News Nosh 03.21.16

by APN 03/21/16
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday March 21, 2016
 
Quote of the day:
"The brouhaha that envelops Trump wherever he goes has turned the AIPAC Conference into the Trump Conference."
--Haaretz's US commentator, Chemi Shalev, laments that Donald Trump's speech at AIPAC "has eclipsed any serious discussion of one of the most turbulent years in the organization’s history." 

Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only) Israel Hayom
  • Their last journey – Travel warning: Don’t travel to Turkey
  • They only wanted to enjoy life a little // Hagit Ron-Rabinovitz
  • In Rishon L’Tzion, businessman Doron Shuster was murdered
  • Tragedy in Moshav Zitan: Husband suspected of murdering his wife and then committing suicide

News Summary:
Dead Israelis were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers: three killed in an attack in Turkey were flown back to Israel, a former Israeli Mossad chief was buried, and a Likud activist was shot dead mysteriously near his home. Also in the news, the Shin Bet said the latest arson on a Palestinian home in Duma was likely not by Jewish extremists - Palestinians thought differently, but blasted the Palestinian Authority. And in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council is expected to turn into a boxing ring today between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters as the subject of Palestinian rights in the occupied Territories is discussed. Also, Maariv reported that IDF forces train in Arab villages in the Galilee to simulate combat in Lebanese villages.
 
Turkish-Israeli relations have warmed as a result of the killing of three Israelis in an attack during a culinary trip in Turkey, Yedioth’s diplomatic affairs reporter, Itamar Eichner, wrote. Turkish President Tayip Erdogan wrote a condolence letter to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin expressing his deepest sympathies over the deaths of Israelis in his country and after five years of no relations, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director Dore Gold flew to Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart and the two emphasized that “Turkey and Israel stand at a united front in the battle against terror.”  Nevertheless, the Turkish media barely mentioned that Israelis were killed in the attack, Yedioth reported. However, Eichner also reported that “Turks placed flowers and memorial candles at the site of the attack. (Photos)
 
Maariv interviewed a Turkish doctor who treated one of the severely wounded Israelis: "Immediately after the attack, I received a phone call from the Jewish community and they asked me to reach the hospital as soon as possible to treat one of the injured Israelis,” said Dr. Erkal Bilen. “When I arrived, four Turkish doctors were treating her, she was in serious condition, sedated and on a respirator. Thankfully we succeeded in stabilizing her and giving her primary to her broken spine." Bilen is married to a Jewish woman and was at an international orthopedic surgeons’ conference in Israel they day before the attack. His family had called him to come home early due to the warnings and he arrived the night before the suicide bomber blew up. “For some time, foreign sources in Europe and Turkish intelligence have been warning us about possible terrorist attacks in Turkey. Unfortunately, our fears have been realized and the consequences are terrible." 
 
Israel upgraded its travel warning to Turkey, warning citizens not to visit the country. (Iran also warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey, Maariv reported. One of its citizens was also killed in the attack.) The DNA of the suicide bomber was identified as belonging to a young Turk who disappeared in Syria three years ago and is believed to be affiliated with Daesh (ISIS),Turkey said.
 
A brick and glass bottles used to light firebombs were thrown at 2:00AM Saturday night into the home of the only witness of the July Duma arson murders, however, Israel’s Shin Bet has said, “the articles found until now at the site are not characteristic of arson by Jews.” Nevertheless, it has kept the details of the investigation under a gag order. Yedioth's Itamar Eichner wrote that it was 'outrageous' that the UN Special Coordinator Robert Piper released a statement blaming Jewish extremists, when the Shin Bet investigation "has proven otherwise that it is not a Jewish terror." However, the Shin Bet actually said that it was an "assessment" and has not provided evidence yet.The owner of the home, Ibrahim Dawabsheh and his wife, managed to escape the fire and saw two people running away. Palestinians have no doubt that the perpetrators were Jewish extremists, but have accused the Palestinian Authority of inaction. Duma lies in area C, which is under Israeli security control and where the PA has no jurisdiction and consequently, the village and numerous others have been witness to attacks by Jewish extremists. Duma’s local council asked the PA for aid to organize local night watchmen to guard the village. Nearly 90 Palestinian villages in the West Bank currently implement nightly patrols, an organized system of self-protection against settler attacks.

Today, the UN human rights watchdog will discuss the situation of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories and debate boycotting West Bank settlements and some Israelis plan a response. Micah Avni, the son of Richard Lakin, who was murdered in a Palestinian attack in a Jewish E. Jerusalem neighborhood, will speak at the debate and call on the UN "not to ignore Palestinian violence and incitement." (Ynet Hebrew) And outside the UN building, MK Yair Lapid will lead a right-wing rally protesting the existence of the UN Human Rights Council, and calling for an end to its funding. The resolution is one of five targeting Israeli policies. They also include a call on Israel to halt its demolitions of unauthorized Palestinian structures and homes and a call on Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of right-wing pro-Israel organizations and Israelis plan to tell personal stories at the event. Yesterday, the Chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee of Israel gave a speech at the UNHRC, calling on it to "intervene in the apartheid occupation regime in the Palestinian Territories," Maariv reported. MK Yosef Jabarin also attacked “Israel’s systematic discrimination” of its Arab citizens and said that "Jewish Knesset members are promoting a bill to remove their Arab colleagues from the Knesset." 
 
Golani Brigade combat soldiers are simulating battle in Arab villages in northern Israel, Maariv reported earlier in an article titled, ‘Dangerous Training Day.” To prepare for the next confrontation with Hezbollah, the Golani Brigade is training in villages in the Galilee, which look like villages in Lebanon, because the IDF believes that in the next conflict, many Hezbollah fighters will wait for Israeli forces in urban areas in small cells. A senior commander in the Brigade explained that firing zones are not good for training. "I can’t tell a soldier, ‘Now imagine that this is a Lebanese village here.’ (So) I take him to a village in the Galilee, put a platoon into a house and pretend it's Hezbollah and they go to battle against them.”
Quick Hits:
  • Palestinian Authority presents claims against Israel to International Criminal Court - Settlement enterprise, expropriation of land and settler aggression are being discussed in Amman meetings, Palestinian official says. (Haaretz+) 
  • Suspicious man approaches Elon Moreh settlement, runs away, captured carrying shotgun - Security forces caught the man, who had a shotgun and a cartridge, in the nearby village of Azmut. He is now undergoing military investigation. (Ynet) 
  • Netanyahu: Breaking the Silence's attempt to gather intel on IDF soldiers is intolerable - Prime minister tells cabinet meeting that relevant parties are involved after last week's report on the left-wing NGO, says whoever doesn't condemn terror worldwide supports terror. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom) 
  • Israeli cabinet greenlights bill limiting NGOs' funding of political campaigns - Anti-Netanyahu group V15 named specifically in bill's explanatory notes. (Haaretz+) 
  • PM: Israeli decision to ban Palestinian products ‘racist’ - Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Sunday slammed the recent Israeli decision to ban Palestinian food products from entering Jerusalem as a “racist” and an “oppressive political” decision breaching all commercial agreements and protocols in an attempt to wipe out the Palestinian economy. (Maan) 
  • US Congress blocks $159 million in aid to PA - Members of the United States Congress are delaying a payment of $159 million in aid allocated for the Palestinian Authority in effort to pressure the PA to relaunch negotiations with Israel, the PLO ambassador to Washington said Saturday. (Maan)
  • Report: Solitary Confinement Doubled in Israeli Jails Between 2012-2014 - Courts have called solitary confinement an extreme measure that should be used sparingly. (Haaretz+) 
  • Surveillance cameras to be installed on Temple Mount in days, Jordanian cabinet minister says - Amman's minister of religious affairs says 55 cameras will monitor Israeli actions in the plaza and make the footage available worldwide over the Internet. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
  • Defense Ministry director-general Dan Harel resigns - Dan Harel, also a former IDF general, serves notice he will step down in the next few months but agrees to say on until a successor is chosen. (Haaretz+) 
  • Thousands attend funeral of 2 slain Palestinians - Thousands attended a funeral on Sunday in the village of Beit Fajjar in the occupied West Bank for two Palestinians who were shot dead Thursday after a stab attack left an Israeli soldier injured. (Maan) 
  • The family of Oron Shaul was absent from a state memorial ceremony: "The responsibility is on the Israeli government (to negotiate for his body’s release)" - The family of Shaul, who fell in the battle in Shujaiyeh, during Operation Protective Edge, and whose body was kidnapped, was absent from the ceremony for fallen security forces whose place of burial is unknown. "We are expecting Oren to come back." (Maariv) 
  • 3 Gaza tunnels collapse, Hamas operatives wounded, missing - Three Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades' operatives seriously wounded, at least five others are missing as connected underground passageways cave in. Hamas attributes incident to gas blast, bars media coverage to hinder Israeli intelligence gathering efforts. (Israel Hayom)
  • 15 Egyptian officers killed, 3 missing after Sinai checkpoint attack - Egyptian security sources told Ma’an that a suicide bomber detonated a car at the al-Safa checkpoint south of el-Arish. Gunmen believed to be affiliated to the Sinai Province organization (previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis) then arrived on the scene and opened fire, making sure all the police officers were dead. (Maan and Israel Hayom)  
  • 1,500 protest in Jerusalem against suspension of Falashmura airlifts from Ethiopia - Protesters call on government to implement cabinet resolution to bring 9,000 Falashmura waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar. 'If these were 9,000 blue-eyed, blond children they would have been here yesterday,' lawmaker says. (Haaretz) 
  • Israeli Short Film About Drone Operator to Screen at Tribeca Film Festival - Ben Hakim’s short is one of several Israeli films selected – others include Udi Aloni’s 'Junction 48,' a love story about two Palestinian hop-hip artists. (Haaretz+) 
  • Theatrical Event Explores True Story of Israeli Teacher Fired for 'Leftist' Views - The story of a teacher’s dismissal in the wake of a student’s accusation that he espoused ‘extreme left-wing opinions’ becomes a theatrical event as enthralling as it is depressing. Who knew that 
reality could be such a witty satirist? (Haaretz+)
  • Mr. Spock Gives Blessing to First-ever Female Priestly Benediction at Western Wall - With funding from the Leonard Nimoy estate, Women of the Wall will hold event during Passover. (Haaretz+) 
  • Vanderbilt announces scholarship in memory of U.S. student killed in Tel Aviv terror attack - The scholarship in honor of Taylor Force, an army veteran who was visiting Israel with business school classmates when he was stabbed to death this month, prioritizes military academy graduates. (Haaretz+) 
  • Future of legal battle against BDS meets in Israel - 45 lawyers, scholars, and judges from around the world convene in Israel for an eight-day seminar to meet with top Israeli legal experts and learn ways to fight BDS, employing their legal expertise. (Ynet)
  • Oxford Labor Club Officer Steps Down, Citing anti-Israel Motion - Disabilities officer Brahma Mohanty becomes second club official to resign since motion endorsing Israel Apartheid Week. (JTA, Haaretz) 
  • Time Magazine updates criticized article on deadly October Jerusalem attacks - The article was criticized by Israel for portraying one of the perpetrators of the attack, which killed four Israelis, as a victim of security forces. (JTA, Haaretz) 
  • Obama to Iranians: Nuclear Deal's Benefits Are 'Undeniable' - In his annual video message marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Obama says the deal makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy. (Agencies, Haaretz) 

Features:
Israeli-Americans Angle to Be Influential Players in U.S. Political Sphere
The Israeli-American Nexus wants the perspective of Israelis to be heard in American politics, from blocking BDS bills to encouraging scientific collaborations. (Debra Nussbaum Cohen, Haaretz+) 
War Machine: Human robots that help save lives IDF
With a wave of terror in the background, a new project in the IDF allows its medical teams on the ground to train robots that simulate a serious injury, vomiting and can even scream in pain. (Nurit A. Brown, Maariv)

Commentary/Analysis:
False Bravado Aside, Israel Is Helpless in the Face of Palestinian Resistance (Kobi Niv, Haaretz+) The pundits say Israel should act more vigorously - as if that will make the situation better. 
The only people planning for the day after Abbas (Menachem Klein, +972mag) Mahmoud Abbas’s sudden departure from the political stage could throw Palestine into complete chaos. And the only two sides preparing for such an eventuality are the Israeli Right and Hamas.
Breaking the Silence Is a Legitimate Outlet for Israeli Military Whistle-blowers (Tal Niv, Haaretz+) Israeli leaders strive to present Breaking the Silence as the enemy. Outlawing the human rights group would not bode well for Israeli freedom of expression.
The lies of Breaking the Silence (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) It is regrettable that Breaking the Silence has become a loyal servant of Israel's enemies.
The Israeli media is branding Breaking the Silence as traitors (Haggai Matar, +972mag) The campaign against the Israeli Left continues: why did Channel 2 air a segment that paints Breaking the Silence as a traitorous organization that peddles in state secrets?
Israel Police Does the Government's Bidding by Suppressing Protests (Haaretz Editorial) One function of the police is to protect citizens who are exercising their democratic rights. It must not serve as the operational arm of government interests. 
Inside Hamas, a bitter and very personal battle for control (Avi Issacharoff, Times of Israel) Qatar-based political smoothie Khaled Mashaal is gradually losing authority to ruthless ex-prisoner Yahya Sinwar, the people’s champion who is directing operations from Gaza. 
In the Name of Mizrahi Nationalism (Rami Kimchi, Haaretz+) Culture Minister Miri Regev is doing a good job representing the legitimate right of the Mizrahi periphery to give cultural expression to its pride, and that scares the Ashkenazi elite.
Doesn’t represent them all: Do the Arab parties represent the views of the population that they represent? (Eli Bachar and Nasrin Haddad Haj-Yihiyeh, Maariv) The stance of Hadash and Balad parties on the side of Hezbollah harms the advancement of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. But one needs to remember that it was a  declaration of politicians, and not of the will of the Arab public. 
Meir Dagan: The man who wouldn't be Mossad chief without Ariel Sharon (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) One must first understand the former prime minister to understand Meir Dagan - both were sorcerer's apprentices turned sorcerers.
Erdoğan is paying the price (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The Turkish president's successful efforts to Islamize his country are responsible for the rise in terrorism, an obvious result; he has only himself to blame. 
Amid the suicide bombs, Turkey's desperate need to reconcile with Israel (Louis Fishman, Haaretz+) The ruling AKP party, used to sanctioning extreme anti-Israeli rhetoric and even blatant anti-Semitism, has condemned the anti-Israeli hate tweet of a party activist after the Istanbul bombing. It's is a sign of how actively Turkey is now courting Israel.
How Netanyahu Stayed in Power This Long (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) A lengthy stay in power is nothing unusual, as Labor can attest, for its the ruling party's ability to provide security that determines its longevity. 
Learning from an evangelist about Israel (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) My interlocutor on the plane could tell me why immigrants receiving state support need Christian help and the dangers Israel faces even though God promised the land to the Jews.
Even Before Terror Attacks, Jewish-Israeli Tourists Were Avoiding Turkey (Rina Rozenberg, Haaretz+) Tourism never really recovered after the Gaza flotilla incident in 2010 soured diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel. Now, most tourists from Israel are Israeli Arabs.
Trump Set to Dominate the AIPAC Conference - Whether They Like Him or Not (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Instead of thousands of enthusiastic fans who roar at his every word, Trump will face a tough audience of critical Jews, brimming with scorn. Or will he?
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

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