APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday January 3, 2019

 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019 News:
The political landscape is changing even before the elections, with the division of factions and the creation of new ones, the Hebrew newspapers noted. Yedioth gave Labor Party Chairman Avi Gabbay a front page article to explain why he dismissed his partner MK Tzipi Livni in such a humiliating way. He said Livni wouldn't commit not to join a Netanyahu-led government. Lawmakers were divided over Gabbay's shocking move and polls revealed that the split did not help the Labor party, whose number of mandates dropped to a single digit, while Likud leads by a large gap. (Also Maariv) (Livni said she was surprised, not humiliated by Gabbay's shock split.)

Yedioth also revealed that departing MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) proposed the most legislative bills, 455, with Merav Michael (Zionist Camp) in second place with 227. And that MK Tzipi Livni spent the highest number of days abroad on trips not sent by the Knesset: 95. MK Hanin Zouebi was in second place with 84 days abroad. Of the three MKs who submitted the highest number of parliamentary queries, two of them were from the Joint List: MK Yusuf Jabarin and MK Ahmed Tibi. Haaretz+ reported that Benny Gantz will deliver his first campaign speech next Thursday. Until now, his views are completely unknown. And far right-wing Jerusalem Post commentator, Caroline Glick, joined Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked's ‘New Right’ wing party, while former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi said he'd join Likud if he entered politics and former IDF chief of staff and defense minister Moshe Ya'alon registered his new party, Telem. And
'New Horizon' is a new Arab party that seeks to bridge gaps between Israelis and Palestinians and solve the Arabs' housing crisis.

Other News Summary:
US President Donald Trump said that Iran ‘can do what they want' in Syria and the Trump administration has barred Israeli law enforcement agencies from questioning former US Secretary of State John Kerry and former American ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, on allegations that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu illegally received lavish gifts from Israeli Hollywood tycoon, Arnon Milchan [also known as Case 1000]. Meanwhile, a ‘senior source’ told the Israeli press that “Netanyahu got almost everything he wanted from the Trump administration.” The source claimed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed to '7 out of 8' requests from Netanyahu during their meeting in Brazil.

Also making news, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad told Iran that it would create a second front in any Israel-Lebanon war and former defense minister and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman reportedly revealed details of Trump's Middle East peace plan to the Palestinians before resigning his ministerial post in November. Details supposedly include a Palestinian state in Gaza, self-rule in areas of West Bank, and no loss of land for Israel.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Zionism’s Dark Secret: The Tale of the Jews Who Left Pre-state Israel During the British Mandate
Meir Margalit studied Jewish emigration from Palestine during the British Mandate. It had numerous causes — economic distress, the precarious security situation and even the Zionist movement’s cruelty toward the sick and the old — but its effect on the Zionist project at the time was minimal. (Tom Segev, Haaretz+)
No More Holyland - (Top artists canceled performances in 2018)
The year was indeed fuller than its predecessor with veteran stars, including Cliff Richard, Ringo Starr, Ozzie Osborne, Nana Mouskouri, Don McLean, Brian Wilson ("The Boys Boys"), Julio Iglesias, A-Ha, Jethro Tull, and a few others, who with all due respect, are has-beens. And if that were not enough, this year, one after another, there were painful cancellations of the best foreign artists: Rita Ora, Bruno Mars, Future, Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Lorde and Valena del Rey. Everyone canceled their arrival this year; Some were not afraid to admit that this was due to intense pressure exerted by the BDS organization. (Dudi Steimer, Maariv)
The grassroots movements in Israel-Palestine that won 2018
+972 Magazine’s story of the year for 2018 is the protest movements that managed to beat the odds by forcing governments to revisit and even change their policies. The story of African refugees stopping their deportation from Israel, and Gazans using popular protests to make sure the world doesn’t forget about them. (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972mag)
A Peek at the Most Secretive Cybersecurity Firm in Israel
Candiru quietly sells gear used for hacking into computers. (Amitai Ziv, Haaretz+)
The departure of the moshavs from Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed (Working and Learning Youth Movement) tears the blue shirts
The moshav youth decided to replace the red strings of the blue shirts with  an olive-green string. This is not merely a symbolic step:  the red represents the workers' blood, while the green symbolizes roots, agriculture and renewal. Behind the change of the string is the decision of the Council of Moshavs to disengage from the Working and Learning Youth Movement, which for many years has sponsored it, and to seek recognition as an independent movement. The decision of the moshavs to become an independent movement sparked a bitter conflict, the end of which is not in sight. In the meantime, it isn't eligible for funding from the Education Ministry, and its future remains unclear. Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed maintains that withdrawing from a youth movement that includes almost all the population groups in Israel - Jews, Arabs, Druze, kibbutzniks, moshavniks and others - will create a small sectoral movement. (Haaretz Hebrew)
 
Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
Labor and Meretz should join forces (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) After its split from Hatnuah, Labor will need a new political alliance if it has any hope of rehabilitating itself politically. Meretz is a natural choice; such a partnership would do both parties good.
Dov Khenin's legacy - A presenter of democracy (Yedioth TV critic, Einav Schiff, Yedioth) When politics are just another more fateful edition of Guy Pines' (fashion and celebrity program), it's no wonder that the Knesset is losing such an active MK such as Dov Khenin (a member of the Hadash communist party, which is part of the Joint List faction - OH), who is held in admiration and who has achieved so much. Now, a person who was adamant to do the work for which he was sent to Jerusalem, prefers to try to make change in new horizons. It's sad, not only because Khenin succeeded from the political sidelines, never from the offices with real power, to change and shape the reality through laws that he led and the activities in Knesset committees. It's also sad in a symbolic way, of what does it mean to be a member of Knesset today: Does it mean to invent legislative bills in order to get into the nightly news and into tomorrow's newspapers - preferably with the word 'storm' - and to forget about them the next day, or to think seriously how t improve the lives of citizens? Khenin, and the variety of MKs who took the time to part from him with their feeling so obvious in their voices, did the highest type of parliamentary work. His colleagues expressed sorrow because they learned that behind dry and superficial definitions there is a man who did not come to politics because it was urgent to him that the whole country know his name. Dov Khenin was the presenter the Knesset need. Yet, with his departure, it's not certain at all that enough Israelis can identify him and name the laws he passed in numerous fields, from the environment to the rights of animals. [NOTE: Yedioth reported on page 3 today that Khenin proposed the most legislative bills: 455. Merav Michaeli (Zionist Camp) came in second place with 227 and Itsik Shmuli (Zionist Camp) third place with 183. - OH]
Israel's Political Scene Is Drowning in the Drama (Zehava Galon, Haaretz+) Firings on live TV, dramatic press conferences and changes in the polls have become the focus of political reporting – our own version of America under Trump.
EXCLUSIVE: We need to talk about Iran and Russia in this Israeli election (David Makovsky and Dennis Ross, Yedioth/Ynet) Makovsky, who served as senior policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of State 2013-2014, and Dennis Ross, who has served as US Middle East peace envoy 1993-2001 and senior Middle East advisor in the White House 2009-2011,  say that while no politician will want to acknowledge the reality of a diminished U.S. role in the Mideast, they should at least address Moscow’s regional prominence and new criticism of Israeli actions in Syria and Lebanon.
Mendelblit, Decide Before the Election (Haaretz Editorial) For Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, it his duty to the public to render his decision on the Netanyahu cases, at least the decision pending a hearing, before the election.
The simple reason for Gabbay’s dismissal of Livni: impulse and ego, and the realization that she overshadows him (Ran Edelist, Maariv) It is not that Gabbay is bad, it’s that Livni has political and security mileage, and this is evident in her behavior. It was not difficult to identify her anger at the moment of the announcement, as if in the language of the ‘hood “he came out like a real man.”
Zionist Union split was just politics as usual (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) Gabbay behaved inexcusably when he threw Livni to the curb in front of the cameras, but she can definitely handle it; ultimately, the two hated one other and should have separated long ago.
Build a united bloc against the Left (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) Anyone who thinks that the New Right will help the mainstream Right in the April Knesset election is mistaken. Even a few lost seats could lead to the rise of a center-left coalition.
It can be said in the defense of Gabbay and Livni that they have honestly earned their sufferings (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The chairman of the Labor party woke up the last demon that had not yet risen against him - and became a chauvinist overnight. The chairman of Hatnua was kicked out of her fourth party and took over the mega-subversive and mega-treacherous slot.
To succeed, Livni must overcome her negative image (Ben Dror-Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Many try to paint Tzipi Livni as a leftist, but she is one of the most experienced, articulate, resolute and successful politicians, if she can overcome the bias about what she has to offer.
The opportunist's dance card is empty (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) Tzipi Livni's sheer opportunism stands out even in the Israeli political landscape as she has never passed on a chance to zigzag politically • This time, however, she was outmaneuvered by Labor's leader and may find herself out in the political cold.
In Israel, There's No Left. There's Only a Right in Different Forms (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) The sad and unbelievable joke about the break-up of the Zionist Union faction: Israel fancies this a rift on the left.

Commentary/Analysis:
So what if I stole? (Yossi Klein, Haaretz+) Netanyahu won’t let a corruption trial happen no matter what it costs – war, casualties, threats or lies. Besides, Israelis no longer seek moral justification for their country’s actions.
My Father Amos Oz Left Us With World-changing Words (Fania Oz-Salzberger, Haaretz+) My father died, and anyone who thinks that hope died in Israel with the death of Amos Oz did not really know him. Because he knew we could go on. He invented with his words a kind of invention so hope would not die.
Thank heaven we're done with UNESCO (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) The U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization aids and abets the Palestinians in their ongoing campaign to take over Jewish holy sites in people's consciousness when they failed to do so through wars, political deals or violence.
Israel's Nation-State Law also discriminates against Mizrahi Jews (Orly Noy, +972mag) Mizrahi academics and activists demand Israel’s High Court strike down the Jewish Nation-State Law, saying it erases their cultural legacy and perpetuates injustices against both them and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Poland's Ambassador to Israel: We Are the Only State in Europe to Properly Honor the Holocaust (Marek Magierowski, Haaretz+) Polish leaders consciously chose to commemorate the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto. Astonishingly, Israeli scholars call that 'suspicious,' 'politically prejudiced' and a 'historical distortion.’
The IDF doesn't investigate Palestinian deaths — it whitewashes them (Hagai El-Ad, +972mag) The Israeli army says it would like to conduct thorough investigations of the Palestinians it kills or wounds. The only problem? It is unable to do so honestly.
Backing Trump on Syria, America's So-called 'Progressives' Are Enabling a Kurdish Genocide (Robert Hockett and Anna-Sara Malmgren, Haaretz+) By applauding Trump gifting northern Syria to a theocratic, tyrannical Erdogan, fatuous self-styled 'anti-imperialists' are complicit in the torture, abductions, killings and ethnic cleansing of Kurds that will follow.
 

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