"I'm a leftist, I'm Jewish and there's nothing wrong with my memory."
--Social media post by Zionist Union MK Mickey Rosenthal following statement by faction leader Avi Gabbay that 'the Left has forgotten what it means to be Jewish.'*

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Quote of the Day #2:
“Whoever thinks that 'we'll win' if we kill and destroy far more than the extent of the killing and destruction that will befall us, needs to remember all the past wars in which we "won," buried our dead and returned to the next round.”
—Maariv columnist Ran Adelist examines Israeli policies in the north and south and concludes that humiliation is preventing Israeli leaders from taking the right path to neutralize the threats to Israel.*

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Front Page:

Israel's Opposition Leader Is More Like a Likudnik (Haaretz Editorial) The political opposition desperately needs a leader who refuses to talk in ultra-nationalist Netanyahu-speak.
With his last round of appointments, IDF chief cements legacy, fires opening shot in the battle for successor (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Some candidates are already out of the running, after getting on the wrong side of West Bank settlers.
When Rabin Will Rest in Peace (Shaul Arieli, Haaretz+) Israelis need to recognize three facts about why the isolated settlements in the West Bank remain a dangerous obstacle to the two-state solution.
The Zionist Organization of America Has Forgotten What It Means to Be Jewish (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) If the ZOA had any historical perspective, it would know this: Those young Jewish radicals who were protesting outside the ZOA’s Trump adoration gala were not really being radical at all. They were being Jews.
**We have been warned: Iron Dome can not prevent this disaster either (Ran Adelist, Maariv) A few days ago, three former Rafael Advanced Defense Systems executives decided to break their silence on the most sensitive issue in the State of Israel; More sensitive than submarine scandal or Sara Netanyahu’s scandals (at the Prime Minister’s Residence). We are talking about the resilience of the Israeli public during wartime, or specifically: how the Israeli public will respond if and when rocket barrages are launched into Israel. In order to make clearer the problem, the three scientists explained that even one of the rockets in Hezbollah or Syria warehouses, which hits the petrochemical plant site in Haifa, could drive half a million civilians out of their homes and other terrible hazards. The politicians often praise the strength of the Israeli home front, but it is not clear how the Israeli collective will respond when it receives a real blow. Not necessarily the incredible destruction on the Gazan scale [referring to the destruction Israel did to Gaza during the Gaza Wars -OH], in such a case the state would collapse. Rather only what was described by the three who broke the silence. In a television interview on Channel 2 News last weekend, (Dr.) Naftali Amit, (Dr.) Avi Weinreb and Shaike Schatzberger, former senior missile scientists at Rafael, explained that all the layers of anti-missile defense systems that the security establishment boasted about would not prevent catastrophic damage as described above. The reason politicians repeatedly tell us how successful ‘Iron Dome’ is, how ‘Magic Wand’ does the job and how the ‘Arrow’ controls the atmosphere - is out of fear. Not fear of enemy missiles, but fear of the public when it realizes that Israel’s aggressive games played in Syria or in the Gaza Strip could lead to an escalation and to volleys of missile. And what does the public do when it understands that a fast one was pulled on it on a subject so sensitive? Right. It blames the government and perhaps even throws it out…The most recent three who broke their silence joined the repeated warnings of Motti Shefer, a veteran rocket scientist who had worked for many years at Rafael. In their opinion, all the defense systems, which they themselves developed, won’t prevent terrible damage. From here forward, the ordinary citizen is supposed to wonder that if the situation is so problematic - how is it that the Israeli government is playing with fire in the north and south. The answer is arrogance (they can), ignorance (they don’t understand the implications) and frustration (their failure to prevent an Iranian presence in the north and signs of unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank). At the last cabinet meeting, Netanyahu declared: "We will act in Syria according to our security needs." The truth is that no damage to an arms depot or to the Syrian army will serve Israel's security, rather it will only increase the risk of fire. Something has to happen to prove to the government that we will not go like sheep to the next round that it is leading us to. Whoever thinks that “we will win" if we kill and destroy far more than the extent of the killing and destruction that will befall us, needs to remember all the past wars in which we "won", buried our dead and returned to the next round. The only way to neutralize the threat to us is to reach a formal ceasefire agreement with Syria, Hezbollah and Iran. The Israeli government refuses to accept any arrangement because that would be a humiliating admission of the failure of its policy towards them. It is convenient for the government to maintain a war atmosphere in the north and south, and a fragile balance of terror that could drag us to another war, and perhaps that is exactly what it wants.
Saudi Arabia: Israel's Dream State (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Israel is happy to let Riyadh lead the anti-Iranian alliance, but not so happy to pay the political price of real cooperation.
A princely agent of change (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) While the jury is still out on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his chances of being the agent of change that transforms Saudi Arabia are improving daily.
Is Gaza tunnel era coming to an end? (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Following the recent tunnel demolition, part of Gaza’s military leadership feels it would be illogical to keep investing huge sums in the tunnels now that Israel has effective ways of dealing with them, not mention the underground barrier being built along the border.
Israeli Labor leader's strange strategy includes disdain for his voters (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) It's not that leftists have forgotten what it means to be Jewish, but that Netanyahu's Israel has forgotten what it means to be liberal.
Iranian military force taking shape right under Israel’s nose (Dr. Yaron Friedman, Yedioth/Ynet) Just 30 kilometers from the Israel-Syria border, Iran is recruiting young Shiite locals to create the 313th Battalion, which is receiving equipment, training and high salaries from the Revolutionary Guards, as well as help from Hezbollah operatives.
Islamic Jihad still brandishing swords (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Islamic Jihad is not open to any sort of dialogue or understandings with Israel and it cannot be expected to exercise logic. For this reason, the IDF believes the current calm on the border is deceptive. The next conflict is only a matter of time.
Israeli Labor Party's New Leader Drags It Out of Comfort Zone (Ran Shimoni, Haaretz+) Laborites would rather sit on the sidelines and cluck with scornful disapproval, while secretly hoping that ‘this Gabbay guy’ will bring back their glory days.
The hypocrisy of canceling Hotovely’s Princeton talk (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) JVP, the same Jewish organization that tried to cancel Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely’s speech at New York University, recently hosted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who has called for Israel’s destruction. But when it comes to right-wing speakers, silencing is apparently okay.
90% of Polish Jews Died in the Holocaust. So Why Are Poland's Nationalists Chanting 'Get the Jews Out of Power'? (Maya Vinokour, Haaretz) Poland's anti-Semitic far right marches to the tune of recent nationalist myths pushed by their government, including years of official denial of Polish complicity in the death of Jews in WWII - and with a little help from Donald Trump.
Shaked's time: The resignation of the head of the Justice Ministry department for petitions to the High Court of Justice is an opportunity for real change (Nadav Haetzni, Maariv) The justice minister has the option of fundamentally changing the representation of the state in the High Court of Justice and uprooting the absurd system of government that has been established here, and also the way to ensure that when it changes, the situation will not return to how it was.