APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday July 1, 2019

 

Quote of the Day #1:

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Breaking News:
Israel Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria, Report Says; 16 Killed, including baby, 21 Wounded
Syrian air defenses responded to attacks on Homs and Damascus outskirts launched from Lebanese air space, Syrian state media says. Syrian anti-aircraft missile fired at Israelis hits Turkish Cypriot mountainside, no casualties. (Haaretz and Ynet)

Iran Says It Has Exceeded Enriched Uranium Stockpile Allowed Under Nuclear Deal
(Haaretz and Israel Hayom)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Top News Summary:
Sadness over the closure of a pre-state airport that connects the center of Israel to Eilat, shock after a third bank CEO resigns, possibly due to government capping of top salaries, and concern after an off-duty policeman shoots dead an Ethiopian-Israeli youth made top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. What made less headlines was the controversial participation of two senior US administration officials in the inauguration of a settler archaeological project in E. Jerusalem.

Also, a day after the front pages shouted about the numerous fires from incendiary balloons from Gaza landing in Israeli communities in the periphery and how Israel should react and whether Israel was holding up its side of the understandings with Hamas and whether Hamas was holding up its side, only a tiny item near the back page of Yedioth mentioned that no fires broke out from incendiary balloons in the Jewish communities surrounding the Gaza Strip yesterday and that the understandings between Israel and Hamas regarding a calm “are holding, at least for now.”

There was another interesting contrast between Sunday’s and Monday’s papers.
With the usual exception of Haaretz, which put it on the front page, the Friday’s Hebrew newspapers completely ignored the shooting and killing of Mohammed Samir Obeid, a 20-year-old Palestinian in E. Jerusalem, by a police officer Thursday night. They also ignored reporting in the Sunday newspapers about the intense clashes that ensued in E. Jerusalem Friday and Saturday that resulted in 95 Palestinians in E. Jerusalem wounded by Israeli police. However, the shooting and killing of Solomon Teka, an 18-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli near Haifa, by an off-duty police officer on Sunday made today’s front page in the Hebrew newspapers, with the exception of Israel Hayom. In both killings, the police officers who opened fire said they felt a threat to their lives. The death of the Ethiopian not only made the news, not to mention on the front page, but the papers also suggested the policeman was guilty. The headline in Yedioth was a quote from the head of the local youth center: “It’s not possible that they so easily shoot a youth here.” Practically the same sentence was said to Haaretz+ journalist Nir Hasson by residents of the E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, where the Palestinian youth lived and was shot dead. Moreover, the police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the killing of the Ethiopian, but not for the killing of the Palestinian, except by journalist Nir Hasson.

Israel Hayom and Maariv largely ignored the controversial participation of two senior US envoys at the opening of a new tunnel running under a Palestinian village in East Jerusalem during a ceremony inaugurating a settler archaeological project. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt actually used a sledgehammer to break a wall to the tunnel. While it was clear to most that this involvement signified the US giving a green light to Israeli sovereignty in E. Jerusalem and not being a neutral peace broker, Greenblatt said that was ‘ludicrous.’ Peace Now activists peacefully protested the event holding signs near the site and Haaretz posted a video of a policeman violently removing one of the protesters. Communications Director of Americans for Peace Now, Ori Nir, had a row of biting quotes on Twitter, with a photo of Friedman slamming a hammer in a wall. “I can’t think of a better metaphor for Friedman and Greenblatt's systematic destruction of America's role as a peace broker and of prospects for Isr'-Pal' peace than this photo of the two, together with Sheldon Adelson and Netanyahu's wife, undermining Palestinian life in Silwan,” was one.

Elections Quickees:

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's Collective Punishing Exacts Price From This East Jerusalem Neighborhood (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+) Anyone who understands police conduct knows that the clashes in Isawiyah, which cost a young Palestinian his life last week, are not part of some innocent operation. After the murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014 [by Jewish terrorists who kidnapped him and burned him alive till he died - OH], which led to intensifying clashes in East Jerusalem, Israeli prosecutors began cracking down on young Palestinians who were caught throwing stones [in protest of Abu Khdeir's killing - OH], by seeking detention until the end of legal proceedings and tougher punishment. Teenagers were often sentenced to two years in prison for throwing stones, even if they caused no damage. As a result of this policy, hundreds of young East Jerusalem Palestinians have spent lengthy periods in jail. One of these youths was Mohammed Samir Obeid, who was 15 in 2015 when he was arrested for the first time. As with others in his situation, imprisonment changed the course of his life and he never rebounded. Shortly after his release, he was arrested again, and jailed for another two-year term which ended a year ago. Last Thursday Abid was standing near a stone wall, while residents of his neighborhood, Isawiyah, and left-wing activists demonstrated against recent Israel Police raids in the area. Based on photos and testimony from residents, a group of policemen stood about 10 meters from Abid, speaking to the protesters in an effort to calm things down. According to police, Abid threw lit firecrackers at them. Firecrackers have become common weapons among Jerusalem’s Palestinian teenagers; they make a loud noise and can fly a short distance, but rarely hurt anybody and certainly don’t cause serious injuries. Palestinians were standing next to the policemen allegedly targeted by Abid. One police officer noticed what Abid was doing and shot him killing him..Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have for years claimed that the harsh punishments and the lengthy incarcerations have thrown the lives of many teens off-course, pushing them to acts of violence and endless confrontations with the police…The approach the police are using in Isawiyah recently has been reminiscent of that of the prosecution in 2014. True to the Israeli saying that when force doesn’t work at first, use more of it – the police announced three weeks ago that they were ratcheting up enforcement against the locals. Sources say that one officer told them the operation would continue “until not a single stone is thrown.” These measures have disrupted life in Isawiyah in an extreme manner. Most shop owners close their businesses in the afternoon, many residents have chosen to shut themselves up in their homes and confrontations with the young stone-throwers have become worse. But anyone who understands anything about police conduct knows that this is no innocent operation but rather collective punishment aimed at forcing the residents of Isawiyah to stop throwing stones at the police. Oshrat Maimon, policy advocacy director of the Ir Amim co-existence NGO, wrote the police commissioner that Isawiyah is a neighborhood of 20,000 residents and even if officers find individuals who are disturbing the peace, they must deal separately with every case – not hand down collective punishments. The pressure the police force is using is not only illegal, she added, it is making matters worse.
Settlers From the White House (Haaretz Editorial) The event held Sunday in a tunnel under the main street of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, would have been impossible only a few years ago. The participation of American diplomats at an event sponsored by a right-wing group in East Jerusalem constitutes de facto recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem’s historic basin. If anyone had any doubts about that, Friedman made clear in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that, “The City of David is an essential component of the national heritage of the State of Israel.” Giving it up, even in the context of a peace agreement, he said, “would be akin to America returning the Statue of Liberty.” This recognition doesn’t just put the American administration on the extreme right of the Israeli political map – thus undercutting the claim that American can be an unbiased broker between Israel and the Palestinians – but it also ignores the complicated reality in Silwan, East Jerusalem and the entire region.
**When Trump Lawyers and Casino Moguls Took a Hammer to Coexistence in Jerusalem (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Sunday’s inauguration of ‘Pilgrimage Road’ was nothing more than a vulgar exercise in political posturing by people won’t even be footnotes in the grand city’s history.
Bentzi Gopstein is also a complex figure, and no movie about him was funded (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth Hebrew) The storm surrounding the cancellation of the public funding for the award-winning film about Attorney Leah Tsemel, a defender of (Palestinian) murderers, does not signify a violation of democracy. It is the state's right not to finance propaganda against it.
The Stories Haaretz Prints That Its Readers Won’t Read (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) What would Haaretz be if it didn’t publish reports that its readers refuse to read because they are too busy banging their heads against the excuse that 'we didn’t know'?
The two (Attorney General) Mendelblitts: There is no connection between the one who gave an address and the attorney general (Revital Hovel, Haaretz Hebrew) Anyone who listened to the Attorney General Avichai Mendelblitt’s speech at the Herzliya Conference could think that he is the champion of human rights and equality before the law. The truth is that he has partial responsibility for the “erosion of judicial security.”
Our extortion arrangement with Hamas (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel might think its strong, but Gaza Strip leaders know we're as squeezable as ever, especially as elections near yet again; a strong country would have sent Hamas soul searching, with no gas or fishing perimeter, until they realize they have to stop the firebombs and explosives.
Enlightened, beautiful, two-state Israel should declare independence from Jewish fundamentalists (Chuck Freilich, Haaretz+) If the upcoming elections don't produce real change, if West Bank annexation becomes reality, if democratic norms and the rule of law continue to deteriorate, we need a new partition plan – this time, for Israel itself.
Rivers of racism flowed around the rape affair in the West Bank (Tamar Kaplansky, Ynet Hebrew) Binyamin Netanyahu, Gilad Erdan, Rafi Peretz and Avigdor Lieberman were not shocked by the rape, but by the defendant's (Palestinian) nationality. And compared to the noise they made when the affair was revealed, the silence that followed its collapse is jarring.
Barak and Kochavi – a Lethal Combination (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) As things look now, Israel has no interest in reoccupying the Gaza Strip or in annexing it, but it is determined to subdue it…if there’s no plan to defeat Gaza by conquering it, then the only way to subdue it is by killing its sons. Currently, with the Israeli public totally immersed in the election campaign, Israeli army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi is totally occupied with how to kill as many “mehablim” as possible. Incidentally, according to a 2013 column by Elon Gilad in Haaretz, the Hebrew term mehabel, which is commonly translated into English as “terrorist” in referring to Palestinians, only arose after the Six-Day War. Before that they were called fedayeen, i.e. those who sacrifice themselves for a specific cause…But with all due respect to Kochavi’s lethal innovations, he is not the first to adopt the killing doctrine. On December 27, 2008, the Israel Air Force, at the behest of then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak, launched a pinpoint missile attack on a police graduation ceremony in Gaza that killed 89 people. The message, according to Shay Fogelman, writing in Haaretz in 2010, was that “all police stations in Gaza are enemy targets, and all policemen, regardless of their ranks and duties and unit affiliations, are legitimate targets.” Yes, even policemen tasked with directing traffic or apprehending criminals were deemed mehablim. One could expand it to include merchants who agreed to supply Hamas people with food, clothing, or notebooks for their children. Incidentally, Hamas, like the Israeli right, won more than half the votes of local residents, and hundreds of thousands of people attend their rallies. Are all of them, as Hamas supporters, legitimate targets?
Bahrain conference: Nothing new under the sun (Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen, Israel Hayom) The US's “Peace to Prosperity” plan has a precedent: the resettlement initiative presented by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld on June 15, 1959.
The chief of staff's security strategy borders on crying out a lack of understanding of the reality (Ran Edelist, Maariv) The quasi-scientific nonsense that the Chief of Staff presented to the senior command staff passes as if we did not learn that the important lesson of the Vietnam War's failure is the statistics of the killing, and there are also other problems.
Militant Anti-Fascism Is Self-Defense (Stanislav Vysotsky, Haaretz+) After an anti-fascist punched a right-wing journalist in Portland, militant anti-fascists and antifa have been branded as 'violent gangs,' even 'terrorists.' Those definitions are completely wrong.
Correlating anti-Semitism with Islamophobia is dangerous (Melanie Phillips, Israel Hayom) Islamophobia, like much Muslim discourse, is based on an appropriation and inversion of Jewish experience and precepts.
The White Genocide That the Far Right Won't Talk About (Haroon Moghul, Haaretz+) The first genocide in Europe since the Holocaust targeted white Europeans. But white supremacists deny it even happened.
The exaggerated media exposure hides the true reality of global crises (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) President Trump is right: The media really creates Fake News and distributes a fictitious political reality, whose chances of being implemented and materialized in the foreseeable future are slim…The joint and smiling photograph of President Donald Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un is a great example of media expression. Trump not only did something that his predecessor in the White House Barack Obama did not do, something which is the peak of Trump's pride. This time he made a move that no American president has made - stepping on the soil of North Korea, America's oldest enemy. Nu, so what? An event whose only meaning is fleeting, less than temporary. According to reports, the two agreed that the delegations of their countries will renew talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons. Big deal. Nuclear disarmament experts, including Americans, claim almost unanimously that North Korea is not ready to stop developing and manufacturing nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un sees the continued development and production of missiles and nuclear warheads as a guarantee of his country's security and its status in the region. But the media could not help itself. How can one not be impressed by the first meeting in history between an American president and a North Korean ruler on North Korean soil? From an operative political move, the news items were Fake News.
Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride With Kim Jong Un Evokes Derision, Anxiety - and Prayers for Success (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) If it were anyone else, the U.S. president’s impromptu stroll into North Korea would have evoked admiring analogies to Sadat’s groundbreaking trip to Jerusalem.
When the ruling party threatens violence (Stephen M. Flatow, Israel Hayom) Fatah, the majority faction in the Palestinian Authority, posted a photo on Facebook of a masked Palestinian about to throw a rock – or about to attempt to stone a Jew to death.

Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
No white donkeys left (Yuval Diskin, Yedioth Hebrew) Avigdor Lieberman is worried only about Lieberman, Ehud Barak is a waste of time and Kahol-Lavan mainly dismantled the left-wing. Replacing a failed leader with an opportunistic leadership that does not have a clear say on any issue does not solve anything. A team with a fresh vision is needed.
Setting new terms for the political debate (Chen Artzi Sror, Yedioth/Ynet) How much can our politicians do to freshen up the political debate? Do they profoundly understand Israeli Society? If, after all, their expressions are all about cockpits, special reconnaissance, armored personnel carriers and army eating plates.

 

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