APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday February 19, 2016
Quote of the day:
"On the other hand, we must not lose our humanity in moments like that, just because blood is boiling.
We hear a lot of expressions like 'We must eliminate them and go crazy.' I say no to that..."
--Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon.
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You Must Be Kidding:
Beginning next school year, the great majority of cultural institutions have to agree to be willing to perform in West Bank settlements - in order to host class outings.
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Breaking News:
Two Israeli Border Police Officers wounded in attempted stabbing attack at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate
Assailant, 20-year-old from Kufr Aqab in northern East Jerusalem, died of bullet wounds. Palestinian passerby wounded by shrapnel. (Haaretz, Maan, Ynet)
--Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon.
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You Must Be Kidding:
Beginning next school year, the great majority of cultural institutions have to agree to be willing to perform in West Bank settlements - in order to host class outings.
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Breaking News:
Two Israeli Border Police Officers wounded in attempted stabbing attack at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate
Assailant, 20-year-old from Kufr Aqab in northern East Jerusalem, died of bullet wounds. Palestinian passerby wounded by shrapnel. (Haaretz, Maan, Ynet)
Front Page:
Haaretz
- State drastically sped up rate of demolition of Palestinian homes in West Bank
- Attack in industrial area in West Bank: 14-year-olds stabbed to death young man and another man was moderately wounded
- Homes with ‘Technology-free’ signs, exceptions committees that reject requests for WhatsApp, and stipends rejected from the rebellious. The Admors go out to battle against the smartphones
- Russia disapproves of reconciliation between Israel and Turkey
- After 3 years in jail, High Court acquit Border Police officer who shot (and killed) his neighbor
- 18-year-old murdered in Tel-Aviv, her sister and sister’s boyfriend confessed
- They made peace: A 20-year dispute ended in the basement between a kiosk owner and the Church
- Documents in Poland: Former president Lech Walesa was a communist informer
- Senior researchers in the US are campaigning in support of female scientists who were sexually harassed
- ¼ page ad: ‘Yesh Gvul’ movement invites the public to the awarding ceremony of the prize in the name of Yeshayahu Leibovitz – to Yaakov Manor for his relentless struggle against the occupation, and to Bassem Aramin and Rami Elhanan, who with great courage strive to turn bereavement – their personal tragedy - a lever to promote understanding and peaceful relations between the peoples
- Letters in a tin: Yehuda Amichai and his lover in his youth
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Attack at the supermarket
- Twins till murder
- What was left in Vegas // Nahum Barnea
- Grandpa Bibi // Sima Kadmon
- The widow of the IDF hero, Roi Klein, on her engagement to a rabbi who recently became a widow
Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)
- The disengagement plans of Bank Hapoalim
- Lieberman and Bennett chipping away at Netanyahu(‘s support)
- The Sarah effect // Ben Caspit
- The youth terror continues: Two 14-year-olds murdered a father of a baby
- Suspicion: She murdered her twin sister
- Slowing down of development of defense systems against missiles
- The Clintons: Could Bill be the one ruining Hillary’s chances? // Ron Miburg
- New life: The surprising job of Col. (res.) Erez Weiner
- Sign now: Israel must accept the aid package from US // Yair Lapid
- Braking distance: The full story on the separate flights of Netanyahu and Shaked
Israel Hayom
- The heroism of the citizens: Neutralized the terrorists at the supermarket
- Storm over the Chief of Staff’s speech: Yaalon supports, the right-wing attack
- Chief of Staff is right and made a mistake // Dan Margalit
- The Chief of Staff is wrong and made a mistake // Nadav Shragai
- Horror in Tel-Aviv: 18-year-old Hili was murdered; her twin sister and boyfriend confessed
- Drama at the High Court: After 3 years in jail, former Border Police officer who shot to death his neighbor – was acquitted and freed
- The MK Suspension bill: The proposal that is infuriating the political establishment will return next week to the Knesset agenda
News Summary:
Killings were top stories in today's Hebrew newspapers: One Israeli was killed and
another was wounded in a stabbing attack by two Palestinian teens in the West Bank, an 18-year-old
woman and her boyfriend confessed to killing her twin in Tel-Aviv and the High Court acquitted a man sitting three
years in jail for shooting dead his neighbor. Barely making headlines was the report in foreign papers that the Israeli Air Force hit
arsenals in Syria.
Thursday’s stabbing attack, killing an off-duty Israeli soldier and wounding another Israeli, occurred at a Rami Levy supermarket outside Ramallah, where Palestinians and Israelis work together as employees and stand in line together as customers. The two stabbers, 14-year-olds from Beitunya, also near Ramallah, were shot by civilians and one died of his wounds. Transport Minister Yirael Katz said he hoped the response to the stabbing would not be 'hesitant' in light of IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot's reiteration of the rules of engagement.
The right-wing was in a storm over the Chief of Staff’s statement Wednesday that he doesn't want soldiers “emptying magazines into 13-year-old girls with scissors.” Controversial Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich called it “An inappropriate, severe remark that reflects a failed ladder of moral preferences.” (Maariv) In a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, MK Smotrich wrote: "This is a flagrant and contemptuous statement, which must not pass without being dealt with…It disregards the sanctity of Israel and the values that have accompanied us for thousands of years and is neither appropriate nor compatible with the values of the IDF and the behavior expected of a senior officer.” (Maariv) However, Yaalon defended Eisenkot’s comments yesterday saying that Israeli forces must not have 'itchy trigger fingers' and that Israel can defeat terror while maintaining its humanity.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told Netanyahu that the 'NGO transparency bill' could harm Israeli democracy, echoing the words of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, earlier this week.
You've Must Be Kiddings:
Thursday’s stabbing attack, killing an off-duty Israeli soldier and wounding another Israeli, occurred at a Rami Levy supermarket outside Ramallah, where Palestinians and Israelis work together as employees and stand in line together as customers. The two stabbers, 14-year-olds from Beitunya, also near Ramallah, were shot by civilians and one died of his wounds. Transport Minister Yirael Katz said he hoped the response to the stabbing would not be 'hesitant' in light of IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot's reiteration of the rules of engagement.
The right-wing was in a storm over the Chief of Staff’s statement Wednesday that he doesn't want soldiers “emptying magazines into 13-year-old girls with scissors.” Controversial Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich called it “An inappropriate, severe remark that reflects a failed ladder of moral preferences.” (Maariv) In a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, MK Smotrich wrote: "This is a flagrant and contemptuous statement, which must not pass without being dealt with…It disregards the sanctity of Israel and the values that have accompanied us for thousands of years and is neither appropriate nor compatible with the values of the IDF and the behavior expected of a senior officer.” (Maariv) However, Yaalon defended Eisenkot’s comments yesterday saying that Israeli forces must not have 'itchy trigger fingers' and that Israel can defeat terror while maintaining its humanity.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told Netanyahu that the 'NGO transparency bill' could harm Israeli democracy, echoing the words of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, earlier this week.
You've Must Be Kiddings:
- Israeli cultural groups hosting pupils will have to be willing to appear in settlements - Education Minister Bennett unveils far-reaching new ‘culture basket’ for schools, including settlement clause and bans content encouraging or advocating terror or harm to the foundations of the State of Israel.” (Haaretz+)
- Israeli Arab leaders detained after visiting Palestinian hunger striker - Sheikh Ra'ad Salah and former MK Mohammed Barakeh briefly held [actually for 3 hours – the maximum – OH] after refusing police's request to leave hospital housing hunger striker Mohammed al-Qiq. Head of the Joint Arab List Ayman Odeh blasted the incident as trying to silence political dissent among Israeli Arabs. "This is an attempt by the regime's institutions, from the prime minister down, to silence any form of criticism at the occupation and appropriation," he said. "The police's attempts to bully us will not stop us from fighting to help the administrative detention of al-Qiq, now on strike for 83 days and we still don't know why he's being held." (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
- Palestinian Villagers Tilled Their Land So Well, Israel Is Now Confiscating It From Them - The separation barrier will cut residents of Al-Walaja from their lands by the end of the year; the beauty of the terraces they cultivated for decades was used as one of the main reasons for announcing the area a national park. (Haaretz+)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.