Quote of the day:

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Breaking News:
Israel killed seven armed ISIS militants approaching Israel-Syria border.
(Haaretz, Ynet and Israel Hayom)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
After meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who presented a plan to approve a special status for Druze in Israel and give them special benefits, but would not change the Jewish Nation-State Law, Druze leaders are divided about whether to accept the offer, meanwhile, as Iranian forces pulled back from the Syria-Israel border in the north, Iran geared up for a major drill threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz in the Red Sea to the south and Netanyahu warned Iran that Israel would join a coalition against it if Iran were to block the strait - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers along with the deaths of a number of Israeli children killed in water-related accidents.

There were differing reports about whether Druze community leaders accepted Netanyahu’s proposal to anchor the community's status in law and leave the Jewish Nation-State Law as is - without the word 'equality,' after Druze complained that the Nation-State law discriminated against them. And while some called it a ‘historical precedent,’ it appears the rift is not over and details still need to be ironed out and meanwhile, a demonstration planned by the Druze for this Saturday evening, will go onas scheduled. Maariv reported that some Druze members of Knesset said the plan was positive, others said it was a ‘preliminary proposal and others said the Druze community leaders ‘gave in to pressure.' Meanwhile, the Bedouin community has joined the fight to amend the law. Many Bedouin serve in the Israeli military and feel like the Druze. “We have linked our fate to the fate of Israel…This is treachery on the part of the state.” And now, the mostly Arab ‘Joint List’ faction is looking for help abroad and said it seeks Inter-Parliamentary Union action against Israel over the law, which it says promotes "ethnic superiority for Jews” and promotes "an apartheid regime." Maariv reported that the Trump administration sought clarifications from Israel regarding the law. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that the issue was discussed in a conversation between Chief of Staff Yoav Horowitz and US Ambassador David Friedman, and that no criticism was heard in the Americans' clarification request on the issue. The Foreign Ministry said: "We do are not aware of a request for such a clarification from the Trump administration."
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:
Where Israelis and Palestinians find common ground: Bereavement
Playwright Yehoshua Sobol does not go easy on his Jewish audience, bringing it face to face with Palestinian pain. It's a brave and moral act. (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+)
Volunteers who battle kite and balloon fires
Group consists of volunteer firefighters, students, farmers and executives who left everything to protect their home in Kibbutz Be'eri from the kite terror from Gaza; ‘Sometimes firefighting crews arrive after I’ve already put out the fire,’ says volunteer. (Matan Tzuri, Ynet)
The Israelis Behind Tommy Hilfiger's Clothes That Track Your Every Move
'No malicious use is made of the information,' promises Liron Slonimsky, the founder and CEO of the Israeli company which is behind both the chip and the app. (Shira Pur, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
*Israel Is the Nation-state of the Israelis (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) Israel is the nation-state of the Israelis. It belongs to those who pay taxes, vote and get elected to office; those who live here, speak the language, are given their rights and meet their obligations.
The best answer to post-Zionism (Boaz Haetzni, Israel Hayom) The fact that Israel is a Jewish state has always been self-evident. Some  Jews, though, have recently begun to question the righteousness of the Zionist path.
The Nation-State law infuriates those who counting on the reversal of the concept of "Zionism" in the last generation (Nadav Haetzni, Maariv) From now on, it is no longer possible to dress up as a Zionist and preach the opposite worldview. From this point of view, the Nation-State law did us great favor, and as great as is the storm, so is the intensity of the blessing. This is the storm of the removal of the mask.
Israel Interrogates Its Critics at Airports: Washing Your Laundry in Public Is an Existential Threat (Zehava Galon, Haaretz+) You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs; we’ve broken lots of eggs for the sake of the settlements, and all we’ve got to show for it is a small, foul-smelling, toxic omelet.
The Left turned settlement into a dirty word (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) Labor Zionist leaders once viewed settlement as a critical component of Jewish independence. But they have abandoned this cause, as their opposition to the nation-state law clearly demonstrates.
If they could, the Jews would have expelled the Arabs and the Druze to the last one of them (Malak Bader, Maariv) There is no single Arab who disputes that this is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and recognizes that he is the minority. But even this minority deserves equal rights, as determined in the Declaration of Independence, and we must fight for these.
The Right’s Security Service at Ben-Gurion Airport (Haaretz Editorial) At first it was the automatic and indiscriminate delay of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, then it degenerated into blacklists of BDS supporters, now Israelis are also being questioned because of their political views.
The nationalist scream of politicians on the right proved that they are not men (Nir Kipnis, Maariv) National law is nothing more than a whistle in the dark. Lieberman, the quartermaster, bought his military cap at military shop, Bennett got confused with high tech and forgot that a real fighter kills his enemy with his own hands. And Bibi? He’s the worst of them all.
The Real Oslo Criminals (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) A new documentary shows quite well how Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were the heroes of Oslo but also its criminals: Their missed opportunity, rooted chiefly in their cowardice, is unforgivable.
The government failed completely: The crisis with the Druze was already in the air for a long time (Tal Lev Ram, Maariv) What is being built step by step, with great effort, is very easy to destroy in one decision, which is mainly political. This government has completely failed to read the map.
Yearning for Gaza's lost paradise (Haim Ramon, Yedioth/Ynet) Despite what right-wingers think, the disengagement was not a 'Jewish Nakba', but the beginning of a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. It’s a shame no one in the opposition today rises against this blatant rewriting of history.
The Cyprus angle: The idea of a port must gain momentum (Michael Harari, Maariv) The recent round of violence against Gaza and the almost daily incidents illustrate the explosive potential of Israel-Hamas relations. The option of establishing a port in Cyprus could trigger a process that would help neutralize what appeared to be an inevitable confrontation.
Hezbollah likely to replace ISIS on Israel's northern border, IDF says (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) As the Syrian civil war draws to a close, it is clear Iran plans to use Hezbollah to do its bidding there • The Shiite terrorist group is already importing its tactics from Lebanon to Syria, making Israel's northern sector highly volatile.
The Jewish Agency has a new chairman. These are the five things he needs to do (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) During a period of acute crisis in Israel-Diaspora relations, Isaac Herzog's appointment could still prove a success.
Trump games: Did President Trump devise a new method for solving crises?(Shmuel Rosner, Maariv) What does the US president really mean when he says he is "ready to talk to Iran without preconditions?" And will it succeed like the process that led to the summit with Kim Jong-un?
Dial Down the Hysteria on anti-Semitism in Corbyn's Labour (Mehdi Hasan, Haaretz+) There is vile and inexcusable anti-Semitism on the left, and efforts to deny it are shameful. But take it from a Muslim in Trump's America, British Jews don't face an existential threat from Jeremy Corbyn.
Why Is Israel Spending $500m to Protect Gas Facilities Close to Home? (Hagai Amit, Haaretz+) The navy is ordering ships designed to protect drilling platforms far from the coast, even though they will be just 10 kilometers from the shore.