APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday May 23, 2018
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Israel purchased hundreds of millions of shekels in advanced precision rockets “that can reach anywhere in the Middle East,’ thereby relying less on the Air Force and more on artillery was the main story common to all today’s Hebrew newspapers along with various education-related reports ahead of the start of the school year.

*Interestingly, only Haaretz and Israel Hayom reported that the High Court ruled that Israel must allow Gazan relatives of Hamas members to receive medical treatment in Israel. However, the papers had very different views on the issue. Israel Hayom’s headline on page 7 was a quote from the Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan, who said: “If the High Court continues make such rulings, we will narrow its authority in the law.”  However, Haaretz ran the story on the front page, emphasizing that the court overruled the cabinet. Haaretz also ran alongside the article an Op-Ed by Mordechai Kremnitzer who wrote that the High Court saved the state from a black flag situation. Ynet also reported on the ruling.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

This Israeli Arab Artist Doesn't Want to Be Labeled ‘The Arab Choreographer’
Adi Boutrous, one of the most interesting independent Israeli choreographers working in the field of modern dance, says that once he stopped attempting to address his ethnic identity, his subjects emerged in a natural way. (Gili Izikovich, Haaretz+)
Years following the “Shameful Deal”: The secret woman reveals who gave the order for the operation
After she forged a letter and was forced to emigrate to the United States, Dalia Carmel, who was a soldier in 1954 and served as the secretary of the then-head of Military Intelligence Binyamin Gvili, reveals that Maj. Gen. Mordechai Bentzur, commander of Unit 131, which was part of Military Intel and whose mission was operations in enemy countries, was responsible for the operation in which a spy cell of Egyptian Jews (working for Israel) were caught (by Egyptian authorities, who executed two of them). Gvili asked Carmel to fake the letter and add the line about then-Defense Minister Pinchas Lavon ordering the operation. (Eyal Levy, Maariv Friday Magazine)
Who's that Palmach fighter in the picture?
A rare conference bringing together survivors of a pre-state militia has also been tasked with identifying hundreds of anonymous old photographs. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
Explained Syria, Turkey, Russia and U.S. to square off in Idlib with millions of civilians in the crosshairs
Aid workers are bracing for the Idlib battle, which Turkey claims will put millions of civilians in danger - despite their desire to attack jihadist forces there. (Haaretz)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
High Court Just Saved Israel From the Heartless Decision to Turn Cancer-stricken Gazans Away (Mordechai Kremnitzer, Haaretz+) ‘The meaning of the [security cabinet decision] is to put a woman to death, in simple terms, because of the crimes of her brother or husband,’ said one of the judges.
Israel's racist lynch mobs are hunting Arabs. And they're fueled by government incitement (Noam Shuster Eliassi, Haaretz+) I was assaulted in Tel Aviv for 'looking Arab.' My privilege - being a Jew of Mizrahi origin - spared me, but won’t protect millions of Israel’s Arab citizens, serially delegitimized by legislation, three of whom were viciously attacked last weekend.
'Deal of the century' sidelines real issues (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Instead of focusing on a grand peace deal between Israel and Palestinians, the Americans should be focusing on a deal with Russia to curb Iran and stabilize Syria – which would actually do more to bring about the first.
It is impossible to achieve peace in the Middle East while excluding the Palestinians from the ‘Deal of the Century’ (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Trump's program has only two sides - the US and Israel. The goal of his initiative can not be achieved by belligerent strategy, punitive measures, and oppression by one of the parties to the conflict.
Trump's thuggish unilateral policy will make it harder to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Trump offers an original route: first state the Palestinian refugee problem doesn't exist, then negotiate. The only thing that's clear is the price the Palestinians have so far paid and will pay in the future.
Reimagining Gaza while recognizing reality (Brigadier General (res.) Shmuel Tzuker, Yedioth/Ynet) While Hamas may wish to cynically cling to resistance against the State of Israel, some Israelis are ready, willing and able to dramatically improve the lot of the Gazan people by way of the New State Solution. Whether implemented in a top down or bottom up fashion, it's time to present, and to begin implementing, a vision to which the Gazan people can attach themselves—with or without their leadership.
The security establishment has become the covert defender of terror supporters from UNRWA (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) Because of the short-term vision of the leaders of the security establishment and their cowardice, we are liable to miss the rare opportunity for a fundamental reform of the Palestinian refugee problem.
Shooting in the sky Long before they flew in protest, kites were Palestinian filmmakers' symbol of freedom (Nurit Gertz, Haaretz+) Incendiary kites and balloons have been hitting the Gaza border as harbingers of destruction, but prior to being a weapon, they flew in Palestinian films as instruments of dreams and imagination.
Thousands of missiles on Israel when the Air Force is busy - (now) the artillery has arrived at the front of the stage (Tal Lev-Ram, Maariv) If in the past the army's main ability was to influence the area of the brigade and division battlefield, now this is a completely different story. The IDF is changing its ratio of forces significantly.
 

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