News Nosh 4.30.20

by APN 04/30/20
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APN's daily news review from Israel - Thursday April 30, 2020


You Must Be Kidding: 
"...We have one day in a year to remember our fallen soldiers! And you destroy it with a ‘memorial’ to Palestinian terrorists! EU is an enemy of Israel, and an enemy to all European Christian countries!.."
--Yair, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote on Twitter that European Union support for the peaceful joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony for Israel’s Memorial Day made the EU Israel's enemy and he expressed his hope that for the end of the EU and that European countries would be 'Christian.'**


Front Page:

Haaretz

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

  • Israeli study: Children get infected - and infect - Feverous discussions regarding the opening of educational institutions; Decision tomorrow
  • Careful optimism: for the first time in Israel - more patients recovering than actively sick
  • On the way to the High Court: Probation order in seven mistakes // Simcha Rotman
  • Taking off his gloves - Health Minister Litzman in a combative interview: “They criticized me because I’m ultra-Orthodox with a shtreimel”
  • I, our man in Damascus - The protocols are revealed: This is how the the spy Eli Cohen sounded during his trial in Syria

Top News Summary:

On Wednesday Israel celebrated 72 years of independence under closure, on Friday, Israel will decide whether schools will be opened for younger children and on Sunday the High Court will finally deliberate on whether the Netanyahu-Gantz government can be implemented in light of the indictments that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu faces - making top stories in the Hebrew newspapers. Interesting to note, a Jewish Israeli man stabbed his wife to death after being released from prison and that got bigger headlines than the stabbing and wounding of an Israeli woman by a Palestinian teen in Kfar Saba - when usually domestic violence does not get the attention that violence by Palestinians gets.

Elections 2020 / Netanyahu Indictment News:

An 11-justice panel of Israel’s High Court will hear seven petitions Sunday against the Netanyahu-Gantz unity government. Likud and Kahol-Lavan called on the justices not to intervene in politics. The petitioners seek to prevent Netanyahu from serving as prime minister while simultaneously on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. This is the first time the High Court will discuss the explosive issue. If the justices rule against Netanyahu serving, it could lead to a fourth elections. (Yedioth Hebrew.) On Thursday, Netanyahu supporters protested outside the court against the High Court holding the hearing. A senior Likud official warned that "intervention by the High Court of Justice is the greatest threat to the establishment of a unity government."

Corona News and Quickees:

For the first time, more people in Israel have recovered from the corona virus than are sick with it and some hospitals closed their corona wards, but Israel stayed under closure during its 72nd Independence Day and the annual Israeli Air Force aerial show was dedicated to health workers this year with jets crisscrossing the nation and performing aerial acrobatics over hospitals and medical centers.

  • Israelis Visiting Malls, Markets Will Have to Download Mandatory Coronavirus Tracking App - It remains unclear who will have access to the data collected, and how long people will be tracked for. (Haaretz+)
  • Netanyahu Mulls End to Shin Bet Tracking of Coronavirus Patients, Official Says - After court ordered legislation to carry on with surveillance scheme, top legal official says Israel may opt for shelving it instead of pushing bill through parliament. (Haaretz+)
  • Thursday: MKs extend Shin Bet tracking of virus patients, pending legislation - Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approves use of anti-terror measure to trace known coronavirus patients until Tuesday, warns that the government must begin to prepare law as required by High Court. (Ynet)
  • Calls to Israeli Domestic Violence Hotlines Soar Under Coronavirus Lockdown - For the first time in 15 years, a new shelter for female survivors of domestic violence set to open in Israel. (Haaretz+)
  • (Israeli) Arab Communities Say Won't Reopen Schools, Fearing Spike in Cases - Israel approves entry of 50,000 Palestinian from West Bank. Limit on outdoor sports lifted. (Haaretz+)
  • Even during the corona period: Disabled people work in factories for the security industry - The corona crisis raises the question of how the labor market for people with disabilities will be managed. At the ‘encouragement village’ in Netanya, work continues as usual, and about 60 people living in the village continue to manufacture grenades. (Maariv)
  • Parking lot prayers: Muslims in Jaffa and Jerusalem improvise for Ramadan - During the holy month, Jaffa's Ottoman-era grand mosques and Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound usually filled with people since the pre-dawn hours; coronavirus epidemic, however, has forced worshipers to think of creative solutions. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Flybys and founding fathers: Israel's lock-down Independence Day - Israeli Air Force devotes its annual fly-by to health workers, with four planes crisscrossing the nation and performing aerial acrobatics over hospitals and medical centers, while musicians and performers sought to honor the generation of the country's founders by performing outside geriatric care facilities and retirement homes. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
  • Israeli Researchers Developing Treatment to Save COVID-19 Patients' Lungs - In many cases, patients on ventilators never recover. Teams from the Technion and Yale are looking to change that. (Haaretz+)
  • COVID-19 Recoveries Needing Pulmonary Rehab in Israel Wait Weeks for Treatment - 'Everyone was hysterical about the ventilators, but without being able to continue care properly, all the effort goes down the drain,' says one health professional. (Haaretz+)
  • Israelis Are Flouting the Coronavirus Rules and Still Enjoying a Flat Curve - Israel is still cruising relatively safely on the last drops of fuel provided by an early lockdown policy. (Haaretz+)
  • West Bank, Gaza Eye Return to Normal After Two Days Without New Coronavirus Cases - There are no longer COVID-19 patients in intensive care or on ventilators in either area. (Haaretz+)
  • Iran death toll from coronavirus outbreak nears 6,000 -
  • The total number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus in Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the Middle East, has reached 93,657, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur, said. Major powers urged to freeze sanctions on Syria, Iran, Venezuela during virus. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)

Other Quick Hits:

  • Woman stabbed Tuesday in suspected terror attack in central Israel, assailant in custody - Nineteen-year-old Palestinian stabbed the 62-year-old woman a number of times at a bus stop in Kfar Saba before being shot by a civilian and then detained, police said. (Haaretz+, Israel Hayom and Ynet)
  • Gov't hostage negotiator updates families as prisoner swap with Hamas seems within reach - PM Netanyahu convened Ministerial Committee on Captive and Missing Persons last week to discuss on a secure line regarding negotiations with Hamas regarding the issue. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh recently said he was "optimistic" about the possibility of a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. A deal could help promote calm on the highly volatile Israel-Gaza border, officials say. (Maariv and Israel Hayom)
  • Online Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony attracts 200,000 viewers - Communications Minister Amsalem criticized Israeli public radio’s Reshet Bet for broadcasting an ad for the event, which was held in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • From US to Saudi Arabia: Worldwide, Israel was congratulated on its Independence Day - Across the world they congratulated the State of Israel on the occasion of 72nd Independence Day. Former United States Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley: "May God Bless Your Sweet Country.” Saudi blogger Muhammad Saud, who is known as a big fan of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and has previously visited Israel, posted a video in which he sang the song "Hallelujah" and wrote: "Happy Independence Day to my brothers and sisters in the State of Israel. With God's help there will be peace between the Arab countries." (Maariv)
  • Israel's Population Reaches 9.2 Million as It Celebrates 72 Years - Majority of the country is Jewish, according to official figures, and 21 percent is Arab. (Haaretz+)
  • **Yair Netanyahu Calls for Return of a ‘Free, Democratic and Christian’ Europe - 'We have one day in a year to remember our fallen soldiers! And you destroy it with a ‘memorial’ to Palestinian terrorists!' Netanyahu's middle child writes in a tweet. (JTA, Haaretz)
  • Hebron Settlers Close Off Area in the City to Celebrate Independence Day - Local Palestinian activist says the area in Tel Rumeida is privately owned Palestinian land, but the Israeli army wouldn't intervene. (Haaretz+VIDEO)
  • High Court Petition Demands Health Insurance for Palestinian Laborers in Israel - Health Ministry directed employers to arrange medical coverage for Palestinians who stay in Israel due to the coronavirus outbreak, but the directive hasn't been carried out. (Haaretz+)
  • Israel raises $5B in first-ever bond issue in Asia - Bonds were issued for a period of 40 years, with a 3.8% interest rate. Finance Ministry officials say bond issue "saw high demands from some 300 high-quality investors from over 30 countries," not just from Asia, totaling over $10 billion. (Israel Hayom)
  • Biden Says Will Keep U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem if Elected - Joe Biden says he would reopen a U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem as president, commits to two-state solution in virtual fundraiser. (Maariv, Haaretz, Ynet and Israel Hayom)
  • After U.S., Israeli Pressure, Germany Bans Hezbollah Activity, Raids Mosques - 'Even in times of crisis, the rule of law is capable of acting,' Interior Ministry says after banning Iran-backed Lebanese organization. (Agencies, Haaretz, Maariv and and Ynet)
  • Erdogan Sends Trump Letter Along With Virus Supplies; Hopes Congress Understands Alliance - The U.S. Congress has threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of S-400 defence systems from Russia. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Bomb Blast Kills 40 People in Syria's Afrin - Turkish Defense Ministry says the blast occurred in a crowded area in Afrin's center. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Saudi show with Jewish characters stirs debate in Middle East - The period drama about a multi-religious community in an unspecified Gulf Arab state in the '30s that features a Jewish midwife was labeled as 'cultural aggression and brain washing' that promotes normalization with Israel. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • 'US will not let Iran buy arms when UN embargo ends' - "We will work with the UN Security Council to extend that prohibition on those arms sales and then in the event we can't get anyone else to act, the United States is evaluating every possibility about how we might do that," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says. (Israel Hayom)

Features:

South Lebanon Army (SLA), the next generation
In May 2000, when the IDF hastily withdrew from Lebanon, they were babies carried across the border by their parents, soldiers of the South Lebanese Army - who fled and took shelter in Israel. 20 years later, Ghanem, George and Shadi proudly wear IDF uniform. On the Eve of Independence Day, they talk about their longing for their homeland and family members left behind, the identity crisis - and what they will do if they have to fight Lebanon. (Itai Ilnai, Yedioth Hebrew)
Loss of earth
They worked there for years, where it became a home for them. Today their lives will change: the gate in Tzofar Moshav that leads to the agricultural enclave inside Jordan will now be closed for crossing into Jordanian land, and 30 families of farmers from the moshav will be left without crops, without alternate lands and without the money promised to them by the state. “Israel could have overcome this crisis,” says one of them painfully…The farmer, Erez Gibori of Moshav Tzofar in the middle of the Arava, celebrated Independence Day in the shadow of fear of the future. He has been growing pepper heroes in the Israeli enclave for 13 years, returning to Jordan today, and he does not know what will happen tomorrow. "I'll get up in the morning, look at the sky, have a coffee and start thinking about the next phase," says painfully Gibori, Chairman of Moshav Tzofar. "And if I don't find something to do fast enough, we might leave the Arava, though I can't imagine it at all. But there may not be a choice." (Ricky Carmi, Yedioth Hebrew)
A height of their own: Why did five prime ministers agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights?
Five prime ministers negotiated towards a peace treaty with Syria, for which Israel will pay full withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Did they all make a mistake or was it just a step between them and changing the history of the Middle East?…[Writer gives detailed timeline of the different talks between Israel and Syria]….Were Israeli leaders, right-wing and left-wing, mistaken when they were ready to restore Syrian sovereignty to the Golan as part of a peace agreement with Syria, which they saw as strengthening Israel's security? Israel's political-security objective function was and remains: maximum security and maximum stability. These goals can be achieved with two tools: military superiority and diplomatic agreement. Israel will not put itself at risk with a diplomatic agreement without military supremacy, but military supremacy alone does not guarantee security and stability. A peace treaty between Israel and Syria, to which six Israeli heads of government strived, was aimed at removing Syria from the terror and conflict circles, cutting off the Iran-Hezbollah Shi'ite axis, keeping Iran out of its influence on Israel's northern border and integrating Syria with the US-led axis. No one can answer the question "what would happen if?" To those who dwell on the saying “We were lucky we didn’t sign a peace agreement with Syria," one might pose questions such as how things would have developed if an agreement had been signed and implemented when in Syria there was a stable government under the influence of the United States and the West? What is the security benefit of joining Syria to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to complete a security belt of countries operating in coordination with Israel? In a reality where Syria would stop supporting Hezbollah and cut it off from its land relationship with Iran ,would the Second Lebanon War have broken out? In the post-peace political climate in Syria, would a civil war developed in Syria and (if so) would it have reached the dimensions it did? Israel is currently concerned about security risk resulting from the consolidation of Iranian forces in Syria and the expansion of Hezbullah's threat to the Syrian front, the crucial impact of Russians and Iranians on Syria's rule and the US disengagement from the arena. The prime ministers who sought a peace agreement between Israel and Syria tried to prevent these dangers. They followed the approach, according to which, was the people want is important, but it’s more important to lead the people to what it needs. (Dr. Yigal Kipnis, Maariv)

Elections 2020/Netanyahu Indictment Commentary/Analysis:
After Their Deal With Netanyahu, the Party That Founded Israel Is Now Dead. Here's What It Means (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) Three perspectives on Labor's decision to join the coalition, driving away what remains of its voter base.
A union, just under the wire (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) No matter how satisfied Likud and Blue and White are with the unity government deal, it doesn't mean that the agreement is good for anyone else, especially Israel.
Gantz's Independence Day Speech Shows Just How Detached He Is From Reality (Haaretz Editorial) The speech by Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz at the traditional Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl Tuesday evening – a rite that symbolizes the abrupt shift from the grief of Memorial Day to the joy of Independence Day that typifies life in Israel – shows just how disconnected from reality is the man who only recently symbolized the hope for change among half of the country’s voters. What did Gantz’s moving remarks have to do with what is actually taking place in Israel, in part due to his joining a government led by the criminal defendant Benjamin Netanyahu? This man – who only recently was the head of a large bloc that, for the first time in many years, proudly raised its head and believed in the possibility of change toward a social recovery – turned, in his disgraceful surrender, into one more symbol of Israeli society’s destruction by the most corrupt and corrupting leader in the history of the state, which on Wednesday commemorated 72 years of independence.
Israel's unity government may prove a constitutional time bomb (Evelyn Gordon, Israel Hayom) The deal involved changes to Basic Laws that may have been necessary in these political circumstances. But any country tinkers with longstanding constitutional arrangements at its own peril.
The Challenge Facing Israel's New Opposition (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) The coalition and opposition in Israel nearly mirror each other, and this explains Netanyahu's political survival.
Netanyahu, Israel's Independence Day and the Death of Expectation (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) A nation which has gone from hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, to Netanyahu’s all-purpose credo: This is the best you can hope for – expect nothing.
Israeli Leftists, Have You Learned Nothing From Rabin's Assassination? (Nave Dromi, Haaretz+) How is it possible that the same people who made Rabin’s assassination a touchstone of their worldview and squeezed out of it every last drop of potential to attack the right are now hurling the accusation of treason at politicians whose only sin was to stand by their word? It’s actually the left, so it seems, that failed to learn the lesson from Yitzhak Rabin’s murder. That’s the only possible explanation for the increasing use of the word “traitor” and its derivatives against Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz and his party, and against Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel’s Derekh Eretz faction. For years it has been asserted that by calling Rabin a traitor, the right sanctioned his murder.

Other Commentary/Analysis:

Let the People of Israel Remember the Soldier Who Shot a Palestinian in the Back (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Not a muscle in his face twitched as he mechanically read the text before him. Yizkor Am Yisrael – let the people of Israel remember. A spotless white shirt, tie and green beret – the Israel Defense Forces’ dress uniform. Not a muscle twitched when he read, “And all who were killed within the country and outside it by murderers.” Nor did a muscle in his face twitch when he read, “And mourn the radiance of their youth and their wonderful heroism.” Not a muscle twitched in the face of Nahal Brigade commander Col. Yisrael Shomer when he read the Yizkor prayer on Memorial Day eve at the Western Wall plaza. What was going through his head at that moment? Did he think for even a moment about his own victim, whom he executed by shooting him in the back as he fled? Did he think about the “radiance of youth,” and “wonderful heroism” of the teenager he killed for nothing?
On this most Israeli of weeks, let us celebrate our wonderful country (Limor Livnat, Yedioth/Ynet) Forget the disputes, the politics and the conflict - in these days of memorial and independence and celebration is the time to praise the inventions, the ingenuity, the love and the unity you can find only in Israel
The corona crisis creates an opportunity to change the reality of the region (Col. (res.) Uri Halperin, Maariv) The global epidemic is by far the largest global geopolitical shaper since World War II. Significant opportunities must be exploited, leading to long-term change…What is happening in Iran and its countries of influence - Lebanon, Syria and Iraq - due to corona may also provide opportunities. Iran, which has long been confronted with strangling sanctions, low oil prices and shuffling GDP, is currently experiencing one of the deepest and most challenging crises it has known since the rise of the Ayatollah regime. Alongside the poverty and the scarcity that has been exacerbated, there is also another problem by the level of threat posed by Washington. In recent weeks, the United States has sent two more aircraft carriers to the region…Assuming that the economic pressure on Iran and its branches in the coming months is maintained and even deepens and the American pressure does not decrease, popular protests will expand in the domestic arena and the regime will have to harness its resources to deal with them more closely. Given such a reality, Israel and the United States have been given the opportunity to reshape the red lines, which have eroded in recent years in light of Iran's regional strengthening. In this context, the campaign must include three key elements: 1.) place economic pressure despite the humanitarian difficulties, 2.) exploit the weakness of Shia forces in Syria for a focused and determined operation of military moves to destroy the empowering in Syria and Lebanon, while removing (Hezbollah - OH) Shiite forces from Syria to Lebanon and 3.) Operate an advocacy and delegitimization campaign, which aims to increase the internal pressure on the regime in Iran, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Its purpose is to illustrate the need for a profound change of national priorities - for economy, health and social security, over the war against Israel and the United States.

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

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