News Nosh 12.30.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday December 30, 2015
 
Quote of the day:
“I hope that this course will help to improve communication between members of the Knesset especially those who resent that we speak in Arabic in the plenary. And if they don’t turn into Arabic speakers after the course, at least I hope that at the least they will begin to pronounce our names correctly.”
--Arab MK Basel Ghattas, the initiator of the first spoken Arabic course at the Knesset. Arabic is one of two official languages of the State.**


Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom
  • (Olmert) To jail
  • What is he jumping about? Olmert was sent to jail – and he still doesn’t get it? // Mordechai Gilat
  • Accepting the ruling and pay tribute to Justice Rosen on the sentence // Dan Margalit  
  • The stinking smell of Holyland, which corrupts and is corrupted, will be remembered eternally in disgrace // Prof. Aviad Hacohen
  • Police chief ruled: Maj. Gen. Ritman will continue to head Lahav 433 Unit
  • Likud approved Netanyahu recommendation to advance primaries for head of party; Minister Haim Katz was elected chairman of the central committee
  • Obama promised to decrease wiretapping of friends? Wall Street Journal investigation reveals: “Netanyahu is at top of list of wiretapping of NSA”
     
 

 
News Summary:
 The re-sentencing of former prime minister Ehud Olmert on charges of bribery, the arrest of the groom and three guests at the ‘Wedding of Hate,’ and the report that US President Barack Obama ordered monitoring of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were the top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

The papers dedicated numerous pages to the High Court ruling that cleared former prime minister Ehud Olmert of the main corruption charge, but still sent him to jail for 18 months – instead of six years. The papers asked if it were really possible that Olmert did not know about $125,000 being transferred to his brother? Justice Salim Joubran was the minority of five justices, believing it not credible that Olmert didn’t know and believed the original conviction should stand. The papers discussed Olmert’s expression of happiness at the decision, ‘as if he won,’ when he was actually going to be the first Israeli prime minister who sits in jail. They described his conditions at Hermon Jail, where he will have a TV and three beds. And, Olmert's brother, Yermi said that “most of his time in prison he will spend in the gym” and maybe write. (Maariv)
 
The police arrested four people from the “Wedding of Hate,” including the groom, Yakir Ashbal. In a video clip that went viral, guests were seen brandishing guns and knives and stabbing a picture of the murdered baby, Ali Dawabsheh, whose suspected murderers were friends with guests at the wedding. One of the four arrested was Daniel Pinner, a well-known extremist settler who immigrated from England, “wrote a hate poem about Yitzhak Rabin, went to prison for shooting and injuring an Arab and is an admirer of Yaakov Teitel and Baruch Goldstein,” Haaretz reported in 2009. Pinner is seen in the video waving a gun and wearing a Kach shirt. Pinner’s attorney, Itamar Ben-Gvir, himself a wedding guest, insisted the gun was a toy. Police have also arrested a Jewish 18-year-old, who allegedly planned to attack left-wing protesters in Tel Aviv. He carried a large kitchen knife and threw a glass bottle at demonstrators marching at a December 19 Peace Now-organized protest against incitement toward President Reuven Rivlin and against the NGO, Breaking the Silence.

Despite promises after the Snowden leaks that the US would not monitor allies, the US National Security Agency reportedly maintained monitoring of Netanyahu and other Israeli officials during nuclear negotiations with Iran on 'national security' grounds, the Wall Street Journal reported. Although the surveillance had congressional approval, the Hebrew papers, and in particular, Israel Hayom, presented it as if it were Obama who wanted to spy on Netanyahu. The WSJ investigation also revealed that Israel's military intelligence Unit 8200 and the NSA shared information and technology, but also spied on one another. At first the US was convinced Netanyahu was planning to attack Iran without giving he US prior warning, later the US wanted to know whether Israel knew the details about the nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, and wanted to preempt any Israeli attempts to derail the talks.
 
Quick Hits:
  • Notorious Israeli settler, Baruch Marzel, chased 7-year-old Palestinian girl in Hebron - A Palestinian father living in Hebron’s Old City said his 7-year-old daughter was injured while being chased by notorious Israeli extremist Baruch Marzel on Monday. Raed Abu Irmeileh said Israeli forces did not stop Marzel from chasing his children, and assaulting his 10-year-old son Hutasem as well as two brothers Nabil, 14, and Farhat Nader al-Rajabi, 10. (Maan)
  • Israel issues 53 prisoners administrative detention orders - The Israeli authorities on Tuesday issued a further 53 administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners ranging from periods of 2-6 months. There are now more than 500 Palestinian being held under administrative detention, a controversial Israeli practice that allows internment without trial for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely. (Maan
  • Irwin Cotler: World is witnessing new, ‘virulent and even lethal’ anti-Semitism - Knesset committee hosts international experts and activists for special session on anti-Semitism and delegitimization of Israel. (Haaretz+) 
  • Family: Musab al-Ghazali 'killed in cold blood'  - Musab, who suffered a mental disorder and attended a special needs school, was shot dead on Dec. 26 after Israeli police say he pulled a knife on an officer in Allenby Square in Jerusalem. However, a witness said at the time that he had not seen a knife in the young man’s hand, and his family denied that he would have carried out an attack. (Maan
  • 3 Palestinians shot in clashes after Palestinian gunmen open fire on Israeli forces  - Witnesses told Ma’an that clashes broke out after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli military post near the village and fled the scene in a private vehicle. (Maan)
  • Protest at the Hebrew University against the NGOs Bill: Lecturer held sign with the word ‘Mole’ throughout a lesson - Law Professor Alon Harel opposes the law, which will require mainly left-wing NGO representatives to wear labels identifying themselves in Knesset: "This act is a response to my objection of tagging. This is criminal law, which reflects a state of mind that exists in the country.  Student: "Most students laughed, but some thought he was taking advantage of the academic platform for spreading his views." (Maariv)
  • Israel Sees Rise in Support for ISIS Among Bedouin - Days after ISIS issues statement warning Israel, Shin Bet voices concerns at growing influence of group's propaganda on Negev Bedouin, Israeli Arabs. (Haaretz+)
  • Israeli authorities return bodies of 3 Palestinians  - Officials with the Palestinian Civil Affairs told Ma'an that the bodies of Eiad Idies from Hebron, Baseem Salah from Nablus, and Mazin Hasan Ureiba from al-Eizariya had been delivered to them. (Maan
  • Sharansky blasts Breaking the Silence as a ‘BDS organization’ - Jewish Agency chief and former 'Prisoner of Zion' says anti-occupation soldiers are in cahoots with international movement to boycott Israel. (Haaretz+) 
  • Palestinian building under construction demolished in Jerusalem  - Raed Rabayaa said that Israeli forces stormed and closed the area, before bulldozers moved in and demolished the two-story building, "without prior notice." Israeli government policies make it nearly impossible for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to obtain building permits, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. (Maan)
  • Immigration From Former Soviet Union to Israel Higher in 2015 Than Any Year in Past Decade - Rising inflation, a falling ruble, Western sanctions and a tense security situation have led many to search for a better life in Israel. (Haaretz+) 
  • Israeli forces raid charity, shut down prisoners' rights group  - Israeli forces on Tuesday ransacked the Bethlehem headquarters of the district’s Palestinian Authority-run committee for charitable work as well as a prisoners’ rights group office in Nablus, destroying and confiscating property. The treasurer said the charity supports around 1200 orphans from Bethlehem-area villages, cities, and refugee camps. (Maan
  • Jerusalem court allows Jewish-prayer activist back to Temple Mount - Yehuda Etzion was restricted from the Temple Mount after lifting his hands in the air while at the site, as if in prayer; judge says banning gesture was a 'slippery slope.' (Haaretz and Ynet
  • 130,000 dollars raised in 24 hours for orphans of terror victim - Yosef Bornstein used his crowdfunding platform to raise money for the family of Rabbi Reuven Biermacher, father of seven children, who was killed last week near Jaffa Gate. (Ynet
  • **For the first time in the legislature: Spoken Arabic course for Knesset members - 17 MKs came to the first class and learned basic words like 'good morning' and 'good evening. "MK Basel Ghattas, one of the initiators of the course: “I hope that this course will help to improve communication between members of the Knesset especially those who resent that we speak in Arabic in the plenary. And if they don’t turn into Arabic speakers after the course, at least I hope that at the least they will begin to pronounce our names correctly.” MKs who attended were: Stav Shafir, Nachman Shai, Tzipi Livni, Yael German, Eli Alalouf, Mickey Levy, Oded Forer, Tamar Zandberg, Nurit Koren, Aliza Lavie, Meshulam Nahari, Yisrael Ayler, Manuel Trachtenberg and Ofer Shelah. (Maariv
  • No charges to be filed against Ehud Barak over Iran tapes, Israeli attorney general says - Weinstein says statements made to biographers about past possibilities of attacking Iran had been approved by military censor and had not damaged state security. (Haaretz+) 
  • Israel's Holot detention facility for African asylum-seekers reaches full capacity for first time - If no solution is found, there will be no choice but to cancel orders or put on hold orders for asylum-seekers to report to Holot and extend temporary residency permits in those cases. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Birthright hosts Nancy Spielberg in Israel to honor IAF documentary  - Nancy Spielberg, sister of renowned director Steven Spielberg, visits Israel to discuss documentary about Jewish pilots who volunteered to fight for Israel in 1948. She meets Taglit-Birthright participant whose grandfather is one of the film's heroes. (Israel Hayom)


Features:
The Top Haaretz Scoops of 2015
Twelve investigations, exposés and special reports by Haaretz correspondents that set the news agenda this year. (Haaretz)
Where is the path? Prof. Zeev Tzahor published a book in which he eulogizes the idea of generation of Independence 
Prof. Tzachor, who served as Ben-Gurion's secretary for promoting and nurturing the Negev, dedicated four decades to the book, "We Were the Rebirth," which deals with the failure to navigate Israel to the future and was actually written in a cafe in the Tel Aviv 'bubble.' (Tal Bashan, Maariv)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
2015: The Year America Said Kaddish for the Peace Process (Peter Beinart, Haaretz+) The new 'war on terror' has made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a sideshow. 
Netanyahu's 'Hierarchy of Terror' Is the Heart of a Corrupt Zionism
(Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) It would be a big mistake to make religious Zionism responsible for uprooting those terrorists, a task at which it has failed dismally. 
Restraint is power: The best way to deal with terrorism is to calm the street (Ran Adelist, Maariv) ...The Americans are going through a recent wave of police violence against civilians. Police shoot to kill especially young black men, mostly in criminal cases. The feeling of a white police thumb (Black cops also shoot) that is light on the trigger sent a wave of protests and a public movement (BLACK LIVES MATTER) to the streets and and the media that has swept millions, including politicians. With the atmosphere of incitement that (Israel’s) extreme right-wing government is pushing, there is no chance that a public wave will break the dam saying: PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER. Our story and the Palestinians' is different, but the demand for a restrained finger must be heard…Even when you go to war, you do not know how to react. Still …there are clear guidelines for what (security forces) can and cannot do. Even in life-threatening incidents such as these, the call should be echoing in the air to make every effort not to get carried away. Three months have passed since young Palestinians began carrying out a kind of kamikaze, and it turns out that killing them does not stop the phenomenon. Neither does demolition of their homes. If there is an any effect at all to the corpses in the streets and homes of families destroyed, it is actually increasing the potential for revenge and the continuation of the deterioration, which is potentially life-threatening for Israelis, Arabs and Jews. Thus, even in life-threatening incidents, one must make an effort not to get carried away, and it is clear that the heroes that do killing verification (shooting someone dead when that person is already disabled) must be stopped, including by a real investigation in cases where it appears clear that the assaulting person is laying on the ground. The reason (given for shooting him dead)? He waved his hand and was there was a suspicion he might carry out an attack. Really, come on. A report published last week that "Cops stopped someone who pulled out a knife in Jerusalem, there were no injuries" is a type of support of the effort not to be drawn into the lynch events, and stopping the national incitement, of course.
Israel Must Stop Tolerating Corruption (Haaretz Editorial) Olmert's conviction shows that even a prime minister isn’t above the law, and will, under certain circumstances, pay for his corrupt behavior. But this isn’t enough. 
The nation vs the extremists (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) It is discomforting that harsh tactics had to be used against the Jewish terrorism suspects, but there was simply no other choice. 
Silencing the Delusions of an Armed Struggle
(Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Israel is giving the Palestinians a chance to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by the lone-wolf stabbers and transition to a popular uprising - but it won't work. 
When legitimate criticism turns into pure hatred (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The despicable acts of right-wing fanatics may be the cause of the growing fanaticism among extreme leftists. But this radicalization dance must be stopped; otherwise, it won't just end in words. 
Sacred silence: When we leave the Territories and return to the borders of '48, only quiet will remain (Karni Eldad, Maariv) For the state, only precious silence and the status quo are worthy of protection and war. We will protect them at all costs, even if we have to step on basic human rights on the way 
We Religious Zionists Are in Deep Trouble (Rabbi Daniel Landes, Haaretz+) The thugs filmed celebrating the murder of a Palestinian toddler embrace ideas that are the logical extension of the combustible mix of religion and Zionism.
Only Palestinians are 'martyrs' (Abdullah al-Hadlaq, Israel Hayom) Arab media ignores the hundreds of thousands of Arabs killed worldwide while focusing on Palestinians and demonizing Israel.
 
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.