News Nosh 10.5.20

by APN 10/05/20
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APN's daily news review from Israel - Monday October 5, 2020


 Quote of the day:“These weren’t American soldiers, for example, who plundered the Vietnamese, or Germans thousands of kilometers from home. These were civilians who looted from their neighbors across the street. I don’t mean that they necessarily knew Ahmed or Noor whose property they stole, but that the neighbors were part of a shared social civil fabric."
—In a new book, historian Adam Raz reveals the phenomenon of Jews plundering the property of their Arab neighbors en masse in 1948. Raz said the subject was meaningful because it exerted, and continues to exert, considerable influence on the relations between the two people who share this land.*


You Must Be Kidding: 
"If Biden wins we will see a policy shift that, in my personal opinion, will be wrong and will be bad for the region, including for Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait."
--Speaking to an Emirati newspaper, top US 'diplomat' to Israel, Ambassador David Friedman, publicly expressed his view of who should win the 2020 US Presidential election.**


Front Page:Haaretz 

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • An abyss opened between the government and the citizens // Nahum Barnea writes that Netanyahu’s biggest sin was dealing with the corona crisis with political instruments, causing crisis of trust (Hebrew)
  • The horrific threatening transcripts of the violent husband - “At some point, the lockdown will end and I will come and murder you and the boy” (Hebrew)
  • Getting fresh air - Photo of Trump in a car ride at Walter Reed Hospital
  • Why is the Likud party paralyzed? // Gilad Sharon (Hebrew)
  • Ultra-Orthodox’s riots - Violent clashes between ultra-Orthodox and police in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

  • Harsh claims against the police: It’s losing control (over situations and over itself) - Violence continues in protests against government
  • Netanyahu asks to tighten the restrictions of the lockdown
  • “Probe the decisions to release violent infiltrators (from Sudan)”

Israel Hayom


Top News Summary:
Excessive violence and loss of control by police towards anti-government and ultra-Orthodox protesters and a slight decrease in the rate of corona virus infection were the top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also making news was the statement by Kahol-Lavan MK Miki Haimovich, who said that a group within Kahol-Lavan is considering quitting the government led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Mounted and unmounted police were filmed attacking anti-Netanyahu protesters Saturday night. Even the mayor of Tel-Aviv was hurt by a policeman. In Tel-Aviv, thousands protested, many of whom flouted the new regulations requiring protesters to remain within a one kilometer of their homes. Thirty-eight people were arrested. Anti-Netanyahu rallies  sprouted up at hundreds of locations across the country so as to abide by the new regulations. Some civilians,  presumably right-wingers, attacked protesters in several locations.

From the reports it appears that the clashes between police and ultra-Orthodox people were different in that both sides took part. The clashes reportedly broke out when police raided synagogues that were operating in violation of the corona guidelines. Nevertheless, the police were filmed acting violently and one police officer was filmed throwing an empty bucket at a young ultra-Orthodox boy. And, a group of ultra-Orthodox youth attacked a news reporter. Both Haaretz and Yedioth interviewed former top cops who said that the reason the police were so violent towards protesters was their bosses were trying to ingratiate themselves to Public Security Minister Amir Ohana in the hope of being appointed police commissioner.

Also, some weekend supplements published commentaries marking the 20th anniversary of the Second Intifada and of the killing of the 13 Arab-Israelis at the start of it.


Corona Quickees:

  • Corona infection rate at 11% as death toll exceeds 1,700 - Ministers set to debate the status of the lockdown measures on Monday afternoon. Israel has recorded 268,175 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in mid-March. (Israel Hayom)
  • Israel ranks 3rd in the world for virus deaths per capita - Oxford University data shows only Argentina and Guam recorded higher fatality rate per capita over past week; according to Worldmeter, Israel has 183 deaths per capita, while the global average stands at 133.2 deaths per million people. (Ynet)
  • Daily corona report in Palestine: 11 deaths, 491 new cases and 592 recoveries - Two of the deaths were in East Jerusalem, eight in the West Bank, and one in the Gaza Strip. Of the new cases, 356 were in the West Bank, including 98 in Tulkarm and 87 in Hebron, 62 in East Jerusalem, and 73 in the Gaza Strip. (WAFA)
  • In Third Week of Lockdown, Israel Shows Tentative Signs of Slowing Coronavirus Spread - Health expert attributes the drop-off in the overall incidences of infection to the lockdown, but ultra-Orthodox community continues to buck the trend. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Israeli Minister Violates Lockdown, Contracts COVID-19 and Tries to Cover It Up - Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel intentionally misled health officials in an attempt to hide that she had traveled nearly 100 miles from her home to pray in a synagogue on Yom Kippur, where she visited her in-laws. (Haaretz+)
  • Joint List head Odeh tests positive for coronavirus - The MK, who heads the alliance of Israel's Arab parties, makes the announcement on Facebook just hours after environmental protection minister confirms she also contracted the virus. (Ynet)
  • Top rabbi who urged disregard for coronavirus rules has COVID - Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 92, insisted religious study institutions remain open in violation of health directives on grounds that 'canceling Torah study is more dangerous than the coronavirus'; was to be admitted to Bnei Brak hospital Friday. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Israeli suspected of removing people from COVID quarantine list for money - Call center employee's role was to evaluate appeals of people whose cellphone locations indicated they had been near coronavirus carriers, therefore requiring them to self-isolate. (Haaretz+)
  • In crowded Gaza, public embraces mask-wearing to fight COVID-19 - Five weeks into outbreak, Hamas-controlled enclave closes most restaurants, shops, schools, mosques and other public facilities and places night-time curfew to safeguard health of its two million residents. (Ynet)
  • Lebanon closes over 100 towns, villages to curb coronavirus pandemic - Complete lockdown of 111 localities will go into effect Sunday morning and last until October 12, as small country of 5 million diagnoses over 40,000 cases. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Top Hamas official contracts coronavirus - Saleh al-Arouri entered quarantine after he was diagnosed and is "doing well," the Gaza-based terrorist group said Thursday. Arouri is believed to have contracted the disease while meeting with Fatah officials in Turkey last week. (Israel Hayom)


Quick Hits:

  • Israel convicts Palestinian activist for Facebook posts after 'seen participating in riots' - Sixty-year-old Khairi Hanoun's one-month prison sentence comes after the video of an Israeli soldier filmed kneeling on Hanoun’s head during a protest in the West Bank village of Shufa was widely circulated online. Court sentenced Hanoun to a month and a day in prison, and a 1,000-shekel ($300) fine as part of a plea bargain approved by the judge, who said "the essence of the posts does not include a call for violence." (Haaretz+)
  • Palestinians injured by Israeli gunfire in the occupied territories - One 18-year-old Palestinian was injured after he was shot by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, local sources said. And a 15-year-old Palestinian teen was hit in the head by a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by Israeli soldiers in the town of Hizma, northeast of the occupied city of Jerusalem. (WAFA)
  • Israel pushing construction of thousands of homes in Judea and Samaria - Some 2,929 housing units are slated for construction in the Beitar Illit bloc in Gush Etzion, Israeli government announced Thursday. Overall, 2,476 homes will be built across the regional councils in Judea and Samaria, and 21 homes will be constructed in communities in south Mount Hebron. (Israel Hayom)
  • Israeli Navy Prepares for Long-awaited Arrival of Upgraded Warships - The German-made 'Saar 6' missile boats will be expected to help defend Israel's strategic natural gas reserves, with the East Mediterranean facing a chaotic situation. (Agencies, Haaretz and Israel Hayom)
  • Senior Palestinian official Erekat: President Abbas wishes US President Trump, First Lady speedy and full recovery - Dr. Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told CNN Saturday that President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas wishes US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania a speedy and full recovery. (WAFA)
  • Prominent evangelical leader makes ‘aliyah’ from Detroit, becomes ‘first Bishop of Israel’ - Glenn Plummer says key mission is to create bridges between Jewish Israelis and Black Americans, and to support Israel ‘in very tangible ways.' (Haaretz+)
  • Investigating Israel will 'undermine entire infrastructure on which ICC is based'  - MK Michal Cotler-Wunsch, the Knesset's official representative to the ICC, warns that a ruling in favor of the position that the Palestinian Authority is a state should concern other countries as well. (Israel Hayom)
  • **'A Biden victory would be bad for Israel, region,' US envoy cautions - US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman tells UAE media that a Nov. 3 win for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would undermine the progress made in the effort to curb the threat Iran poses to the Middle East. (Israel Hayom)
  • US Congress introduces bipartisan bill allowing Israel to veto US arms sales to Arab countries - Proposed bill "would require the President to consult with the Israeli government to ensure [qualitative military edge] concerns are settled" in respect to weapons sales to Middle Eastern countries, read a statement by the office of lead sponsor Representative Brad Schneider. (WAFA)
  • Sudanese Leaders Sharply Divided Over U.S. Push for Ties With Israel - Sudanese officials say military leaders seek quick U.S.-Sudan deal, including normalization with Israel, fearing incentives could be withdrawn after U.S. election. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Senior Sudanese official: Normalization with Israel is a Sudanese interest - "Our removal from the list of country's that support terror hinges" on normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel, the deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council, Gen. Mohammed Hamadan Dagalo, tells local reporters. (Israel Hayom)
  • Syria affirms opposition to 'all agreements with Israel enemy' - On Thursday, Syrian diplomat rejects 'agreements, treaties with Israeli enemy based on firm conviction such agreements harm Arab causes, Palestinian cause foremost' after Lebanon confirms border talks. (Ynet)
  • In speech to lawmakers, Turkey's Erdogan proclaims 'Jerusalem is ours' - Turkish leader touts years of Ottoman rule over Jerusalem in key address opening new legislative session, charges Palestinians were now 'occupied' despite living in the city for 'thousands of years.’ (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Gantz says Turkey opposed to regional peace - Defense minister tells journalists from Gulf that deterring Ankara from destabilizing region is complicated due to Turkey's stance as a NATO member and calls for international pressure. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Armenia recalls ambassador to Israel over arms sales to Azerbaijan - Armenian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Israel's conduct is unacceptable. Jerusalem says the decision is "regrettable," stresses that "Israel lends great importance to our relations with Armenia." (Israel Hayom)
  • Hundreds detained as Egyptian police quash protests, says human rights group - Riot police forcibly disperse limited demonstrations over economic grievances that erupted across several impoverished, rural villages according to Amnesty. (Agencies, Haaretz and Israel Hayom)
  • Lebanon asks Interpol to arrest Russian ship captain, owner over port explosion - Boris Prokoshev was captain of the Rhosus ship when it arrived in Beirut in 2013, and he had identified Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman in Cyprus, as the owner. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)
  • Chemical weapons watchdog issues inconclusive reports on two Syria attacks - Two reports into attacks in Saraqib in the Idlib region in 2016 and 2018 'indicated the presence of a substance with an odor similar to that of chlorine.’ (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • U.S. fines Emirates $400,000 for flying over Iranian airspace - Fines were issued for a codeshare with U.S. company JetBlue, for planes flown in July 2019. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • UAE, U.S. and Israel to develop joint energy strategy, say ministers - Development of energy resources and infrastructure will also help the Palestinians, new allies argue. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Keith Ellison, first Muslim elected to Congress, to speak at Rabin memorial snubbed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Progressive leader to participate in Americans for Peace Now memorial event marking the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin - the October 20th event that Ocasio-Cortez backed out of after pressure from pro-Palestinian activists who see slain Israeli PM as war criminal. (JTA, Haaretz)


Features:
*Jewish Soldiers and Civilians Looted Arab Neighbors' Property en Masse in '48. The Authorities Turned a Blind Eye
Refrigerators and caviar, champagne and carpets – a first-ever comprehensive study by historian Adam Raz reveals the extent to which Jews looted Arab property during the War of Independence, and explains why Ben-Gurion voiced some extreme criticism about the State of Israel’s people: “It turns out that most of the Jews are thieves… I say this deliberately and simply, because unfortunately it is true.” His comments appear in black and white in the minutes of a meeting of the Central Committee of Mapai, the forerunner of Labor, stored in the Labor Party Archives. Raz unearthed the protocol in the course of his research for his new book which, as its title suggests, addresses a highly charged, sensitive and volatile issue: “Looting of Arab Property in the War of Independence” (Carmel Publishing House, in association with the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research; in Hebrew). The task he undertook was daunting: to collect, for the first time in a single volume, all existing information about the pillaging of Arab property by Jews during the 1947-49 Israeli War of Independence. “Looting in wartime is an ancient historical phenomenon that is documented in texts thousands of years old. "My book does not deal with the phenomenon in general, but with the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian case," said Raz. "It was important for me to emphasize that the looting of Arab property was different from ‘regular’ wartime looting. These weren’t American soldiers, for example, who plundered the Vietnamese, or Germans thousands of kilometers form home. These were civilians who looted their neighbors across the street. I don’t mean that they necessarily knew Ahmed or Noor whose property they stole, but that the neighbors were part of a shared social civil fabric. The Jews from Haifa and the area who looted the property of close to 70,000 Arabs in Haifa, for example, knew the Arabs whose homes they pillaged. That was certainly the case also in the mixed cities and the villages that existed next to kibbutzim and moshavim.The book is rife with examples attesting to the fact that the looters knew that what they were doing was immoral. Furthermore, the public knew that the majority of the Palestinian community had not taken an active part in the fighting. In most cases, in fact, the looting took place after the fighting, in the days and weeks following the Palestinians’ flight and expulsion.” (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
This Arab-Israeli ‘Seed of Peace’ Became One of the Second Intifada’s First Victims
Asel Asleh liked to call himself ‘the peacemaker,’ but his death at the hands of the Israeli police in October 2000 almost proved fatal for the respected Seeds of Peace organization he was so involved in. Witnesses reported seeing Asleh run from police and then slip and fall to the ground. He was found lying in the middle of an olive grove with a bullet wound at the back of his neck and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the nearby hospital….It’s still not entirely clear what transpired on that infamous day 20 years ago…Six police officers at the scene gave contradictory testimonies about his death to the state commission appointed to investigate what became known as the “October 2000 incidents.” The case was closed with nobody identified as being responsible or held accountable. As one of the policemen testifying before the three-man commission, headed by then-Supreme Court Justice Theodor Or, said with regards to the shooting of Asleh: “It shouldn’t have happened.” Eldad Levy, who was in summer camp with Asleh in 1998, recalls that Asleh’s death filled him “with anger and, perhaps for the first time, a real sense of mistrust of the state.” His Jewish peers, however, were not sympathetic to the loss of his Arab friend. “They’d say things like ‘He had it coming’ or ‘He shouldn’t have been there’ – the sort of things [Jewish - OH] Israelis tend to say in these situations,” Levy recounts. (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+)
Here's what happens with the investigations the Israeli army launches when it kills innocent Palestinians
Almost every time Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian in the territories, the army announces the opening of an investigation by the Military Police. But a look back at incidents reported here over the past year reveals that such inquiries rarely conclude – if they ever began. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+)
The Second Intifada Still Rages on Wikipedia
For almost 20 years, Wikipedia has documented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Attempts to keep the peace in the narrative war between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian editors now shape how the online encyclopedia deals with all conflicts. (Omer Benjakob, Haaretz+)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu Tried to Stifle Dissent. He Got One of Israel's Largest Protests (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+) The smaller protests forced by coronavirus restrictions expose demonstrators to more violence, increasing fears of a political murder.
Israel Never Had a More Chaotic, Miserable Government. It's Exactly Why It May Survive (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) In a long history of unhappy coalitions, Israel has never had a more chaotic and miserable government than this one. But it could end up having better survival prospects than anyone thinks.
Cowards of the whole Likud, unite! (Gilad Sharon, Yedioth Hebrew) The Likudniks also see that the state is not being run properly. But he who does not shout ‘amen’ to Bibi is a traitor, a leftist in disguise, an anarchist and blackmailed by the forces of evil.
Gantz knows the premiership is lost and now his party is raising the stakes (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Passing legislation to keep protests away from Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, to which Gantz's party didn't oppose, was the last of too many straws, bringing Kahol Lavan to its limit.
Blue and White could be imploding before our very eyes (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) The fad party was created like a house of cards with nothing to hold them together and now it is beginning to fall apart, as the more leftists part of it are pushing leader Benny Gantz towards a potential political suicide.
Gantz's Party Must Wake Up (Sunday Haaretz Editorial) The purpose of the Kahol Lavan party was to serve as an alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corrupt and corrupting government. Kahol Lavan won major public support which, while not enough to enable it to take the reins of government, did give it enough clout to create a new agenda. The dismantling of Kahol Lavan as an alternative to the present government, together with the weakness of its leader, Benny Gantz, has left it as an excess appendage in Netanyahu’s government, without an agenda, a kind of brakes for Likud’s unbridled initiatives. But the brakes are worn and weak. Kahol Lavan appears to be unable to deliver even these goods. What’s worse, last week the leaders of Kahol Lavan and many of its members supported outlawing the protests against Netanyahu – that is, they hurt themselves as part of Israel’s democratic fabric and lent a hand to criminalizing a good portion of their own electorate..
What does not happen with force (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth Hebrew)  Minister Yuval Steinitz has been arguing since June that the only way to save Israelis from disaster on a historical scale is to impose a hermetic closure on them, there is no going out and no coming in. His end scenario is based on calculations by professors of physics and mathematics and adjusted to reality this past weekend, warning of the possibility of reaching 30,000 dead. I repeat: 30,000 dead...Some of his fellow Likud members are counting on the police: It will put down the demonstrations, it will make order, it will make the lockdown. Neither of them are right. What kept Israelis indoors in the first lockdown was a combination of real personal anxiety and an expression of trust in the system...Only afterward did it become clear that the success was not so great and the exit from the first lockdown was an invitation to catastrophe. Netanyahu's greatest and unforgivable sin was that he tried to manage the corona crisis with political tools. The great sin of the senior Health Ministry officials was that they lent a hand to this...The politicization of the corona crisis knew no limits.
Fascism is dead, long live dictatorship (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) “Dictatorship is already here,” declared Uri Misgav. “It’s a military curfew,” wrote Rogel Alpher (Haaretz Hebrew 28.9 and 1.10). Both writers are trying to shake Israelis and make them understand that the bad forecast – those “processes” that Yair Golan had warned about – has come to pass and in fact we’re in the midst of it. The dictatorship rhetoric, which replaced the fascism rhetoric, is causing damage because it is exaggerated. The situation is bad enough as it is. Why go too far with comparisons?
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee turned from being a critic to being a Spokesman for the IDF (Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Breik, Maariv) Instead of criticizing the army and pointing out to it things that need fixing, it seems that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is busy preserving and strengthening the IDF's image in the eyes of the Israeli public.
Even Ben-Gurion Thought ‘Most Jews Are Thieves’ (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The quote in the headline wasn’t uttered by an antisemitic leader, a Jew hater or a neo-Nazi. The words are those of the founder of the State of Israel, two months after it was founded. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was furious, or at least pretended to be, at a meeting of his political party Mapai, in light of the wave of looting of Arab property by the new Israelis throughout the nascent state. The concept of a state born in sin had never been so concrete: “Like locusts, the residents of Tiberias swarmed into the houses…”; “total and complete robbery…not a thread was left in [any house]”; and “soldiers wrapped in Persian rugs in the streets,” are a few of the descriptions of what happened in front of everyone, and was never told as it really was. Now the historian Adam Raz wrote about it: “Looting of Arab Property in the War of Independence,” and Haaretz’s Ofer Aderet reported on it in a shocking article in Haaretz on Friday. It should weigh on what is left of the conscience of any proper Zionist, and flood us with feelings of deep shame and guilt even after 72 years. The authorities turned a blind eye and thus encouraged the looting, despite all the denunciations, the pretense and a few ridiculous trials. The looting served a national purpose: to quickly complete the ethnic cleansing of most of the country of its Arabs, and to see to it that 700,000 refugees would never even imagine returning to their homes…
Israel's Founding Generation of Looters (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) According to historian Adam Raz, in his book “Looting of Arab Property in the War of Independence” (Carmel Publishing House, in association with the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research; in Hebrew), Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said in July 1948: “It turned out that most of the Jews are thieves.” For me that was the most infuriating thing in the article by Ofer Aderet, who reviewed the book. After all, if that man was in charge of the expulsion of about 800,000 Arabs, how did he expect his subordinates to behave? To save the furniture of the expellees in cartons, the wheat in granaries, the goats in pens and the gold in safes – until the return of the expellees?
The intifada almost completely erased the two-state dream, and yet it still seems to be the least bad option (Avi Issacharoff, Maariv) It has been 20 years since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, which has been deeply ingrained in Israeli and Palestinian consciousness and has almost completely erased the two-state solution.
Two Decades of Whitewashing Israel's Killing of 13 Young (Israeli-)Palestinians (Abeer Baker, Haaretz+) As fate would have it, I entered the human rights community following the killing of 13 young Palestinians. They were shot to death by police in central Israel and the Galilee exactly 20 years ago. I eventually joined the legal team at Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which represented the families of the slain. The generation I belonged to was the “stand tall generation,” which demanded recognition of the elements of our Palestinian national identity as an integral part of our Israeli citizenship. This generation’s erect posture was suited to a legal battle waged by citizens to exert the full force of the law against those responsible for their bereavement, which was both personal and national. Twenty years after those events, my conclusion is that if anything was crushed and eroded by the force of this battle, it was our faith in the use of legal tools to obtain justice for the victims, to the point where it seems that all that remains of the upright generation are the families and the headstones on the graves of the slain.
The intifada changed everything. Will the next administration care? (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom) Two decades later, Arafat's decision to answer a peace offer with war exploded hopes for peace. Yet the foreign-policy establishment still hasn't understood what happened.
Twenty Years After the Second Intifada, the Israeli Victory Is Nearly Complete (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) The second intifada erupted because Israel exploited the negotiations with the Palestinians to advance its land grab project. The hypocrisy cried out to the heavens – talk of peace on one hand while continuing to take over Palestinian expanse for the benefit of the Jews. The hypocrisy cried out, but the Israelis didn’t listen. The anger and disgust at Israeli underhandedness built up over years of disappointment and sobriety following the Oslo Accords, erupting on September 29, 2000 (the day after the provocation by Ariel Sharon, with the approval of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak). But the second intifada was not an intifada in the standard sense of the word: Aside from its first days, it was not a popular civil event and a majority of the public did not participate in it, unlike the uprising that erupted in 1987.
Endless occupation is a failure, not a success, of the Oslo Accords (Yuval Eylon, 972mag) Since Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, successive Israeli prime ministers have turned their backs on the Oslo process, further entrenching the occupation.
Abu Mazen is desperate, and under Erdogan's auspices he could fall into the hands of Hamas (Ruth Wasserman-Lande, Maariv) The Palestinian leadership tends to ally with Iran, Turkey and Hamas when it is betrayed and humiliated. In such a situation, it will be the first to be harmed, but Israel will also lose out. We must act as long as Abu Mazen is undecided.
Guess What Would Have Happened Had Arabs Protested on Balfour Street (Heba Yazbak, Haaretz+) It’s been 20 years since Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens launched the popular protests known in Hebrew as the “events of October 2000,” or in Arabic as the “Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa protests.” During these protests, 13 Arabs were killed by police gunfire. Those demonstrators discovered very quickly that an Arab protester isn’t treated the same as a Jewish one, and that their citizenship doesn’t give them equal rights against the police…Since the events of October 2000, 45 Arab citizens have been killed by the police. Throughout these years, a violent approach has been taken toward Arab demonstrators, including arrests and political persecution. But all of this has resulted in virtually no indictments against police officers.
It is doubtful whether Netanyahu, who is fighting over his innocence, will agree to admit to the offenses attributed to him in exchange for a pardon (Adv. Eyal Rozovsky, Maariv) The prime minister must admit to the offenses attributed to him in order for the president to pardon Netanyahu in exchange for his resignation. It is doubtful whether he will agree to give up this fight and admit that he is a criminal.
The Netanyahu Doctrine: Break All My Enemy's Bones (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) From whom will we ask forgiveness and to whom will we offer our pardon? From whom will we demand an admission of sin and whom will we let off? It was entertaining to read the soul searching by the angels of forgiveness, as though they were God, using the pages of the newspapers to conduct the account books determining the fate of politicians, doctors, the “public” and even of the one and only – the omnipotent one who sits in his temple on Balfour Street. Fortunately, it turns out that in the media Tent of Assembly, the priests are not all of a kind. Not only leftists beat up on leftists – right-wingers also opened a front against right-wingers. Not only leftists beat up on leftists – right-wingers also opened a front against right-wingers.
This lockdown, in its current form, only saves Bibi (Ron Kaufman, Maariv) Gaucho’s hamsters are multiplying exponentially, and as in government, no one is taking responsibility. There is not a single expert, a professional by definition, who says out loud that this lockdown is necessary because it saves lives.
Lebanon's economic woes may get the better of Hezbollah (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) For years, Beirut shied away from any talks with Israel, so as not to lend it even a semblance of recognition. Then came the economic crisis.
Gulf Muslim pilgrims are about to upset the fragile status quo at Al-Aqsa (Doron Bar, Haaretz+) A surge of pilgrims from the UAE and Bahrain is expected to visit Jerusalem’s Muslim sites, following normalization with Israel. How will the Palestinians, Jordan and Saudi Arabia respond? Will this be a victory for coexistence, or a trigger for violence?
Promising Change or Clinging to Power? Behind the Palestinian Leaders' Vow to Hold Elections (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Building up expectations for an imminent election, 16 years after the last one, is a way to preserve the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority’s political elite and civil service.
The Police Have to Cool It (Monday Haaretz Editorial) The sights and reports from the demonstrations around the country Saturday leave no room for doubt: There has been a change in the police’s approach to protest. Numerous incidents were recorded of violence by police officers against participants in demonstrations, which took place in hundreds of locations across Israel in the wake of the new law barring people from traveling more than a kilometer from their homes to attend a protest. Videos showing the violence were shared on social media and published by media outlets.
America’s Jewish Leftists Are Heading for Self-righteous Irrelevance, Just Like Israel’s (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+)  When [some - OH] U.S. Jewish progressives urge AOC to shun (American for Peace Now’s memorial event for Yitzhak) Rabin, what allies have they gained? They’ve lost the possible alliance with “liberal Zionist” groups like American for Peace Now and they certainly haven’t won over AOC – after this, she’ll run a mile away from any event concerning Israel-Palestine, and quite rightly, from her perspective. Why risk alienating potential supporters on either side? For too many Jewish progressives, it’s much easier to wage wars against [Jewish - OH] liberals on Twitter. And rather than persuade and accrue the trust of allies they need to have any influence on Israel-Palestine, they’re marginalizing themselves into an obscure corner where no one but their own small, hermetic echo chamber cares what they have to say, and justifiably so.

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

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