News Nosh 5.6.19

by APN 05/06/19
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday May 6, 2019

 
Number of the day:
Despite the escalation in the south, 47.9% of Israel's Jewish public still supports peace talks with the Palestinians.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
"Tactically speaking, the round in Gaza should have ended with 700 dead terrorists (one for every rocket) and with massive physical damage to Hamas - so that it would take them years to recover."
--MK Bezalel Smotrich, who hopes to be appointed Justice Minister, calls for killing one Palestinian for every rocket launched from Gaza.**

Breaking News:
PM announces truce, warns Israel is “prepared for more fighting”
Hours after Palestinian media announces Egyptian-brokered truce, IDF confirms cease-fire with Hamas, says civilians can resume normal routines. Terms of truce unclear. Trump: We support Israel 100%. (Israel Hayom and Haaretz)

Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Last night: Attempt for ceasefire - After assassination in Gaza and 660 missiles on Israel - 4 Israelis killed in one day of endless fighting
  • Bereavement strikes twice - 22 years after Iris Eden lost her husband in the helicopters disaster, her partner, Moshe Feder, 67, was killed from an anti-tank missile near Sderot
  • Moshe (Agadi)’s last seder, Agadi, 58, father of four in Ashkelon, was killed by shrapnel from a rocket that exploded near his house
  • Under the skies of Hamas // Nahum Barnea
  • Loss of control // Alex Fishman
  • Kochavi’s gamble // Yossi Yehoshua
  • “My brother and I went out to the war together. He did not return.” Special project - Stories of brothers who went to battle together but returned home alone
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom
  • Days of fire - 4 killed, hundreds of attacks in the Gaza Strip
  • The targeted assassinations return
  • The desire to bring Gaza to Samaria and to Judea // Dror Eydar
  • The bereavement struck twice - 22 years ago, Iris lost her husbands in the Helicopters Disaster. Last night she lost her partner, Moshe, who was killed by a missile

News Summary:
Today’s Hebrew newspapers shared stories about the four Israelis killed yesterday by Palestinian rockets and an anti-tank missile from Gaza, as well as the IDF assassination of a Hamas official - something not done for years - and the likelihood of a ceasefire, which was in the making. The papers noted that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh made clear that there would be no calm unless Israel implemented the ceasefire understandings.

**The papers made headlines out of the almost 700 rockets launched on Israel, but the lethal and destructive effects of the Israeli strikes on Gaza were minor news, if reported on at all. Maariv’s only mention was in a subtitle on page two that “the IDF attacked 300 targets, collapsed buildings and killed some 20 Palestinians” and in the third paragraph of the article: “The Palestinians report there are more than 20 killed.” Yedioth appears not to have mentioned the killing of 25 Palestinians anywhere in today's paper, except for the one man Israel intended to kill: Hamas’ Iran liaison. The last sentence of that article read: “Along with this targeted assassination were attacks on houses of senior officials of terror organizations and the destruction of a number of high-rise buildings in Gaza. Its sister website, Ynet, wrote one sentence about the Palestinians killed. Today, MK Bezalel Smotrich said Israel should have killed one Palestinian for every rocket launched on Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and PLO official Saeb Erekat blamed Israel for the violent escalation in Gaza, Western world leaders condemned the rocket attacks from Gaza and the EU said, "Only a political solution can put an end to the violence.” Meanwhile, Egypt and the UN worked on the mediation efforts.


Gaza-Israeli fighting Quickees:
  • Hundreds defy IDF orders to attend funeral of rocket strike victim, Moshe Agadi - Friends and neighbors insist on accompanying Moshe Agadi, 58, on his last journey. Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Galam: We will not give into the terrorists who want to destroy us. Many more turned away by Home Front Command, which limited crowd to 300 because of rocket threat. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
  • Israelis killed by rocket fire, anti-tank missile identified - Ziad al-Hamamda, 47, was the (Arab-) Israeli man killed on Sunday when a rocket directly hit a factory in the southern city of Ashkelon. A Bedouin Israeli resident of the Negev, he is survived by his wife and seven children and was buried on Sunday night. A second victim killed earlier in the day when an anti-tank missile fired from the Gaza Strip struck his car was named as 68-year-old Moshe Feder. (Times of Israel)
  • Ashkelon residents say they this round is the worst they remember - Long-time residents of southern coastal city admit they're scared after relentless rocket fire from the Gaza Strip continues to maim their friends and neighbors. (Israel Hayom)
  • Tragedy strikes twice: IDF widow loses second partner to Gaza missile - Iris Eden, who lost her first husband in an infamous military helicopter crash 22 years ago, lost her partner of 17 years on Sunday when his vehicle was hit by a Hamas anti-tank missile; 'The two loves of my life went up in flames,' she says. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • Two pregnant women among 25 Gazans killed as Israel pounds strip, resumes targeted killings - Military says Gazan in charge of Iranian fund transfers killed in targeted strike, Hamas' public security headquarters struck. (Haaretz)
  • Death toll rises to 27: Married couple found dead under rubble in Gaza hours after their 12-year-old son was killed - The bodies of a married Palestinian couple were recovered from the rubble of the completely destroyed buildings, which were targeted by Israeli warplanes. Talal and Raghda’s 12-year-old son, Abdul Rahman, was also killed several hours earlier by the Israeli airstrikes. (Maan)
  • Senior Deputy Attorney General: "The political echelon is afraid to make decisions and accuses the jurists" - Raz Nazri claims that the legal echelon is approving drastic steps for the cabinet to take in the Gaza Strip, but the ministers are afraid of the consequences and say the (jurists) are tying their hands: "They are unable to take decisions.” (Maariv)
  • WATCH Video shows rocket exploding next to bus full of Israeli soldiers - A cellphone video went viral Sunday after a rocket landed next to a bus full of Israel soldiers - illustrating the many close-calls in the south of the country, which is under heavy rocket fire. (Haaretz)
  • WATCH: Israeli warplane targets 2 Palestinians on motorcycle - The two Palestinians, whose identity remained unknown, were immediately transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, in northern Gaza, for necessary medical treatment. (Maan)
  • *Study: About half of Jewish-Israeli respondents support negotiations with the Palestinians - Surprising findings in light of the escalation in the south: About 70% of the Jews in Israel believe that most Israeli Arabs do not want to harm the state, but they are skeptical about the Palestinians' desire for peace. Despite the escalation in the south, 47.9% of Israel's Jewish public still supports peace talks with the Palestinians, but only 16.9% believe negotiations will bear fruit. A new study by the Ono Academic College shows that more than half of Israelis think that relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel are good, and that only politicians spoil them. (Maariv)
  • Turkey slams Israel for attack on its news agency office - calls for international action - 'We strongly condemn the non-differentiating attacks in Gaza by Israel, which has caused many innocent people to lose their lives or get injured, and targeted the Anadolu Agency's building.’ (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Israel to allow entry of fuel into Gaza Strip - Israeli authorities decided, on Sunday, to allow the entry of truckloads of fuel into the besieged Gaza Strip, despite the recent escalation between Israel and Gaza, in order to generate electricity from a local power plant in Gaza. (Maan)
  • Tamar Gas Supplies Suspended Amid Concern Over Rocket Attacks - Fighting hasn’t yet run up enough costs to require extra budget, Finance Ministry says. (Haaretz+)
  • Eurovision ticket sales low, less tourists flock to Israel as Gaza flare-up refuses to simmer down - Organizers of the song contest in Tel Aviv say that it's business as usual, but only 5,000 tourists are expected to arrive. (Haaretz+)

Quick Hits:
  • House bill would withhold military aid to Israel over detention of Palestinian children - More than 10,000 Palestinian children have been arrested, detained, abused and prosecuted by Israeli security forces in the Israeli military court system since 2000, Rep. Betty McCollum’s statement said. (JTA, Haaretz)
  • Dozens of Israeli settlers raid, damage Urif high school - Settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, raided the high school overnight Saturday by throwing rocks towards it and breaking the windows of several classrooms. (Maan)
  • Israeli bulldozers uproot 120 Palestinian olive trees near Ramallah - The uprooting of 120 fruit-filled trees came a month after Israeli forces delivered a military order to local resident, Shafiq Abu Salem, informing him of confiscation of his private land near the village, in order to pave a settler-only road in the area for the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Aryeh. (Maan)
  • She Took in 52 Arab and Jewish Children. This Woman Is About to Receive One of Israel's Highest Honors - Marie Nachmias escaped the German invasion of Tunisia and had nearly 100 biological descendants, but it's the dozens of foster children she took in that earned her the honor of lighting an Independence Day torch. (Haaretz+)
  • Honor: A traffic circle in Petah Tikva will be named after Donald Trump - Mayor Rami Greenberg decided to call the square adjacent to the city hall named after the US president because of his "unqualified support for the State of Israel.” (Maariv)
  • Eurovision Hotel Bookings Slack – and Not Because of Conflict With Gaza - Hoteliers say demand hasn’t met the expectations they now admit were outsized, and room rates are coming down. (Haaretz+)
  • Bots promoting Twitter campaign to boycott Eurovision in Tel Aviv - Government report finds campaign to boycott Eurovision carried out with support of senior Hamas official Bassem Na'im. Twitter confirms suspension. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)
  • Former Staffer for Sara Netanyahu: ‘I Wasn’t Allowed to Drink, Eat or Use the Bathroom’ - Shira Raban, who worked for a month at the prime minister's residence, filed a long list of accusations against the prime minister's wife, whose lawyers call ‘malicious lies,’ (Haaretz+)
  • Nikki Haley to attend the first Israel Hayom Forum for US–Israel Relations - The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations will join other prominent figures from Israel and abroad to participate. (Israel Hayom)
  • 'US may review ties with countries deemed anti-Israel' - After Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that anti-Zionism is equal to anti-Semitism, State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr says that "anti-Semitism on the part of a country with whom we have relations is a deep concern." (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Warplanes strike hospital in Syria's rebel-held Idlib - Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says since the early Sunday, Russian warplanes have carried out more than 50 airstrikes on Idlib and nearby Hama province. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)

Features:
The Psychological Price of Israeli Kids Growing Up Near Gaza
Children suffering from long-term PTSD are failing to recover as trauma of Gaza rockets keeps repeating itself. (Shira Kadari-Ovadia, Haaretz+)
IDF Chief of Staff's Yom Kippur War diary revealed: "Dayan opposes preventive strike"
The late David Elazar, also known as 'Dado,' who was dismissed after the war, suggested making a surprise attack, but was blocked by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who believed that war would not break out. (Moshe Cohen, Maariv)
Israel releases excerpts of general's diary from Yom Kippur War. But something is missing
Journal written by the late David Elazar does not appear to address the notion that he didn't do enough to prevent the lethal war despite warnings he received. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu can no longer pacify Gaza with Qatari cash and empty promises (Muhammad Shehada, Haaretz+) Israel's bribes aren't working any more, and Hamas isn't preventing Islamic Jihad blowing up the status quo. The Kushner/Trump 'peace plan' is based on the same failed reasoning – and could have even more disastrous results.
Israel has determined the principle of friction, but the level of the flames is up to Hamas (Ran Edelist, Maariv) The negotiations are designed to divert attention from the main issue - the Netanyahu government is conducting a policy of constant pressure on Gaza. The goal is to keep the prisoner alive, surviving, but not strengthening him.
What if Israel Let Gaza Have an Airport, Gas Field and Desalination Plant? (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) Netanyahu hasn’t done anything for a decade to change the awful strategic balance that has emerged between us and Gaza.
Things have to change (Head of Eshkol Regional Council, Gadi Yarkoni, Israel Hayom) A 10th escalation is too much. It is time for the prime minister to live up to his obligation to the residents of Gaza border communities and the citizens of Israel as a whole.
Israel Has a Target Bank but No Policy (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Both Israel and Hamas are clenched in a system of mutual deterrence and dependence, which will only grow as long as there is no feasible diplomatic plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the test of the Gaza factions (Elior Levy, Yedioth/Ynet) Yahya Sinwar knows exactly what makes Israel tick, and is using it to exact better truce conditions when the fighting inevitably ends; the smaller Palestinian group, which is backed by Iran, has other ambitions however.
Israel and Hamas Are Bartering, Weapon in Hand. The End Result Could Be a Military Operation (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) It appears that the leaders of Hamas and Israel are not interested in war at this point in time. But the dynamics of confrontation are working overtime, reminiscent of the days leading to the 2014 Gaza war.
Israel exposed its Achilles' heel and gave the terrorist organizations leverage (Yoni Ben-Menachem, Maariv) Immediately after the Eurovision Song Contest, Israel must change its policy, renew targeted assassinations and prepare a "package" of security measures "out of the box" that will restore the erased deterrence.
Operation Status Quo (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Most Israelis will ask what’s wrong with the status quo. We’re here, they’re there. They forget that “there” was created by those who are “here.” “There” live those who are encircled by the sea, air and land, with only enough calories to survive. Most Israelis view the status quo between Israel and the Gaza Strip as divinely ordained, and any attempt to undermine it as a type of heresy. Israeli public diplomacy presents Gaza as eternal proof of Arab aggression. Is there a country in the world that would agree for its residents to be subject to rocket barrages? This is indeed an appropriate question, but it’s no less appropriate to ask, is there any other country in the world imposing a hermetic closure on its neighbor and cutting off its residents from the rest of their people? Is there another people in the world who in 70 years have been scattered among seven or eight islands, with borders and other nations dividing them — in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, in Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon? These questions aren’t asked, of course. All they say is, “We left Gaza, what more do you want?”
West Bank settlers before Gaza border residents (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The current Israeli government has willingly sacrificed the security of residents along Israel's Gaza border to achieve the extreme-right goal driving the whole country to the brink of disaster.
I Would Ask Hamas' Military Chief This One Question (Aluf Benn, Haaretz+) Gaza's suffering will not and cannot be alleviated by any long-range rocket or armed drone. Why not try something different and recognize Israel?
Eurovision in Israel Is Still Too Tempting a Target for Hamas (Daniel J. Levy, Haaretz+) Israel's relief at a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants days before the start of Eurovision may be badly misplaced.
Israel's Renewal of Targeted Killings in Gaza Sends a Message: This Round Is Different (Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz+) By claiming responsibility for the killing of Hamas moneyman Hamed al-Khoudary, Israel is signaling that the an old tactic is back on the table.
Gaza flare-up imperils Netanyahu’s cynical cohabitation with Hamas (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The prime minister’s 'contain, maintain and complain’ approach is meant to undercut Palestinian statehood, even at the expense of Israeli security.
The clash of American liberal Jewry and Israeli nationalism (Yishai Fleisher, Israel Hayom) American and Israeli Jews share DNA, familiarity, goodwill, a love of the Torah and a love of the homeland, but live very different lives and have consequently developed very different mindsets.
Let the Palestinian Authority collapse (Martin Sherman, Israel Hayom) Oslo has brought nothing positive to Israel. Rather than a threat, the impending disappearance of the PA should be perceived as an opportunity.
Israel and the Arab world 71 years on (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Once a weak and isolated country in the Middle East, Israel is now a central player and desirable ally in the Arab world.
 
Interviews:
A Chaplain. A Rabbi. A Professor. An Editor. A Soldier. These Are the Faces of Jewish America
We sat down with five very different figures, all Jewish, all American, to discuss the tectonic shifts taking place within U.S. Jewry. (Interviewed by Yair Ettinger in Haaretz+)

Spiritual guidance for secular youth: NYU's Jewish chaplain tackles the culture wars
Rabbi Yehuda Sarna has his hands full helping students who feel they're being assailed by either the left or the right. Good thing he has his Muslim colleague to pitch in. (Interviewed by Yair Ettinger in Haaretz+)

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

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