News Nosh 6.25.19

by APN 06/25/19
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday June 25, 2019

You Must Be Kidding: 
“The occupation of the municipal park must end. It is not a political issue. It is not an election issue. It is simply a fundamental matter of principle. A park that was built for the residents of Afula needs to remain theirs … We must proudly wave Israeli flags through the entire park and play music in Hebrew."
--In a thinly-veiled ban of Arabs, mayor of Israeli city of Afula explained his ban of 'non-residents' from city's public pool.*

Front Page:
Haaretz
  • For the third time: Netanyahu’s request to raise funds for his legal defense were rejected
  • Minefield // Mordechai Kremnitzer
  • Between vision of peace and winds of war: Bahrain conference opens today // Noa Landau in Bahrain
  • Trump imposed sanctions on Khamenei, US Treasurer: This week more sanctions will be imposed on Iran
  • State Comptroller: Government fails in supervision of pollution in Haifa Bay
  • Ayoub Kara resigned and Netanyahu again must appoint a communications minister
  • Government published tender for renovation of Israel’s National Cemetery and the addition of dozens of graves
  • Tel-Aviv Mayor Huldai: Education system is acting to harm democracy, schools must straighten up
  • Even after sundown, nights in Israel are becoming hotter
  • Ship in the desert // Amira Hass on the positive aspect of the Trump Administration economic plan
  • Return to sanity // Amir Barnea writes that no CEO is worth $30 million a year
  • Yael Dayan did not like the TV series on her family: “It’s TUAV that people get such a picture of us”
  • Governor of Bank of Israel appeared before the ministers for the first time: The hole in the budget is larger than the Ministry of Finance tells you
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Expose - Protest of the settlement security guards (Hebrew)
  • Expose - (Far right-wing activist Itamar) Ben-Gvir: They are dismantling the Union of Right-wing Parties (Hebrew)
  • Expose - Soon on the highways: Two years without speed fines (from cameras)
  • Bahrain Conference begins (Hebrew)
  • Severe and personal sanctions against Khamenei
  • Haifa deserves clean air - State Comptroller determined: Severe failures in treatment of air pollution in Haifa (Hebrew)
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

  • In Ramallah they refuse, in Bahrain they are meeting - Special: ‘Israel Hayom’ correspondent reports from Manama conference
  • Talking in one voice - Thursday: ‘Israel Hayom’ forum on Israel-US relations
  • Today: Dramatic hearing in case of rape of 7-year-old
  • Khamenei in the cross hairs: Trump signed on sanctions against Iran

Top News Summary:
US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s Supreme leader as the Trump Administration’s economic conference in Bahrain opens today. Meanwhile, Israel halts the delivery of fuel to the Gaza Strip following a row of fires from incendiary balloons.

Russia said it will counter the new 'illegal' US sanctions on Iran, which the US announced would target Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and others, while Europe scrambles to save the nuclear deal. Iranians said their 'bones were breaking' under US sanctions, with inflation over 37%, and more than three million people unemployed.

A number of high-level meetings took place to discuss the US-Iran crisis. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the Saudi king and crown prince and said that Washington wanted talks with Tehran, while Saudi Arabia warned Iran will “pay the price” if it “continues with its aggressive policies.” Indeed, Trump said on NBC News: "I did not threaten to attack Iran, I am not looking for war...I do not believe that Iran tried to provoke a strike by the UAV, I think they want to negotiate.” (MaarivOnline) In Jerusalem, Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Russia’s national security advisor a day before the trilateral summit of security advisers from Israel, the U.S. and Russia. Israeli officials - and ‘Israel Hayom’ - stressed how this “unprecedented meeting of two world powers with Israel, in Israel, underscores its global standing and sends a powerful message to the region, especially to our enemies.” Meanwhile, Iran said the US cyber attack on it failed.

Jared Kushner’s Mideast peace conference kicks off today in Bahrain, where the US hopes to find investors for the economic side of its yet unrevealed peace plan. After the Palestinians called for peace based on the Saudi Peace Initiative, Kushner said his Israeli-Palestinian deal will diverge from the Saudi Initiative, saying “It will be somewhere between the Arab peace initiative and between the Israeli position." PLO Executive Committee Chairman Saeb Erekat told Ynet that the Bahrain workshop is a joke and slammed Kushner and and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman for lack of balance as mediators. Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Ashtiyeh said ”the solution of the Palestinian issue is not economic.” (Maariv) In the West Bank Palestinians demonstrated against the conference and in Gaza they are holding a general strike today. (Maariv) Israel Hayom reported that Jerusalem’s former mayor, Nir Barkat, called to boost Kushner’s peace plan by establishing 12 industrial areas in Area C to boost Israeli-Palestinian economic cooperation.

Elections 2019 Quickees:
  • The dissolution of rightist parties - Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party told Habayit Hayehudi party yesterday that his list is on the way to dismantling the package, and is preparing to run in the next elections in an alternative framework. The reason: Ministers Peretz and Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi) refuse to resign from their positions in the Knesset and vacate a place for him. ”This is not how we behave with partners," Ben-Gvir charged. "The definition of this behavior is ingratitude.” (Yedioth Hebrew)
  • Fearing lackluster performance, Netanyahu may try to dodge fresh elections - Likud sources say polls show PM likely to come off worse in repeat vote in September, which could lead him to seek a new coalition with Blue and White in order to keep hold of reins of power. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • Bibi and Tibi team up behind the scenes - In front of the cameras the right-wing prime minister and the veteran Arab party leader are bitter rivals, but politics, as the old saying goes, makes for strange bedfellows. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • Lieberman: "The prime minister sent Eshel to prepare the ground for the Arabs to join the government" - "There is no doubt that (Netanyahu confidante) Nathan Eshel would not have written a row of such Op-Eds (in the Hebrew newspapers) without approval from Balfour Street (the Prime Minister's Residence),” said Yisrael Beiteinu chairman on 103 FM. "The worst option is a narrow religious government.” (Maariv)
  • Ehud Barak said looking to partner with ex-general Yair Golan to form new party - Former PM and deputy chief of staff trying to recruit a team of veteran politicians, including Tzipi Livni, to run together in September 17 elections. (Times of Israel, Yedioth Hebrew and Maariv)
  • Last day to join Labor race, membership rolls - The three candidates spent Monday signing up as many members to the party as possible, ahead of a midnight Tuesday deadline to be able to join Labor and still vote in the primary. (JPost)
     
Quick Hits:
  • West Bank Rape Case: Lie Detector Test of Palestinian Suspect Was Not Done in Arabic - Polygraph experts say that in cases like these, suspect should write statement of innocence in native tongue and be questioned about it. Police say 'significant' new details emerged in probe on Monday. (Haaretz+)
  • Testimonies from the 7-year-old rape case were revealed: "What a disgusting man, I hate him walking around" - Mahmoud Katusa was identified in the school by the girl who was attacked, but the investigation materials describing the events prior to that raise the suspicion that the mother directed the child to point at him. Katusa was identified about two weeks after the complaint was filed when the girl arrived at the school and identified him, but it is not clear how authentic the identification was, as initially thought. When the mother went to the school, a teacher told her that she was disgusted by Qatusa, who was sitting bent over, looking at his phone, and the crack of his buttocks could be seen over the back of his pants. Later, the mother told investigators that "it seems to me that there is a close connection between this employee and the offender, and the girl says that the employee brought an assistant to fix the closet in her class." Later the mother brought the girl to the school. In her police questioning, the girl said her mother asked her to identify the suspect if she saw him at school. The girl said that when they got to the school and saw Qatusa the mother "said it was him." Then, the investigator asked the girl: "Did the mother say he was the suspect?" The girl replied, "Yes, I pointed to him because it was him." (Maariv)
  • 'They Rape Children': Racist Graffiti Sprayed, Cars Vandalized in Palestinian Town - Writings in village of Sinjil, near the Jewish settlements of Ofra and Shilo. invoke West Bank rape of 7-year-old Jewish girl, of which a Palestinian man was suspect. Other graffiti in Hebrew read: "Village of terrorists," "Stone-throwing terrorists live here," and "We give them jobs and they rape a child," referring to the West Bank rape case in which Mahmoud Qatusa was charged with raping a 7-year-old Israeli girl. [UPDATE: Charges were dropped against Qatusa today for lack of evidence and he was freed. -OH]  (Haaretz)
  • Tourists banned from bringing 'Jewish items' into Jordan from Israel - Tourism industry official contacts tourism and foreign ministries with urgent request to clarify reports that Jordanian border personnel are forcing incoming tourists to relinquish items marked with Jewish symbols and Jewish ritual objects. (Israel Hayom)
  • Breaches of Israel's Biometric Database Kept Secret Until Watchdog Happened Upon Reports - Government is invoking security grounds to keep details of two breaches - in 2017 and 2018 - from the public eye, while Population Authority says oversight bodies were informed. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
  • Israel's Communications Minister Quits Day After It Was Revealed He Auditioned for Reality TV - 'I experienced criticism that culminated in cooperation with Likud's top officials to weaken me and remove me from the party's spheres of influence,' Ayoub Kara writes in resignation latter. (Haaretz+ and Times of Israel)
  • Police prepare to indict haredi faction leader in pedophile protection case - United Torah Judaism leader Yakov Litzman may face criminal charges for allegedly using his position to shield Malka Leifer, an ultra-Orthodox woman facing 74 counts of sexual abuse against minors in Australia, to evade justice by declaring her unfit for trial. (Israel Hayom)
  • IDF soldiers accidentally open fire on nearby troops during exercise - Maglan force deployed to border last week unwittingly entered live-fire zone of nearby exercise; none hurt. (Times of Israel and Maariv)
  • Israel Approves Budget Cuts Amid Warnings on Deficit - Ministers approve measures as red ink swells to 3.8% of GDP. Bank of Israel chief says more painful steps lie ahead. (Haaretz)
  • Israel's Labor Ministry to Close 27 Construction Sites Due to Safety Issues - Inspectors find dozens of dangerous safety violations, improper scaffolding, lack of safety equipment for workers and faulty electricity. (Haaretz+)
  • Because of the delay by Ministry of Labor - construction sites in country at risk of being closed down - The Ministry of Labor delayed the submission of a training program for safety assistants at building construction sites and only 900 of the 8,000 people needed for the industry were trained. This did not prevent ministry inspectors from disabling construction sites this week "due to lack of a safety assistant.” (Yedioth Hebrew)
  • Ombudsman says Israel failing to curb Haifa pollution, despite government claims - Four years after national plan was approved, there has been little to no progress in reducing pollutants in country’s third-largest city, comptroller finds. (Times of Israel)
  • **Northern Israeli City Closes Park to Nonresidents [i.e. Arabs - OH] Over Summer Vacation - Mayor’s campaign ad states ‘Park built for Afula residents must remain theirs. … We must proudly wave Israeli flags in entire park and play music in Hebrew.’ Before Avi Elkabetz was elected, he took part in protests against the sale of homes in the city to Arabs. (Haaretz+)
  • In Final Decision, Netanyahu's Request to Let Tycoon Friend Fund Legal Defense Denied - State comptroller committee rules the prime minister didn't provide sufficient information on his relations with Spencer Partrich, but could get last-second permission to take a loan to cover legal fees in bribery cases. (Haaretz)
  • Haaretz at 100: Israel’s National Poet Praised the Paper for Shunning Fake News - In 1933, Haim Nahman Bialik lauded the daily – and its left-wing competitor Davar – for eschewing ‘harmful exaggeration.’ (Haaretz+)
  • Testimonies of Palestinians tortured by PA to be shown at ICC - "I wanted to die 20 times a day because of the suffering," says one victim in a filmed testimony. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice is seeking an international criminal probe against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. (Israel Hayom)
  • Thousands in Tel Aviv Protest Plans to Deport Filipina Women and Their Children - Authorities plan to deport more than 100 children who were born in Israel to women who came to the country on work visas but lost their legal status when their children were born. (Haaretz+)
  • IN PHOTOS: Turkish opposition candidate defeats Erdogan's pick in Istanbul election rerun - Putting a celebratory end to weeks of political tension after Ekrem Imamoglu's March win in the city's mayoral race was annulled, jubilant supporters took to the streets, chanting 'Mayor again!' (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Houthi strike on Saudi airport kills one, wounds 21, state media reports - Saudi-owned media reports a suspected drone hit the parking lot of an airport in the kingdom's south killing a Syrian resident. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Features:
Pride and Prejudice: The Hellish Life of Gaza’s LGBTQ Community
Three gay men in the Strip tell Haaretz what life is really like in a ‘homophobic society’ where pretending to be straight is often a matter of survival. (Mark Lemant, Haaretz+)
(Settler security guards:) Exhausted
12-hour shifts, low hourly wages and unskilled manpower. The security guards who keep the sensitive positions in Judea and Samaria [West Bank], those who jump first to the hotter scene of the attacks, are collapsing under the burden. The training they undergo is not suitable, and some have not even done army service. "If they don’t raise our wages and deal with the manpower issue, we will not go to our stations - it is only a question of time until we are finished with human life.” (Yedioth Hebrew)
WATCH: Permission denied: Gaza children struggle to get medical care
With severe medicine shortages and an overstretched health care system in Gaza, children in need of medical treatments can only find them outside the strip. Yet Israel’s convoluted, arbitrary permit process leaves them waiting in pain, often missing life-saving care. (Jen Marlowe, +972mag + VIDEO)

Commentary/Analysis:
As Winds of War Blow in Gulf, Trump Will Try to Workshop Mideast Peace (Noa Landau, Haaretz+) Bahraini government representatives treat Washington's guests very courteously, but beyond the calm of Manama, the atmosphere is tense.
Trump, Netanyahu and the Iran flipflop (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Israeli leaders have long enjoyed elevated status at the White House, but while the U.S. president basks in the acclaim he received for jettisoning the airstrike on Iranian targets at the last minute, one must consider who led him to that point, and why.
The Iranian Trap: Trump has reached the crossroads of a decision, perhaps the most important one of his term (Shmuel Rosner, Maariv) The President of the United States wants to erode Tehran's power, but he also wants to avoid over-involvement of the US in the administration of the world. But the two desires are incompatible.
The Gulf State That Might Get Israel and Iran Talking (Alex Vatanka, Sigurd Neubauer and Joel Rubin, Haaretz+) Despite the risks of war between the U.S. and Iran, a narrow diplomatic opportunity exists. But it is not between Washington and Tehran, but rather between Jerusalem and Tehran.
The Iranian Trap: Trump has reached the crossroads of a decision, perhaps the most important one in a term
Bahrain Debacle Marks Crash of Trump Team’s Campaign to Diss Palestinians Into Submission (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Kushner’s Peace for Prosperity includes Utopian projects funded by non-existent money as part of peace deal that won’t happen.
Kushner’s Ship in the Desert (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) What can Jared Kushner’s plan be compared to? A blueprint for a luxury yacht designed to sail on the desert sands. Reality must be jettisoned from our consciousness for us to read such an exhausting text laden with empty promises and advertisers’ clichés. A reality which talks, for example, about the “limited access of Palestinian farmers to land, water, and technology” without stating explicitly that it is Israel which limits them – this is laughing in the readers’ faces. So Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American social activist, business consultant and analyst of Israeli policies decided to answer Kushner with a sort of humorous fatigue. “You did it. You produced 136 pages of nothing, in full color and with photos too,” he wrote in an open letter “from one American to another.” Bahour read the entire plan on the veranda of his home in El Bireh in the West Bank, “the one facing the illegal Israeli settlement of Psagot.” He examined where the settlement fits into Kushner’s plan. “I see it fits perfectly since you don’t even hint that it exists. I know, we Palestinians should not get bogged down with inconvenient facts on the ground.”
The real reason the Palestinians are boycotting Bahrain (Maurice Hirsch, Israel Hayom) The underlying message of the US-sponsored summit exposes the fact that the PA and PLO no longer represent the interests of the Palestinians.
Palestinians have every right to reject another Oslo ( Sam Bahour, +972mag) With the Bahrain workshop, the Trump administration is relying on the same old Oslo model of economy before politics. What needs to be done is to hold Israel accountable.
On alert ahead of Bahrain (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) Despite assurances that the upcoming summit is intended to benefit them, the Palestinians have succeeded in downgrading the US-sponsored event from a diplomatic landmark to a low-level business meeting.
Netanyahu Hosting Russian Victory Lap While Emasculated Bolton Looks On (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Israeli prime minister is leveraging his unique position on the world stage by hosting U.S. and Russian national security advisers, but secretly wishing the Americans held the upper hand in the Mideast.
Take an honest look at the conflict (Yehuda Shalem, Haaretz+) We do not have the luxury of ignoring the more painful aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as the history of Muslims using rape as a weapon of war.
The alliance with the Arab sector - the beginning of the return of the Zionist leftist camp to power (Dr. Revital Amiran, Maariv) There is no better political moment than now to declare that the Israeli Arabs are full partners in the camp. This is the time to shake off the role of the victim and to offer an alternative.
Israeli Finance Minister's Boasting Turns Out to Be Only Half True (Avi Waksman, Haaretz+) Israel’s economy is doing well, but his fiscal policies were by no stretch of the imagination ‘responsible.’
I will never allow [far-right-wing politicians] Rafi Peretz, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, or Michael Ben-Ari to hunt down the souls of my children (Ron Tira, Maariv) The appointment of Rabbi Peretz as minister of education constitutes another step in the attack on the democratic foundations of the state. But the new minister knew that he would never be able to educate my children…The parent, as guardian, has the legal right to impart to his children an education according to his world of values. The secular parent has the legal right to refrain from providing an education with a religious dimension to his children. Indeed, the High Court of Justice ruled that "a supreme principle is in our law that the individual in Israel is also entitled to freedom of religion and freedom from religion." Accordingly, the Ministry of Education's "Parents' right to education" repeats itself: "Part of the religious freedom granted to parents is the possibility of educating their children in accordance with the religion they believe in or refrain from providing religious education.”…The secular-state education system is intended for secular education. This is anchored, among other things, in the circular "Parents' Rights in Education" and in the decisions of the Shenhar Committee. There is no other, more secular educational system in which the secular parent can give his children an education that matches his world of values. There is a wide range of ultra-Orthodox, religious and integrative educational systems available to the parent who wants his children to receive an education with a religious dimension. The secular-state education is the only and last refuge of the secular parent. Adding the religious dimension (including under the auspices of Judaism, tradition, heritage, etc.) into the secular-state education system will leave the secular parent without an appropriate alternative. There is a line that goes between Naftali Bennett and Rafi Peretz that is trying to add the religious dimension to the state education system as an equal, continuous and always present one. But such education already has a name and a legal framework: integrative education. Blurring the boundaries and turning secular-state education into a reflection of the integrative education contravenes the provisions of the law. In my view, the Ministry of Education exploits its authority negatively and empties secular-state education of its purpose, in contrast to the legal definition according to which the integrative school is a voluntary framework, which requires, inter alia, written consent of the parents and an alternative placement for the (child of a) parent who does not want it. Religionization must be fought in the legal arena. But even if the religious-messianic coalition changes the laws and appoints judges who are loyal to it, it will not yet be able to shape my children in its image. If all the alternatives to secular-state government education have a religious dimension, I will take my children out of it.
Responsibility for funding starts with transparency (Eldad Beck, Israel Hayom) The lack of transparency in German's foreign aid mechanism could make it difficult to implement the Bundestag's historic decision against BDS and actually stop money from reaching organizations that seek to isolate and delegitimize Israel.
In Morsi's death, Israel proves it prefers a non-democratic Middle East (Orly Noy, +972mag) Israel is not interested in democracy as a value. On the contrary — it has a great deal of interest in making sure it keeps bearing the title of ‘the only democracy in the Middle East.’
Istanbul Election Shows Erdogan Is Losing His Magic Touch (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Growing economic woes and Kurdish voters' support led to a second defeat of the president’s candidate in the city's mayoral race.

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

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