APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday November 7, 2016
Quote of the day:
"If his legal advice is ignored, and the law passes in one cunning way or another, every person whose
work involves the implementation of this law must disobey the orders he receives—whatever the cost the regime
exacts of him."
--Yedioth commentator Yaron London writes that the bill to legalize outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land a blatantly illegal and must be defied.**
--Yedioth commentator Yaron London writes that the bill to legalize outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land a blatantly illegal and must be defied.**
Front Page:
Haaretz
- FBI chief: There is no information in the new Clinton emails that warrant charges
- (Justice Minister) Shaked presented 28 candidates for four seats in the High Court: Exceptional representation for religious-nationalists
- A list that reflects a rift // Ido Baum
- European Union committee recommends demanding from Israel compensation for demolishing structures in West Bank
- Kurds in Syria declared: We began an operation to liberate the ISIS capital
- Tel-Aviv University President: We won’t agree to gender separation in order to integrate ultra-Orthodox
- Until the next murder // Meirav Arlosoroff
- The swan song of the Israel Broadcasting Authority: Shortening of the History of the Land of Israel
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Cleared at the last moment – FBI in dramatic announcement: Clinton won’t stand trial
- American journalist Danielle Brinn reporting from Los Angeles on the Jewish vote
- Nahum Barnea reporting from Philadelphia
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- On the finish line: Strengthening for Hillary
- Where’s the weapons // Ron Miburg in Maine
- Presidential flak jacket // Shmuel Rosner in Florida
- History // Shlomo Shamir in New York
Israel Hayom
- The swing states and the undecided voters
- Head of FBI surprised again: “There is no change in the recommendation that Clinton not stand trial”
- The face of the High Court: From 28 there will be four
- Not just Mosul: The rebels in Syria announced a battle to liberate Raqaa from ISIS
News Summary:
The US elections was today's top story in the Hebrew newspapers with Yedioth devoting almost half the paper to the subject, including a front page Op-Ed by top political analyst, Nahum Barnea, who wrote that if Donald Trump wins after 40 million Americans already voted based on misleading information by the FBI chief about Hillary Clinton "it will be an unprecedented distortion." Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he expected whoever wins the US presidential elections to back direct peace talks and not impose a solution. (Also Maariv.) But a French diplomat said his country was moving forward on the French peace initiative, which will test Israel's resolve to reach a solution. Israel Hayom also wrote about whom different Israeli MKs hoped would win.
Other major stories were the refusal both by the Palestinian land-owners and the Israeli settler squatters to accept Israel's request to postpone the demolition of the Amona outpost for another seven-months. The Amona settlers vow 'peaceful resistance' to their eviction, which the High Court set two years ago as December 25th, at the latest.
The rift between the Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and the High Court Chief Justice, Miriam Naor, appeared to have narrowed some what and the two met. But they certainly don't agree on the appointment of justices. Shaked released her list of 28, four of whom will be chosen. Haaretz+ found that the list is exceptionally religious-nationalist laden.
Also of interest, Maariv reported that Channel 10 News reported Sunday night that then-former defense minister Moshe Yaalon argued with Netanyahu over the purchase of three submarines from Germany, after he heard of the intended deal from a leak. Yaalon opposed the purchase, saying the IDF didn’t need such a large fleet. Netanyahu reportedly said Israel must complete the purchase before Angela Merkel leaves office because whoever will replace her won’t sell Israel the (nuclear) submarines. The original intention was also to acquire two anti-submarine ships at a total cost of $1.5 billion. The plan to buy the second two ships was abandoned.
Quick Hits:
- Palestinian Authority foils planned terror attack - Watch: Terrorist-to-be was arrested for setting out to bomb a security checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron; he was arrested by Palestinian security forces shortly before he could perpetrate the attack; attack would have been a mass casualty event. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
- EU Forum Tells States to Ask Israel to Pay for Ruined West Bank Projects - European diplomats attributed new non-binding resolution to lack of progress in negotiations between Israel and EU over the situation in Area C. (Haaretz+)
- Israeli police detain Palestinian woman suspected of planning stab attack - The Palestinian woman was taken in for questioning after Israeli forces found two knives in her home next to a copy of the Quran, al-Samri added. (Maan)
- Palestinians file police complaint over alleged assault by settlers - The Palestinians claimed that about 20 masked Israelis attacked them with sticks, iron bars and stones as they harvest their olives. (Haaretz)
- Defense minister slams IDF officers 'infected with political syndrome' - Despite saying politicians should not criticize military officers who make political comments during briefings, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman does just that • His office responds: Lieberman "believes IDF officers should focus on protecting Israel." (Israel Hayom)
- Yair Lapid's party sides with coalition, backs bill limiting NGO involvement in election campaigns - Yesh Atid will support the so-called 'V15 bill,' which seeks to restrict NGOs' abilities to manage political campaigns during election season or carry out extensive ferrying of voters to polling stations. (Haaretz+)
- Increase in number of ultra-Orthodox and Arab students in institutions of higher education - New data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show a decline in the number of Jews who go to academia. The percentage of women is increasing, too, and stands at 58.6% in all degrees. (Maariv)
- Israeli Army Court Bars IDF From Searching Soldiers’ Phones - Military Police won’t be prevented from conducting urgent searches in soldier’s presence. (Haaretz)
- Judaism? Islam? Israel’s new religion is marathon running - Runners from abroad are getting into the act as marathon tourism ramps up around the world and in the Holy Land. (Haaretz+)
- Israel postpones expansion of Gaza fishing zone for the third time - An Israeli official said on Sunday that the temporary expansion of the northern Gaza Strip’s fishing zone would take place once Palestinian authorities in Gaza "carry out their commitments", which include placing a ship to observe the agree to monitor any violations. (Maan)
- Gazan fisherman indicted for smuggling to Hamas - Attempt to smuggle weapons to Hamas from Egypt using a fishing boat thwarted by Egyptian army; indicted individual managed to deliver diving equipment and cigarettes to Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade. (Ynet and Maan)
- Egypt Opens Gaza Crossing in Move Seen as Backing for Abbas’ Archrival - Hamas says it has detected a change in Egypt’s attitude to Gaza, taking it as Egyptian gesture toward Mohammed Dahlan, aimed at pressuring Abbas. (Haaretz)
- Three US military trainers shot dead at Jordan base - The Pentagon has confirmed that three US soldiers were killed as they were driving onto a base in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan while on a training mission in the al-Jafr base close to the southern city of Ma'an. (Agencies, Ynet)
- 'Friend of the Jews' Hillary Clinton Endorsed by ultra-Orthodox Satmar Sect - They may not believe in pantsuits or political office for women, and they won’t run her photo in their paper if she’s president, but Satmar leaders tell their followers to vote Hillary. (Haaretz)
- Syrian Kurds announce start of campaign to retake Raqqa - The Syrian Democratic Forces, led by Kurds, has officially begun its operation to drive out ISIS from its stronghold in Raqqa; 30,000 fighters will be taking part in the operation. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Israeli official: Iran commands 25,000 fighters in Syria - According to Avi Dichter, head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Iranian-backed forces are focused on fighting Sunni rebels opposed to Assad and not ISIS; Dichter: 'Two thousand years ago, Iran was an empire and now it wants to recreate that.' (Agencies, Ynet)
Features:
'I’ve taken care of the newspapers, TV is next': Netanyahu’s plot to take over the media
Since his first term, Netanyahu has railed against the 'leftist, monopolistic' media and insisted it must be diversified. But a close review reveals an obsessive, paranoid prime minister whose real aim is full control over a weakened press that sings his praises. (Gidi Weitz and Nati Tucker, Haaretz)
College Classmate Recalls Clinton's Campus Activism for Women, Minorities
'She was smart, assertive, vociferous and opinionated – even a bit intimidating,' Chana Sperber tells Haaretz of her former classmate at Wellesley. (Judy Maltz, Haaretz)
Thirty Bullets to Take Down a Teen With a Knife
Raheeq Birawi’s very brief married life in the U.S. was intolerable. Is that why she took a knife and traveled to an Israeli checkpoint three days before her planned return to America? (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
Elor Azaria, Poster Child for Israel's Moral Erosion (Ami Ayalon and Idit Shafran Gittleman, Haaretz+) The public support for a soldier being prosecuted for shooting a disarmed terrorist indicates how far Israel's security mantra is eroding basic humanitarian and democratic norms.
**The blatantly illegal order of the 'regulation bill' (Yaron London, Yedioth/Ynet) A 'blatantly illegal order' does not apply only to soldiers in the military context, but also to any person given an order from his superiors that 'pierces the eye and revolts the heart.' Therefore, if the law to legalize Amona and other such outposts passes, those entrusted with implementing it must disobey the order.
The Moment Trump Is Elected, America Will Stop Being Great (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) America is the still the strongest and most admired country in the world, but electing Trump would prove it’s gone off the rails.
The right thing to do was to use the momentum of (Rabin’s) terrible murder for a serious debate about the strength of the society (Avihu Sofer, Maariv) In days during which the battle is going on for control of the public discourse, the forces acting in the media must remember their responsibility to the integrity of the nation. We must recognize unity as a higher principle.
Yes, Israeli mother, your son is abetting a crime in the West Bank (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Seizing a tractor from a Palestinian farming family is wrong, especially when the goal is to rid them from the area.
The relationship test: the struggle for the democratic character of Israel is not over (Uri Savir, Maariv) There are currently several world leaders who feel threatened by the media and are trying to take control over it. But in an era when people get their information from social networks, in the end the government will will lose the battle.
Netanyahu Is Leading Israel to Its Next Political Assassination (Meirav Arlosoroff, Haaretz+) The only lesson Netanyahu learned from Rabin's murder is that its lessons can be consigned to oblivion if one lies long enough.
The need for long-range policy - Looking beyond the breaking point (Kobi Richter, Yedioth) Construction, education and creating benefit us, but they are long, tiring and boring. Destruction, killing, explosion and disaster are negative, but for us they are big news. Our brains decipher shapes by their outer limits and not by their same surfaces - and so this is how we perceive processes and societal structures....We are all smart, right-wing and left-wing, hawks and doves, even if our views are different. We cannot give in to our nature and try to influence our policies from the outside by a dramatic sparkling act - whether in Congress tomorrow or at the UN Security Council. We must search for the launch areas between our views and do this face-to-face, between us, through respectful dialogue.
Netanyahu’s Mouthpiece Spews McCarthyism (Haaretz Editorial) Labeling people according to their political opinions and making these opinions a condition of their employment is behavior we thought had been relegated to the dustbin of history in Israel.
Arab World indifferent to US elections: Clinton is 'bad,' Trump is 'worse' (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) Arab and Muslim rulers despise both American presidential nominees, and don't think either will want to 'get their hands dirty' in the Middle Eastern swamp. Iran's supreme leader Khamenei, however, prefers Trump, while a recent poll spanning 3,000 people in 18 Arab nations found 47% prefer Clinton, and only 9% support Trump.
What made Israel's Supreme Court chief snap at the justice minister? (Yossi Verter, Haaretz) Has Chief Justice Miriam Naor forgotten what her job is? Move over, Iran, Palestinians and leftists. In the next Israeli election, Netanyahu's scapegoat for the country's woes will be the media.
No Citizenship, No Loyalty: How to Defeat Lieberman (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Why not reverse the equation, and instead of peace and equality bringing full citizenship, have citizenship serve as the jump-off point for equality and peace?
Western 'Neutrality' Links Aleppo and the Guernica (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Like in the Spanish Civil War, the West is standing aside and letting the killing go on, The next U.S. president's stance will have far-reaching consequences.
It appeared Trump was too ready for an assassination attempt at the election rally (Ron Miburg, Maariv) The body language of the Republican candidate seemed not at all surprised. While he and his guards barricaded themselves in the bathroom, a potential assassin, who wasn’t at all armed, was detected in the audience.
Elegy for Turkey, Now a One-party State (Louis Fishman, Haaretz+) The grotesque sight of parliamentarians being dragged into police cars, mouths covered by the hands of the security forces, is the latest sign that Erdogan’s Putinization of a once proudly secular democracy is reaching a point of no return.
Since his first term, Netanyahu has railed against the 'leftist, monopolistic' media and insisted it must be diversified. But a close review reveals an obsessive, paranoid prime minister whose real aim is full control over a weakened press that sings his praises. (Gidi Weitz and Nati Tucker, Haaretz)
College Classmate Recalls Clinton's Campus Activism for Women, Minorities
'She was smart, assertive, vociferous and opinionated – even a bit intimidating,' Chana Sperber tells Haaretz of her former classmate at Wellesley. (Judy Maltz, Haaretz)
Thirty Bullets to Take Down a Teen With a Knife
Raheeq Birawi’s very brief married life in the U.S. was intolerable. Is that why she took a knife and traveled to an Israeli checkpoint three days before her planned return to America? (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
Elor Azaria, Poster Child for Israel's Moral Erosion (Ami Ayalon and Idit Shafran Gittleman, Haaretz+) The public support for a soldier being prosecuted for shooting a disarmed terrorist indicates how far Israel's security mantra is eroding basic humanitarian and democratic norms.
**The blatantly illegal order of the 'regulation bill' (Yaron London, Yedioth/Ynet) A 'blatantly illegal order' does not apply only to soldiers in the military context, but also to any person given an order from his superiors that 'pierces the eye and revolts the heart.' Therefore, if the law to legalize Amona and other such outposts passes, those entrusted with implementing it must disobey the order.
The Moment Trump Is Elected, America Will Stop Being Great (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) America is the still the strongest and most admired country in the world, but electing Trump would prove it’s gone off the rails.
The right thing to do was to use the momentum of (Rabin’s) terrible murder for a serious debate about the strength of the society (Avihu Sofer, Maariv) In days during which the battle is going on for control of the public discourse, the forces acting in the media must remember their responsibility to the integrity of the nation. We must recognize unity as a higher principle.
Yes, Israeli mother, your son is abetting a crime in the West Bank (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Seizing a tractor from a Palestinian farming family is wrong, especially when the goal is to rid them from the area.
The relationship test: the struggle for the democratic character of Israel is not over (Uri Savir, Maariv) There are currently several world leaders who feel threatened by the media and are trying to take control over it. But in an era when people get their information from social networks, in the end the government will will lose the battle.
Netanyahu Is Leading Israel to Its Next Political Assassination (Meirav Arlosoroff, Haaretz+) The only lesson Netanyahu learned from Rabin's murder is that its lessons can be consigned to oblivion if one lies long enough.
The need for long-range policy - Looking beyond the breaking point (Kobi Richter, Yedioth) Construction, education and creating benefit us, but they are long, tiring and boring. Destruction, killing, explosion and disaster are negative, but for us they are big news. Our brains decipher shapes by their outer limits and not by their same surfaces - and so this is how we perceive processes and societal structures....We are all smart, right-wing and left-wing, hawks and doves, even if our views are different. We cannot give in to our nature and try to influence our policies from the outside by a dramatic sparkling act - whether in Congress tomorrow or at the UN Security Council. We must search for the launch areas between our views and do this face-to-face, between us, through respectful dialogue.
Netanyahu’s Mouthpiece Spews McCarthyism (Haaretz Editorial) Labeling people according to their political opinions and making these opinions a condition of their employment is behavior we thought had been relegated to the dustbin of history in Israel.
Arab World indifferent to US elections: Clinton is 'bad,' Trump is 'worse' (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) Arab and Muslim rulers despise both American presidential nominees, and don't think either will want to 'get their hands dirty' in the Middle Eastern swamp. Iran's supreme leader Khamenei, however, prefers Trump, while a recent poll spanning 3,000 people in 18 Arab nations found 47% prefer Clinton, and only 9% support Trump.
What made Israel's Supreme Court chief snap at the justice minister? (Yossi Verter, Haaretz) Has Chief Justice Miriam Naor forgotten what her job is? Move over, Iran, Palestinians and leftists. In the next Israeli election, Netanyahu's scapegoat for the country's woes will be the media.
No Citizenship, No Loyalty: How to Defeat Lieberman (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Why not reverse the equation, and instead of peace and equality bringing full citizenship, have citizenship serve as the jump-off point for equality and peace?
Western 'Neutrality' Links Aleppo and the Guernica (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Like in the Spanish Civil War, the West is standing aside and letting the killing go on, The next U.S. president's stance will have far-reaching consequences.
It appeared Trump was too ready for an assassination attempt at the election rally (Ron Miburg, Maariv) The body language of the Republican candidate seemed not at all surprised. While he and his guards barricaded themselves in the bathroom, a potential assassin, who wasn’t at all armed, was detected in the audience.
Elegy for Turkey, Now a One-party State (Louis Fishman, Haaretz+) The grotesque sight of parliamentarians being dragged into police cars, mouths covered by the hands of the security forces, is the latest sign that Erdogan’s Putinization of a once proudly secular democracy is reaching a point of no return.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.