APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday June 13, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Hamas warned that Israel’s sharp cut of electricity to Gaza would lead to an “explosion,” the New York Times reported that Israel penetrated the computers of ISIS bomb makers and the war over freedom of expression continued between Israeli government leaders and Israeli artists and actors at the Israeli Oscars’, making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also, the latest interesting declarations from Haaretz’s annual Israel Conference on Peace.
 
Due to power shortages, sewage flowed in the streets of the Gaza Strip and entire hospital wings stopped functioning after Israel further reduced the supply of electricity to Gaza, this time at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The ruling Hamas movement in Gaza said the cut was “disastrous,” as did many others, and that it would lead to an “explosion.” The Palestinian Authority, which asked Israel to cut the supply and said it would not pay for it anymore, said Hamas bears the blame for the power crisis. Haaretz+’s Amos Harel said neither Israel or Hamas wants a face-off, but they are headed in that direction. Speaking at the Israel Conference on Peace, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz admitted that Israel has no policy on Gaza. Meanwhile, Gaza is bracing itself for “collapse,” particularly at hospitals. Since April, some two million Palestinians have had to make do with just three to four hours of electricity a day - the new electricity cuts will keep the power on for just two to three hours a day.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu boycotted the Israeli Oscar’s ceremony last night and Culture Minister Miri Regev gave a speech and then walked out because of the performance of a song written by Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish. Netanyahu’s boycott was over the prize awarded to actor-director Oded Kotler who, in 2015, gave a now-famous speech at a rally by artists against Culture Minister Miri Regev, whose policies harmed freedom of expression. “Imagine your world, Mrs. Regev,” he said, “as a quiet world, with no book, no music, no poem, a world with no one to disturb... no one to disturb the nation, in its celebration of 30 mandates, followed by a marching herd of beasts chewing straw and stubble.” Kotler was responding to Regev, who had told artists that Likud had received 30 Knesset seats and had defeated the Left, which the artists are generally identified with.
 
*Interesting quotes from the Israel Conference on Peace:

Quick Hits:

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Features:

'I Left Iraq but Iraq Never Left Me': Jewish Exiles Finally Begin to Tell Their Story
Sephardi Voices, an audiovisual documentary project, aims to retell the story of Jewish civilization to include 'the richness of Sephardi Jews.’ (Eetta Prince-Gibson, Haaretz+) 
Fought against Zionism, waited for the Messiah, surrendered to the Frenchwoman: the story of the leader of Neturei Karta
He did not touch Israeli money, he asked for Jordanian citizenship, he broke up soccer games and pushed away Rabbi Kook [spiritual father of Messianic Zionism – OH] to the point of a public trial. Amram Blau was the man behind the community, who never used force. (Carmit Sapir Weitz, Maariv) 
Despite anti-Semitism and Terror, These Young Jews in Europe Are Optimistic About the Future
Generation 3.0, the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors or of those who grew up behind the Iron Curtain, are now finding their voices. (JTA, Haaretz)
  
Commentary/Analysis:
The creeping fascism of Israel’s right-wingers (Bernard Avishai, Haaretz) It’s not by chance the latest government target is Israel’s universities: Academia offers a constant challenge to their dream of social discipline in the Jewish state. 
Pursuing normalization for West Bank settlers (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) If Justice Minister Shaked implements only 10 percent of her agenda, Israelis will find themselves living in a completely different country. 
In Choosing to Cut Power to Gaza, Israel Bets on Abbas and Hopes to Avoid a War (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Inner cabinet’s decision seems unlikely to serve Israeli interests in the Strip - assuming that the Netanyahu government has actually defined them. 
Annexing Israel to the Settlements (Oren Yiftachel, Haaretz+) The leadership of the settlers has had enough of the never-ending Israeli debate over annexing the territories. So instead of waiting, they have started annexing Israel to the settlements. 
Anarchy in Kafr Qasem (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) The Islamic militia in the town should be disbanded as Israel explores why criminal violence has become so dominant in some Arab communities. 
Qatar without carriages: Will the Arab boycott lead the emirate to Iran? (Yoram Dori, Maariv) The decision of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen to sever their ties with the small Arab state was greeted with joy in Jerusalem, but could end in tears here too.
There's a Partner for Hurting Gaza (Haaretz Editorial) Israeli government must order the supply of electricity to Gaza to continue, and make it clear to Abbas that internal Palestinian battles won’t be waged on the back of either Israel’s own citizens or the people living under its control.
Journalism, history and war: Sit, type, and bleed (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) In the case of the Middle East, the news narrative has been defined by others and dictated on Arab journalists and audiences for far too long. This hardly worked in the past but, in the last a few years, it has become even more irrelevant and dangerous. There is too much at stake for journalism not to be fundamentally redefined by those who are experiencing war, understand the pulse of the region, fathom the culture and speak the language of the people.
'Fishmanism,' the Exclusive Club That Stunts the Israeli Economy (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Just like fallen tycoon Eliezer Fishman, a few moguls, executives, lawyers and consultants buy and sell concessions from the state - and in the process destroy tens of billions of shekels. 
The Right will only benefit (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) When students at an exclusively left-wing university are taught topics that go against their own worldviews, it only deepens their opposition.
Israel's Victory in Six-Day War Perplexes Arab Intellectuals to This Day (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Especially in Egypt, historians and others are still wondering whether 'the Arab personality' was responsible for the 1967 disaster, or whether such theories are nonsense. 
Artists must stop inventing fascist enemies (Meir Uziel, Maariv) Oded Kotler, who released almost violent statements, and Mira Awad, who performed a song of a supporter of terrorism at a state ceremony, feel that they are part of a holy war. It’s time they stop.
The only solution to the ‘right of return’ (Daniel Friedmann, Yedioth/Ynet) The invention of eternal ‘refugeeism,’ which is passed on from one generation to another, aims to serve as one of the tools for Israel’s destruction. The Palestinian leadership cannot say it wants peace with Israel while supporting the return of refugees.
Funny, caring and green: the other faces of the State of Israel (Uri Savir, Maariv) From the example that the Israeli gives to the American in terms of environmental protection, through our talented writers and satirists to the Gay Pride parade. That's how we are. 
The salvation of Israel's academia (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) A small but noisy and militant group must not be allowed to indoctrinate and re-educate students, under the respectable cloak of academic freedom of expression. 
"I am the responsible adult": The speech that Netanyahu will not give to Oded Kotler (Ben Caspit, Maariv) I dreamed that the prime minister decided to surprise everyone and put the differences aside and show up to the Israeli Oscars awards ceremony, but in the end I awoke with a cold sweat in front of Mariano (Edelman, comedian who plays Netanyahu on satire show) and the screams of Miri Regev.
No Great Cause for Israeli Pride (Inna Yakubov, Haaretz+) Not far from Tel Aviv are Palestinians liable to be killed because they’re gay. They are vulnerable to becoming targets of extortion by the Israeli security services.
Academic freedom is off limits (Doron Shultziner, Israel Hayom) Only professional considerations, not any code of ethics, will guide me or my colleagues when it comes to researching what we want. 
Who Determines What’s 'Political' (Aeyal Gross, Haaretz+) There is a clear bias in the new academic code in favor of the status quo, which is not perceived as political, but as neutral, which it isn’t.
Good for Grandpa Dayan: Why I don’t like military historian Dr. Uri Milstein (Lior Dayan, Maariv) I have a big problem with Dr. Uri Milstein. Last week - and also in the past - he tormented us with a long essay about Moshe Dayan [my grandfather], some of which was slanderous. This historian of military history has already buried our best generals in the past. Each time he chooses another victim and his diagnosis is usually the same - the man is a total failure who happened to fall upon his job…The amazing inconceivable thing is that after reading Milstein's articles, it’s a wonder that the State of Israel still exists. You can say a lot about Moshe Dayan. An antiquarian, adulterous. But no doctor of military history can take away the fact that he was one of the most creative soldiers we've had. 
 
 

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