APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday February 10, 2016
Quote of the day:
"It’s not only a soldier’s right to disobey an order that is patently illegal, it’s his obligation.
That is my demand as chief of staff."
--IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot discusses the issue of testimonies soldiers gave to Breaking the Silence, to which Yedioth and Haaretz arrived at very different conclusions.*
--IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot discusses the issue of testimonies soldiers gave to Breaking the Silence, to which Yedioth and Haaretz arrived at very different conclusions.*
You Must Be Kidding:
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men attack military police officers in Ashdod, throw stones at them, and overturn their car.
-No arrests were made.
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Hundreds of laborers were killed, but no Israeli contractors have lost licenses in a decade
- Foreign journalists summoned to discussion in Knesset over “biased one-sided” coverage of conflict
- Israel and the European Union in secret talks to end diplomatic crisis
- One moderately wounded in stabbing attack in Gush Etzion: terrorist escaped
- Question in petition against Deri (as Interior Minister: If at the end of Katzav's disgrace, can he be appointed Education Minister?
- Bernie Boom: Generation of millions going against their parents
- State appealed sentence of rapist sentenced to community service
- Tyranny of the majority // Haaretz Editorial
- The comics revolution at Tahrir Square
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Digging wars
- Ohad (one of the most badly injured soldiers in Operation Protective Edge) returns home
- The living memory of Hadar – Two couples named their baby after Border Policewoman who was killed in attack
- “Our lives were destroyed” – Father of 17-year-old, who was killed; Black day on the roads: Five killed
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Dealing with the tunnels: “Great and hidden efforts”
- Balad opened online campaign to return bodies of terrorists
- The Knesset is not a reality show // Merav Michaeli
- Don’t be satisfied with just the Knesset Ethics Committee // Tzachi Hanegbi
- “They abandoned you” – Numerous artists participated in funeral of singer, Gabi Shushan, who committed suicide (due to financial problems). Composer Kobi Oshrat: “Woe is the country that does not respect its aging artists”
- “We cannot be silent” – The women who filed sexual harassment complaint against actor Moshe Ivgi
- The race to the White House – Democrats and Republicans charged New Hampshire looking for victory
Israel Hayom
- “Fences against the wild beasts” – Netanyahu said during tour of Jordan border; IDF Chief of Staff on the leaks: Attack on the tunnels? We discuss that in appropriate places
- Half of high-school pupils: Drink alcohol
- Horror on the highway of blood: 3 killed in traffic accidents
- Primaries in US: New Hampshire votes
- Today: Court to give Olmert sentence on case of obstruction of justice
- Accusation – bribery in the millions: Trial of (former Labor MK and defense minister Fouad) Ben-Eliezar begins
News Summary:
Gaza tunnels, West Bank fences and high school students’ violence were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Israel’s secret diplomatic talks with the European Union over settlement product labeling and with Turkey over reconciliation. In the Op-Ed pages, many Israeli commentators said the suspension of three Arab MKs from Knesset was showed the demise of Israel as a democratic state (See Commentary/Analysis below.)
And in the latest on Palestinian-Israeli violence: an Israeli man was stabbed and injured during a night run in the West Bank and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Palestinian violence on Israeli oppression, Palestinian despair and the murdering of the Dawabshe family in Duma. But what was most interesting were barely reported statements by two officials: the Deputy State Prosecutor and the IDF Chief of Staff
After the still unidentified leak that Education Minister Naftali Bennett told the security cabinet to bomb the Gaza tunnels, Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said the IDF was searching for every possible solution to the tunnel problem, but that a wide-ranging operation in Gaza was not in the cards. In the same vein, he said that ending the violence in the West Bank did not necessarily require a wide-scale operation, as demanded by some ministers. He also explained the IDF stance to give more work permits to Palestinians, saying that with a couple of exceptions, no Palestinian who has a permit or whose immediate family member has a permit has made an attack against Israelis. “It is a clear Israeli interest to develop the economy in the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
*Only Haaretz+ and Ynet quoted the IDF Chief speaking about soldiers needing to refuse illegal orders and to give testimonies about violations – but with very different conclusions. "Your duty as a soldier is to report an illegal order in real time, not to come to a conference years later and say 'I am breaking silence.' It's what's demanded of you, it's not your right, it's your duty,” the papers quoted him saying. Ynet’s Yoav Zitun concluded that Eisenkot spoke “against” the Breaking the Silence organization. But Haaretz+’s article also noted that ‘Eisenkot related how, after assuming his post after Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip in 2014, he instructed the military advocate general to meet members of Breaking the Silence in order to hear their claims. "The MAG told me that he listened to them," said Eisenkot. "We now want to deal with these things since it will make the IDF better.” Haaretz+’s Gili Cohen concluded: Gadi Eisenkot also says that dealing with claims by Breaking the Silence 'will make the army better.'
Netanyahu raised some eyebrows when he spoke of a multi-year plan the government is preparing to surround Israel with security fences, saying it was “to defend ourselves from wild beasts.” It was unclear who were the ‘beasts’ he was referring to.
A 28-year-old man suffered moderate injuries after he was stabbed while taking a night run in Gush Etzion in the West Bank. Earlier Tuesday, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem attempted to stab Border Policemen at Jerusalem's Damascus gate, and was stopped and arrested without any injuries to anyone.
In a meeting with Israeli-Arab journalists in Ramallah, Palestinian President Abbas said he wasn’t surprised by Zionist Camp chief MK Isaac Herzog's new separation plan, saying: “Labor is the father of the settlements.” Abbas also said that the attacks by Palestinian children were driven by Israeli oppression and despair. Abbas called the Palestinians killed in attacks on Israeli forces ‘martyrs.' [NOTE: According to international law, an occupied people are legally allowed to attack security forces of the occupying power. - OH] “They saw what happened in Duma to the Dawabshe family and the murder of Abu Khdeir, and they can’t take it anymore," Abbas said.
On the same day, Israel’s Deputy Attorney General made a similar statement at the ‘B’Sheva’ conference in Jerusalem. In a small report on page seven of Israel Hayom, Deputy Attorney General Raz Nezri said, "The Duma murderers also have Jewish blood on their hands, and not only Arab blood." Nezri said that the murders caused a rise in Palestinian attacks against Jews. "We know from the investigation of the murderers of the Henkin couple that it was motivated by the (murders) in Duma," said Nazri. During the conference, a group of youth tried to prevent Nezri from speaking, sparking a storm. They accused him of approving the torture of Jews [the suspects in the Duma murders – OH]. "I am a Jew and a Zionist and I belong to the religious community," Nezri declared, "and I believe that the values of Zionism and Judaism do not belong only to the right-wing, and the values of civil rights do not belong only to the left-wing.” Nezri defined the "gang of rebellion," whose members were questioned and arrested recently, “as a gang that could endanger the state. From their point of view, there is explosive material that needs to be blown up so that the state will not exist: the Temple Mount, mosques, churches and more. It bothers me that some of the public’s leaders don’t say aloud that it is prohibited to kill people. What Torah permits such a thing?” [NOTE: Israel Hayom did not translate this article to English. - OH]
Gaza tunnels, West Bank fences and high school students’ violence were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Israel’s secret diplomatic talks with the European Union over settlement product labeling and with Turkey over reconciliation. In the Op-Ed pages, many Israeli commentators said the suspension of three Arab MKs from Knesset was showed the demise of Israel as a democratic state (See Commentary/Analysis below.)
And in the latest on Palestinian-Israeli violence: an Israeli man was stabbed and injured during a night run in the West Bank and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Palestinian violence on Israeli oppression, Palestinian despair and the murdering of the Dawabshe family in Duma. But what was most interesting were barely reported statements by two officials: the Deputy State Prosecutor and the IDF Chief of Staff
After the still unidentified leak that Education Minister Naftali Bennett told the security cabinet to bomb the Gaza tunnels, Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said the IDF was searching for every possible solution to the tunnel problem, but that a wide-ranging operation in Gaza was not in the cards. In the same vein, he said that ending the violence in the West Bank did not necessarily require a wide-scale operation, as demanded by some ministers. He also explained the IDF stance to give more work permits to Palestinians, saying that with a couple of exceptions, no Palestinian who has a permit or whose immediate family member has a permit has made an attack against Israelis. “It is a clear Israeli interest to develop the economy in the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
*Only Haaretz+ and Ynet quoted the IDF Chief speaking about soldiers needing to refuse illegal orders and to give testimonies about violations – but with very different conclusions. "Your duty as a soldier is to report an illegal order in real time, not to come to a conference years later and say 'I am breaking silence.' It's what's demanded of you, it's not your right, it's your duty,” the papers quoted him saying. Ynet’s Yoav Zitun concluded that Eisenkot spoke “against” the Breaking the Silence organization. But Haaretz+’s article also noted that ‘Eisenkot related how, after assuming his post after Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip in 2014, he instructed the military advocate general to meet members of Breaking the Silence in order to hear their claims. "The MAG told me that he listened to them," said Eisenkot. "We now want to deal with these things since it will make the IDF better.” Haaretz+’s Gili Cohen concluded: Gadi Eisenkot also says that dealing with claims by Breaking the Silence 'will make the army better.'
Netanyahu raised some eyebrows when he spoke of a multi-year plan the government is preparing to surround Israel with security fences, saying it was “to defend ourselves from wild beasts.” It was unclear who were the ‘beasts’ he was referring to.
A 28-year-old man suffered moderate injuries after he was stabbed while taking a night run in Gush Etzion in the West Bank. Earlier Tuesday, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem attempted to stab Border Policemen at Jerusalem's Damascus gate, and was stopped and arrested without any injuries to anyone.
In a meeting with Israeli-Arab journalists in Ramallah, Palestinian President Abbas said he wasn’t surprised by Zionist Camp chief MK Isaac Herzog's new separation plan, saying: “Labor is the father of the settlements.” Abbas also said that the attacks by Palestinian children were driven by Israeli oppression and despair. Abbas called the Palestinians killed in attacks on Israeli forces ‘martyrs.' [NOTE: According to international law, an occupied people are legally allowed to attack security forces of the occupying power. - OH] “They saw what happened in Duma to the Dawabshe family and the murder of Abu Khdeir, and they can’t take it anymore," Abbas said.
On the same day, Israel’s Deputy Attorney General made a similar statement at the ‘B’Sheva’ conference in Jerusalem. In a small report on page seven of Israel Hayom, Deputy Attorney General Raz Nezri said, "The Duma murderers also have Jewish blood on their hands, and not only Arab blood." Nezri said that the murders caused a rise in Palestinian attacks against Jews. "We know from the investigation of the murderers of the Henkin couple that it was motivated by the (murders) in Duma," said Nazri. During the conference, a group of youth tried to prevent Nezri from speaking, sparking a storm. They accused him of approving the torture of Jews [the suspects in the Duma murders – OH]. "I am a Jew and a Zionist and I belong to the religious community," Nezri declared, "and I believe that the values of Zionism and Judaism do not belong only to the right-wing, and the values of civil rights do not belong only to the left-wing.” Nezri defined the "gang of rebellion," whose members were questioned and arrested recently, “as a gang that could endanger the state. From their point of view, there is explosive material that needs to be blown up so that the state will not exist: the Temple Mount, mosques, churches and more. It bothers me that some of the public’s leaders don’t say aloud that it is prohibited to kill people. What Torah permits such a thing?” [NOTE: Israel Hayom did not translate this article to English. - OH]
Quick Hits:
- Knesset panel summons foreign media over 'biased' coverage - Angry journalists, who initially boycotted the session, describe subcommittee's claims to be part of a 'witch hunt,' and slam Israel's 'authoritarian' efforts to clamp down on the media. (Haaretz+, Ynet and Maariv)
- Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men attack military police officers in Ashdod - Soldiers, on their way to arrest a draft dodger, were surrounded by the assailants, who threw stones at them and overturned their car. The police made no arrests. [Note: Had they been Palestinians the response would have been very different. – OH] (Haaretz+, Israel Hayom and Ynet)
- Man who threw hot tea in Israeli Arab lawmaker's face gets four months - Be’er Sheva resident, 50, convicted under plea bargain for assaulting MK Ahmad Tibi in December 2013. (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
- Actress Gila Almagor: "I made a complaint to the police about ‘Im Tirtzu’ and about the person who wrote me that I need to write a will” - The actress told "103FM": "Someone who looks like ‘The Shadow’ (far-right-wing rapper) spit on me. If it is not him, I will apologize. His thugs walked around with chains and looked for leftists.” (Maariv)
- ‘Jewish Strength’ activists demanded to march in (Arab populated) Wadi Ara, the police refused - Members of the extreme right wing organization want to come to the area to protest against the incompetence of the police, however, the police say that the event will cause disturbance to public order. Michael Ben-Ari: "They are burying their heads in the sand." (Maariv)
- Balad activists launched a online campaign for the return of the bodies of the terrorists - Despite the heavy penalty imposed ban on Arab MKs following a meeting with families of terrorists, the party activists posted on Facebook a campaign calling for the release of the bodies. (Maariv)
- Israeli authorities delay deal to return 2 Palestinian bodies - Both families accepted Israel's conditions and awaited their sons' remains, but Israeli forces reneged on both deals without providing future dates for the release of the two bodies. (Maan)
- Israel pays family of dead UNIFIL soldier - Government gives 200,000 euros to the family of Francisco Toledo, who was hit by a missile in Lebanon during Israeli shelling, according to Spanish newspaper. (Yedioth/Ynet)
- Israeli, French envoys face off online - Diplomatic tensions reach the Twittersphere after Israeli ambassador to US implies hypocrisy on the part of his French counterpart. (Yedioth/Ynet)
- Tunnel collapse kills tenth Hamas militant in two weeks - Militant was doing construction work in Khan Younis tunnel when he was killed, Hamas says. (Haaretz+ and Maan)
- PLO condemns Hamas military wing for execution in Gaza Strip - PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi condemned the Hamas military wing’s execution of one of its members, Mahmoud Rushdi Shteiwi, as “unlawful,” and called for an end to capital punishment under Palestinian law. (Maan)
- UN encourages Palestinian unity talks - UN envoy said in a statement that he "welcomed" the unity talks that kicked off on Sunday in the Qatari capital, Doha. (Maan)
- Following legal scrutiny, Israel gives up on deporting families of terrorists to Gaza - Policy, which was brought up recently by government ministers purportedly as a way to deter potential terrorists, was ruled out by state's top legal officials. (Haaretz)
- Israel demolishes Palestinian homes in Israeli 'firing zone' in Nablus-area - Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished more than 10 Palestinian homes and structures in the village of Khirbet Tana, where residents have lived for decades in an area Israel declared a military “firing zone.” (Maan)
- Israel lifts blockade of main road in southeastern Hebron - Head of the Palestinian Authority military liaison department said his office was able to secure the opening of Jabal Jales road after extensive "efforts and calls" with the Israeli liaison department. (Maan)
- Foreign Tourism to Israel Drops as More Israelis Travel - Figures on January foreign tourist hotel stays are not yet available, but December's numbers were down 9% compared to December 2014 and 28% compared to December 2013. (Haaretz+)
- Israel offers Oscar contenders VIP vacation in bid to boost image - Academy Award nominees to be offered trip to Israel valued at $18,000. Tourism Ministry hopes trips will offset negative news coverage of Israel. "They will experience the country first-hand, not through the media," Tourism Minister Yariv Levin says. (Israel Hayom)
- Israel's Education Ministry report shows drop in school violence - Report also finds a slight decline in alcohol consumption, though 47 percent of high-school students said they drank mildly alcoholic beverages like beer. (Haaretz+)
- No Contractors in Israel Have Lost Licences Despite High Rate of Building Deaths - Over the last year, 383 orders were issued to building sites concerning safety problems, but Economy Ministry has only 17 inspectors for some 12,000 construction sites, meaning more than 700 sites per inspector. [Most of laborers are Arab – OH] (Haaretz+)
- N.Y. State bills targeting Israel boycotters 'harken back to McCarthy era,' legal organizations charge - Bills, which prohibit state from doing business with anyone boycotting Israel, would effectively create a blacklist of pro-Palestinian activists, organizations say. (Haaretz+)
- A 'Seagull' against submarines: A look into the future of naval defense - The newest Israeli technological development is an autonomous naval vessel built by Elbit Systems that has the ability to track submarines and find underwater mines. (Ynet)
- Israeli government continues to defend natural gas deal in court - Even though legal authorities had been warning about possible exposure that Israel could face in an international arbitration case, the legal opinion that would purportedly support its stance was very late in coming. (Haaretz+)
- Film on French fugitive living free in Israel raises concerns - Portrayal of 'Franco-Israeli mafia' may augment anti-Semitic stereotypes, critics claim. (Haaretz)
- Tragedy and Rescue: Israeli nurse who treated Syrian refugees in Europe - Malka Stein came to Serbia in order to treat the wounded from the wars that come to her via patsh of danger and death, from the bleeding Middle East: "Everyone wanted to come to the Israeli clinic because of the quality (of the treatment)." (Maariv)
- 60 years after smuggled into Israel, Aleppo codex gains UNESCO recognition - Rare and ancient copy of the Hebrew Bible, on display at the Israel Museum, will be listed along with 300-odd other items of unique universal and cultural importance. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
- Report: Iran hacked former IDF chief's computer - According to Ch. 10 report, cyber hackers working for Iran have over the past year penetrated dozens of computers belonging to Israelis, markedly senior security officials. (Maariv/JPost)
- Rubio in New Hampshire event: U.S.-Israel ties would be 'reset' if I'm elected president - Republican candidate says Obama harmed relationship deliberately in order to improve U.S. standing in Muslim world. 'It's been a disaster,' he says. (Haaretz+)
- Iraq Says Fully Recaptured Ramadi From ISIS - Thousands of improvised explosive devices remain in the war-torn Iraqi city. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Features:
Rehab Village Sees Wave of Former Israeli Soldiers Seeking Treatment After 2014 Gaza War
IDF operations have led to 'waves' of Israelis suffering from a psychotic episode or other mental health crises to seek care at Kfar Izun holistic treatment village, says founder and former officer Omri Frish. (Ayelett Shani, Haaretz+)
On a thin wire - Did stabbing attacks harm co-existence? A tour in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Ramle
Residents refuse to be upset from the week in which there were two incidents of teenage Arabs from the city stabbing Jews in the city. They insist that the life shared between Arabs and Jews will continue: "There wasn’t and there won’t be any tension here.” Miriam Habashi, Jewish resident: "During the Six Day War I was at my friend Aisha's house and during the Gulf War she came to me. For me, she's more than family. Yesterday, she sat at my home and started crying that the relations in the city are being destroyed. She said: 'Your people have crazies and so do ours.'" Omer, an Arab merchant at the outdoor market: "There is a discomfort after what happened, but it's not the end of the world. We return to the routine of the last 50 years. There is no other way. In Ramle, you enter a neighborhood and see half the residents are Jewish and half are Arab. There are extremists, but listen to what you want and not what they want you to hear." (Eyal Levy, Maariv Magazine supplement, pp. 8-9)
Once isolated from their fellow Jews, Israeli expats in Canada start to blend in
Leaving Israel used to be considered a disgrace, but today the growing expat community in Toronto is getting a warmer welcome by the city's Jews. (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+)
From 9/11 to Mideast Despots, Arab Political Cartoons Weigh In
‘Muqtatafat,’ an English-language anthology of cartoons, depicts the region’s politics in somber, incendiary and sometimes surreal scenes. (Rich Tenorio, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
IDF operations have led to 'waves' of Israelis suffering from a psychotic episode or other mental health crises to seek care at Kfar Izun holistic treatment village, says founder and former officer Omri Frish. (Ayelett Shani, Haaretz+)
On a thin wire - Did stabbing attacks harm co-existence? A tour in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Ramle
Residents refuse to be upset from the week in which there were two incidents of teenage Arabs from the city stabbing Jews in the city. They insist that the life shared between Arabs and Jews will continue: "There wasn’t and there won’t be any tension here.” Miriam Habashi, Jewish resident: "During the Six Day War I was at my friend Aisha's house and during the Gulf War she came to me. For me, she's more than family. Yesterday, she sat at my home and started crying that the relations in the city are being destroyed. She said: 'Your people have crazies and so do ours.'" Omer, an Arab merchant at the outdoor market: "There is a discomfort after what happened, but it's not the end of the world. We return to the routine of the last 50 years. There is no other way. In Ramle, you enter a neighborhood and see half the residents are Jewish and half are Arab. There are extremists, but listen to what you want and not what they want you to hear." (Eyal Levy, Maariv Magazine supplement, pp. 8-9)
Once isolated from their fellow Jews, Israeli expats in Canada start to blend in
Leaving Israel used to be considered a disgrace, but today the growing expat community in Toronto is getting a warmer welcome by the city's Jews. (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+)
From 9/11 to Mideast Despots, Arab Political Cartoons Weigh In
‘Muqtatafat,’ an English-language anthology of cartoons, depicts the region’s politics in somber, incendiary and sometimes surreal scenes. (Rich Tenorio, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
The Knesset's latest attempt to disenfranchise Israeli Arabs (Aeyal Gross, Haaretz+) The bill which allows 90 MKs to suspend their fellow lawmakers from parliament
is yet another attempt to impose tyranny of the majority.
Prime Minister has severely failed in presenting solutions to the situation (MK Merav Michaeli, Maariv) MK Merav Michaeli thinks the prime minister is endangering Israel as a democratic state and is turning it de facto into less democratic. Writing about the suspension of the three Balad MKs for their meeting with parents of Palestinian attackers, Michaeli writes “If you give a political body the possibility to remove who the public chose, this harms you. Today it’s Arab MKs, but tomorrow it could be MKs from another another segment of society, which Netanyahu or someone else doesn’t like.
Political Assault on Israeli Arab MKs Reaches a New Peak (Haaretz Editorial) In this case, we aren't talking only about the tyranny of a numerical majority, but also about the tyranny of a national majority: a humiliating domination of Arabs by Jews.
A Ballad (pun on Balad party) to democracy: Yes to condemnation, no to shutting mouths (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth) 1.) Corpses: We demand the return of our soldiers corpses without conditions and we return the corpses of terrorists and not-terrorists without condition. There is a great temptation to make conditions to use the bodies as bargaining cards...we must overcome this, whether we are the side with the 'better cards' or not, simply participating in the trade of corpses gives the trade legitimacy we cannot award it. We need to return the corpses without conditions...2.) Balad party: The recent scandal of teh MKs of the Balad party is directly related to the corpses. The Knesset Ethics Committee unanimously voted not to return the corpses of the terrorists that have yet to be returned. At the same time, it suspended the three MKs for meeting with the terrorists' families. I think both decisions are mistaken, the first for the reasons I gave above and the second because it is not the place of the Knesset to determine what is proper ethical behavior in situations that are clearly political...The real test of democracy is not in defending who is popular with the public, but rather who the public despises. That does not include support for terror, since terror is a violation of state laws. It does include the right to visit families of terrorists. And yes, even the right to stand in a moment of silence in their memory.
Prime Minister has severely failed in presenting solutions to the situation (MK Merav Michaeli, Maariv) MK Merav Michaeli thinks the prime minister is endangering Israel as a democratic state and is turning it de facto into less democratic. Writing about the suspension of the three Balad MKs for their meeting with parents of Palestinian attackers, Michaeli writes “If you give a political body the possibility to remove who the public chose, this harms you. Today it’s Arab MKs, but tomorrow it could be MKs from another another segment of society, which Netanyahu or someone else doesn’t like.
Political Assault on Israeli Arab MKs Reaches a New Peak (Haaretz Editorial) In this case, we aren't talking only about the tyranny of a numerical majority, but also about the tyranny of a national majority: a humiliating domination of Arabs by Jews.
A Ballad (pun on Balad party) to democracy: Yes to condemnation, no to shutting mouths (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth) 1.) Corpses: We demand the return of our soldiers corpses without conditions and we return the corpses of terrorists and not-terrorists without condition. There is a great temptation to make conditions to use the bodies as bargaining cards...we must overcome this, whether we are the side with the 'better cards' or not, simply participating in the trade of corpses gives the trade legitimacy we cannot award it. We need to return the corpses without conditions...2.) Balad party: The recent scandal of teh MKs of the Balad party is directly related to the corpses. The Knesset Ethics Committee unanimously voted not to return the corpses of the terrorists that have yet to be returned. At the same time, it suspended the three MKs for meeting with the terrorists' families. I think both decisions are mistaken, the first for the reasons I gave above and the second because it is not the place of the Knesset to determine what is proper ethical behavior in situations that are clearly political...The real test of democracy is not in defending who is popular with the public, but rather who the public despises. That does not include support for terror, since terror is a violation of state laws. It does include the right to visit families of terrorists. And yes, even the right to stand in a moment of silence in their memory.
Israel Is Building a Judocracy by Silencing Arab Mourning (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Minister Erdan is misleading us twice when he presents the burial of murderer
Baruch Goldstein as proof that Israel doesn’t discriminate between Jews and Palestinians.
Alternate Reality: The situation of our democracy is more stable than it is being described (Amos Gilboa, Maariv) Leftists claim that Israel is on the way to turning into a country of a theocratic dictatorship regime. Too bad they do not read the reports proving the opposite. According to the Israeli Democracy Institute annual report for 2015, which concluded that in comparison with other democratic states, Israel is somewhere in the middle. In terms of life satisfaction country, Israel occupies the third place and second place in the criterion of political participation. Freedom of the press in Israel is in medium to high place and function of government is in medium place. Israel's rank corruption wasn’t good, and rightly so.
Democracy's right of self-defense (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) Sometimes, the preoccupation with minorities' rights is so great, it takes precedent over looking out for the majority.
Another twist of the screw. The jaws of the world are closing in on the Netanyahu government (Ran Adelist, Maariv) The French initiative and the Geneva conference to resolve the crisis in Syria are more signs that world is tired of the right-wing Israeli government. In an almost symmetric manner, the internal pressure of the right-wing is increasing on the Israeli Left-wing.
Pulling the strings: Netanyahu is letting his ministers uproot another foundation of democracy (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) In the prime minister’s head there is no existing crisis or one that threatens to come. He lets his ministers uproot another foundation of democracy, because who needs regulators to bother his rule.
In the rubble of a Palestinian home, I saw the occupation’s evil with my own eyes (Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Haaretz+) When I visited Jinba with Ta’ayush activists last Saturday to help clear the rubble away, Hamudi looked at me, grinning: “So you’re not going to tell the other Jews to come destroy our house again?”
How a 74-year-old Jewish Grandpa Will Change the American Order (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Poor people have iPhones too? Sanders was ignored, then mocked, but if anybody can change the trajectory of increasingly mucky American politics, maybe it's him.
Peace summits: More harm than good (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Now that the main effort to secure peace in Syria has failed, the West is turning to its next project -- an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit.
Capitalist autocracy looms in Israel (Haim Tomer, Haaretz+) One cannot ignore the feeling that the desire for economic prosperity and the thirst for preserving national, ethnic and religious uniqueness are vanquishing the adherence to democracy.
Reversing his own reforms, Bibi is destroying his own legacy (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) The old Bibi stood for capitalism and security, the new Bibi stands for keeping in power at any price.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.
Alternate Reality: The situation of our democracy is more stable than it is being described (Amos Gilboa, Maariv) Leftists claim that Israel is on the way to turning into a country of a theocratic dictatorship regime. Too bad they do not read the reports proving the opposite. According to the Israeli Democracy Institute annual report for 2015, which concluded that in comparison with other democratic states, Israel is somewhere in the middle. In terms of life satisfaction country, Israel occupies the third place and second place in the criterion of political participation. Freedom of the press in Israel is in medium to high place and function of government is in medium place. Israel's rank corruption wasn’t good, and rightly so.
Democracy's right of self-defense (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) Sometimes, the preoccupation with minorities' rights is so great, it takes precedent over looking out for the majority.
Another twist of the screw. The jaws of the world are closing in on the Netanyahu government (Ran Adelist, Maariv) The French initiative and the Geneva conference to resolve the crisis in Syria are more signs that world is tired of the right-wing Israeli government. In an almost symmetric manner, the internal pressure of the right-wing is increasing on the Israeli Left-wing.
Pulling the strings: Netanyahu is letting his ministers uproot another foundation of democracy (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) In the prime minister’s head there is no existing crisis or one that threatens to come. He lets his ministers uproot another foundation of democracy, because who needs regulators to bother his rule.
In the rubble of a Palestinian home, I saw the occupation’s evil with my own eyes (Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Haaretz+) When I visited Jinba with Ta’ayush activists last Saturday to help clear the rubble away, Hamudi looked at me, grinning: “So you’re not going to tell the other Jews to come destroy our house again?”
How a 74-year-old Jewish Grandpa Will Change the American Order (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Poor people have iPhones too? Sanders was ignored, then mocked, but if anybody can change the trajectory of increasingly mucky American politics, maybe it's him.
Peace summits: More harm than good (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Now that the main effort to secure peace in Syria has failed, the West is turning to its next project -- an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit.
Capitalist autocracy looms in Israel (Haim Tomer, Haaretz+) One cannot ignore the feeling that the desire for economic prosperity and the thirst for preserving national, ethnic and religious uniqueness are vanquishing the adherence to democracy.
Reversing his own reforms, Bibi is destroying his own legacy (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) The old Bibi stood for capitalism and security, the new Bibi stands for keeping in power at any price.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.