed [the attacker]. They feel they are simply defending themselves. That on its own adds fuel to the fire,” he told military correspondents. He said there has been a copycat effect among attackers, exacerbated by incitement on social networking sites, Israel Hayom reported. He also said that this wasn’t an intifada and that contrary to popular opinion, the current wave of violence did not begin with the murder of Eitam and Naama Henkin on Oct. 1, but earlier, on Sept. 11, when some 30 young Palestinians threw stones, Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs at a group of tourists on the Temple Mount. [Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff has an excellent analysis of this before it all broke out. - OH] Ya'alon also said that Israel has no intention of killing Palestinians stone-throwers in clashes with Israeli forces, but when it comes to stabbing and ramming attackers, security forces are left with no choice. In addition, Yaalon confirmed that the Jewish young men put under administrative detention were suspects in the deadly arson attack on the Dawabsheh family, Haaretz+ reported.
Netanyahu made some interesting statements in a Q&A session at the Center for American Progress, a US think tank.
1.) He declared that the issues of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are unsolvable.
2.) He said he doesn't rule out a unilateral pullout from the West Bank, if they met Israeli security criteria.
3.) He admitted that his remarks on the eve of elections about Israeli Arabs (going in droves to the polls) “was a mistake,” adding that “What matters is not words, but deeds. Check what I have done for the Arabs of Israel."
Netanyahu also reportedly told US President Barack Obama that Israel would like to hear the US position on Israel's annexation of Golan Heights, a move which was never recognized by international community.
What was unsurprising was what he said in his speech to the Jewish Federation, namely that there is no peace with the Palestinians “not because of the settlements or territorial disputes. The reason there isn't peace is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundaries.” At the think tank, he also defended Israel's record on tackling settler violence and said that "you can't compare settler violence to Palestinian terrorism."
Interestingly, the Israeli reports yesterday that the Obama-Netanyahu summit was a great success has met with a cool reaction from the White House, which said it was simply ‘OK,’ Haaretz reported. Moreover, Obama said he doesn't intend to intervene to allow Jonathan Pollard to travel to Israel after being released from jail. But one MK suggested that Israel support Pollard for life.
Chaos broke out in a Knesset committee when extremist LEHAVA leader Benzi Gopstein showed up at the session to discuss outlawing his far-right wing organization (video here). Meretz MK Ilan Galon shouted at Gopstein, "You are the juice of trash, you are the foreskin of the Jewish Ku Klux Klan, you're the trash of the trash." Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli shouted: "You're ISIS with a kippah. Don't make threats! What are you going to do? Send your 'Revolutionary Guard' to Lod as well?" MK Michal Rosin (Meretz), “Letting you sit in this discussion is like allowing the accused sit in front of raped women.” Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said he had no legal reason to bar Gopstein from attending, but urged lawmakers to outlaw LEHAVA. This year, two of LEHAVA activists were convicted of setting the Jewish-Arab Hand-in-Hand school in Jerusalem on fire. (Maariv)
However, a new poll found that 37% of Israeli citizens support organizations such as LEHAVA, which works to prevent intermarriage between Arabs and Jews and 60% of Jews support denying Arab citizens the right to vote unless they declare loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state and serve in the IDF or National Service. Another 37% of Jews say the State should encourage Arab emigration from Israel. The 2015 Democracy Index by the Israel Democracy Institute shows a deepening divide between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. According to the poll, most Arab citizens do not feel part of the State of Israel, but 76% do believe that it is possible to feel an inseparable part of the Palestinian people and still be loyal to the State of Israel. However, 55.5% of Jewish citizens don’t believe this is possible. (Ynet) More than one-third of Jews said they wouldn’t want to live next to an Arab family, while nearly half said they wouldn’t want to live next to foreign workers. More than 40 percent of Arabs said they would not want to live next to ultra-Orthodox Jews, though only 11 percent said they would be bothered by Jewish neighbors of any kind.
The poll also shows that the majority of Israelis still trusts the High Court, but has less faith in the government and parliamentarians. The annual survey, conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, found a strong correlation between respondents’ level of religiosity and level of education and their view of the court. The more religious and the less educated the more support they had for stripping the court of its power to overturn laws.
Quick Hits:
- Soldier and citizen, who were filmed beating (Bedouin) man at Beersheva mall, were arrested - A security guard detained two men from Rahat, who were not even entering the mall, but were walking to the parking lot, and a soldier and Jewish citizen arrived and violently assaulted one of them, even though he was held by security guards at the time. Investigation of the case is still in early stages. (Maariv and Haaretz Hebrew and VIDEO)
- Palestinian teen shot in the face during clashes near Bethlehem - Locals said the teenager was shot in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet at Aida refugee camp. According to the Red Crescent’s records, the total number of Palestinians injured last month was around 8,262. (Maan)
- Hebron clashes break out after residents demand release of bodies - Clashes broke out Tuesday following a march held by Palestinian families demanding that Israel release the bodies of relatives killed in Hebron during recent attacks. The bodies of 22 Palestinians killed during October are still being held by Israeli authorities. (Maan)
- Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at girls' schools in al-Arrub camp - Israeli soldiers took up positions on nearby rooftops and ordered that the school be evacuated. After the staff refused, they fired tear gas onto the premises. Medics gave first aid to several students who suffered tear gas inhalation. (Maan)
- New Israeli anti-violence moves add fuel to fire in Hebron - Locals see new moves instituted ostensibly to reduce mounting tensions – registration of residency, declaration of closed military areas – as part of larger Israeli plan to evacuate them and bring in settlers. (Haaretz+)
- IDF cuts numbers, aims for ‘younger, slimmer’ military - Army emphasizes efficiency as new 5-year plans sees units transferring to civilian hands, career troops downsized to 40,000. Among those units recommended for the chopping block: Army Radio news station and musical Galgalatz radio station. (Times of Israel and Maariv)
- State ignored illegal transfer of land to settlers - Contradicting government decision, WZO Settlement Division allocated private Palestinian land near Jordan River to settler farmers in 1980s. (Haaretz+)
- (Israel-Hamas cooperation - OH:) Israel hands over Palestinian who fled Gaza after killing his wife - The 27-year-old man, identified only as A.Z, was transferred to the custody of Palestinian authorities in Gaza at the Erez crossing and taken to a police station in Gaza. (Maan)
- Israeli government set to approve expanded 'lost tribe' immigration - Plans under way to take in another large group of 712 'Bnei Menashe' from northern India. (Haaretz+)
- Lease of aircraft for Netanyahu’s U.S. trips costing up to $1.5m each - Staff at the Prime Minister’s Office said the 777 had to be used this week because no smaller Boeing 767 aircraft was available. (Haaretz+)
- Knesset approves 2%-4% pay raise for Israeli lawmakers - Labor's Shelly Yacimovich describes increase as excessive and 'a disgrace to the Knesset and to Knesset members.' 11 MKs, including Yinon Magal and Oren Hazan led the move. (Haaretz+)
- Invisible casualties: Three workers killed at building sites - Two of the workers were Palestinians from the West Bank; the third was a resident of central Israel. An Israeli construction worker is nearly six times more likely to be killed than his British counterpart. It is significant that nearly all of the victims are Israeli Arabs or Palestinians. It’s hard to dismiss the feeling that their blood is cheap. Contractors are rarely punished for safety infractions and government efforts to stem the tide of fatalities, such as these, are useless. (Haaretz+)
- Israel mulling construction of new Palestinian city in West Bank - A security source confirmed that the possibility is being discussed in the defense establishment, but there has been no significant progress toward approving the plan. (Haaretz+)
- UN Report Slams Israel’s Response to Child Prostitution - From government to courts to schools, state’s system is failing to protect young victims, says Committee on the Rights of the Child. (Haaretz+)
- Boris Johnson Tells Israelis of Churchill’s Drinking, Admiration for Jews - In inaugural Winston Churchill lecture, London mayor charms Israel with facts and legends. (Haaretz+)
- 70 years after WWII: Senior Jewish fighters honored - Former partisans, ghetto fighters, Soviet soldiers and volunteers in the British army among those who received special medal in memorial ceremony at Latrun. (Haaretz+)
- Arab foreign ministers condemn Israel for latest violence - At emergency meeting in Riyadh, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan says, "[We] stress that Israeli officials and settlers cannot escape the legal responsibility. ... We consider them fully responsible for those crimes." (Agencies, Israel Hayom)
Features:
From S. Africa to 'Negev Beasts': The life and death of the IDF's longest-serving reservist
David Teperson's childhood in South Africa prepared him well for a prominent military career in Israel, to which he immigrated in 1948. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
Classroom clashes: Film spotlights gaps in Israeli, Palestinian education
In 'Teaching Ignorance,' filmmaker Tamara Erde offers powerful footage of bright educators who teach one narrative and yet seem oblivious to the existence of another. A must-see for teachers in conflict zones. (Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Haaretz+)
JNF displaces Bedouin in Israel, uses them as party theme in UK (Edo Konrad, +972mag) The JNF has played a fundamental role in the displacement of the villagers of al-Araqib, an unrecognized Bedouin village that Israeli authorities demolished for the 90th time last week. Later this month the organization is holding a ‘Bedouin Night’ party in London.
Commentary/Analysis:
David Teperson's childhood in South Africa prepared him well for a prominent military career in Israel, to which he immigrated in 1948. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
Classroom clashes: Film spotlights gaps in Israeli, Palestinian education
In 'Teaching Ignorance,' filmmaker Tamara Erde offers powerful footage of bright educators who teach one narrative and yet seem oblivious to the existence of another. A must-see for teachers in conflict zones. (Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Haaretz+)
JNF displaces Bedouin in Israel, uses them as party theme in UK (Edo Konrad, +972mag) The JNF has played a fundamental role in the displacement of the villagers of al-Araqib, an unrecognized Bedouin village that Israeli authorities demolished for the 90th time last week. Later this month the organization is holding a ‘Bedouin Night’ party in London.
Commentary/Analysis:
America, Don’t Try to Scare Us With a Binational State (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) We’ve been living for 67 years now in a binational state and the occupation has
gone on for decades now and no disaster has happened.
Time to hear the silent Israelis (John-Michael Kibrick, Ynet) It’s not just the Left that’s dead - the common sense Israeli who just wants to live with a sense of normalcy is trapped in silent apathy.
Both Israel and Palestinians are in a state of denial and emulation (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) But that is where the symmetry ends, for while Palestinians suffer from schizophrenia, Israelis repress the implication of their fear of anyone who looks Arab.
Netanyahu learned his lesson (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) The Israeli prime minister made such an effort to repair his image as an ingrate during his meeting with US President Obama that he didn't mention the nuclear agreement with Iran even once in front of the cameras.
How 'Peace' Gradually Lost Its Meaning in Israel (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) Despite what many people claim, the idea of dividing the country did not weaken significantly during the last election; it happened earlier.
Shin Bet photo lineup: Can you pick out the female suspect? (Avi Blecherman, +972mag) Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar’s trial in Israeli military court has lasted more than six months. When the judge threatened to release her, the military prosecution said it would simply throw her back in administrative detention.
Netanyahu laid the foundation for the division of Jerusalem (Uri Savir, Maariv) Jerusalem is already de facto divided between West and East. Now, all that is left to do is to give it a political stamp of approval and kick-start the process, which it is obvious we will get to in the end.
Did Netanyahu and American Jews Kiss and Make Up at the General Assembly? (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) The prime minister's remarks hit the notes that the audience was hoping for, but some attendees say the damage caused by the Iran deal fight may take time to repair.
When Obama and Netanyahu ate from the tree of knowledge (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) There is nothing random or surprising in the decisions made by the US president since he took office. There are only interests. Like Frank Sinatra, he did it his way, even when the Israelis got in the way.
'Narrow' escapes (Ruthie Bloom, Israel Hayom) Obama, the most poisonous president in American history, will leave his White House successors with a radioactive mess to handle.
Netanyahu won. Here’s how to beat him (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972mag) By accepting that the two-state solution will just have to wait until Israel is ready to accept it, the White House has effectively conceded to Netanyahu’s strategy: declare support for two states — in theory — while continuing to deny Palestinians their most basic rights and liberties.
Was the Shooting of Two Americans in Jordan Terrorism or Score-settling? (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The Jordanian policeman who killed two Americans, one South African and two Jordanians at a training camp on Monday has embroiled the Hashemite kingdom in an embarrassing storm. Even if the training camp isn’t a direct ISIS target, the Hashemite kingdom is one.
Time to hear the silent Israelis (John-Michael Kibrick, Ynet) It’s not just the Left that’s dead - the common sense Israeli who just wants to live with a sense of normalcy is trapped in silent apathy.
Both Israel and Palestinians are in a state of denial and emulation (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) But that is where the symmetry ends, for while Palestinians suffer from schizophrenia, Israelis repress the implication of their fear of anyone who looks Arab.
Netanyahu learned his lesson (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) The Israeli prime minister made such an effort to repair his image as an ingrate during his meeting with US President Obama that he didn't mention the nuclear agreement with Iran even once in front of the cameras.
How 'Peace' Gradually Lost Its Meaning in Israel (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) Despite what many people claim, the idea of dividing the country did not weaken significantly during the last election; it happened earlier.
Shin Bet photo lineup: Can you pick out the female suspect? (Avi Blecherman, +972mag) Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar’s trial in Israeli military court has lasted more than six months. When the judge threatened to release her, the military prosecution said it would simply throw her back in administrative detention.
Netanyahu laid the foundation for the division of Jerusalem (Uri Savir, Maariv) Jerusalem is already de facto divided between West and East. Now, all that is left to do is to give it a political stamp of approval and kick-start the process, which it is obvious we will get to in the end.
Did Netanyahu and American Jews Kiss and Make Up at the General Assembly? (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) The prime minister's remarks hit the notes that the audience was hoping for, but some attendees say the damage caused by the Iran deal fight may take time to repair.
When Obama and Netanyahu ate from the tree of knowledge (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) There is nothing random or surprising in the decisions made by the US president since he took office. There are only interests. Like Frank Sinatra, he did it his way, even when the Israelis got in the way.
'Narrow' escapes (Ruthie Bloom, Israel Hayom) Obama, the most poisonous president in American history, will leave his White House successors with a radioactive mess to handle.
Netanyahu won. Here’s how to beat him (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972mag) By accepting that the two-state solution will just have to wait until Israel is ready to accept it, the White House has effectively conceded to Netanyahu’s strategy: declare support for two states — in theory — while continuing to deny Palestinians their most basic rights and liberties.
Was the Shooting of Two Americans in Jordan Terrorism or Score-settling? (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The Jordanian policeman who killed two Americans, one South African and two Jordanians at a training camp on Monday has embroiled the Hashemite kingdom in an embarrassing storm. Even if the training camp isn’t a direct ISIS target, the Hashemite kingdom is one.
Interviews:
The incomprehensible story of retired colonel Ziad Abbas from the village of Jatt
He describes himself as "a Zionist Druze," believes that establishing a Palestinian state only on the land of the Gaza Strip, and in the last election he brought to dozens of votes to the (far right-wing) Habayit Hayehudi party. Now, at age 78, his personal story is presented in a new book. (Interviewed by Yaacov Bar-On in Maariv)
The European far right's charm offensive in Israel: Leader of Britain's far-right political party talks to Haaretz about immigrants, racism and Israel's 'bad PR'
In an interview, Roger Helmer, leader of UKIP, Britain's far-right political party, and his deputy, Paul Nuttall, reaffirm support for Israel, suspicion of Muslims. (Interviewed in Haaretz+ by Anshel Pfeffer)
The female combat soldiers who for them weapons and a helmet are trivial
The decision to serve in a combat unit, the fear of being shot, the dynamics with the men who serve alongside or under them, and the reactions of the Palestinian wanted men. Four female combat soldiers from the mixed gender battalions talk about the challenging job. (Interviewed by Tal Ariel Amir in Maariv’s Magazine, cover)
He describes himself as "a Zionist Druze," believes that establishing a Palestinian state only on the land of the Gaza Strip, and in the last election he brought to dozens of votes to the (far right-wing) Habayit Hayehudi party. Now, at age 78, his personal story is presented in a new book. (Interviewed by Yaacov Bar-On in Maariv)
The European far right's charm offensive in Israel: Leader of Britain's far-right political party talks to Haaretz about immigrants, racism and Israel's 'bad PR'
In an interview, Roger Helmer, leader of UKIP, Britain's far-right political party, and his deputy, Paul Nuttall, reaffirm support for Israel, suspicion of Muslims. (Interviewed in Haaretz+ by Anshel Pfeffer)
The female combat soldiers who for them weapons and a helmet are trivial
The decision to serve in a combat unit, the fear of being shot, the dynamics with the men who serve alongside or under them, and the reactions of the Palestinian wanted men. Four female combat soldiers from the mixed gender battalions talk about the challenging job. (Interviewed by Tal Ariel Amir in Maariv’s Magazine, cover)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.