APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday February 18, 2016
Quote of the day:
"I don't want a soldier to empty a magazine on a girl with scissors, even if she commits a very
serious act."
--IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told high school students.
You Must Be Kidding:
"There is no and never will be a comparison between the suffering of the families of the murdered and between the discomfort that is caused to the families of the murderers."
--From a petition by 22 Jewish Israeli relatives of people murdered by Palestinians demanding to expel the killers and their families.
You Must Be Kidding:
"There is no and never will be a comparison between the suffering of the families of the murdered and between the discomfort that is caused to the families of the murderers."
--From a petition by 22 Jewish Israeli relatives of people murdered by Palestinians demanding to expel the killers and their families.
Breaking News:
Report: Israel Strikes Syrian Army Outposts Near Damascus (Haaretz and Ynet)
Front Page:
Haaretz
- At least 28 killed in attack against soldiers in central Ankara
- 100,000,000 people suffer from lack of food and water because of El-Ninio
- Chief of Staff to high school students: I don’t want a soldier to open fire and empty magazines on a girl with scissors
- Welfare Ministry opposes building casinos: Will increase the number addicted of gambling addicts
- Kadisha burial company shunned treating corpse of young woman who died of AIDS and will pay compensation to family
- Remains of 7,000-year-old community found in Jerusalem
- Every man and his language // Haaretz Editorial
- Building trust: government to be asked to approve authorizing Arab local councils to enforce building laws
- In the inspiration of the gas agreement – Israel Electricity Corp employees are demanding government commitment to “financial and business stability” for a decade
- Museum of Man in Paris reinterpreting the collections of colonialism
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Political gamble – Opposition by government members to Netanyahu’s casino initiative
- Casino Royale // Nahum Barnea
- Disregard at the wheel – Yedioth check found that bus drivers are busy with their phones and drinking café three days after horrific accident
- Chief of Staff: There’s no need to empty a magazine on a 13-year-old girl with a scissors
- An anchor of values // Yossi Yehoshua
- Police probing the ‘incriminating emails’ affair of Bar Refaeli
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- 19 bereaved families: Expel immediately the families of the terrorists
- Report before midnight: Israel attacked in Damascus
- Why wasn’t Minister Ayelet Shaked on the flight of the Prime Minister and his wife (and the other ministers) to Germany? // Ben Caspit
- Inferno in Ankara: More than 28 killed in an attack
Israel Hayom
- On the way to Iran: anti-aircraft missiles and money
- Now it’s official: Iran is in the club again
- The Chief of Staff’s “opening fire speech” – and the controversy
- “Why did the police ‘bury’ the complaint against Meni Naftali on sexual harassment and an indecent act”
- Inferno in Ankara
- The casino in Eilat: Prime Minister orders establishing steering committee to examine the move; opposition in the coalition
News Summary:
Ministers’ objections to building casinos in Eilat, the Chief of Staff’s objection to shooting dead Arab girls with scissors and an attack on Turkish soldiers in Ankara were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Israel Hayom highlighted the first shipment of Russian S300 missiles to Iran and Maariv reported on a letter by bereaved Israeli parents opposing Israeli politicians “proportionality” and demanding expulsion of families of Palestinian assailants.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told Israeli high school students Wednesday that Israeli soldiers were not supposed to shoot to kill Palestinian attackers – and not everyone was pleased with that. "I don't want a soldier to empty a magazine on a girl with scissors, even if she commits a very serious act," he added. "If our rules of engagement were in any way unethical, it would jeopardize all of the IDF...We must be level-headed and calm and avoid harming innocent people or creating situations where our anger causes us to lose our moral compass in a way that would erode the righteousness of our path. We must uphold these values, as soldiers, police officers and human beings. To win and to remain human beings," he said. The statements were made after a student said the military’s rules of engagement were soft and put soldiers at risk. "The IDF cannot speak in slogans, such as 'if someone comes to kill you, arise to kill them first,' or 'everyone who carries scissors should be killed.'” Troops can act only if there is threat to life, Eisenkot said. (Also Ynet)
Eisenkot referred to an incident in late November, when a police sapper shot two Palestinian girls waving scissors, whom he had already knocked on the ground, killing one of them, as a video showed. They had stabbed an elderly man prior. But, a police investigation, ordered by the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor following requests, cleared him of criminal intent.
A senior official at the Jerusalem District police force was displeased at the remarks, Israel Hayom reported, sensing that the remarks were pointed at the police and Border Police, which have shot dead numerous Palestinians in questionable circumstances. A military official told Israel Hayom that Eisenkot had not intended to comment on the performance of the police force.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said today that contrary to media reports, he actually agreed with the Chief of Staff. “We can't allow our senses to get dull and our finger to be quick on the trigger.”
This isn’t the first time a senior IDF commander made such a statement. A few days after the November scissors incident, a high-ranking IDF officer said the IDF's policy was to minimize Palestinian deaths as much as possible. "We learned a lesson from both intifadas – Palestinian deaths cause outbursts of violence," he said. "Our rules of engagement are more permissive than restrictive, but when you have a trembling girl with scissors in her hands, you don't need to riddle her with ten bullets. You could kick her or shoot her in the leg."
Indeed, that recently happened. A 16-year-old girl from Beit Safafa in E. Jerusalem was convicted yesterday of attempted murder and having a knife. On the 9th of February, she took a kitchen knife and went to Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City “with the goal of making a murderous attack against security forces.” She walked around until she was asked to show her ID and open her purse. Then she grabbed the knife and charged the Border Policeman, who stopped her hand, grabbed her and pushed her on the ground, Yedioth reported.
Maariv reported that the relatives of 22 Israelis killed by Palestinians in the recent wave of violence demand that Israel - at the minimum - deport the killers and their relatives. "We demand that all the MKs and all the minister act on this, that there never be 'proportionality,' since the response that the despicable murders and their families deserve needs to be much harsher, painful and deterring. The truth is that there is no price to Jewish blood spilled in the Land. There is no and never will be a comparison between the suffering of the families of the murdered and between the discomfort that is caused to the families of the murderers. There is no and never will be a comparison between murder and bloodshed and between the economic harm to the families that are expelled from their homes. But expulsion is the minimum that the government of Israel needs to do to stop the wave of murderous terror." Today the families who signed the petition will hold a press-conference.
After 28 people were killed in a car-bombing targeting Turkish military personnel, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish militant camps inside Iraq, after which a bomb in southern Turkey killed today another seven Turkish security force members.
Ministers’ objections to building casinos in Eilat, the Chief of Staff’s objection to shooting dead Arab girls with scissors and an attack on Turkish soldiers in Ankara were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Israel Hayom highlighted the first shipment of Russian S300 missiles to Iran and Maariv reported on a letter by bereaved Israeli parents opposing Israeli politicians “proportionality” and demanding expulsion of families of Palestinian assailants.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told Israeli high school students Wednesday that Israeli soldiers were not supposed to shoot to kill Palestinian attackers – and not everyone was pleased with that. "I don't want a soldier to empty a magazine on a girl with scissors, even if she commits a very serious act," he added. "If our rules of engagement were in any way unethical, it would jeopardize all of the IDF...We must be level-headed and calm and avoid harming innocent people or creating situations where our anger causes us to lose our moral compass in a way that would erode the righteousness of our path. We must uphold these values, as soldiers, police officers and human beings. To win and to remain human beings," he said. The statements were made after a student said the military’s rules of engagement were soft and put soldiers at risk. "The IDF cannot speak in slogans, such as 'if someone comes to kill you, arise to kill them first,' or 'everyone who carries scissors should be killed.'” Troops can act only if there is threat to life, Eisenkot said. (Also Ynet)
Eisenkot referred to an incident in late November, when a police sapper shot two Palestinian girls waving scissors, whom he had already knocked on the ground, killing one of them, as a video showed. They had stabbed an elderly man prior. But, a police investigation, ordered by the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor following requests, cleared him of criminal intent.
A senior official at the Jerusalem District police force was displeased at the remarks, Israel Hayom reported, sensing that the remarks were pointed at the police and Border Police, which have shot dead numerous Palestinians in questionable circumstances. A military official told Israel Hayom that Eisenkot had not intended to comment on the performance of the police force.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said today that contrary to media reports, he actually agreed with the Chief of Staff. “We can't allow our senses to get dull and our finger to be quick on the trigger.”
This isn’t the first time a senior IDF commander made such a statement. A few days after the November scissors incident, a high-ranking IDF officer said the IDF's policy was to minimize Palestinian deaths as much as possible. "We learned a lesson from both intifadas – Palestinian deaths cause outbursts of violence," he said. "Our rules of engagement are more permissive than restrictive, but when you have a trembling girl with scissors in her hands, you don't need to riddle her with ten bullets. You could kick her or shoot her in the leg."
Indeed, that recently happened. A 16-year-old girl from Beit Safafa in E. Jerusalem was convicted yesterday of attempted murder and having a knife. On the 9th of February, she took a kitchen knife and went to Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City “with the goal of making a murderous attack against security forces.” She walked around until she was asked to show her ID and open her purse. Then she grabbed the knife and charged the Border Policeman, who stopped her hand, grabbed her and pushed her on the ground, Yedioth reported.
Maariv reported that the relatives of 22 Israelis killed by Palestinians in the recent wave of violence demand that Israel - at the minimum - deport the killers and their relatives. "We demand that all the MKs and all the minister act on this, that there never be 'proportionality,' since the response that the despicable murders and their families deserve needs to be much harsher, painful and deterring. The truth is that there is no price to Jewish blood spilled in the Land. There is no and never will be a comparison between the suffering of the families of the murdered and between the discomfort that is caused to the families of the murderers. There is no and never will be a comparison between murder and bloodshed and between the economic harm to the families that are expelled from their homes. But expulsion is the minimum that the government of Israel needs to do to stop the wave of murderous terror." Today the families who signed the petition will hold a press-conference.
After 28 people were killed in a car-bombing targeting Turkish military personnel, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish militant camps inside Iraq, after which a bomb in southern Turkey killed today another seven Turkish security force members.
Quick Hits:
- Amnesty demands Israel to transfer ‘unconvicted detainee’ Palestinian hunger striker - The human rights organization demanded Israel transfer journalist, Muhammad al-Qiq, 33, to a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah, who entered his 85th day on hunger strike against his administrative detention by Israel. (Maan)
- Clashes erupt as Palestinians rally to support hunger-striker - Clashes broke out across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday night as Palestinians demonstrated in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Muhammad al-Qiq. (Maan)
- “Israel concealed prisoner's hunger strike for 43 days” - Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners' Affairs on Tuesday accused Israel of concealing a 43-day long hunger strike by Muhammad al-Mahr, who was arrested on Nov. 2 for alleged possession of a knife with the intention of assaulting Israeli soldiers near a military checkpoint in Jenin. Mahr denied the charge and went on hunger strike to demand his release. (Maan)
- Israel Police Ignore Claims of Jerusalem Palestinians They Accidentally Injure - Shot in the eye? Got your door torn down? Don't hold your breath for compensation if you are an Arab resident or citizen of Israel. (Haaretz+)
- Tensions high as right-wing Israelis tour Aqsa compound - Some 133 right-wing Israelis, including religious students, were reported to have entered the (Temple Mount) compound through the Moroccan Gate with a police escort. (Maan)
- UK government to penalize public sector boycotts of Israeli suppliers - New rules mean local authorities and public organizations may be fined or have their contracts cancelled if they discriminate against Israeli suppliers. (Ynet)
- PLO: UK plans to ban boycott 'empower' Israeli occupation - PLO officials on Wednesday slammed British proposals to forbid a boycott of Israeli settlement goods by publicly-funded British institutions, saying they "would empower the Israeli occupation by sending a message of impunity." (Maan)
- Israeli forces remove 'suspicious object' with Hebrew writing found near Bethlehem-area stadium - A Palestinian intelligence officer discovered an “explosive device” connected to wires and over three-meters long, with Hebrew writing on it near the stadium and schools in Al-Khader village. Palestinian liaison office reportedly notified their Israeli counterparts, which removed the device. (Maan)
- Israel sentences 2 Palestinians for 'bomb-making' - Bakr al-Mughrabi, 22, and Issa Abu Jumaa, 28, were charged with making "homemade bombs," throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones at Israeli forces, and damaging an Israeli military vehicle and sentenced to five years prison. Mughrabi said he would appeal the sentence. (Maan)
- Arabs and Jews join forces to oppose development on historic Jerusalem hilltop - Plan for luxury housing in Abu Tor threatens famous view and archaeologically significant sites. Says resident: 'It would be an absolute catastrophe.' (Haaretz+)
- Meretz Leader Accuses Yisrael Beiteinu of Being Foreign Agents of Azerbaijan - Zehava Galon says Yisrael Beiteinu supports interests of Azeri national fuel company and actively works to prevent Israel from officially recognizing Armenian genocide. (Haaretz+)
- Tel Aviv University retracts ban on Arabic in call center following Haaretz report - Arabic-speaking call center employees were instructed to stop speaking in their native language with Arabic-speaking callers. (Haaretz+)
- IDF launches smartphone alert app - Israel’s military is setting up systems that can send people personal notices based on their location, rather than just sounding public sirens. (Ynet)
- Israel levels lands, demolishes structures in East Jerusalem - Israel controversially earmarked the area, in the outskirts of al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, as a national park, but the plan was suspended in 2014. (Maan)
- Israeli soldier gets nine months for abusing, electrocuting Palestinian detainees - The soldier used a medical device to improperly deliver electric shocks to two Palestinian prisoners. (Haaretz+)
- The missile that looks like a UAV - Israel Aeorospace Inustries unveils the Harpy NG, a missile can stay airborne for 9 hours and destroy targets at enormous distances. (Ynet)
- Bennett demands security cabinet ministers take polygraph tests, Shaked says - Education Minister Naftali Bennett wants the tests due to a leak to the media over military policy against Hamas. (Haaretz+)
- Palestinian teacher among top 10 finalists in global teaching awards - Hanan al-Hroub, from Duheisha refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank, was chosen as one of the finalists in the Valley Park Foundation's Global Teacher's Prize for 2016 out of a pool of some 8,000 teachers who participated. (Maan)
- Legendary Mossad agent honored - President Rivlin and Mossad Director Yossi Cohen gave (Iraqi-born) Avraham Barzilai, who began serving in the organization in 1955, a lifetime achievement commendation. [Barzilai, born in Baghdad in 1925, moved to Israel in 1943 and joined the Palmach. In 1951 he served in IDF Military Intel and joined the Mossad in 1955, all the time using his Arabic and Arabness. His father Ezra Hadad, wrote articles in an Iraqi weekly newspaper, his cousin Yaakov served in the Shin Bet and his daughter wrote and acted in a play about a female Palestinian bomber. - OH] (Ynet and Palmach)
- Head of Conference of Presidents: Anti-Semitism in the US on the rise - Malcolm Hoenlein says 75% of American Jewish students witnessed or experienced anti-Semitism on campus; 'It's not Europe, but we're definitely on the rise,' he warns. (Ynet)
- Egyptian Schools to Teach Peace Treaty With Israel for First Time - New history textbook devotes a section to the treaty and says that 'each side respecting the sovereignty and independence of the other,' Army Radio reports. (Haaretz)
Features:
IN PHOTOS: For Bedouin kids in southern Israel, grass isn't greener on other side of fence
Bedouin children of the Tarabin tribe play in an unrecognized village next to a landfill in Israel's south. (Haaretz)
Explosive
Nasrallah’s threats raised again the debate over the subject of the ammonia plant in Haifa: why, despite long battles over years for moving it and plans that were formulated, nothing has yet moved? (Yonatan Hileli, Maariv Magazine supplement, cover)
Employer turns Palestinian union organizer into a 'security threat'
Hatem Abu Ziadeh spent almost 20 years working at an auto repair shop in a West Bank industrial zone. But once he began organizing workers for better conditions, he was fired for ‘security-based reasons.’ (Haggai Mattar, +972mag)
Letters to the Haaretz Editor: Israeli Arab Voters and Israel's Rabbinical Court (Haaretz)
Haim Saban battling BDS
As Partner launched its new brand, replacing the long-standing Orange, its controlling shareholder’s Chairperson spoke about combating the anti-Israel boycott movement. (Israel Wullman, Ynet)
Commentary/Analysis:
Bedouin children of the Tarabin tribe play in an unrecognized village next to a landfill in Israel's south. (Haaretz)
Explosive
Nasrallah’s threats raised again the debate over the subject of the ammonia plant in Haifa: why, despite long battles over years for moving it and plans that were formulated, nothing has yet moved? (Yonatan Hileli, Maariv Magazine supplement, cover)
Employer turns Palestinian union organizer into a 'security threat'
Hatem Abu Ziadeh spent almost 20 years working at an auto repair shop in a West Bank industrial zone. But once he began organizing workers for better conditions, he was fired for ‘security-based reasons.’ (Haggai Mattar, +972mag)
Letters to the Haaretz Editor: Israeli Arab Voters and Israel's Rabbinical Court (Haaretz)
Haim Saban battling BDS
As Partner launched its new brand, replacing the long-standing Orange, its controlling shareholder’s Chairperson spoke about combating the anti-Israel boycott movement. (Israel Wullman, Ynet)
Commentary/Analysis:
A love affair between Sunni Arab states and Israel? Not so fast. (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Suddenly the only democracy in the Middle East is boasting that the region's
despots are willing to embrace it, and perhaps some day even to be seen on the street with it.
Don't Be So Fast to Praise the Good IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Despite Eisenkot's stance on a West Bank siege, Palestinian work permits and populist statements on terror attacks, he is responsible for the army's sinking to one of the most horrific moral nadirs.
Fact-checking Netanyahu: A week full of truthiness (Natasha Roth, +972mag) From surreal exaggerations to outright lies, Netanyahu dished up another batch of nonsense utterings to a foreign audience in Berlin this week. We picked three of the best and broke them down for you.
Israeli Arabs Should Be Free to Speak Arabic Everywhere (Haaretz Editorial) Tel Aviv University repealed its directive barring student-services employees from using Arabic with Arabic-speaking callers, but the larger issue remains.
Ehud Olmert is not the only one who enjoyed bribes in the US, but he is the only one who was caught (Jewish-American journalist Ada Hos-Peles, Maariv) The prisoner, the former prime minister, did act wrongly, but he is not the only elected official who self-indulged in the United States at the expense of the rich of the (Jewish) community. Maybe, the insensitivity and stupidity of a people, which wraps itself in fake “nationalism/Zionism" and does not know how to choose the path of peace and compromise him, which would have paved the path for it and its descendants for a future in this good land of the forefathers, is not worthy of a visionary leader like Ehud Olmert (yes popular – not popular). On a personal note - I cannot free myself from the thoughts that maybe with him it was also possible to avoid and save us from the unnecessary Operation Protective Edge, and my (grandson) Roy would have been with us today. In conclusion, I wonder how people and judges in the country do not see the sickening and conspiratorial political-diplomatic aspect to make public the "Olmert affair” at a timing and in a format chosen by certain people in Brooklyn (originally, it was by the ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn). As I said, what you see here - you do not see from there .. and that’s a shame.
Laying down the law (Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, Israel Hayom) Using careful lobbying and legislation to combat the BDS movement is proving effective.
Hezbollah Leader Shows He Knows Israel’s Weak Spots (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) But Nasrallah is unlikely to make good on his threat to bomb Haifa’s ammonia facility any time soon.
Who gets the last word? (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) Army Radio head Yaron Dekel has erased what little representation the conservative-right majority had on his station.
What It Feels Like to Be a Parent of a New Israeli Soldier (Don Futterman, Haaretz+) I am sometimes fiercely critical of what our soldiers are asked to do, and still wish we could do without armies. But I have no ambivalence about our need for one.
Keep Judaism in the IDF (Rabbi Israel Weiss, Israel Hayom) Transferring the Jewish Identity Branch to the Personnel Directorate spells the end of the Military Rabbinate.
No, Mr. Trump, walls don't work (Ryan Rodrick Beiler, +972mag) With politicians from right to left putting their faith in higher walls, some Palestinians are putting their faith in higher powers.
Don't Be So Fast to Praise the Good IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Despite Eisenkot's stance on a West Bank siege, Palestinian work permits and populist statements on terror attacks, he is responsible for the army's sinking to one of the most horrific moral nadirs.
Fact-checking Netanyahu: A week full of truthiness (Natasha Roth, +972mag) From surreal exaggerations to outright lies, Netanyahu dished up another batch of nonsense utterings to a foreign audience in Berlin this week. We picked three of the best and broke them down for you.
Israeli Arabs Should Be Free to Speak Arabic Everywhere (Haaretz Editorial) Tel Aviv University repealed its directive barring student-services employees from using Arabic with Arabic-speaking callers, but the larger issue remains.
Ehud Olmert is not the only one who enjoyed bribes in the US, but he is the only one who was caught (Jewish-American journalist Ada Hos-Peles, Maariv) The prisoner, the former prime minister, did act wrongly, but he is not the only elected official who self-indulged in the United States at the expense of the rich of the (Jewish) community. Maybe, the insensitivity and stupidity of a people, which wraps itself in fake “nationalism/Zionism" and does not know how to choose the path of peace and compromise him, which would have paved the path for it and its descendants for a future in this good land of the forefathers, is not worthy of a visionary leader like Ehud Olmert (yes popular – not popular). On a personal note - I cannot free myself from the thoughts that maybe with him it was also possible to avoid and save us from the unnecessary Operation Protective Edge, and my (grandson) Roy would have been with us today. In conclusion, I wonder how people and judges in the country do not see the sickening and conspiratorial political-diplomatic aspect to make public the "Olmert affair” at a timing and in a format chosen by certain people in Brooklyn (originally, it was by the ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn). As I said, what you see here - you do not see from there .. and that’s a shame.
Laying down the law (Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, Israel Hayom) Using careful lobbying and legislation to combat the BDS movement is proving effective.
Hezbollah Leader Shows He Knows Israel’s Weak Spots (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) But Nasrallah is unlikely to make good on his threat to bomb Haifa’s ammonia facility any time soon.
Who gets the last word? (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) Army Radio head Yaron Dekel has erased what little representation the conservative-right majority had on his station.
What It Feels Like to Be a Parent of a New Israeli Soldier (Don Futterman, Haaretz+) I am sometimes fiercely critical of what our soldiers are asked to do, and still wish we could do without armies. But I have no ambivalence about our need for one.
Keep Judaism in the IDF (Rabbi Israel Weiss, Israel Hayom) Transferring the Jewish Identity Branch to the Personnel Directorate spells the end of the Military Rabbinate.
No, Mr. Trump, walls don't work (Ryan Rodrick Beiler, +972mag) With politicians from right to left putting their faith in higher walls, some Palestinians are putting their faith in higher powers.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.