Quote of the Day #1:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Prince William charms Israelis on his royal visit, the mother of an officer who died in in an accident at a ceremony rehearsal cries out against injustice after two men involved get sentenced to community service, and a project that allows the Israel military to locate Gaza tunnels wins Israel’s top security prize making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also making headlines, the Syrian-regime media accused Israel of attacking a Hezbollah arms depot in Syria.

Also, the latest on Gaza and Hamas: A day after the papers reported that Israel plans two major projects to help alleviate the Gaza Strip humanitarian crisis, the Palestinian Authority rejected the Israeli and US ideas to help Gaza, saying that it was a conspiracy to transform the Palestinian cause into a “humanitarian issue” and that it would strengthen its opponent, Hamas, JPost reported. And Haaretz reported that a Hamas delegation is heading to Egypt to discuss relief for Gaza. The Egyptians will present a plan for a Gaza-Sinai commerce zone and loosen movement restrictions between Egypt and the Strip. Meanwhile, Israel sent a message to Hamas that it doesn’t need a sign of life from captives and missing persons in order to make a deal, Channel 10 reported. However, according to the report, Israel will not accept preconditions for negotiations, it will not release the 46 prisoners, who were released from the Shalit deal and re-arrested by Israel and it will not release prisoners with ‘blood on their hands.’ It was also said that there would be no deal such as the Shalit deal, in which Israel releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. There will also be no long-term cease-fire or any substantial improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza as long as there is no prisoner exchange deal, Channel 10 News reported Tuesday night. (Also Maariv)
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Is Israel's Art World Plagued by Ethnic Discrimination?
Gallery owners and curators insist ethnicity makes no difference in Israel's art world. But is that really so?  (Eness Elias Haaretz)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
A One-sided Deal: U.S. Envoys Breathe New Life Into the 'There's No Partner' Axiom (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) U.S. envoys Kushner and Greenblatt are telling President Abbas that the window of opportunity for an appeal against the almost done deal of the century is closing, even before talks have started.
The British interest behind Prince William's Israel visit (Nadav Eyal, Yedioth/Ynet) As Britain searches for its place in the world following the decision to leave the EU, it uses 'soft power' tools, such as Prince William and the rest of the Royal family, to bolster ties with countries outside Europe, with the high-tech superpower Israel among them.
Where is the government that will announce that with friends like these, we don’t need enemies (Nadav Haetzni, Maariv) What peace of mind do we demonstrate when, as a token of London's friendship towards us, they stick a finger in our eyes - the Crown Prince will wander through the streets of our capital, declaring that it belongs to another people.
El Al and Barkan Wines: A Tale of Two Boycotts (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) The two Israeli companies were forced to choose which set of customers they wanted to appease – the ultra-Orthodox or the secular public. It could become an increasingly common business decision.
A complex reality: The situation in the north is far from being calm and quiet (Tal Lev-Ram, Maariv) The attack by the Assad’s army near the border could lead to trickling of firing over the border into Israeli territory and to an escalation. Against this background, in the government and the army the assessment that a confrontation with Hamas in Gaza must be avoided is strengthening.
The Five Pro-occupation Zionists Who Think They Can Bring Peace to the Middle East (Ahmad Tibi, Haaretz+) Trump's 'ultimate deal' is being written by five men who share one goal: To bury the Palestinian cause.
The message "Pyongyang first" is heard in Tehran, and it is positive for Israel (Erez Wiener, Gabi Siboni, Maariv) It is too early to predict whether North Korea will indeed be disarmed, but in the Israeli interest, it can be assumed that we will see a dramatic reduction in its involvement in arming our enemies in the East.
Assad’s drive to retake southwest Syria tests Israel’s aid policy toward villages (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Israel will likely try to make the regime’s return to the border region contingent on an agreement to remove Iranian forces and the Shi’ite militias from the area.
The Iranian Regime Is in Trouble, but Latest Round of Protests Won't Topple It(Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) As Iranians lose their patience with the economic crisis, Khamenei and Rohani need to get creative to stem popular distrust and frustration.
Erdogan succeeded in establishing a personal dictatorial regime under the auspices of democracy (Zvi Mazel, Maariv) Now the president of Turkey has won the jackpot: In his new position, he holds vast powers that are unacceptable in the West. Can the opposition stand up to its rule?
The real scandal is in the media (Erez Tadmor, Israel Hayom) The media had refused to scrutinize the expenses of former prime ministers such as Ariel Sharon or Ehud Olmert, but when it comes to the Netanyahu family, every takeout meal is a scandal.
*It's easy to loathe Sarah and Binyamin Netanyahu, but the coalition is the real source of corruption (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Before you hurry to rejoice at the problems of the prime minister's wife, remember that all the sins of her family will be whitened against those of the government members, who are the true culprits in the situation we are in…When the security decision-making process is biased in the cabinet in favor of extremists, the price of blood spilled in vain is corruption. When decisions about education are polluted by radical bias by extremists, it is corruption. When the coalition supports laws that erode democracy, it is corruption. The Netanyahu family is a secondary story, almost negligible, compared to the cynical use of it by everyone around it - from his "friends" in the party and including his "partners" in the coalition. All of them together and each one individually is there to get every crumb of self-serving benefits that a prime minister can give to the people who support him, and that's exactly what he does to survive.
The Culture Adopted by the IDF Leads It Toward Organizational Collapse (Haaretz Editorial) Greater involvement by the public and by political leaders is needed to reestablish the army’s identity as a public organization, not a corporation that is quick to rashly adopt the latest management trends.
Israeli Army Watchdog Paints Gloomy Picture of Readiness for War (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Quality career officers are opting for civilian life, funds are going down the drain and troops guard the border while staring at their phones, report says.
Did Israel Inspire Trump's Family Separation Policy? (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) The sad truth is that what Americans have witnessed at their southern border in the last couple of months is what Palestinians have experienced as a daily reality at the hands of Israel for the last 70 years. The kind of separation and segregation that Palestinian communities endure goes even beyond the typical outcomes of war, siege and military occupation. It is something that is enshrined in Israeli law, crafted mainly to weaken, even break down the cohesiveness of Palestinian society.
Secular Terror Doesn’t Stop for a Moment (Israel Cohen, Haaretz+) Tel-Aviv Mayor Huldai pretends to represent an open, liberal city that is sensitive to its heterogeneous population and accepts varied and diverse groups, but he isn’t capable of accepting the feelings of the ultra-Orthodox.
No Wonder We Are Not Joining Anti-corruption Demonstrations in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv (Noa Osterreicher, Haaretz) We took to the streets seven years ago to protest the cost of living, the rule of the monopolies, the corrupt budget allocations to special interests: they called us spoiled and played dumb.
Adviser to Polish PM: Jews Should Be More Sensitive in How They Refer to Poland's Difficult WWII Period (Andrzej Pawluszek, Haaretz+) Radicals on both sides, feeding on evil emotions, don’t want Jews and Poles to recognize the 1000 years of religious tolerance preceding the Holocaust in Poland – and how Poland is again a safe haven for Jews.