You Must Be Kidding #1: 

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)]

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The first four Thai youth were rescued from the flooded cave in Thailand, Syria said Israel struck last night the T-4 airbase used by Iran (for the third time this year) and a tenth tremor in a week shook the earth near Lake Kinneret yesterday, making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

On the subject of Gaza: A Qatari mediator between Israel and Hamas spoke on Israel Public Broadcasting Channel last night and dismissed the Israeli offer of Gaza humanitarian aid in exchange for bodies and encouraged allowing Gazans to work in Israeli agriculture. Muhammad al-Amadi, head of Qatar's Gaza Reconstruction Committee, telling Israelis: “There’s no such thing as captives in exchange for a port or airport, or opening of borders,” he said. “Anyone who says otherwise won’t accomplish anything…Only the formula ‘prisoners in return for prisoners’ will work.” And he advised: Issuing 5,000 work permits for Gazans would go a long way toward reducing kite arson and calming the border fence. Meanwhile, Israel established a task force to combat Palestinian kite and balloon arsons. And, 20 IDF reservists returned their Operation Protective Edge campaign medals to the Prime Minister, saying the medals were 'worthless' until the remains of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul are returned to Israel.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:
The struggle for a solution to polygamy: "For 70 years the state has chosen to close its eyes"
The recommendations of the Committee Against Polygamy, which will be presented in the Knesset and grant a permit for a second marriage under special circumstances, succeeded, even before they were submitted, to ignite a heated debate about how to deal with the phenomenon common among the Bedouin in the south of the country.  “Without a doubt, we did not write and did not intend to give a permit (for polygamy),” says attorney Ami Palmor, director general of the Ministry of Justice and the head of the committee. "There is an attempt to enforce something that has never been enforced. For 70 years the state has chosen to close its eyes and allow the phenomenon to spread, and now there is a need for a gradual transition process. This is not a law, but a transitional order that will be measured and examined, and if it does not succeed, it will be changed immediately. This is an experiment that accompanies research and measurement." (Sigal Ben-David, Maariv)
How a 91-year-old Israeli had to busk to make ends meet
Yona Braverman’s death highlights the inadequacy of old-age benefits that only reach $830 or so a month. At least the disabled won a big victory recently. (Orly Vilnai, Haaretz+)
Friends of Israel are storming the Knesset: A special conference of "ambassadors" of Israel at (foreign) parliaments
Sixty-five guests from 32 countries will arrive today at the Knesset for a four-day special event. On the agenda: the struggle against BDS and terrorism, a tour of the communities around the Gaza Strip perimeter, as well as on Israel’s image in the world, the environment, sustainability and high-tech. Other delegations that have so far confirmed their arrival at the conference, which are held in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, are Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Peru, Paraguay, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine and the UK. (Arik Bender, Maariv)
Explained Everything You Need to Know About the West Bank Bedouin Village at the Eye of a Diplomatic Storm
Who lives in Khan al-Ahmar, why is the West Bank village slated for demolition considered 'illegal' and what does the High Court say about it? (Yotam Berger, Haaretz+)
Despite threat of terror, Israelis clamor to live in Gaza-area communities
Against all expectations, thousands of Israelis, mostly from the center, have moved to Gaza-adjacent communities in the four years since Operation Protective Edge • "An outsider wouldn't get it," one resident says, describing the area's unique appeal. (Gadi Golan, Israel Hayom)
A Country Made of Plastic: Israel’s Addiction to Disposable Tableware
As countries worldwide attempt to reduce plastic consumption, in Israel demand for disposable tableware is on the rise. (Ari Libsker, Calcalist English/Yedioth)
The renaissance of Nazareth's ancient market
Local women are leading the way in a revival of the Old City market in Nazareth, with new cafes, hostels and antique shops. (Ronit Vered, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:
***A Senior Hamas Official's Scary Tweet (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Israel has blocked access to Abu Marzuq’s twitter account. Not, God forbid, because of any inflammatory words, but for writing 'Hamas wants to see a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with Jerusalem as its capital.’
**The despicable act of the Minister of Science is a black flag of McCarthyism looming over above our faces (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Akunis's poor attempt to give a world-renowned brain researcher the reputation of a traitor just for a little more political gain should shock us all, especially his boss, the prime minister....On first read, this is just another piece of information from an endless series of reports of its kind: The Minister of Science, Ofir Akunis, did not sign the letter of appointment of some left-wing Israeli scientist who tried to poison our wells and turn our children over to the Arabs until Akunis arrived, a hero of his own strength, and saved us from her. But this is not just another news item. Because it is so small, miserable and insulting, despicable and disgraceful, this news item (from Assaf Ronel, in Haaretz yesterday) turns into a black flag flying over our faces. It needs to be read again, and again, and again, and it will still be difficult to contain the shame. A modest, not particularly dramatic piece of news item, that does not contain extraordinarily explosive details (during days when a former minister is accused of spying for Iran), yet, more than many of its fellow news items, embodies the low point to which the ruling party has brought us. The feeling of nausea spreads slowly throughout one’s stomach, with the vague hope that this is indeed the official bottom of the barrel. Spoiler: In two days or two weeks there will be a deeper bottom...If the Board of Governors of the Research Fund had dealt with matters of territory, security, army, and policy, its personal opinions might have been well-founded. But this foundation deals with biology and research. The fact that Akunis took advantage of these stupid circumstances to make political profit, a little more political gain, on the back of the country's interests and image, should shock us all, especially Akunis' boss, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. I believe that unlike the minister, Netanyahu understands this issue very well. Secretly, he also knows that he is solely responsible for the low ebb we have reached. On the other hand, Netanyahu has already proved that sometimes he understands that there is a limit to every prank. Thus, for example, he decided to take over the chairmanship of the ministerial committee for the Western Wall, after Miri Regev justified her escape, lest she be forced to do something that would restore our relations with world Jewry, but would prevent her from running for primaries. So here is an idea to end the Akunis and brain research crisis: Netanyahu will fire Akunis, assume his powers, sign the appointment of Prof. Yael Amitai and return Akunis the next day. Thus, with one ticket, we will save Akunis and brain research. Alternatively, if Akunis was afraid of being fired, he could put himself in political freeze, although it seems to me that he has been in political freeze for some time. Whatever it is, after all this is over, we can go and vomit together.
Election-anytime Economics (Haaretz Editorial) Netanyahu generates the constant political uncertainty of elections any minute, thus dictating to his ministers a populist agenda, or one that evades difficult decisions.
Rights Groups Demand Israel Stop Arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine (John Brown, Haaretz) Human rights activists petition the court to cease Israeli arms exports to Ukraine since some of these weapons reach neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine’s security forces.
Residents of the Gaza perimeter, there is a way to put an end to your suffering: register for the Likud party (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Caspit shared one of dozens emails he said he receives “that deal with the same issue and almost in the same words, how the Israelis living in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip are suffering. In response, Caspit writes: “Yes, you are also victims of your strength, your cohesion, your excellent stamina, your social and perhaps your economic strength. You are not miserable, you are not at risk, you do not threaten the government with the political dismissals, you do not endanger the “base” of Netanyahu voters. You also do not belong to his base, since most of the residents in the Gaza envelope are affiliated with the Labor party, the percentage of Likud voters in the peripheral communities is tiny. In short, no one in the government compound in Jerusalem has a reason to count you. You have a lot of grain, but you do not have Yossi Dagan, the one from Samaria who actually runs the country and every sneeze from his direction shakes Balfour. Not just Netanyahu has not been kind enough to visit your burned fields since the kite terror began 102 days ago. In Tel Aviv, too, you no one talks about you in cafes, even though 40,000 dunams of the area around the Gaza Strip has already burned, which is 80 percent of Tel Aviv's area (a little more than 50,000 dunams). The truth is, Amir, that you are the burning silver tray on which the prime minister and the defense minister are basing their policy, whose essence is clear: absolute immunity for Hamas. Binyamin Netanyahu promised, in his own voice, to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza as soon as he returns to power. He does not even consider doing it. *Hamas is dearer to Netanyahu than you are, because the continuation of Hamas' rule in Gaza means continued political paralysis, the continued prosperity of the concept of "no partner" and the continued entrenchment of the status quo, which also enables the government to annex its de facto annexation policy in Judea and Samaria.* If he wanted, Netanyahu could have brought down Hamas more easily than ever before. Hamas is currently at its deepest point of weakness since its establishment. It's smashed. In a terrible state. It is impoverished, besieged, almost completely deprived of the weapons of the tunnels, it has no international support, no one is really interested in the fate of Yihyeh Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh. Au contraire. As long as is beaten, so everyone rejoices. Netanyahu talks about regional alliance? Here, he has the golden opportunity to form such an alliance with one goal: to get rid of Hamas. Had he done so, he would have found Egyptian President A-Sisi, who views Hamas as a deadly enemy. The Saudi Muhammad bin Salman, who loves Hamas about the same as Bibi and Sarah love Meni Naftali. Jordan, the Emirates, the Americans, some of the Europeans, and of course the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen. But Netanyahu does not want to. The crushing of Hamas will damage its policy, the status quo at any price, and the political disconnect. So you'll burn a little, how bad could it be? Your victimhood is dwarfed by Netanyahu's tremendous achievement. It's not that he wants you to suffer. Definitely not. He would have been very happy if your suffering had ended, but he would not sacrifice his policy to make it happen. That's his right. His heart is not immune to your suffering, Amir, but his policy is contrary to your interest. The truth is that this policy is also contrary to our interests. Anyone who understands anything about the struggle against terror (Bibi has labeled himself as “Mr. War on Terror" before releasing thousands of murderers and chickened out during Operation Protective Edge) knows that it is forbidden to allow bloodthirsty terror organizations to control territory…Wait, there is actually a way in which you can bring about a revolution. It is not easy, but it promises: register as Likud members. All of you. All residents of the Gaza perimeter. Get up and do something. In the Knesset elections, you can vote for whoever you want. There is no connection between the two things (fact: in the settlements there are far more Likud members than Likud voters). If you have a group, let's say, 5,000, they'll suddenly come. All of them. Bibi will come to visit, put on a face of grief, and promise, in that authoritarian baritone, to put an end to the terror of fire. For a change, perhaps he will also try to comply. Look at how 2,000 Messianic functionaries managed to train Miri Regev and perpetuate the takeover of the Western Wall plaza by the Orthodox fanatics, so that it would be possible to divide the Jewish people and give up most of the world's Jews (but not the chance to advance three more places in the primaries). So come on. Don’t waste time. Registration forms, please. Membership fees will be refunded to you at compound interest. But this possibility also has a frightening side, because together with Netanyahu Miri Rege may also come. What will you do if, for example, she decides to move to live in Ein Habesor in solidarity with my voters, excuse me, the residents of the Gaza perimeter? You'll miss the kites.
A vote for the right-wing parties is hermetically closing any potential for peace (Dr. Revital Amiran, Maariv) Supporters of the annexation (of the West Bank) have taken over the public discourse and turned the leftist organizations into targets for campaigns of division and for delegitimization. But the two-state vision is still here, the moderate elements in the region do not know any other exit.
Abbas had better fall into line (Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom) The new U.S. administration has already proven that it is willing to break with diplomatic convention. If the Palestinians don't want to be left out, they should follow the lead of the moderate Arab countries and cooperate.
The missing reports on herbicides in Gaza (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) So we’re destroying Palestinian crops with our spraying? What’s new here, shrugs the average Israeli and clicks to another channel.
Netanyahu's Dark Deal With Europe's Radical Right (Nitzan Horowitz, Haaretz+) Netanyahu likes to boast about the foreign relations he has nurtured in Eastern Europe because these ties help him block EU decisions against the occupation, but there are no free lunches in politics.
Assad's huge victory and what it means for Israel (Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet) The fall of Daraa marks the beginning of the end of the civil war, but it is not over yet. There are both positive and negative consequences for Israel and the Russians are receptive to Israel’s concerns, despite some disagreements on the withdrawal of Iranian entrenchment. Israel must begin preparing for the day after the war.
From Nixon to Trump, America has always backed a nuclear Israel. This is why (Dan Sagir, Haaretz+) Israel's nuclear ambiguity, legitimated in secret presidential letters, has proved a top Israeli strategic asset. International pressure won't push Israel to denuclearize - not even from America
When boycott has a Jewish face (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) Under the Law of Return, Jews who support the BDS movement cannot be barred from making aliyah. Nor should they be – our democracy is strong enough to include their voices.
Ari Shavit Endured an Inquisitorial Public Stoning (Alit Karp, Haaretz+) One has to also know when it’s time to leave someone who sinned and admitted his transgression and apologized alone, and not go on hounding him forever.