APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday September 28, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Top Israeli ministers slammed the Chief Justice of the High Court for barring a judge from attending an event in the West Bank celebrating 50 years of the settlement enterprise, two soldiers were killed in a training accident and the Chief of Staff shortened the short prison sentence of the ’Shooting Soldier from Hebron,’ Elor Azaria, who was convicted for shooting dead an already incapacitated Palestinian assailant, for which some cursed him because he didn’t annul it - making top news in the Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news was the Palestinian diplomatic achievement and Israeli failure: Palestine’s acceptance into the Interpol organization. Now Israel fears the Palestinian Authority will use its new status to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials.

*Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked accused the High Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor of ‘undoing the stateliness’ of a state ceremony. Naor wrote that a judge's attendance was 'inappropriate' due to the political nature of the event over a controversial issue: settlement in the West Bank. But Naor had the backing of the High Court justices. At the event held in Gush Etzion, Netanyahu said there would be ‘no more uprooting of Jewish or Arab towns’ in the West Bank (as if they were the same - OH). Senior Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi responded saying that “Netanyahu was more committed to settlement expansion than to peace.” Thousands attended the event, but only one person from the opposition, and that from the center-right-wing party of Yesh Atid.

On the same day, Netanyahu finally met with the Yesha Settlers’ Council representatives, who asked him to approve 10,000 new West Bank homes. Netanyahu told them that the day before he met for four hours with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Jason Greenblatt and the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who told him not to be a ‘gluttonous pig’ about settlements. Netanyahu boasted at the meeting that he had "convinced the Americans to take the distinction between settlement blocs and isolated settlements off the table,” Haaretz reported. Busy Netanyahu also attended a ceremony yesterday celebrating 120 years since the First Zionist Congress.
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:
Tunisian Jews Struggle to Preserve Ancient Island Community
The remaining Jewish families feel duty-bound to stay on Djerba even though they can envisage no future there for their children. (JTA, Haaretz)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu Is Driving Israel Toward a Binational State (Dan Margalit, Haaretz) Netanyahu is so afraid of losing his seat, he doesn’t dare challenge the coalition.
High Court is Israel’s international fortress (Yedioth’s judicial affairs correspondent Tova Tzimuki, Yedioth/Ynet) Upon the PA’s admission into Interpol, it’s quite possible that the only thing standing between an international arrest warrant and IDF soldiers serving in the territories will be the Supreme Court justices in Jerusalem, those same judges who decided to skip the ceremony marking 50 years of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The goal is clear: to destroy Israeli democracy as we know it (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The intoxication of power of Netanyahu, Regev and Shaked is clouding their senses. Sometime we'll have to try to fix the wreck that this gang will leave here. Only that it won't be too late.
The IDF became a circus: the shortening of Azaria's sentence - a miserable decision by the chief of staff (Dr. Chaim Frankel, Maariv) Chief of Staff Eizenkot contributed to the judgment of the justices of the military court who sentenced the shooting soldier a sentence which was more than "ridiculous." (Now) It was that same commander of the army who gave a serious moral blow to the body he headed.
A terrible decision by a cynical world (Yaron Blum, Israel Hayom) When will enlightened countries wake up and understand the ramifications of allowing the Palestinians membership in Interpol?
Righteous Jews, Save Your Yom Kippur Masks for Purim (B. Michael, Haaretz+) Everyone puts on a disguise this holy day – the righteous man’s mask - except they never take it off.
Har Adar attack: A painful but local incident (Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth/Ynet) Perpetrator of Tuesday’s attack doesn’t match profile of ‘classic’ terrorist or of lone-wolf terrorist inspired by terror organizations. He could have walked about Judea and Samaria and carried out attacks even without a work permit. Policy of distinguishing between terrorists and civil population has proven itself and must be maintained.
Justice Naor enlarged the abyss between the Court and the people (Maariv's settlers reporter, Karni Eldad, Maariv) I am a citizen of the State of Israel. Who are you, Miriam Naor, to demean the ceremony celebrating the victory of the Six Day War, the redemption, the settlement? With what right? From where did you get the chutzpah?
Israel's Celebrations of Folly (Haaretz Editorial) The real question isn't why judicial branch didn't participate in event marking 50 years of settlements, but why state wasn’t too embarrassed to hold such an event.
Courting controversy (Akiva Bigman, Israel Hayom) The judiciary defended its boycott of a state ceremony celebrating the settlements because they are "controversial," but statistics prove this is not the case at all.
Celebrating 50 Years of West Bank Settlements Is Cheap Political Theater (Ehud Barak, Haaretz+) A real state ceremony would have emphasized what we agree on and what unites us rather than what divides and separates us.
What Opposition? Ehud Barak Toes the Same Line as Netanyahu and the Settlers (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The stalwart of Israel's 'peace camp' is proud of the number of settlements he built, an annual construction rate that Netanyahu could only dream about.
Four lessons from the Har Adar attack (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Murder of three Israelis by Palestinian laborer calls for immediate conclusions to be drawn, both because of the sensitive timing in midst of High Holy Days and because it may encourage copycat attacks. While the attack should lead to an improvement in security checks and preventive intelligence capabilities on social media, it shouldn’t have any implications on work permit system.
Target terrorism and cultivate good relations (Yaron Blum, Israel Hayom) Tuesday's terrorist attack will bring repercussions, but these should not be at the expense of the fragile tapestry of Jewish-Arab coexistence in the Har Adar area.
The Key to Peace: It's the Economy, Stupid! (Glenn Yago and James Prince, Haaretz) Development projects focusing on the Gaza Strip may be the best way to get the Palestinians behind the peace process while relieving its crippling poverty.
The Real Reason Saudi Arabia Will Let Women Drive and It's Not About Women's Rights (‘Haaretz and Reuters,’ Haaretz) Ending the driving ban for women is likely to save families billions of dollars, boost industries from car sales to insurance, and reassure investors Saudi Arabia can diversify its economy.

 

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