APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday February 25, 2018
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
With the usual exception of Israel Hayom, US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US embassy would be transferred from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem on Israel’s Independence Day did not steal the headlines from the main story in the rest of the Israeli media: the corruption scandal in which the Walla news website owned by the main shareholder of Bezeq Telecom gave favorable coverage to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his wife and son, in exchange for benefits to the Israeli telecom giant. Also a top story, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, the rabbi who led the battle against the military draft of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, passed away yesterday and was buried today.

As the Israeli media squeezed out more details in Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla affair, the police are planning to question Netanyahu under warning before he sets off for the US on Thursday to attend the AIPAC conference. Netanyahu is expected to be questioned under warning in Case 4000 and he will need to give testimony in Case 3000, the Submarines affair, involving allegations of bribes exceeding $1 billion in a German contract to supply boats and submarines to Israel. Yedioth revealed that police tapped the phones of the three main suspects in Case 4000 following the testimony of Ilan Yeshua, the CEO of Walla website. Yeshua reportedly told police that Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Walla and main shareholder of Bezeq, "looks nice and smiley, but the Elovitch family is a crime family.” Yeshua also said that Elovitch ordered 'attacks on the right wing, except for the Netanyahus.’ Nevertheless, another poll confirmed what the previous ones this week found: That despite support dropping for Netanyahu, the Likud remains the strongest party with 28 of the 120 Knesset seats. Yesh Atid would be not far behind with 24 seats.

Netanyahu hailed the move as a 'great moment,’ but the Palestinians are furious with the US plans to move the embassy to Jerusalem - and particularly in the month when they are marking the anniversary of the Nakba, the loss of their lands and the creation of the refugee problem with the establishment of the State of Israel. The PLO said the move increases regional destabilization. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it will destroy the two-state solution. Hamas called it a 'declaration of war' against Muslims. Turkey said it damages peace and it ignores international law. Interestingly, Sheldon Adelson, the Netanyahu supporter and publisher of Israel Hayom, who is also a GOP mega-donor, has offered help fund part of the $500 million relocation project - and the US State Department is weighing the offer. Haaretz has a ‘Jerusalem for Dummies: Why the World Doesn't Recognize It as Israel's Capital’ and 'Jerusalem for Dummies, Part 2: What the Palestinians want.'
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:
'Israelis have changed, they hate more and are more insular'
This week at the Tel Aviv airport: Two future doctors talk about the obstacles they face in Israel because they studied medicine abroad. (Liat Elkayam, Haaretz+)
'Israel's presence on the Golan is not temporary'
Researcher Zvi Hauser's heart lies with settlement, but most of his activity is based on promoting a strategic change in thinking about the Golan Heights – namely, that an Israeli withdrawal is not and will never be on the table as part of any deal. (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom)
From a youth prison, to the Hashomer farm and from there to the IDF Paratroopers unit: "The IDF saved me"
The  life course of Haim Farhi, 19, could easily have led him behind bars, but his determination to do a meaningful service in the IDF rescued him from the cycle of crime. (Moshe Cohen, Maariv)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem Is No Cause for Celebration (Haaretz Editorial) The relocation should cap negotiations leading to a Palestinian state, East Jerusalem its capital, alongside Israel, its capital is West Jerusalem.
Instead of allowing breathing space for the political echelon, the air force serves as a catalyst for war (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Using planes exempts the IDF from a ground-based entrenchment, preserves the assumption that it has the upper hand, and is supposed to allow the government to achieve calm, and in practice serves as a catalyst for a comprehensive war.
The Return of the Submarines (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) When Netanyahu finally testifies in the case, the main question will be: Was he aware of the severe conflicts of interest of his closest associates?
The police started a hunt for money allegedly transferred from (Bezeq owner) Elovitch to Netanyahu (Amir Zohar, Maariv) Beyond the sympathetic coverage of the Walla website, Case 4000 contains a big question mark regarding what the Prime Minister received in return from Bezeq. Maariv has learned that the subject is of concern to the investigators.
With the attack on police chief, Netanyahu made one tactical error too many (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The latest burst of investigations and associates turning state’s evidence is putting Netanyahu to his first real test.
Institutionalized corruption: Most of the media headlines are based on deals between the media and politicians (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) Behind the bulk of the "exclusive news" are transactions between elected officials and the media. Only, in contrast to the bribes that are transferred in envelopes, the public agrees to accept this corruption.
Netanyahu is at the edge of an abyss, but he still won't quit – even if indicted (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Members of Netanyahu's party want to see him go now, but they are afraid to say so publicly.
Israeli democracy can not act like a field court (Kalman Libeskind, Maariv) Even within the great madness we are in, it is impossible to let the latest newscast dictate the events. There are areas where there are no shortcuts. The prime minister's ouster is one of them.
Israel is fast becoming a rogue state. And Trump is complicit in that downfall (Stephen Robert, Haaretz+) America has always acted as a brake on the Israeli right wing’s more destructive moves to sabotage peace. Trump has ended that.
The public is smarter than the media (Akiva Bigman, Israel Hayom) Despite all the noise over the investigations involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, media pundits are amazed to discover that the public is maintaining healthy skepticism and continues to support their leader.
The Real Corruption (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Politicians are charlatans, the sun rises in the east; politicians are false, some more than others. That’s the norm, that’s how it must be.
The Ministry of Strategic Affairs is confident that action against the BDS does not harm Israel's image (Yossi Melman, Maariv) The ministry rejects the claim that it cooperated with the Kela Shlomo company, one of whose founders is Amos Yadlin, in the face of the boycott organizations, that detract from the reputation of Jerusalem in the world: "We are not a dark force.” (Maariv)
Trump, take note: How Jerusalem went from hosting 16 embassies to zero (David B. Green, Haaretz) President Donald Trump may still be mulling whether to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but countries such as Chile, the Netherlands and Kenya once had ambassadors in the city.
As in real estate, it appears that there is someone funding the peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) The American president defines the achievement of a political solution to the conflict as the "ultimate deal." At the same time it was reported that the billionaire Sheldon Adelson proposed to finance the establishment of the embassy.
Likud Lawmaker Assaults Democracy in Rabin Comparison (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) Miki Zohar’s conspiracy theory is nothing less than an all-out challenge to the rule of law in Israel.
The counterrevolution is complete (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) At the end of a week that has rattled the Israeli public, let those on both the Right and the Left be thankful the Supreme Court is now headed toward necessary change.
Israel's Ruling Party as a Rowdy Militia (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) The Likud conducts itself like a militia, like a family in which the collective memory includes bad relations with 'the government' or 'the state'
Democracy is bleeding (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom)
The selective law enforcement in Israel that is leading the police to target PM Netanyahu almost exclusively should concern us all. This selectivity becomes even more apparent when contrasted with the way rival politicians' real sins are ignored.
What Really Turned Mort Klein From a Preacher Against Qatar to Its Propagandist? (Steve Rabinowitz, Haaretz+) The Mort I used to know, sometimes a lone ideologically honest voice on the Jewish community's far right, said only a few years ago Qatar backed 'Nazi-like organizations that want to kill every Jew.' Now he's touring Doha and defending funders of terror. What happened?
Obscuring the Expulsion (Friday Haaretz Editorial) Netanyahu's criminal investigations overshadow the injustice of deporting asylum seekers.
If You Knew My Friend Nassrin From Gaza (Netta Ahituv, Haaretz+) There’s nothing political in my worrying. I’m sure that if you knew Nassrin, you too would be concerned for her welfare.
Why Israel must respond to Iranian aggression with disproportionate force (Gerald M. Steinberg, Haaretz+) For Israel, deterrence has always been its national security core, but Tehran's behavior challenges that strategy. That means Israel has to rethink what will prevent a future crisis with Iran becoming a catastrophic war.

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