APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday March 4, 2018

You Must Be Kidding: 
"Had the force noticed the baby, needless to say they would have acted otherwise."
--The Israel Police response to the video showing Border Policeman throwing a tear gas grenade toward the backs of a Palestinian couple holding an infant and running from their home, which was hit by tear gas.**

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Breaking News:
Two soldiers, a Border Policemen lightly wounded in  car- ramming in northern Israel
Arab-Israeli driver plows his vehicle into them in mixed Jewish-Arab city of Acre. IDF officer shoots driver, who is in critical condition. Conflicting reports of a terror attack and an angry driver who was issued a parking ticket. Police say it was a politically-motivated attack. (Israel Hayom, Haaretz, Maariv and Ynet) [NOTE: Ynet calls it a 'terror attack', Haaretz and Maariv no take police conclusion as correct, but rather simply report on it. - OH]

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
In the midst of probes and despite his statement before flying to the US that he has no plans to go to elections, today’s Hebrew newspapers thought Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu might go to early elections, particularly with the threat by ultra-Orthodox parties of the collapse of the coalition government if the Draft Law isn't passed.

Also in the news: A Palestinian official told Haaretz that the Palestinian Authority, furious over the US embassy transfer to Jerusalem, will reject the Trump peace plan, which is expected in coming weeks, thereby enabling Netanyahu and Trump to paint the Palestinians as obstacle to peace. Of course it was Israel that pointed out that eight European Union states operate missions in Jerusalem that work with the Palestinian Authority, despite them condemning the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

For over five hours, Police questioned Netanyahu and his wife Sara Friday on suspicion of taking bribes from media mogul, Shaul Elovitch, as part of the so-called Bezeq affair, or ‘Case 4000.’ Late Saturday night, the two flew to the US for a five-day visit, during which Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump and attend the AIPAC conference (schedule here). The papers wrote that Netanyahu hopes to appear confident as if he were conducting business as usual. Earlier Saturday night, the weekly anti-corruption protests took place as usual, with hundreds of protesters gathering in Tel Aviv and calling on Netanyahu to step down in light of the increasing corruption investigations hounding him. At the airport, Netanyahu said Israel wasn’t heading to early elections and that he’ll invite Trump to inaugurate the US embassy in Jerusalem. But Amit Segal, a right-wing political analyst considered close to Netanyahu, thought early elections by June 2018 were unavoidable. Segal said that the coalition parties are not interested at this stage in going to the polls, but because of the fear of Netanyahu's investigations, they are entrenched in their positions and unwilling to compromise. (Maariv) Indeed, ultra-Orthodox parties are demanding the passing of the Draft Law, which will give yeshiva students an exemption from military service. (And in support of the idea, ultra-Orthodox activists hung effigies of ultra-Orthodox IDF paratroopers in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood.) But Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, head of the Kulanu party, will reportedly bring down the coalition if the budget isn’t passed.
Yedioth summarized it succinctly with this headline:
The ultra-Orthodox: “Draft Law or no (passing of the) budget”
(Finance Minister) Kahlon: “Approval of the budget or no government”
Netanyahu’s associates: “We aren’t afraid of elections”
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

The Israeli army papers that show what Ariel Sharon hid from the cabinet in the first Lebanon war
Shimon Golan’s book on the military and political decisions in 1982 offers no major revelations but sheds light on the war’s goals and the leaders who stood behind them. (Benny Morris, Haaretz+)
Hours after Sadat visit, IDF generals questioned Egypt's intentions
Released minutes of General Staff Forum meeting from November 22, 1977 reveal optimism following Egyptian president's historic visit, yet criticism against Begin and Sadat’s Knesset speeches; ‘Neither side showed any flexibility,’ says Northern Command chief Avigdor Ben-Gal, while IDF Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur talks about a notion to ‘prepare the war reserve stores unit for war.’ (Yaron Druckman, Yedioth/Ynet)
The resistance guide that inspired Jewish settlers and Muslim Brothers alike
Opponents of Israel's 2005 Gaza withdrawal, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and anti-government protesters in Iran have adopted the civil disobedience principles of the late Prof. Gene Sharp. (Netta Ahituv, Haaretz+)
Part 3: Former security prisoner: We were afraid Shalit would commit suicide
In third part of special series of interviews, Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons in 2013 talk about the Fatah-Hamas rivalry after the Gaza takeover, the internal politics that shaped the list of prisoners released in the Shalit deal, and their admiration for the families of kidnapped IDF soldiers. (Elior Levy, Yedioth/Ynet)
A Jew, an Early Christian and a Roman Meet in Archaeological Park to Be Built on Evacuated Prison
‘God Jesus Christ’ mosaic, ancient Jewish-Samaritan village of Othnay and Roman command center in Galilee park replacing Megiddo Prison; inmates to move to huge new facility. (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz)
The Christian - Jewish - Aramaic military preparatory program celebrated the completion of its first course
The ‘Kinneret’ pre-military academy celebrated the end of seven months of successful preparation. Founder of the preparatory program, Captain (res.) Shadi Haloul: "The IDF is the melting pot of society and it is our duty to encourage and educate to contribute to the state.” (Yossi Melman, Maariv)
Why these Palestinians are desperate to be declared 'clean' by Israel
A day spent with Palestinians, as they waited for hours in the wind and rain in the hope that the Shin Bet security service would clear them for the privilege of applying for Israeli work permits. (Amira Hass, Haaretz+)
'We can prevent the next disaster'
The Bedouin sector is plagued by accidents in the home, and statistics show children are the main victims. The community's tenuous access to medical services compounds the problem. A new initiative hopes women can train as medics and change all that. (Nitzi Yakov, Israel Hayom)
Gideon Levy First, Israeli troops shot a Palestinian armed with a chunk of metal. Then, they beat him to death
IDF sources maintain the soldiers didn’t notice a bullet had hit Yasin al-Saradih, and thus proceeded to ram him with their rifles, kick him in the head and drag him away. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:
Shrinking the Occupation Won't Do. Israel Needs to Separate From the Palestinians (Ami Ayalon, Gilead Sher and Orni Petruschka, Haaretz) These are the steps Israel needs to take to end the conflict with the Palestinians once and for all. A response to 'Catch-67' author Micah Goodman.
We Cannot Ignore the Baby From the West Bank (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) After throwing a stun grenade at a couple holding an infant, even the police were able to provide in their statement a faint hint of what it's like to act human.
How the Israeli Army Got a Teen Who Was Shot in the Head to Say He Fell Off a Bike (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) COGAT chief Yoav Mordechai wants us to believe that friends, relatives, doctors and left-wing activists cooked up a huge lie about Mohammed Tamimi. But he was just telling investigators what they wanted to hear.
Texts and politics: The conspiracy that never was (Moran Azulay, Yedioth/Ynet) Netanyahu and Likud are waging an open battle against the rule of law. Any mistake made by an investigator, a judge or an attorney, any unnecessary interview given by the police chief, any tweet by an advisor, are immediately being used to create drama and sling mud at the system.
The Unique Vapidity of the Bibi-ist Right (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) The Netanyahu regime is a populist, Peronist right. It’s doubtful it can even be called fascist; fascism is an ideology with core values that can be challenged
Netanyahu’s hostile takeover of Israeli media started at The (Jerusalem) Post (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The 1989 takeover of Israel’s English-language daily by conservative Canadian tycoons enshrined the impotence of journalists.
A new government will bring new national priorities (Ambassador (Ret.) Arthur Koll, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel's Right, believing power is an entitlement, is launching an assault on all the independent institutions that define a functioning democracy, its policies endanger the Zionist vision and compromise relations with American Jewry.
Why the Right Is Actually Rational (Avi Shilon, Haaretz+) Those who shout 'Only Bibi!' aren’t necessarily acting on gut instinct. On the contrary, they’re voicing rational recognition of the fact that the war against corruption won’t necessarily alter their situation.
Netanyahu's struggle for survival has entered the final stretch (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The expected, but dramatic, appearance of the possibility of early elections possibly in June (and that from Amit Segal, a journalist close to the prime minister) and the first sprouts of a campaign against the attorney general's made it clear that we are now in the midst of ‘money time.’ An urban legend that was circulating through the social media networks and chat rooms on WhatsApp became, on Saturday, a news item, albeit highly dubious, which was published on a website close to Netanyahu. Executive summary: Attorney General Mendelblit, beware. We know things about you. There are recordings of you. There are embarrassing materials. Do not stretch the rope too far.
When Netanyahu’s Culture Minister Shows Up (Nitzan Horowitz, Haaretz+) Actually it’s a whole group of legislators that uses her method: brutal attack from a position of victimhood.
Netanyahu will try to understand Trump's plans and then decide whether to go to the polls (Udi Segal, Maariv) The prime minister will have to fake a feeling of self-confidence in Washington and display identification with the sense of persecution from the media that the President feels. His decision will come after the trip, and then we will know where we are headed.
Why are the Netanyahu probes taking so long? (Nadav Eyal, Yedioth/Ynet) The attorney general must restore the healthy and necessary practice of avoiding foot-dragging, and make a timely decision on whether to indict the PM or not. Israel can’t afford this current madness.
The evidence that swayed the Israeli attorney general in Netanyahu's new media case (Gidi Weitz, Haaretz+) The recordings, the texts, the e-mails and detailed testimonies in 'Case 4000' have changed.
She takes the Queen: (Justice Minister) Ayelet Shaked is trying to uproot the bastion of democracy in Israel (Alon Ben David, Maariv) The Justice Minister's statement that a prime minister must resign only after being convicted in the High Court may lead to a situation in which a decision on an attack in Syria will be made from the witness stand.
Where were Israel’s watchdogs when it needed them? (Meirav Arlosoroff, Haaretz+) They weren’t there to stop the alleged shenanigans in Case 3000 (submarines) or Case 4000 (Bezeq) before they got the police’s attention.
Behind the silence of the American Jews regarding the Netanyahu cases is the fear of an intensification of the rift with Israel (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) The police's recommendations against the prime minister and the investigations of his associates have not yet led to a single reaction from leaders in the Jewish community, but in private conversations, they seem troubled and confused.
This is AIPAC's last chance to defy the extremists - and oblivion (Eric H. Yoffie, Haaretz+) AIPAC has finessed Israel's occupation and settlements for too long, and refuses to push back against Trump and the GOP's bigoted nativists. That's why for many on the American Jewish left, AIPAC is now the enemy.
A war with Syria can make us face questions that must not be considered (Meir Uziel, Maariv) During a confrontation that could erupt with Assad's army, we may face challenges beyond succeeding in stopping the enemy and returning home to our mother in peace. What happens, for example, if we reach the Euphrates? Are we ready for war when it arrives? I mean, are we ready to win? Do we want to win? Among the statements made by the Israeli military on the war objectives that could break out, we have recently heard this definition of victory: Nasrallah will be eliminated. My condolences to the widow, but this does not seem to me a serious definition of victory. How do you define Israel as a victor in a war that I hope will not break out, if it breaks out?
The Middle East is marching towards Israel's nuclear nightmare scenario (Chuck Freilich, Haaretz+) While the Netanyahus drink champagne and Trump tweets, the Russians changed the Mideast’s nuclear calculus - and this time, Israel has no feasible military option. But can Jerusalem really depend on the White House to avert a nuclear arms race?
Report on new Iranian base: A message to world powers (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Whoever provided Fox News with the satellite images published Tuesday night seeks to encourage US President Trump to quit the nuclear agreement and restore the sanctions against Iran, and to signal to Russian President Putin that a failure to curb the Iranian expansion and entrenchment will cost him his assets in Syria.
Satellite images of Iranian missile base in Syria may signal an Israeli strike (Amos Harel, Haaretz) The Fox News report evokes the BBC report from December on a military base for pro-Iranian Shiite militias in Syria. The base was bombed from the air a few weeks later.
Danger in the north: PM Netanyahu must push Trump to act (Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet) With the war in Syria winding down, all regional actors are stirring the pot: Iran is building bases, Russia is looking for money, Erdoğan is drawing the border and Kurds are on the hunt for a state; the only one absent is the US president, and the biggest casualty from that abstention is Israel; with all due respect to the Jerusalem embassy, it's time for Netanyahu to bang on the desk in Washington.
Israel finds new regional allies: Greece and the Sunni states (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) As relations with Turkey grow distant, Arab states are less interested in Palestinians - they care about bartering with Israel. On the Syrian front, Israel is being more arrogant than cautious.
A city divided together (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) A new proposal calls for negating the Arab vote by establishing two new regional councils for Jerusalem's northeastern Palestinian neighborhoods – a path that failed miserably in South Africa.
Are There Israelis in Israel? (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Zionism wished to establish a new state and build a new man and woman. Indisputably, it succeeded in establishing a state.
What happened to Abu Mazen? (Jackie Khougy, Maariv) On the day the President of the United States wants to present his permanent peace plan, he may find that there is no one to talk to: Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority chairman are in a state of absence, even if it has not been officially declared.
Draft law crisis could lead to dissolution of the government (Moran Azulay and Kobi Nachshoni, Yedioth/Ynet) With no apparent solution to the rift between the coalition and the ultra-Orthodox parties on the amendment to exclude Haredim from enlistment and with non willing to compromise, Netanyahu's government faces a break-down.
Elections now: These are the big winners and losers from the dismantling of the coalition government (Yanir Kozin, Maariv) The political system is on alert for the possibility that the prime minister will announce that we will go to the polls because of the crisis over the draft law. So who will have to countdown to the end and who will emerge victorious? The Likud, Habayit Hayehudi and United Torah Judaism will be winners. Shas, Kahlon’s Kulanu party and Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu could be big losers. Yair Lapid is ready and looking on from the side.
Not child's play (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) The "information" used in reports by UNICEF about so-called Israeli abuses of Palestinian children often comes from inherently biased groups, some of which maintain ties with terrorist groups. The reports are then used as a tool to delegitimize Israel.
Why hasn't Israel won an Oscar yet? It might be the occupation (Itamar Zohar, Haaretz+) The American Academy of Motion Pictures has grown weary of films about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Behind Hezbollah's back: Hamas tried to establish a rocket arsenal in southern Lebanon (Yossi Melman, Maariv) According to foreign reports, the attempt to assassinate the Hamas’ senior commander in Sidon, Mohammed Hamdan, thwarted Hamas’ attempt to establish another front in the north. The Shiite terror organization (Hezbollah) was furious at the initiative, and the Hamas infrastructure was dismantled.
Prince William's visit - a testament to good ties (Mark Regev, Israel Hayom) Israel and Great Britain cooperate on sensitive matters pertaining to national security and the war on terror, while bilateral trade has seen a 25% increase in just one year.
Betrayal of the University Heads and the Blurring of the Green Line (Friday Haaretz Editorial) Another brick has been added to the creeping annexation project by placing three academic institutions in the territories under the Council for Higher Education.
Listen to the Asylum Seekers and Change the Policy (Haaretz Editorial) The asylum seekers deported to Africa have made clear they're being abandoned. Israel can't just send them there to suffer.
Israel Ought to Grant the African Asylum-seekers Their Wish (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) Israel can grant Africans a 10-year visa, during which it will become clear, to them and to us, where they are heading.
 

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