APN's daily news review from Israel

Friday January 24, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Rouhani in Davos: I aspire to normalization and not to nuclear weapons
• Obama represents the real Jewish voice // Peter Beinart
• In Syria, Iran is actually part of the solution // Amos Harel
• Re-education - It's not possible that humanistic values are a political stance. I teach how to think critically. That is education for democracy." - From the hearing held for teacher Adam Verete
• The Council of Presidents on behalf of themselves
• The foreign workers are insured against work accidents, but they don't receive medical treatment
• Enormous movie theater makes a shadow over the High Court
• No snow or ice: The challenges of the Israeli delegation to Sochi
• 1/4 page ad: Stop the construction freeze in the kibbutzes - Thousands of young families who want to move to kibbutzes are waiting for the decision - Special discussion on issue on 29.1.2014 (The Kibbutz Movement)

• IDF considering: 'Jobniks' (soldiers who serve in offices) will serve less time
• Tears and prayers - Shocked couple between cemetery and hospital
• 40% of fathers see their children mainly on the weekends

• Netanyahu and Peres at Davos conference: State of Israel can endure an economic boycott
• The new red lines in the Iranian issue // Nadav Eyal
• The shaky structure of the coalition has turned into Netanyahu's collateral // Shalom Yerusahalmi
• How the news broadcasts were choking from the Canadian Prime Minister's show of support // Kalman Libskind
• The affair of civics teacher and the enraging message Haaretz newspaper is marketing to the world // Ben-Dror Yemini (Hebrew)
• The green battle in Gush Etzion (settlement bloc): A journey into the collapsing paradise of Wadi Fukin // Mordechai Chaimovich
• Why circumcision is the deepest Jewish act possible // Dov Elboim
• Police: "The exterminator warned the family - 'If you smell something, run from the house' - Little sisters, who died from inhaling pesticide gasses, laid to rest. Their brothers continue to be in critical condition.  Last night, mother and two daughters hospitalized after their house was pest-controlled, apparently by the same exterminator
• Ukraine is burning
• A year till the end of the Chief of Staff's term: Generals Eisencott, Naveh and Golan are candidates to replace him (Hebrew)
• Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer is building a compound for private helicopters to serve medical tourists

• "Yael and Avigirl, protect your brothers" - Parents buried their daughters - and rushed to their two sons at hospital
• Netanyahu: Rouhani continues to deceive
• On blindness // Boaz Bismuth
• Kerry: Doubtful that a framework agreement will be signed soon
• Residents of Afula received inflated water bills
• Eyal Golan in interrogation transcripts: "I got angry at my father"
• Light plea bargain for Shoshan Barbi; Families of victims furious
  
  

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News Summary:
Today's top story was the speech that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave at Davos, calling for 'constructive engagement' with the US and Europe and the response by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who said Rouhani was deceiving everyone. Netanyahu claimed Arab countries were more concerned with a nuclear Iran than with Israel. Israeli President Shimon Peres also blasted Rouhani's Davos speech, slamming Iran for its lack of support for a two-state solution and its support for Hezbollah.
 
But more interestingly was Maariv's report that both Netanyahu and Peres said that Israel would be able to endure an economic boycott. "We have experienced such things. We have known boycotts and intifada. We have known wars. This needs to be remembered. This does not mean that we need to get to that point, but we can withstand it. Dangers are endless, but the State of Israel can withstand the dangers," said Peres. Netanyahu avoided answering this question directly, wrote Ariel Kahane, but in his speech he said that boycotts are something of the past that caused Israel's economy to blossom. "Israel is prospering for a number of reasons," he said and named among them the Arab boycott on Israel. "We were threatened. Our neighbors boycotted us. But the result was initiatives and inventions - because we had no choice." Peres and his son, Chemi, who is a senior hi-tech executive, both said that Israel's diplomatic situation regarding the Palestinians has no effect on the business dealings in Davos.
 
During talks with Russian leaders aimed at restoring warmer ties between the two Soviet-era allies, Abbas called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in the peace process. "Russia should have a central role in the peace process," he said, according to NRG Hebrew. Abbas and the Russian Prime Minster were also due to sign an agreement that reportedly included a $1 billion natural gas project off the Gaza coast.
 
Maariv's Asaf Gabor reported that the Palestinian Authority has a new plan for E. Jerusalem: Bringing thousands of Muslim tourists from Europe to the Temple Mount. It is trying to draft international support in its struggle to gain status in the capital. Former Palestinian prime minister Abu Alaa' said: "Occupied Jerusalem will lose the possibility of being divided if the Israeli settlement policy continues.

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