APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday May 30, 2016
 

Quote of the day:

Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
With the glaring exception of Israel Hayom, today’s top story in the Hebrew newspapers was the police recommendation to indict Sarah Netanyahu. Also making top news was the after-midnight agreement between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett that paved the way for MK Avigdor Lieberman to be sworn-in today as defense minister.
 
*The Attorney General will now need to decide whether to indict the prime minister's wife in regards to three different cases that included hiring a caregiver for her elderly father using taxpayer’s money, falsely claiming a higher number of guests than invited for dinners at the private residence in Caesarea in order to use the extra money to hire a private chef and waiters, and hiring an associate to do home repairs at the private residence at the taxpayers’ expense. The police probe was based on a state comptroller’s report from February 2015, along with evidence supplied by Meni Naftali, the former chief caretaker at the official residence. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is now advancing a bill to remove authority from the State Comptroller and ‘harm the institution,’ wrote Yedioth. Furthermore, the police recommended closing the investigation of Meni Naftali for alleged sexual harassment of employees, saying, "there was no evidentiary foundation of a criminal offense." Naftali claimed he was being falsely accused in order to smear his name in the court case that he made against Sarah Netanyahu for maltreatment – and which he won. (Maariv) Strangely, in the statement released to the media, the police failed to name Mrs. Netanyahu. Yedioth’s senior political commentator Sima Kadmon summed up the general feeling: “It’s hard to believe that anyone fell from his chair when it became clear yesterday that the police recommend putting the Prime Minister’s wife on trial…There was no shock here, but rather indifference and the feeling of, ‘okay, what else is new. What will we hear now that we haven’t yet." [See Commentary/Analysis for the rest of Kadmon's powerful piece.] Commentators discussed whether this would bring the fall of Netanyahu.” Kadmon was doubtful this would lead to an indictment, while Maariv’s senior political commentator, Ben Caspit, who has written for years about the controversial goings-on of the Netanyahu’s, thought this was a good beginning.

Kadmon wrote that the police recommendation to indict Sarah Netanyahu was the biggest concern yesterday of Binyamin Netanyahu – and not that his coalition was in crisis. Fortunately for him, the coalition crisis was resolved after midnight when coalition partner, Education Minister Naftali Bennett agreed to a compromise with Netanyahu that would see the appointment of someone who would update the cabinet about security issues. [The State Comptroller's report revealed that Netanyahu and then-defense minister Moshe Yaalon had not updated the cabinet about 2014 Gaza war.] Bennett had threatened to veto the appointment of Lieberman as defense minister even to “go all the way” even if it meant leaving the government. Before the deal was reached, Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog said he was “watching and greatly enjoying the Bibi-Bennett crisis.” (Maariv). Moreover, Labor party members claimed that Netanyahu was still trying to get the Zionist Camp to join the government. (Maariv) Haaretz wrote that Herzog was open to that, but Herzog said publicly that there was ‘no door and no window’ for that to happen.

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Quick Hits: 

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Commentary/Analysis:
Support From All Sides Makes Bennett a Future Candidate for Defense Chief (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The compromise reached by Netanyahu and Bennett will save the coalition and strengthen the security cabinet, but the risk of war – which has to do more with top officials' judgement – still remains.
Lieberman's flexible future (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) The incoming Minister of Defense has been championing the idea of a comprehensive arrangement between Israel and the Arab world for a long while. Now, with Egyptian President al-Sisi promoting just such a move, Lieberman's commitment to his proclaimed vision will be put to the test.
Looking for an Alternative to the Messianic Right (Roni Schocken, Haaretz+) Israel's center and left must sit down and talk about the challenges facing a Jewish and democratic state.
Extortion: When Lieberman's appointment proves to be a disaster on a national scale (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Lieberman wasn’t appointed defense minister in May 2016, but in November 2015, when Netanyahu met with Obama and then agreed to a series of significant moves to ease things for the Palestinians in order to repair relations with the US and receive more aid. The Elkin-Bennett gang opposed the agreement Netanyahu made in with President Obama to withdraw Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and forced Netanyahu to break his promise. Netanyahu knows that Lieberman is the Trojan horse of the Elkin-Bennett gang within the party and the coalition of the prime minister. For the Elkins and the Bennetts, there is no difference between Lieberman and Netanyahu. Both are seen as goyim [outsiders] of the ultimate goal, which is to preserve the house (their settlements) and its foundations (their Judaism). But in the meantime Netanyahu was rescued from the dismantling of the government, and that's of course the main thing. 
When It Involves Netanyahu's Wife, Israel's Top Cop Becomes Her Protector (Gidi Weitz, Haaretz+) Newly installed Commissioner Roni Alsheich's decision to hide the police's recommendation to indict Sara Netanyahu is evidence that he's one of the worst police chiefs Israel has ever had.
*My wife's state (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth) It’s hard to believe that anyone fell from his chair when it became clear yesterday that the police recommend putting the Prime Minister’s wife on trial…There was no shock here, but rather indifference and the feeling of, ‘Okay, what else is new. What will we hear now that we haven’t yet…because this is the same Mrs. with a different overcoat of the findings of the state comptroller’s report in the BibiTours affair, and of a whole world that was revealed to us ever since the first term of the couple 20 years ago. A world in which it is not the state that has a leader, but rather a leader who has a state. A feeling that every morning, we need to thank G-d that we have a prime minister of such stature like Netanyahu, who agreed to lead a state that is small for him by a few sizes, instead of being, for example, the President of the United States. That is what the wife of the Prime Minister thinks, that is what she says, and that is the atmosphere that comes out of the home on Balfour Street, which increased in their second term, their third term and their fourth term. And for this feeling, that there is no one as important as I am – we are paying, and paying big time. We are talking about a world in which stinginess and a feeling of ‘I deserve’ are used in a mix and create a destructive combination, not to mention one that is disgusting, by the couple that has a state that is supposed to supply them with all their needs. And it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a double-bed for a five-hour flight, ice-cream at a cost that would feed a whole family or costs for the care of he sick father of the Mrs. Whoever doesn’t have a problem that his employee will take money from his personal account to fund trips abroad for the prime minister’s children because the prime minister doesn’t have a credit card, why should he feel uncomfortable when public funds pay for his private expenses...Only yesterday a photo was published of Chelsea Clinton, heavily pregnant and traveling on the subway, without any private guards. Did we ever see Yair Netanyahu on the bus or train?...Allow me to guess that nothing will come of this story, which has continued already for one and a half years without a bit of justice and its end will be just like all the Netanyahu actions, from the Amdi affair to the Bibitours affair. And it really doesn’t matter if on the way a character assassination was made of Meni Naftali, the only one who dared, but definitely not the only one who knew. For those who managed to forget, while the police investigated the complaints, the advisor Nir Hefetz and the Netanyahu family attorney David Shomron held a press conference and accused Meni Naftali of sexual harassment. Another accusation by the Netanyahu family that was thrown into the air like poisonous gas as if it were nothing. They say that Netanyahu yesterday was a very distressed man, like every time they pick on his wife: The media. The ungrateful employees. The police. The prosecutors. The left-wing. Not the coalition crisis bothered him. Not the postponing of the defense minister’s swearing-in. What concerned Netanyahu was his wife’s troubles. And that is how the state is being run, and the caravan passes, and the dogs bark, and Sarah and Bibi win forever.  
She turned over on them: The radical policy change of the commander of the Israel Prison Service (Amir Zohar, Maariv) "The discussion over prisoners' rights takes too much space. Prison sentences are extremely short.” These are the statements by the new IPS commander, Ofra Klinger, who promised a societal-security organization, but change her position. 
Stable Government? Not in Israel (Tal Niv, Haaretz+) There's an election every two years and the threat of another is a constant. What policy can be formed from this?
The magician: The public knows that Netanyahu is lying, but it believes he is doing it for them (Udi Segal, Maariv) Prime Minister created a limitless denial space and the ability to maneuver politically, but especially he created rare public immunity, and outwardly, he appears indefagtible. But his statements do not spark ideological debate because even his ministers don’t believe him.
There Is No Baby, Kahlon. Throw Out the Bathwater and Leave the Coalition (Haaretz Editorial) The Kulanu leader must not allow his party to serve as a life preserver for the most right-wing and dangerous government that Israel has ever had.
The train of justice has started on its path: the truth about the Netanyahu family wins (Ben Caspit, Maariv) If the police were investigating the Netanyahu family as it investigated Olmert, it this would have ended long ago. But the police, as well as the sources above it, with criminal negligence, let this go on for many years.
Netanyahu, Why Don't You Have a Credit Card? (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) You, who were Israel’s finance minister at the time, got an aide to pay for personal expenses and you paid him back. No wonder the state comptroller is investigating. 
A government with one voice (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) The absence of former ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Avi Gabai will thin out governmental discourse.
Caution: Falling Elites (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) There’s an Arab saying: 'Hold fast to the crap you have, lest it be replaced with even worse crap.' 
Meretz wants to replace the Netanyahu government with the Mahmoud Abbas government (Kalman Libskind, Maariv) What I saw at a left-wing demonstration in Tel Aviv? Meretz flags, red flags and Palestinian flags. What is the connection between Palestinian flags and the left-wing criticism of the government, that is what I didn’t quite understand. [ANSWER: The demonstrators waved Israeli and Palestinian flags calling for a diplomatic solution that would bring about two states. – OH] 
Has Reality Closed in on Netanyahu? (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Could it be that he brought Lieberman into the government because he understands that to make progress toward a solution with the Palestinians, he needs the right wing at his side – and the more radical, the better? 
Traveling to Oxford to Debate the Two-state Solution (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Why is the rest of the world more interested in discussing solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than Israelis are? 
Netanyahu Is Here to Stay for a Long Time, So Get Used to It (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) For over 20 years, the fate of Israel’s citizens has been tied to him, and people still refuse to digest the Netanyahu phenomenon. Predictions of his imminent fall or, at least the beginning of the end, have been heard on countless occasions. 
We fear Lieberman because he embodies Israel’s darker side (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Democracy and freedom are not just measured on a fixed scale, but also against our expectations, and Israeli democracy has been exemplary. 
Who Is Excluding Whom? (Dan Michman and Dina Porat, Haaretz+) The demand to study the Holocaust only as part of the study of genocide is a recipe for shutting down open discussion the way it exists at Yad Vashem. 
 

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.