APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday March 11, 2019
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019 News:
*Besides the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737, today’s top story - also much-discussed in Op-Eds - was the Instagram post of Rotem Sela, an Israeli model, actress and TV presenter, which infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and got the support of Wonder Woman. In the words of Yedioth, “Sela did what the interviewers, the political opponents, and the masses of voters did not succeed in doing: caused the Prime Minister, and after him almost the whole political establishment, to deal with the issue of the rights of Arab Israelis and to reveal their positions, which until now they preferred to conceal behind worn slogans." Sela’s post last Thursday, in which she asked what was the problem with having a political coalition which included Arab parties since Israel is a state of all its citizens the Arabs are citizens “and humans, too,” received hate-filled responses from Israelis on the internet. But the post really got the media’s attention on Sunday, when Netanyahu wrote on social media that Sela was wrong. "Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Nation-State Law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People - and them alone. As you wrote, there's no problem with the Arab citizens of Israel – they have the same rights as us all and the Likud government has invested in the Arab sector more than any other government." That stoked Wonder Woman’s wrath. Actress Gal Gadot wrote on her Instagram account in Hebrew: “Love thy neighbor as thyself. It is not a matter of right or left, Jewish or Arab, religious or secular. It’s a matter of dialogue for peace, equality and tolerance for one another. It is our responsibility to plant hope and light for a better future for our children. Rotem, you are an inspiration for us all.” A number of other well-known Israeli women from the entertainment industry came to Sela’s defense, as well. Model Shlomit Malka wrote on the Facebook page of the show ‘Hatzinor’: “The responses I’ve seen to Rotem’s post have been frightful and scary. How can it be that in 2019, in a democratic country, people have to be afraid to speak their minds? Where has freedom of expression gone? Are we still a democratic country at all? And if we indeed define ourselves as a Jewish state, what does that mean? What are Jewish values? What symbolizes Jewish education more than, ‘Decency comes before the Torah,’ than ‘Love your neighbor as yourself?’ Who is supposed to understand better than us the deep ramifications of racism and baseless hatred?” Actress Maya Dagan wrote about Sela on Instagram: “She’s not brave. She’s normal. She’s sane. She’s a citizen of the state who cares. Who loves our country. Just like me. Just like every person who lives here. This fear of not being able to express your opinion is illogical. I join you. I affirm what you said. Good for you, Rotem. I’m proud of you.” And Arab MK Ahmad Tibi (Ta’al) also responded to the controversy, writing on Twitter, “If a leading media personality like Rotem Sela needs courage to say that Arabs are also human beings, it testifies to the dark times we’re living in. What Netanyahu and Regev said is embarrassing. You’d be surprised to hear that Arabs are also people and citizens who want to be equal.” Netanyahu has used Tibi with his ‘Bibi or Tibi’ election campaign slogan to demonize the Arab citizens as a national security threat that critics say questions the loyalty of the country’s Arab citizens. Sela responded to her detractors: "To everyone who wrote really disgusting things to me following my last story – I love everyone. Your revolting messages will never keep me from saying my opinion. A whole generation of children grew up in our country without hope for peace. And that's sad and depressing. If only the politicians whose voices are heard the loudest would be the ones to give real hope for peace, for equality and for love instead of incitement and separation." On Sunday, the Anti Defamation League also lambasted political rhetoric “vilifying” Israeli Arabs. Interestingly, not just the politicians and celebrities, but the Hebrew media was also guilty of not calling a spade a spade. While an article in The Associated Press highlighted how the Netanyahu campaign drew accusations of incitement against Arabs, the newspapers have left that issue to Op-Eds. (See below in Commentary/Analysis.) The AP article interviewed MK Tibi, who said: “He is delegitimizing the Arab parties, the Arab lawmakers and the Arab public in general. He’s trying to transmit that it is either me, the supposed patriotic Jewish leader, or the Arabs will take over the country and decide who will be the prime minister. And he portrays this as a nightmare.”

Election Quickees:

Other News Summary:

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi dismissed the commander of the Paratroopers Commando battalion and reprimanded the Paratroopers’ Brigade commander following an investigation into the death of a soldier who drowned in Hilazon river during a navigation exercise during a storm. Soldiers had asked to stop the navigation and the commanders refused. (Maariv)

Not making the print edition of either Yedioth or Maariv, while making the front page of Haaretz, was the news that an Israeli court approved the plea deal for three of the soldiers who severely beat a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian father and his son. The three soldiers from the ultra-Orthodox Netzach Yehuda Battalion expressed remorse and were sentenced to six months prison. The judge, like the Israeli media, took into consideration the psychological state of the soldiers, two of whose comrades were killed near Givat Asaf outpost before the event, thereby explaining their actions. The Palestinian father and son they abused were suspected of giving refuge to one of the militants involved in the attack. The Hebrew media repeated that fact in every article. However, that consideration is never reported on when Palestinians harm Israelis after their loved ones were harmed. (Also Maariv)

Quick Hits:

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Features:

How to read election polls, explained by an expert
When should you be suspicious of poll results? Can election polls really influence voter behavior? Do people lie to pollsters? Public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin has the answers. (Dahlia Scheindlin, +972mag)
A Synagogue Renovation in Berlin, and the Palestinian Making It Happen
Palestinian-German politician Raed Salah is overseeing the transformation of a synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht into a hub of Jewish life. (Rachel Goldberg, Haaretz+)
Where Russian Spies, Code Pink, David Duke and the Nation of Islam Go to Make Friends and Influence People
When a former U.S. intelligence officer was charged with spying for Iran, attention focused on the Tehran conference where she was radicalized. Meet New Horizon's bizarre collage of neo-Nazis and anti-imperialists, its recruiters for subversion and espionage, and its unmitigated anti-Semitism. (Alexander Reid Ross, Haaretz+)
In Gaza, Women Walk Thin Line Between Hope and Despair
For those Gaza women who do have work, the constant fear of losing their job heightens their sense of insecurity. (Reuters, Haaretz)

Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
Dearest Rotem (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth)  TV actress and presenter Rotem Sela [sparked an enormous political debate when she wrote on Instagram that she] wondered what was the problem with the Arabs; Good Lord, they are also humans. And so are homosexuals and lesbians and left-wingers. Why does (Minister) Miri Regev reject them as partners (of anyone) to join the government. Netanyahu decided to add his voice to the debate [when he posted in response: “Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Nation-State Law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People - and them alone.] From a technical point of view, Netanyahu is correct: the State of Israel did not define itself ever as a state of all its citizens. There were those who demanded, but their demands were rejected at once. The state of the Jews opened its gates to Jews: That was the need of the hour, the Zionist vision, the legacy of the Holocaust, the sovereignty that was achieved with sweat and blood. Not a Jewish state - a state for Jews. On the path..far from perfect, the state succeeded to implement democratic rules of the game. The civics lesson given by teacher Netanyahu to pupil Sela is mistaken at its base. The Jewish Nation-State Law did not correct anything. Just the opposite: It revealed the moral failure. MK Avi Dichter, who takes responsibility for the law, barely made it into the Knesset. He looked for a horse to ride, and found a draft of the law. Netanyahu opposed it: He recognized the damage and did not see any benefit. The benefit he discovered later, when he saw the excited response of his political base. Laws whose only goal is to humiliate minority groups are bad, racist laws. They don’t build society, they divide and destroy it. The law is one component of the election campaign, whose goal is to negate the legitimacy of 20% of the population of Israel, because of its ethnicity and race. That’s a moral shame; It’s also a great failure. I met two Israelis who wanted to start a political party. Walid Diab, 65, is the owner of a drug rehab center for Arabs and Jews in Tamra. Ariel Sharon, Rafael Eitan and Tawfik Ziyad helped establish the center. His partner to the (political) initiative is Amos Danieli, 70, who served in Netanyahu in the IDF commando. They called their party, ‘Lima’aneinu.’ (‘For us.’) The idea was to focus on the needs and aspirations of Arab-Israelis to integrate into society, and it would leave the solving of the Palestinian problem to others. I asked MK Amed TIbi what he thought about the idea. Is it true that desire to integrate into Israeli society, in economy academia, civil service, is a phenomenon gaining traction. He said that he thinks half of the Arab voters are thinking in that direction: integration. The other half expects the politicians to devote their energies to the Palestinian issue. “I’m doing all I can on both fronts,” he said. I think that Benny Gantz and his colleagues in Kahol-Lavan and Avi Gabbay of the Labor party are making a mistake when they turn their back on the Arab Israelis. True, the Balad party legacy is infuriating. True, Ofer Cassif, the Jewish member of the Hadash list, shames his Arab colleagues with his extreme remarks. But if a center-left government ever is established there is no reason that MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash party leader) and Ahmed Tibi (Ta’al party leader) don’t serve in it as ministers. They are the flesh of the flesh of Israeli society. True, Israel is not a state for all its citizens. Its obligations to Jews - whoever they are - not to religion, to people, to vision - is part of what it is. But Israel is a country of all its voters. Until legislated otherwise, a vote at a polling station in Nazareth is equal to a vote at a polling station in Raanana. Therefore, the Arabs would do wisely if this time they would go in droves to the ballot boxes. For them, the choice really is between Bibi and Tibi. They should vote for the Arab parties, for Meretz, for Kahlon, for Orly Abukesis-Levy, for whoever commits not to being a partner to excluding them. Sometimes, there is truth to cliches: Whoever doesn’t vote, doesn’t have an effect. Regarding the Jews, I recommend to them to implement the flat tire test: You got stuck on an outback road in the Galilee. You are standing next to your car waving. Who will stop and help you - Walid Diab from Tamra or Yair Netanyahu from Facebook? I think the answer is clear.
A State for Some of Its Citizens (Haaretz Editorial) Netanyahu's response to actress Rotem Sela exposes the ugly, naked truth: The nation-state law was meant to make it clear to Israeli Arabs that the state views them as second-class citizens.
'Racism' comes cheap (Dr. Eitan Orkibi, Israel Hayom) The bad blood in our region doesn't stem from attitudes of racial supremacy, supposedly held by white Jews against Arab people of color. It stems from a conflict between two national movements over control of our "national home.
For Netanyahu, all Israelis are equal, but some are more equal than others (Raphael Ahren, Times of Israel) Defending contentious nation-state law, PM doubles down on legislation’s provocative distinction between ‘individual rights’ and the ‘right to exercise national self-determination.'
An Alliance of Necessity (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) For the sake of transparency, Arabs and Jewish democrats must demonstrate maturity and announce that they will forge an alliance, to be called 'the alliance of the coerced,' against Netanyahu.
Those close to the prime minister blacken the image of Gantz and his colleagues, even though their views are almost identical (Nathan Zehavi, Maariv) Netanyahu's emissaries have turned former chiefs of staff into leftists who join the Arabs. But those who examine the few views they have voiced, will find no significant differences between them and the Likud platform.
Gantz and Ashkenazi: Failed Businessmen? (Sami Peretz, Haaretz+) Both chaired firms that collapsed, but that has no bearing on their ability to lead Israel
What Gantz won't do differently (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom) If Benny Gantz becomes prime minister, he is bound to view Republicans as his only trustworthy partners, given the wing of the Democratic Party that thinks Israel must be saved from itself.
Why Benny Gantz is more dangerous than the Kahanists (Tom Mehager, +972mag) Despite taking pride in bombing Gaza to the Stone Age, Benny Gantz is still portrayed by the Israeli media as a dove who wants to end the conflict. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The main message that emerges from the Kahol-Lavan platform: Just not Bibi (Meir Uziel, Maariv) The party of Gantz and Lapid is entitled to a good word for publishing a platform, but it seems that this is a document that is election propaganda. All this does not make any better the fact that the Likud has no platform.
Palestinian Authority rooting for Gantz, hoping to exploit his inexperience (Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom) "The Palestinian leadership would prefer [Netanyahu rival Benny] Gantz and his list at the helm," says Palestinian Authority official. Blue and White's inexperience would be a boon for Palestinians and perhaps lead Trump to shelve peace plan, he says.

Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's Right Has Run the Truth Out of Town (Mordechai Kremnitzer, Haaretz+) The brainwashing within Israeli society has been so effective that those who seek truth and justice or any adherence to international law have no choice but to rely on Israel’s friends abroad, Jews and non-Jews alike.
Begin, Israel's most gallant right-wing leader (Shlomo Nakdimon, Yedioth/Ynet) He put aside his personal row with Ben-Gurion for the good of the country, saw his greatest achievement as bombing the Iraqi reactor, and made Middle East-changing peace with Egypt; remembering Israel's first Likud prime minister.
How Palestinian Land Goes From the Israeli Army to the Settlers (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) 45 settlements have been built on Palestinian land requisitioned for military purposes. A new study explains how.
Hamas seems to ready for calm, but will Islamic Jihad cooperate? (Elior Levy, Yedioth/Ynet)  Egypt's shuttle diplomacy attempts to bring a lull in the months of clashes along the Israel-Gaza border seems to be slowly paying off, but its rival terror group is not heeding calls for quiet.
Israel May Talk Tough, but Lets Hamas Corner It Into a Compromise to Avoid Escalation (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Netanyahu voices public warning to clarify to the group that despite many concessions given in recent weeks, Jerusalem isn't scared of a pre-election operation.
Hamas with its back to the wall: Like Israel and Egypt, the Gaza Strip also wants calm (Jackie Khougy, Maariv) Under heavy pressure from the Palestinian Authority, the Gulf states, the US and Egypt, and, more importantly, the masses of Gazans in distress, the organization has no options left. If it gives its weapons to the Palestinian Authority - they will disappear. And what government gives the keys to its opponents for free? If they stop arming and digging tunnels - Israel will see it as weakness and do to them what it did to Abu Mazen. If it relaxes a bit, but continue to rule. If it goes to war against Israel - that will bring the house down on them. Hamas decided, having no choice, to begin a long and patient campaign to lift the siege. It will have a price, but it will not bring destruction. Perhaps it will also bring success.
The Palestinians' dangerous gamble (Col. (res.) Ronen Itsik, Israel Hayom) Hamas has much to lose should Israel embark on a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, regardless of what kind of government is formed in Jerusalem.
Erekat to Trump on 'rewarding terror': We will never stop paying Palestinian political prisoners (Saeb Erekat, Haaretz+) All Palestinian families have had a relative in an Israeli prison. We will always fund their welfare, and we'll never accept Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt's strategy of blaming the victims, not the occupation.
For the Democrats, anti-Semitism has become an obstacle on the way to the White House (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Instead of attacking the President who is entangled in investigations, Democratic members of the Congress were forced to deal with the Muslim member of Congress and her scandalous statements.
I’m Jewish, and I’m ashamed of how we’re treating Ilhan Omar (Scott Brown, +972mag) Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is being accused of anti-Semitism not because criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic, but because the pro-Israel lobby has done a great job of making the American public and Congress believe that story.
MBS Has a BDS Problem: Khashoggi’s Shadow Haunts the Saudi Crown Prince (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) October’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is still tripping up Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ties to the West.
 

 

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