APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday November 26, 2018
 

Quote of the Day #1:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu got points today for the historic visit of the President of the Muslim African country of Chad, he got fouled for calling for the establishment of a committee for battered women, when one was already supposed to be established, but never received funding, and his coalition is having trouble passing its flagship legislative bills - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Suddenly, the President of the Muslim African country of Chad showed up, a first since Israel was founded, and ‘Israel Hayom’ called it the ‘Israeli spring.’ President Idriss Déby met with Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem and said that renewed diplomatic ties between the two countries won't eliminate the Palestinian problem, which cannot be ignored. Chad officials said the visit is focused on security and that Israel provided Chad’s army with weapons.

And, also, Israel is reportedly close to forging diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Sudan. Haaretz wrote that after Sudan severed its relationship with Iran two years ago, Israel urged the US and other countries to improve their relationship with the country.

There were two demonstrations in Tel-Aviv Sunday night. One by artists who burned their artworks to protest the ‘Loyalty in Culture’ bill, according to which, Culture Minister Miri Regev could restrict content that is critical of the state. The bill was supposed to go to vote yesterday, but the coalition put the vote on hold because with its now one-seat majority it wasn’t sure it could pass the bill. Especially after Kulanu party leader, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, said his party’s members could vote according to their conscience.

The other demonstration was to demand that the government take action to protect battered women. Yesterday, on the occasion of International Day of Violence against Women, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah visited a home for battered women in Jerusalem. The visit was filmed and aired on Channel 12, which also interviewed Sara afterward. The director of the shelter noted that last week, the coalition voted down a bill to combat violence against women. Netanyahu said, “But it was the opposition’s bill” and then caught himself as he sat in front of battered women. Sara said the coalition shouldn’t have voted down the bill. So now the opposition plans to resubmit the bill. [Read in Commentary/Analysis below, two Op-Eds about that filmed visit. Sharp, sad and amusing. - OH] Netanyahu also announced Sunday that he would set up a committee to examine the issue of violence against women - but two years ago a similar program was recommended but did not receive a budget.
 

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu’s Lewd Pleasure in Relations With Authoritarian Regimes Is Unforgivable (Simon Spungin, Haaretz+) Instead of being ashamed of forging relations with some of the least democratic nations on earth, our prime minister drools and fawns over dictators.
**The merciful ruler and his wife allow Arab women to stay in shelters for battered women (Shani Littman, Haaretz Hebrew) On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it became known that Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister, opposes violence against women. The wonderful revelation joins the confession of MK Nava Boker a few days ago when she said she opposed the murder of women. Netanyahu and her husband visited a battered women's shelter, and Sara Netanyahu even agreed to be interviewed on the Channel 12 show hosted by Oded Ben-Ami. Why her and not her husband? Perhaps because in the phrase "battered women" the word 'women' appears, so it is maybe it's a matter regarding women. Perhaps her husband is less connected to the subject, and has little to say about it.
Indeed, in the footage taken during the visit, Binyamin and Sara Netanyahu sat on a red sofa opposite women who lived there. While Sara Netanyahu looked alert and attentive, her husband looked as though they had dragged him to a shoe store and forced him to watch his wife try on dozens of pairs. He was so smug and bored that when the shelter director mentioned that the coalition had shot down the Knesset bill to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to prevent the murder of women in Israel, Netanyahu chuckled and said, well, it was an opposition proposal. His wife scolded him, and he straightened up and remembered where he was and that it was rude to talk politics now. Then she spoke in terms he understood. "It's terrorism," she said, “Terrorism in every respect.” And Netanyahu chanted after her with a murmur that “Unfortunately, it also becomes violent terror.” In the (TV) interview with Ben-Ami, Sara Netanyahu wanted to emphasize that this is not the first time she visited such a home, but that these visits are not usually publicized. "That's why I think what you're doing is very important," she said, congratulating Ben-Ami on the item that revealed her work. She also did not forget to mention the bright light in this story about the battered women: "The importance of the shelters is that they do not pick and choose from among the sectors of the women, it's from all types,” and Ben-Ami continued to lift her with a comment in the right place: ”And I know that today you met with, among others, an Arab woman.” “Yes!” said Netanyahu happily, "I am very happy that from the point of view of the Prime Minister, there is no woman from a particular sector [of society] that is not deserving, all of them are entitled to receive the protection that the state needs to give them." Good days have arrived, when the wife of the prime minister feels the need to emphasize the obvious. Yes, in the State of Israel, Arab women can also stay in shelters for battered women. We do not discriminate between one black eye and another black eye, between one broken tooth and another broken tooth. The ruler and his wife are so merciful that they allow all sectors (and all genders, if they are threatened) to be protected under their protective roof. Crushed and broken, [the Netanyahus] pity them and will throw them a bone. That is, in the meantime. Don’t build on it for long. In the process of dehumanization that are passing on all of these "sectors and genders,” see the article on Lina Makhoul in Yedioth Ahronoth, soon battered women will also have to prove loyalty.
Battered women in Israel are just not interesting enough (Tehila Friedman, Yedioth/Ynet) Shocked by the stories he heard during a visit to battered women's shelter, Netanyahu urged the government to establish a ministerial committee to address the matter, only 4 days after he voted against a bill proposal to establish a parliamentary committee of inquiry into violence against women.
Netanyahu must fall: continuation of the current policy requires war on all fronts (Ran Adelist, Maariv) For the time being, the prime minister has survived the complete collapse of his foreign and security policy only because of the ignorance of his political base, and the unbelievable indifference of the Israeli citizen.
Tel-Hai’s ‘Concept’ (Haaretz Editorial) At Israeli campuses, museums, theaters and concert halls, there’s no longer any room for diverse voices, but only for art mobilized on the government’s behalf, art that serves the one permitted narrative.
Airbnb's decision isn't about the Jews — it's about the occupation (Frima (Merphie) Bubis, +972mag) The attacks on the vacation rental company for its decision to pull all listings from West Bank settlements miss one thing: Airbnb does not support boycotting Israel.
Airbnb hates Israel, and we have to fight it back (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) It’s not the B&B in Gush Etzion or Psagot Winery [both in the West Bank - OH] that should carry on their thin shoulders the precious struggle against BDS - but the government. But it prefers the quiet lobbying over the struggle.
Liberal Zionists Faced a Critical Test With Airbnb. We Flunked It (Joshua Shanes, Haaretz+) This should have been our moment to stand our ground: Reject conflating Israel with West Bank settlements, reject slurring Airbnb as anti-Semitic. Sadly, mainstream U.S. Jewish groups gave in to the right wing's dangerous campaign – and did so in our name.
To Save Their Troubled Marriage, Israel and American Jews Should Consider a Trial Separation (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Their romance was made in heaven but now they’re living in the past – and on borrowed time.
The challenges the new IDF chief and his deputy will have to face (Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet) Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi will have to reshape the IDF's 'war between wars' campaign, bringing a different attitude to resolving the problems and dilemmas that now emerge on the northern front; Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir's most important task will be to head the team leading the next multi-annual plan to replace the Gideon Plan.
The Chutzpah of Gaza, Refusing to Die (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) So perhaps Israel should drop an atomic bomb, and end it, once and for all?
The Israeli army is putting humanitarian workers at risk in Gaza (Yael Marom, +972mag) According to the Israeli media, the soldiers who took part in a botched intelligence operation in Khan Younis earlier this month were dressed up as humanitarian workers. If the details are true, it could put countless people in danger.
Israel's ties with the Arab world are nothing to get excited over (Shimrit Meir, Yedioth/Ynet) The Jewish State must overcome its childish desire for approval from Arab or Muslim countries; what does Israel have to benefit from photo-ops with dubious Muslim rulers? It's unclear. And yet, Israeli leaders are willing to pay a steep price for that, even though it's not really worth it.
Not so fast, Bibi: Why new sanctions won't bring down the Islamic Republic (Shemuel Meir, +972mag) President Trump’s new sanctions on Iran were widely praised by Netanyahu and the media. But they may not bring about the outcome so desired by the Israeli leader and his followers.
Netanyahu's vision for the Middle East has come true (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) From Qatar to Iran, none of the countries participating in the MED2018 conference seemed really interested in the Palestinians. Normalization with Israel, on the other hand, was all the rage: ‘It’s a total change in paradigm.’
Pelosi and Trump are both pro-Israel, but the leading Democrat is not pro-Netanyahu (Alexander Griffing, Haaretz+) Pelosi keeps the dog tags of Israeli soldiers as a 'symbol of the sacrifices made, sacrifices far too great by the people of the state of Israel.’
 
 

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