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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
On Holocaust Remembrance Day Monday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called French presidential candidate Marine Le Penn a ‘Holocaust denier’ and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel he wouldn’t meet him if Sigmar met with left-wing groups - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also high in the news was the summoning of the entire US Senate for a briefing about North Korea. And, a report about a soldier injured by a Palestinian revealed some interesting facts.
 
*When German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel took off for Israel Sunday, he said German-Israel ties were deep and "unbreakable” and that Berlin would continue to press for a two-state solution. But Monday, Netanyahu told Gabriel that if he held his scheduled meetings with B’tselem and Breaking the Silence, Netanyahu would not meet him. Gabriel did not cancel his meetings with the left-wing organizations, but said it would not be a "catastrophe” or change his relationship with Israel if he didn’t meet Netanyahu. However, he said the reverse would never happen, that it would be "unthinkable" for the German government to cancel meetings with Netanyahu if he met government critics in Germany. And he noted: "You can't get a proper and comprehensive picture in any country on Earth if you only meet in government offices."
  
Rivlin admonished Le Pen during yesterday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, because she denied her country's responsibility in expelling Jews during WWII. He called her a new kind of Holocaust denier, which is “far more dangerous and destructive than what we have known so far.” Jewish, Muslim & EU leaders urged French citizens not to vote for the far-right Le Pen.
 
It is not big news these days that a Palestinian stabs an Israeli soldier. In most cases, the stabber is shot dead. But in the incident that took place Monday, in which a soldier, was lightly injured in the shoulder by a Palestinian, and the attacker was detained and not shot and killed, the details made it an unusual incident. Both of those involved were women. And the soldier, SSgt. Salem Fuaz, 25, was an Arab-Israeli from the predominantly Christian village of Eilaboun. The attacker was Asya Kabaneh, 41, a married mother of 9, who is originally from Jordan. Kabaneh said during investigation that for a long time she has been in conflict with her husband, who threatened to divorce and deport her to her family in Jordan and so she decided to carry out the attack in order for the security forces to shoot and kill her because she was fed up with her life. The Palestinian who stabbed and killed British exchange student, Hannah Bladon, last week told investigators that he chose his victim because she was standing next to a soldier who was carrying a gun, and he wanted to commit suicide by having the soldier shoot him.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

‘I am a Muslim Arab and an Israeli Zionist, and I love the Jewish people’
One of the most patriotic families in Israel lives just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip. The father—a former Gazan—wears a medallion with the map of Israel and a Star of David around his neck, two of his sons are IDF soldiers who are willing ‘to die for the State of Israel,’ and they all feel a strong connection to Judaism. Years after being smuggled into Israel following the father’s secret collaboration with the Shin Bet, they declare: ‘We have no other country.’ (Chen Kotes-Bar, Yedioth/Ynet) 
The Jew who spied for the Nazis
Journalist and author Eldad Eyal reveals in his book the painful truth about his family: his uncle was forced to aid the Nazis in exterminating the Jews in Romania, fled to Brazil after WWII and spent the rest of his life in hiding, isolated from everyone he cared for. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
Holocaust survivor photographed docs that led to Eichmann's conviction
Under orders from the Mossad, Micha Maor snuck into the office of the chief prosecutor in Germany and photographed documents proving that Eichmann was involved in the Final Solution. (Roi Yanovsky, Yedioth/Ynet)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Arrest of Palestinians for Potential Terror Attacks Brings New Meaning to 'Minority Report' (John Brown, Haaretz+) 800 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli and PA security forces as a result of a computerized program that tries to predict lone-wolf attacks based on social media posts. But how can you jail someone for a crime they haven't committed? 
Rivlin Uses Holocaust Day to Challenge Netanyahu’s Darkness and Despair (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) Where Rivlin sees a glass half full, Netanyahu sees a glass half full of poison. 
The never-ending journey: "Although I am not a Jew, I felt that my people were murdered in this place" (Israeli Police Major Nazem Fares, Maariv) I joined the IDF delegation to Poland as a Druze officer in order to search for answers to the unbearable questions about the Holocaust - and I returned from it as someone who felt it was his duty to tell about the worst and to ensure: never again. 
Who Failed the Palestinian-Israeli Peace Test? (Haaretz Editorial) Despite continually seeking 'tests' for the Palestinians, without which Israel cannot conduct peace talks with them, the one who has consistently failed the test of peace is Netanyahu himself. 
The results of the elections in France were supposed to bring the country's Jews to Israel (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) One might have expected that, in view of the achievements of Le Penn and Melenchon, all the Jews of the Republic would come to pack up their possessions and immigrate to Israel. But they probably will not. That is how Jews behave. 
Is There Room in Jerusalem for Both Jews and Muslims? (Haroon Moghul, Haaretz+) As Muslims mark Muhammad's night journey to Jerusalem,competing Jewish and Muslim traditions too often stake claims over the city that deny legitimacy to the other. 
The Populist Monster Still Won More Votes Than Macron (Carlo Strenger, Haaretz+) Moderate parties need to engage with the pain, frustration and resentment of those who feel left out, in order to connect with them the same way the likes of Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon did in France 
Palestinian, Jewish voices must jointly challenge Israel’s past (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) In an article entitled: “Catastrophic Thinking: Did Ben Gurion Try to Rewrite History?” Shay Hazkani revealed the fascinating process of how Israel's first prime minister, Ben Gurion, worked closely with a group of Israeli Jewish scholars to develop a version of events to describe what had taken place in 1947-48: the founding of Israel and the destruction of Palestine….Luckily, the disingenuous claims are increasingly challenged by Jewish voices, as well.
Wounded but Alive: It's Not Yet Game Over for Turkey's Democracy - or Its Resistance (Louis Fishman, Haaretz+) It's too early to declare the Turkish Republic dead and buried. The president's popularity has maxed out at 50 percent of the population, and the anti-Erdogan opposition won't be silenced
Free the Jews From the Occupation (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Netanyahu should have compared Barghouti to Mandela instead of Assad. But why look to South Africa? The British called Menachem Begin an arch-terrorist, too. 
How a Distorted Narrative of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Has Established Itself to This Day (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) The answer lies in the ideological and political hostility that characterized the politics of the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine 
Confessions of an Eritrean Army Deserter (Teklit Michael, Haaretz+) Eritrean 'army deserters' have not deserted their people, but the dictatorial regime who persecuted them, and must be granted asylum. 
 

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