APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday June 6, 2019

 

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronot

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019 News:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed as the new justice minister Likud MK Amir Ohana, who is supportive of the immunity bill, making Ohana the first LGBQT minister of Israel (and great timing - the day before Jerusalem’s Gay Pride Parade) and infuriating the far-right-wing MK Bezalel Smotrich who wanted the job for himself, and Netanyahu also asked the Attorney General again for another postponement of his pre-indictment hearing (which the Attorney General refused today) - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers alongside the funeral for Nechama Rivlin, the adored wife of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Nechama was buried on what would have been her 74th birthday at the cemetery at Mount Herzl, which is for leaders of the country.

In Key Security and Diplomacy News:
The IDF’s Intel chief Gen. Tamir Hayman ‘arrogantly boasted’ (Yedioth’s military analyst Yossi Yehoshua wrote) in regards to Hezbollah, Hamas and Russian involvement in the region. Hayman said that Israel “didn’t need Nasrallah to tell us the details of (Hezbollah’s) precise missiles project. We know better than he does.” Yehoshua noted that Israel said for years that the IDF claimed Hezbollah wasn’t digging tunnels into Israel from Lebanon and it did. Hayman said that “Hamas was very deterred from war.” Yet the papers reported that Gaza officials warned again of another escalation over Israel's ‘foot-dragging' in implementing the ceasefire agreements. And Yedioth’s Yehoshua reminded that Hayman’s predecessors said the same about deterrence in the past and were proven wrong. He noted that since March 2018 Hamas has held at least 10 rounds of fighting with Israel, each more powerful than the last. He wrote sarcastically that “in the last month it became clear that Hamas and the Jihad are so deterred that they launched in 2 days a record number of rockets, some 700, and caused the deaths of four Israeli civilians.”

Hayman’s third declaration could get Israel into trouble with the Russians, wrote Yehoshua. Hayman said that the Russians are creating friction in order to solve them and in that way make themselves relevant. Yehoshua noted that the IDF and the political echelons are careful of the Russians sense of honor, and not just to preserve Israel’s freedom of action in Syria against Iran. In Israel they believe that and are working hard to solve the crisis over the downing of the Russian plane last September. Hayman statement comes on the eve of an Israel-Russia-US meeting that is expected to deal with the future of Syria. Hayman also spoke about Iran, which he said that despite Iran boasting otherwise, Tehran may fail to develop a nuclear bomb. Hayman said US economic sanctions against Iran were preventing Iran's entrenchment in Syria and US pressure on Lebanon to disconnect from Hezbollah has hurt Hezbollah. Meanwhile, a Syrian general with ties to Hezbollah and Iran was assassinated by unknown assailants in Syria, the IDF is now completing the formation of an incredibly broad intelligence-gathering apparatus with the goal of thwarting Hezbollah and German lawmakers are set to debate a full ban on Hezbollah.

On the Palestinian Authority front, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said the Palestinian Authority could collapse by August if a financial standoff with Israel were not resolved. In an interview with the New York Times,
if a financial standoff with Israel isn’t resolved. "We are collapsing, we will soon have no way of paying salaries so we will have to send security personnel home,” he warned. Shtayyeh also criticized the Trump administration for touting the upcoming Bahrain conference as focused on improving Palestinian economy, while withdrawing US funds to Palestinians. (Also Maariv) But US Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt responded saying the Palestinian leadership was to blame for Palestinians’ economic woes. Meanwhile, US lawmakers were pushing a bipartisan bill for $50 million in Palestinian aid for economic development and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence programs - among the programs hurt by the US cuts to begin with.


Reporting in the West Bank:
On a totally different subject, here is how differently - and sometimes badly - the Hebrew newspapers reported on arsons in the West Bank:

Fact: Two weeks ago, the settlers and the IDF accused the Palestinians of arson for a fire that raged in fields in the northern West Bank, between the villages of Urif, Burin, Asira al-Qibliya and Yitzhar settlement.
Fact: Settlers set fire to the fields. B'Tselem showed a video and the IDF ate its words. (Also Haaretz+)
Fact: One of the arsonists was a soldier. He was arrested Tuesday.
Fact: In the same incident, four soldiers stood among settlers while the settlers from Yitzhar threw rocks at homes in the Palestinian village of Asira al-Qabliya. Haaretz posted the video that documented it.
Fact: The Israeli army recently put up a barrier fence separating Yitzhar from neighboring Urif after a video showed a group of about 12 masked Israelis storming into the village and throwing rocks at a Palestinian family. The mother was seen struggling to protect her baby from the onslaught of rocks.
Fact: Wednesday, a fire raged in an olive grove in the northern West Bank, between the village of Jalud and the settlement of Shilo, in an apparent arson.  A Palestinian was evacuated for medical treatment after inhaling smoke.
Ynet English reported only that “Firefighters are battling a blaze deliberately started in West Bank” Ynet Hebrew reported as fact that the Palestinians did it: “Filmed: Palestinians set field in Binyamin (settler name of region) on fire” and showed a video with dark figures running from smoke in a haphazard grove of trees in the direction of Jalud village. But Haaretz reported that Israel Firefighters said there were two fires, and people were seen running from the place of one of them and for that reason they thought it might be an arson. Haaretz interviewed a Palestinian man from Jalud village, who said that the grove was his from the time of his grandfather and that this was the third time settlers set it on fire. He said that on Wednesday morning, children from the village said they were attacked by settlers, who later continued on to set fire to the grove. “We went down from the village to see what was going on, and saw Israeli cars as well as security cars of the nearby settlements. We started putting out the fire with our hands." Al-Hamad said some 400 trees in his grove burnt down, out of approximately 1,500. Maan Arabic reported that settlers from the outposts of Adei Ad and Ahiya (near Shilo) set fire to the agricultural fields of the village of Jalud. A Palestinian official monitoring settlements said citizens were trying to control the fire.
Fact: Wednesday, settlers were filmed throwing stones at a Palestinian home and car in the northern West Bank village of Yasuf, about 30 minutes north of Jalud. Haaretz posted the video. Ynet wrote simply that several vehicles were damaged in “suspected” settler attack in village of Yasuf.
Fact: Today, Thursday, a fire raged in fields in the northern West Bank, apparently an arson. The Jerusalem Post suggested the fire was started by Palestinians, by naming the area as belonging to the settlers: “The hills of Itamar in the West Bank were blanketed in fire Thursday morning…This is the fourth fire in the area in the last two days. Residents are calling it arson.”
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Notes From Gaza Child Beggars Are the Face of Poverty in the Gaza Strip
The Israeli blockade, the sanctions imposed by the Palestinian Authority and additional taxes imposed by Hamas are making the situation more dire. (Rima Fathi, Haaretz+)

Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
From Gofer to Nemesis: Why the Man Who Helped Put Netanyahu in Power Is Now Taking Him Down (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Likud’s rising star, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his loyal right-hand man were inseparable in the 1990s. But Avigdor Lieberman’s goal was always to be the power behind the throne — of whoever was king.
It is better that high-tech people invest money in what could lead to the replacement of the government in the coming elections (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Instead of signing a petition to rectify the situation, each of the high-tech sharks should put half of their capital in order to propel an effective, destructive election campaign.
The Left has worn itself out hating Netanyahu (Galit Distel Etebarya, Israel Hayom) The prime minister's economic policies are benefiting members of the Israeli Left, most of whom live in expensive areas. But they won't admit it, and tear down anyone who dares praise the object of their hatred.
Restore the Joint List (Haaretz Editorial) The support from Hadash-Ta’al and United Arab List-Balad for the law that dissolved the Knesset – in contrast to the other center-left parties who voted against it – stemmed first and foremost from the internal political considerations of the four parties that make up the two slates. All of them saw new elections as a window of opportunity to correct the errors that resulted in their relatively poor showing in the April 9 elections to the 21st Knesset. The low voter turnout in the Arab community (49 percent), a third of whom voted for non-Arab parties, primarily Meretz, was a clear warning sign for the two parties. The parties won only 10 seats in the Knesset compared to 13 in the previous Knesset, when they ran as the Joint List. Tens of thousands of voters who brought about this great achievement in 2015 said no to the internal political power struggles that led to the alliance’s demise.
Note to Leftists Who Voted Kahol Lavan (Dmitry Shumsky, Haaretz+) As Raviv Drucker wrote last week (Haaretz, May 28), Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser, the most prominent rightists in Kahol Lavan, privately offer political explanations for their absence from the opposition demonstration in Tel Aviv due to the inclusion of Hadash-Ta’al leader Ayman Odeh among the speakers, saying it’s not possible to recruit others from the right to the cause if Odeh is on stage. Yet such tactical considerations are not sufficient to explain Hendel and Hauser’s discomfort with the participation of a representative of Palestinian Israeli citizens in a protest by the Israeli center and left. It was, above all, their “inner voice” that made them unable to bear the presence of a Palestinian Israeli in Israel’s public political sphere – just as Nicholas II’s inner voice instructed him in 1906 to continue excluding Russian Jews from Russia’s social and political spheres.
Smotrich and Lieberman have joined forces (Amnon Lord, Israel Hayom) Bezalel Smotrich is afraid of the serious attempts being made in recent days to unify the religious-nationalist camp, which is why he is helping Avigdor Lieberman stir the hornet's nest of religious-secular divisions.
Voter Fatigue and Empowered Extremists: The Possible Effects of Israel's Constant Elections (Noa Landau, Haaretz+) Israeli citizens will head to the polls on September 17 for the third (and even fourth) time within less than 11 months.
This Is How a Likud Backbencher Got Netanyahu to Appoint Him Justice Minister (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) There was no greater supporter to amend the Immunity Law for Netanyahu or to pass an override clause than Amir Ohana, who is also close to Yair Netanyahu.

Commentary/Analysis:
Thanks McDonald’s for Reminding Israel There Is a Green Line, and Even a Red Line (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) By refusing to open branches in the settlements, McDonald’s took a step very few companies are willing to take, but that all companies should have taken long ago.
The Bahrain conundrum (Israel Kasnett, Israel Hayom) Will the Trump administration succeed in its first phase of Arab-Israeli peacemaking?
What will Trump and Netanyahu pay Putin to join their anti-Iran camp? (Daniel B. Shapiro, Haaretz+) The first ever trilateral meeting between U.S., Russian and Israeli national security advisers could be a gamechanger on pushing Iran's military out of Syria. But at what cost - and who will pay.
I will miss my friend Nechama Rivlin very much (David Grossman, Yedioth/Ynet) As the country says goodbye to its first lady, renowned author David Grossman remembers his dear friend, her simplicity and her smile, as she is laid to rest in Jerusalem.
The funeral only underscored how much Nechama Rivlin was a modest and exemplary woman (Danny Neuman, Maariv) The wife of the president who passed away was to me "the beautiful Eretz Israel" and all without mannerisms, with the human warmth she radiated and direct sabra talk at eye level.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s anti-Erdogan Opposition Is Becoming a Dangerous Cult (Simon A. Waldman, Haaretz+) The Turkish pro-democracy opposition desperately needs to defeat Erdogan. But not by building up their candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, as an infallible 'savior.'

 

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