News Nosh 1.5.18

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday, January 5, 2018
 
Quote of the day:
"I see myself as a man who is searching for meaning in life. This is rather different from being a staunch believer in something. A believer is someone who senses a consciousness or a direction and believes in it. The one who searches for meaning has not found the direction yet. "
-- Aharon Appelfeld (Z"L), Israeli novelist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor passed away yesterday. May his memory be a blessing.


Front Page:
Haaretz
Israel Hayom
Times of Israel
Ynet News
i24 News

News Summary:
Events in Iran continue to unfold: pro-regime rallies have followed the original popular protests in Iran for the past three days, Iran has blamed the unrest on a plot by the US, Israel, and Saudia Arabia, and now the US has imposed sanctions against five Iranian firms and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting. In an op-ed for the Times of Israel, Ron Kampeas questions whether "Trump sees the demonstrations and their repression by Tehran as an additional spur - or even the last strat - that would convince him to pull the United States out of the [Iranian nuclear deal]."

The London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat, reported that Hamas has tentatively agreed to transfer its weapons to the PLO in exchange for a key role in the organization. This was unexpected given that one month ago Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's Gaza Chief, said the reconciliation process was stalled on the issue of the future of Hamas' military wing. The report has not been confirmed by Hamas or PA officials. 

 
Quick Hits:
  • In a Haaretz feature, Nir Hasson tells the story of April 8, 1948: the battle for Al-Qastel led by the legendary Arab commander and terrorist Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, "the most disastrous day in Palestinian history," and the beginning of the Nakba.
  • A $1 million donation from Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson will buy bulletproof ambulances for the West Bank settlements. Dr. Miriam Adelson said: "How sad that some of the MDA ambulances, like the ones you see before you today, have to be protected against deadly attacks. How sad that the enemies of Israel do not hesitate to shoot at or throw rocks at vehicles whose only purpose is to provide medical assistance. In Judea and Samaria, of course, MDA doesn't only treat Jews; many Palestinians will be treated by Israel's ambulance service."
  • Michael Wolff's new book about Trump's White House quotes Steve Bannon confirming that Sheldon Adelson was a driving force behind Trump's foreign policy, particularly his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
  • Israel Hayom interviewed Brig. Gen. (ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser on his thoughts about the latest protests in Iran and what they mean for the future of the Iranian regime. Kuperwasser says: "The blow sustained by the regime as a result of everything that has happened in the last week is massive. Its entire legitimacy was shaken to the core. It obviously won't be able to continue to easily justify the support it provides to all kinds of terrorist organizations in the Arab sphere."
  • Haaretz features a piece on Israeli fears of the Arabic language. Researcher Yonatan Mendel says Israel's security establishment effectively created a new language after 1948 - Israeli Arabic. "The rationale was that Arabic is a language of the weak, perhaps the language of exile, and of course a foreign tongue. It’s a language that’s taught almost like Latin, mainly to prepare people to know enough Arabic to understand the Arab enemy – but not so much Arabic that they will come to resemble that enemy."
  • +972 interviewed Ahed Tamimi's lawyer, Gaby Lasky - also a former secretary general at Peace Now - on what this trial is teaching us about the reality of the occupation.