APN's daily news review from Israel

January 30, 2014

CORRECTION: Former Haaretz editor-in-chief, David Landau, was the author of yesterday's Quote of the Day and not as printed.

Quotes of the day:
“A strong country signs an agreement" and "Bibi, only you can"

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• End of the coalition crisis: Netanyahu gave an ultimatum and Bennett withdrew his attack
• The exemption from reserve military duty for some jobs will be brought forward to age 35
• Prosecution against the police: There is not rule to put people on trial for light drugs
• Police Superintendent Arbiv likely to be questioned under warning; Weinstein to discuss with Pinto mitigation in exchange for information he provided
• Sharp jump in number of asylum seekers who left the country
• Religious magazine editor fired for publishing "immodest" cartoon of a dinosaur

• Until the next (coalition) crisis - After Netanyahu's that he apologize or be fired: Bennett explained that he did not intend to insult, and Netanyahu declared victory. But Bennett clarified that he did not apologize
• (Bennett) Never paid (the price of his statements) // Sima Kadmon
• (Netanyahu's) Befuddlement // Shimon Shiffer
• 1 in 200,000,000 - Natural birth of 3 identical triplets
• Racism in the nightclub: "We won't let Abutbuls (surname of Jews from Morroco) and Haddads (surname of Jews from Arab countries) enter"

• Military Intel Chief: For the first time, the enemy has the capacity to fire a large number of missiles at Israeli cities (Hebrew)
• Netanyahu threatened dismissal, Bennett apologized: "If the Prime Minister was hurt, I am sorry for that" (Hebrew)
• Simulated snarl, the apology: Bennett and Netanyau argue over who won // Zeev Kam (Hebrew)
• Criticism in the Knesset hall: MK Nissim Zeev on the conditions of the trip to Auschwitz: "48 hours without sleep, only with sandwiches" (Hebrew)
• Holyland affair: Why are Olmert's lawyers asking to hide the summaries of the arguments made by Shula Zaken?
• Superintendent Menashe Arbiv likely to be questioned under warning (Hebrew)

• Bennett apologized
• Style has a price // Dan Margalit
• The flowers are for (Housing Minister) Ariel // Mati Tuchfeld
• US acknowledges: Iran can construct a bomb - immediately
• '67 lines as basis and Palestinian capital in E. Jerusalem
• Today: Hearing at ORT school network for teacher Adam Verete
• Three drops of water - Identical triplets born

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Peace Talks Highlights:
The top story in the Hebrew papers today was Economy Minister Naftali Bennett's so-called apology to Prime Minister Binaymin Netanyahu. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog slammed Bennett's anti-peace agreement policies, Finance Minister Yair Lapid derided Bennett's understanding of the effect of the lack of peace to the Israeli economy and President Shimon Peres said there was no need for territorial depth for Israel's security. Top Israeli businesspeople launched a 10-day pro-peace media blitz campaign on their own dime. And Maariv and Israel Hayom discussed at length the details that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said were part of the framework peace agreement.

The question over whether Bennett really did apologize depended on what paper you read this morning. The more left-wing papers, Haaretz and Yedioth, emphasized how Bennett said he did not take back his words (that Netanyahu had lost his sense of national values) and wrote that Bennett 'won' this round. Yedioth's Shimon Shiffer called it a 'faux' apology. But the right-wing papers, Maariv and Israel Hayom considered it a real apology and wrote that Bennett had learned a lesson.

At the annual INSS think tank conference, Labor leader Isaac Herzog slammed the policies of Habayit Hayehudi's leader, Naftali Bennett, as "undermining the foundation of the Jewish people's home...What are you telling us, Naftali Bennett -- that the Jewish womb is the way to resolve the conflict? What do you have to offer us, other than such serious incitement?"
 
Lapid also spoke at the conference criticizing Bennett's prediction that a Palestinian state would "crush the Israeli economy." "All I can say about that is that Bennett's assumption fails to meet any of our professional assessments," he said. Lapid also attacked Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, saying: "Minister Yaalon's quote that 'the alternative to a European boycott is rockets from Nablus, Jenin, and Ramallah on our strategic home front, on Ben Gurion Airport' does not stand up to the test."
And he said the Israeli Left was wrong in its belief that peace would mean no more war. "It's sad, but there will always be terror, and people who believe that Allah or Elohim speak through them will always be there. The Israeli Left tells us we must make peace at any cost – it is wrong."
  
Peres told the audience at the INSS conference that no countries today have territorial depth and that there was no need to be scared from a peace agreement, NRG Hebrew reported. "I do not understand what the intimidation and the fright are all about. Peace is not a love story and certainly there could be terrorist attacks in Israel (after a peace agreement.) Russia doesn't have them? Europe doesn't have them? In 1948, they talked about the narrow waist of the country and that we have no territorial depth. Today no one has such depth because increasing the missiles prevail over the distance. But even so we called ourselves then a Jewish state."

**Meanwhile, top Israeli businesspeople appear to agree with Lapid that peace will help the economy. A group that calls itself 'Breaking the Impasse' has launched a 10-day advertising blitz aimed at pushing Netanyahu and Abbas toward signing agreement at a cost of 1 million shekels ($286,000) from their own pockets, Haaretz+ reported.
  
And there was more discussion in Israel Hayom and Maariv of what NYT columnist Thomas Friedman outlines as Kerry's peace plan. Friedman believes that "Kerry's mission is the last train to a negotiated two-state solution." 

Quick Hits:

Features:

The battle over the Jerusalem separation fence
Security fence will destroy unique landscape, ancient irrigation system, say residents, nature organizations. Defense official: 'The terraces will not be destroyed.' (Elior Levy, Ynet)

Commentary/Analysis:
A boycott is not anti-Semitic (Zeev Sternhell, Haaretz+) Israeli intellectuals are Zionism’s best ambassadors, but they represent Israeli society, not the colonialist reality.

Obama and his administration should stay away from this year’s AIPAC Conference (Peter Beinart, Haaretz+) It’s time to force AIPAC to choose between real bipartisanship and hawkish policies that Obama says could lead to war. 
The cost of peace, the price of boycott (Giora Eiland, Yedioth/Ynet) Based on the disengagement experience, the direct cost of evacuating settlers will be at least NIS 120 billion. Where will we raise such an imaginary sum?
When MKs tweet from Auschwitz (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) Jokes about snoring, bombastic cliches and 10 words about why America didn't bomb the camp. That's how our reps used social media to describe their visit to the valley of death. 
An educator's responsibility (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) A teacher's freedom of speech while at school must be limited by his sense of responsibility and self-discipline -- not to mention Education Ministry regulations.
If I were a teacher (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) I would teach the truth: that a people without a land came to a land that had a people, and that it’s theirs at least as much as it’s ours. 
If there's no way back from the settlements, then Zionism's days are numbered (Ari Shavit, Haaretz+) Neither the Arab nation nor the Palestinian struggle threaten Zionism today, but the disastrous consequences of Jewish messianism do. 
Settlements in Palestine - a solution of a different type (Ariella Ringel-Hoffman) ...Leaving a number of settlements...outside the territory of the State of Israel following a peace agreement that will be closer to the Green Line - is not a compromise on our most basic values. The State of Israel is not abandoning its citizens wherever they are, from New Zealand to Argentina and including those (settlers) sitting five minutes drive from Kfar Saba. It is committed to them, responsible for their welfare, only it does so in reasonable doses that are acceptable...

Netanyahu’s moral collapse (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) Instead of overcoming the harsh legacy that the Oslo camp bequeathed him, the prime minister has adopted the school of thought that almost led Israel over the edge of the abyss 
Netanyahu versus Bennett: It's a matter of time until the next coalition crisis (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth/Ynet) The recent row over the peace process was only a preview of what's to come. The next one will come when the Americans submit a proposal for a permanent status agreement. Only then the obvious choices to quit the government will actually be Lapid and Livni. Until then Naftali Bennett and Uri Ariel will continue ramping up the promises they made to their voters, and the budgets will continue flowing plentifully to Judea and Samaria. 
Academia must be free from politics (Haaretz Editorial) Supervision over academic institutions should be transferred to a professional, apolitical entity, instead of the Education Ministry.
Pete Seeger's Hebrew songbook (Noah Efron, Haaretz+) In the 1960s, Israel's daily papers used to publish Pete Seeger's song lyrics, such was his popularity; the relationship became more complicated, but he never stopped urging us to keep trying for peace.

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