APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday November 24, 2015 
 

Quote of the day:

"There’s nothing like seeing soldiers in the streets of Europe to make us feel good about our soldiers in Hebron. We should treasure this moment and enjoy it while we can, because Europe will return to normal – but we won’t."
--Roy Isacowitz writes in Haaretz+ about the Schadenfreude Israelis are enjoying towards Europe. 
 

Breaking News:
Four soldiers lightly wounded in alleged Palestinian car-ramming attack at Tapuah Junction, West Bank. 
The Palestinian driver of the vehicle was shot and moderately wounded. (Haaretz, Ynet and Maariv)

Front Page:

Haaretz

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News Summary:
Two stabbing attacks, one in Jerusalem by two Palestinian girls (aged 14 and 16), and one in the West Bank by a Palestinian boy (16), killed one Israeli soldier and wounded a Palestinian elderly man making the top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, two more alleged Palestinian attempted attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, while the IDF ramps up its forces and actions there and former Likud politician Gideon Saar and Education Minister (Habayit Hayehudi) Naftali Bennett call for more aggressive action against the Palestinians, but former chief of staff, Beni Gantz, called for a peace agreement. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to make demands of the US during his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry today and Kerry called the family of one of the Israeli victims ahead of his visit.
 
Pvt. Ziv Mizrachi, 18, from Givat Ze'ev settlement was stabbed to death at a gas station on the 443 highway, not far from his home. The attacker, Ahmad Jamal Taha, 16, from Qutna village near Ramallah, was shot dead.
 
And in Jerusalem, near Machaneh Yehuda market, two Palestinian girls with a scissors stabbed an elderly man, who turned out to be Palestinian. One of the girls, Hadil Wajia Awad, 14, was shot dead by a police officer after being injured by a chair thrown on her. The other girl was seriously wounded. [NOTE: The Israeli media did not question that the police shot one dead when she was already on the ground after David Ashur, a nearby shopkeeper, said he beat her with a chair. – OH] The two girls are cousins from Qalandiya refugee camp. Yedioth reported that Hadil lost her brother, Mahmoud, two years ago after he succumbed to his wounds after being shot by IDF soldiers in clashes at Qalandiay checkpoint. She wrote on her Facebook page two days ago, “We are delayed in reaching you, my sister,” which Yedioth wrote was intended to her dead brother. Yedioth interviewed her mother who said she did not know what happened to her daughter, but she is sure that she was killed in cold blood. “It’s possible they tried to harm her and she tried to defend herself. This is not easy for me, I never expected in my life to lose my son and my daughter….I don’t know how I’ll survive.”
 
Oddly, another alleged stabbing attempt took place ending in two deaths, but with almost no mention in the Hebrew newspapers. The alleged attack at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, was the same place where the day before a 16-year-old Palestinian girl made a similar alleged stabbing attempt and was hit by a car then shot dead. This time Alaa Khalil Sabah Hashah, also 16, tried to stab an Israeli soldier. Soldiers opened fire and killed him, as well as Samah Abd al-Mumen Ahmad from Ammuriya village, who was shot in the head while sitting inside her car near where the incident occurred, Maan reported. Her death was not mentioned in the Hebrew press. No Israelis were injured.

Ynet’s Noam Amir writes that Hadar Buchris, who was buried yesterday, was the 22nd victim of Palestinian attacks in this ‘wave of terror.’
 
Netanyahu said that the IDF can operate anywhere and that "We are pursuing two avenues of operations, countermeasures and prevention.” Indeed, the papers reported that the IDF deployed more troops in the West Bank, and has been putting the pressure on the Palestinians by blocking entrances to villages, employing stricter checks and arresting people allegedly inciting on Facebook. In addition, Israel is considering the possibility of deporting to Gaza family members of terrorists who knew about their relatives' intention to attack and did not stop him. 

But that is not enough for some. Former senior Likud minister, Gideon Saar, wrote in Yedioth, “One and a half months into the Third Intifada, the government finds itself seriously trailing behind the events…It’s time to stop believing that it is possible to contain the incidents till they fade through the use of measured responses…We need to initiate in order to win.” Saar recommended deporting Palestinians that incite to violence. Meanwhile, Education Minister Naftali Bennett is pushing for ‘Operation Defensive Shield 2’ and says Israel must annex Gush Etzion. (Maariv) Bennett also said he shot a ‘bullet between Bibi’s eyes’ for his comment on unilateral withdrawal, causing Netanyahu to withdraw his remark. Netanyahu reprimanded Bennett for the comment, as did other Likud officials, who were outraged by Bennett’s ‘inflammatory’ remarks.

However, former chief of staff Benny Gantz said he supports moving towards a peace agreement with security considerations, as Netanyahu said at Bar-Ilan University. Maariv wrote that it was Gantz's first political statement. Regarding the idea of a 'Operation Defense Shield 2,' Gantz said the IDF already operates wherever it wants [as opposed to in 2002 when Israel had officially stayed out of Areas A. - OH]. 
 
Today in a meeting with US Secretary of State Kerry, Netanyahu will demand US recognition of building in settlement blocs in exchange for Israeli steps meant to strengthen the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, 
Haaretz+ reported. Ahead of his visit, Kerry called the parents of Ezra Schwartz, who was murdered last week in a West Bank stabbing attack. And the NFL will hold a moment of silence in memory of Schwartz, after former MK Dov Lipman contacted Patriots President Robert Kraft and asked for it.
  
Meanwhile, Israeli jets struck a Hamas military compound in Gaza after a rocket landed in Israel. And, Syrian media outlets reported that the Israeli Air Force bombed a joint Hezbollah and Syrian military position in Syria along the border with Lebanon.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Why is mainstream Jewish philanthropy funding anti-Muslim, far right Pamela Geller?
Jewish Communal Fund, a mainstream philanthropic group, has given at least $100,000 to Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative since 2012. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:

After Paris, Israel So Wants Its Terror to Be Equated With Europe's (Roy Isacowitz, Haaretz+) These are good days for Israelis. Paris is reeling, Brussels is in shut-down. The shoe is finally on the other foot. But Israelis should dampen their Schadenfreude. Europe will return to normal – but we won’t. 
All in the Family: preaching the French in the wake of terror will not help (Uri Savir, Maariv) Why is the Israeli response to the terrorist attacks in Paris so chutpah (cheeky), why don't we have a foreign ministry or foreign policy, and where in our tolerant side hiding?

Who Will Prevent the Boycott? Not Israel's Government (Haaretz Editorial) When Israeli leaders' solution for growing boycott is to find new export markets, it's time business owners and university professors step up. 
What is made in "Ha'aretz" helps the enemies of Israel instead of creating bridges (Lilach Sigan, Maariv) The provocative Op-Eds in "Haaretz" newspaper are fuel for the BDS movements and for hatred of Israel. The Left should remember: There are enough walls, you should build bridges.
Why did President Obama ignore the murder of a U.S. teenager in a terror attack? (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) The U.S. administration’s slow and lukewarm reaction to the killing of Ezra Schwartz is a worrying sign for those who believe that all victims of terrorism matter, whoever they are, wherever they are. 
No easy solution (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Increased military deployment across Judea and Samaria is vital, but Israel needs to implement additional security measures to combat terrorism. 
Netanyahu is hoping for a thousand Pollards (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) The Bibi-Bogie doctrine states that Jewishness of an American Jew comes before his citizenship, and that Judaism means favoring Israel and betraying the homeland. 
Settlements are a defensive shield (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The settlements are to Israel what Israel is to the West: a forward operation base in a war.
Kerry's Visit: America Has No Choice but to Reengage in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Ghaith Al-Omari, Haaretz+) There are low expectations for the U.S. Secretary of State's visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah — and for American involvement more generally in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the U.S. has no choice but to try to calm the escalating crisis.
Let Pollard come home (Smadar Bat Adam, Israel Hayom) Pollard was a Jewish soldier left behind on the battlefield.
Can Europe Embark on War and Remain Pluralistic? (Avirama Golan, Haaretz+) Permitting the mass influx of immigrants would show that terror does not dictate the agenda of the Continent.
The man Israel left under the table (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Jonathan Pollard was a walking mishap, but the moment he passed information to Israel he became our mishap, a mishap that we failed to solve for 30 years.
Muslims in America: The Empty Chair at the Thanksgiving Table (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) Why is this Thanksgiving, this America, this year, different from all other years?
ISIS and al-Qaeda compete for Western targets (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Al-Qaeda tries to stay on the terror map with an attack in Mali; current global attack is carried out by organizations and is thus easier to track.
The Netanyahu-Le Pen Axis (Iris Leal, Haaretz+) They blur every distinction between groups that pose a threat. They dismiss the need to seek motives. 
Khamanei and the Western Culture Clash (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The demand by Iran’s supreme leader that his country avoid contact with the West is being driven by his political and economic battles with President Rohani.

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