News Nosh 11.3.20

by APN 11/03/20
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APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday November 3, 2020 

You Must Be Kidding: 
״Instead of dealing with the importance of this day and how to prevent further political assassinations - most of the lesson plans in general deal with comparing the subject to the corona epidemic. With all due respect, there is a very significant difference between the two subjects.״
--A teacher from central Israel objected to the decision of the Education Ministry to teach school children about the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by comparing it to the corona epidemic.**


Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • The moment of truth - America votes
  • Hero and victim // Nahum Barnea (Hebrew)
  • Netanyahu’s dilemma // Sima Kadmon
  • The day after // Sever Plocker
  • A superpower in crisis // Ben-Dror Yemini (Hebrew)
  • Two Americas // Alon Pinkas
  • (Middle East) neighborhood on hold // Shimrit Meir (Hebrew)
  • Vienna: 7 killed in terror attack

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

  • America votes
  • Choosing a direction // Haim Isrovitch
  • The general correction // Michael Kleiner
  • Terror in the heart of Vienna
  • Getting farther from easing the corona restrictions

Israel Hayom


Top News Summary:
The US presidential elections today was the leading story in today’s Hebrew newspapers, as Israelis rallied in support of incumbent US President Donald Trump and commentators looked back at the Trump era and forward at the effects the different outcomes will have on Israel and the region. Also, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblitt banned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from making any judicial appointments, including the police commissioner and state prosecutor, in order to prevent Netanyahu from using his post to affect his trial. And, Yedioth revealed that two female soldiers were jailed for 20 days for kissing in what appears to be a sentencing affected by homophobia and ‘religionization’ in the army. Maariv revealed that the *Ministry of Education chose to mark Rabin Memorial Day with the theme, “From crisis to opportunity,” sparking fury among teachers. The teachers said that the Ministry of Education told teachers to link the assassination with different events, which they said was to obscure the significance of the assassination. For example, in the lesson plan for sixth graders, it is written: "Refer to the following events and try to find a connection between them: the People of Israel and slavery in Egypt, the Exodus from Egypt and the walk in the wilderness for forty years until arrival in the Land of Israel; the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; The corona period.” One teacher told Maariv: “Exactly what opportunity are they talking about here? Instead of dealing with the importance of this day and how to prevent further political assassinations - most of the lesson plans in general deal with comparing the subject to the corona epidemic. With all due respect, there is a very significant difference between the two subjects. This is a show of contempt.”

US ELECTIONS - On the ground in Israel:
Israeli ministers were supposed to keep their mouths shut about the US presidential elections, but whether intentionally or not and with Netanyahu’s advanced knowledge or not, Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said that Israel could achieve more normalization agreements “if the Trump policy continues” and the next US president displays continued “resolve” against Iran. Cohen, who was speaking on the religious right-wing internet Channel 20, said Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Morocco and Niger were "on the agenda.” The statements were seen as supporting Trump in the elections. Maariv reported that the Republican party ran a campaign in Israel, too, where hundreds of thousands of eligible US voters live. The campaign focused on the ultra-Orthodox sector and on Jewish settlers in the West Bank. This is the second time in a row that the Republican Party is running an election campaign in Israel, led by Adv. Mark Tzel. And this time, too, a number of senior communications and strategy consultants were recruited, some of whom participated in the successful 2016 campaign. The leaders of the campaign spoke about how they emphasized strengthening ties with the settlers in Judea and Samaria. And how they organized a convoy of support for Trump outside the US embassy. "We stressed the need to thank the President,” one supporter said. In the town of Beit Shemesh, where many nationalist religious and ultra-Orthodox American immigrants live, a pro-Trump rally took place with many Likud activists and supporters made a pro-Trump convoy of cars decorated with US and Israeli flags. (VIDEO) In Hebron, settlers prayed for Trump to win. A rabbi at the Cave of the Patriach cited Trump’s prayed: “May He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ... bless the good name Donald John, son of Fred Trump," went the prayers. Maariv reported that senior nationalist Zionist rabbis published a letter calling on religious Jews to vote for Trump, partly on the grounds that "Trump has blocked the nuclear program of Iran, the great enemy of world peace.” Among the authors of the letter are the elder rabbis of religious Zionism, Rabbi Haim Druckman, Rosh Yeshiva in Mitzpe Jericho, Rabbi Shabtai Sabtu, Rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rosh Yeshiva Hesder in Ramat Gan, Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, Rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Dov Lior and Rosh Yeshiva in Sderot David Pendel. And ‘Israel Hayom’ remained hopeful with an article that was more like an Op-Ed, titled, “Support for Trump among US Jews may be higher than predicted.” The author wrote that J Street “with its own agenda in mind, repeatedly tries to release polls that paint a different view of the Jewish vote.” And the Media Line reported on Ynet that the Palestinian Authority is in direct contact with the Biden campaign, according to senior Palestinian. Ramallah sees a Biden victory as a possible opening for renewed dialogue after a ‘catastrophic' four years of Trump administration, it reported.

Corona Quickees:

  • Israel's jobless rate up in first-half October amid second nationwide lockdown - Figure is lower than 26.6% peak during last spring’s lockdown. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Israel Backtracks on Granting Police Unrestricted Access to COVID Contact Tracing Data - Instead Justice Ministry seeks to allow epidemiological investigators to contact the police on their own initiative if they suspect a 'serious crime.' (Haaretz+)
  • Ultra-Orthodox facing 'unprecedented' crisis as young people drift away - New study suggests that drop-out rate partly explains sector's violations of virus regulations; researcher warns country must tackle 'alienation and marginalization' that leads many who leave their Haredi lives to end up on streets. (Ynet)

 

Quick Hits:

  • Attorney General Bars Netanyahu From Handling Matters in Legal System, Law Enforcement While on Trial - Mendelblitt in his final legal opinion, meant to prevent Netanyahu from using his post to affect his trial, bans the premier from making judicial appointments, including the police commissioner and state prosecutor. (Yedioth/Ynet and Haaretz+)
  • Netanyahu Urged to Block Appointment of Racist Likud Activist to Top Zionist Post - Jewish leaders say appointment of Jacques Kupfer as director of World Zionist Organization is 'unacceptable,' request a criminal investigation against him. French-born Kupfer has called on Israel to deny voting rights to its Arab citizens, denounced Arab lawmakers as “terrorists” and “enemies of the state,” and referred to “Palestinianism” – that is, support for Palestinian rights – as a deadly virus, and has castigated Israeli leftists as traitors. (Haaretz+)
  • Civil Administration Recommends West Bank Registry Process to Declare More Land for Israel - The regulation of land registry would make it more difficult to appeal Israel's declarations of state land in the West Bank, to the benefit of the Civil Administration and settlers. (Haaretz+)
  • Israeli Army Demolishes Home of Palestinian Indicted in Fatal Stabbing Attack - According to his indictment, Khalil Dweikat set out in August, to kill an Israeli 'for Palestine, The Palestinian People, Al Aqsa Mosque and Allah.' High Court approved the demolition in a 2-1 ruling last week and rejected petition by the family to stop it because because Dweikat suffers from mental disorders and had been treated by Palestinian health officials.
    . (Haaretz+, Ynet and Israel Hayom)
  • Israeli Court: Palestinian Authority must compensate family of (Israeli) terrorist attack victims - 16 years after lawsuit filed, court determines senior Palestinian Authority officials complicit in the 2002 attack in Jerusalem that killed Tzipi and Gadi Shemesh sighting office holders assisting suicide bomber, providing explosives and driving him to site of attack. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • Construction Worker Dies of Work-related Injuries, 52nd Victim in Israel This Year - Ibrahim Mohammed Jabareen, 68, from Umm al-Fahm, died of injuries sustained in a work accident on an Israeli highway in April. (Haaretz+)
  • IDF jails 2 female soldiers for kissing on army base - Service members hit with accusations of violating IDF's modesty code and sentenced to 20 days in military prison after an officer claimed she saw them engage in public display of affection in army barracks, which the pair denies. (Ynet)
  • Parents of one of the female combat soldiers, who kissed and was sent to prison, are furious: "What? Did they abandon their weapons?" - The mother of one of the soldiers who was sent to a 20-day detention center after an officer claimed she saw her kissing her partner, wondered at the Ynet studio: "To go to jail because she dared to touch her partner?" Her father sent a sharp letter to the IDF. A storm broke out among MK: “This smells of homophobia." (Ynet Hebrew and video)
  • Israel’s Biological Research Institute Experiments on Animals Without Oversight - Government acknowledges that an internal committee at the institute reviews the controversial practice instead of the usual Defense Ministry panel. The institute is currently developing vaccine against corona. The criticism of the oversight of animal experimentation is not directed at the COVID-19 vaccine effort. (Haaretz+)
  • Yamina will vote for bill to dissolve Knesset, in challenge to Kahol-Lavan - Bennett’s party accuses Gantz’s of not heeding its own ultimatum that new elections must be held over [Likud’s - OH] failure to pass state budget. (Times of Israel)
  • Algerians Back Changes to Constitution, but Historically Low Turnout Mars Vote - Prominent opposition members hail low turnout as defeat for the government's strategy in its attempts to quell political unrest. (Agencies, Haaretz)


Features:

A peek into the underground ‘hole’ of the Northern Command during the tension on the Lebanese border: "This is the place from which we run half the country during warfare”
Dozens of kilometers of passages and corridors, a synagogue and a cantine, stalactite walls and one telephone line that connects soldiers with the outside world: On days when everyone is looking for open spaces for fear of contracting the corona virus, our reporter went down to the Northern Command hole, tens of meters underground, and visited the “palace”: The huge underground city from which the IDF is conducting the campaign against Hezbollah. (Itai Ilanai and photos by Gil Nehushtan, Yedioth Hebrew)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu Is Prepping a Narrative in Case of a Trump Loss (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Netanyahu is readying himself for a Biden presidency, with his proxies saying that only he is equipped to handle a Democratic Party ‘controlled’ by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Israel must be ready for November 4 (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Both candidates are committed to Israel's security, but will act differently; Biden is unlikely to reverse recognition of Jerusalem but will likely reinstate settlement policies, while Trump could flip on Iran if he sees chance for deal.
What a Biden Win Would Mean for U.S. Ties With Israel (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+) The two-state solution and engagement with the Palestinians is back in, support for settlement activity is out. Experts offer a few scenarios for a Biden victory over Trump.
Only one star (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth Hebrew) On the eve of Yom Kippur this year, I interviewed Nobel Laureate Professor Yisrael Aumann. Why do you support Trump? I asked him. He responded with a story from his youth in New York: a boy ran enthusiastically to his grandfather. Did you hear, Grandpa? He asks. Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball star, scored a home run today in a Yankees game. Is this good for the Jews? Asks the grandfather. "Trump is good for the Jews," Aumann stated. "That's why I support him."
A referendum on America (Amnon Lord, Israel Hayom) The two US political camps are not just in opposition to each other, nor are they only ideologically polarized. At this point in American history, they are living in different worlds.
I Was a Never Trumper. I Couldn’t Have Been More Wrong (Bethany Mandel, Haaretz+) Four years ago, I wrote here that a win by Trump, courting white supremacists, meant 'the ascendancy of hate.' But my fears about his presidency endangering Jews were hyperbolic nonsense.
The pro-Trump Jews Who Sold Out the Bible to Buy the President's Cruel Bigotry (Joshua Shanes, Haaretz+) The arc of ex-Never Trump Jews like Bethany Mandel, who feared Trump for stoking antisemitism but now love him for aiding Israel’s territorial maximalists, is a sad tale of indifference to human suffering.
The Middle Eastern neighborhood on hold (Shimrit Meir, Yedioth Hebrew) There are three camps in our region: the sworn Trumpist countries, the countries that have maintained neutrality for the past four years, and those that will develop non-alcoholic champagne if Biden is elected. At the head of the camp with the red hats of MAGA is of course Israel, both the general public (according to a poll by the Institute for Democracy also among left-wing voters there is a draw between Trump and Biden) and the Israeli political right, and along with Israel: the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In these three states, the regimes and subordinate media outlets clearly prefer Trump and the public is neutral or tends to favor Biden. These are countries that are likely to continue to become geopolitically stronger if Trump is elected, and which will wake up with a difficult hangover if Biden wins. The most prominent members of the neutral camp are Qatar and Jordan, which have maintained good relations with the Trump administration, but have taken care to maintain a certain distance - for example in a reserved approach to the Deal of the Century and normalization deals with Israel. As is sometimes the case when deciding on an investment, these two states did not enjoy Trump's candy, but maintained high maneuverability in Washington the day after. The third group - and there is no nice way to say it - those who will develop non-alcoholic champagne if Biden is elected - are the Palestinians and the Iranians. Abu Mazen, whose strategy in dealing with Trump was "this, too, will pass," and of course the Iranians, for whom Trump's departure would mark the end of the "maximum pressure" chapter that suffocated them financially and changed them [the Iranians - OH] from expanding to defensive..
Trump Is Bad for Israel, Too (Haaretz Editorial) While many governments will breathe a sigh of relief if Trump loses, many others will be sorry, primarily those belonging to the anti-liberal axis – Russia’s president, North Korea’s leader, Turkey’s president, Hungary’s prime minister, Brazil’s president and, regrettably, also Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who views Trump as “the best friend we’ve ever had in the White House.” Netanyahu isn’t alone. Recent polls show that almost two-thirds of Israelis think Trump is better for Israel than Biden. In Israel, too, Trump provided a tailwind for social Darwinism and Jewish hooliganism, which was expressed in contempt for the Palestinians and for the law, the justice system, state institutions and the media, as well as in alliances with anti-liberal regimes and the flourishing of populism.
American support for Israel began long before Trump, and will remain long after (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Israeli analyses that if Trump loses, Israel will remain orphaned, lonely, poor and without White House support are nonsense - it's an insult and a slander to the term nonsense.
No Matter Who Wins, Trumpism Is Here to Stay (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) The powerful process characterized by deep identification with the current president, his values and all his whims – is here to stay and has permanently altered the basis of support for the Republican Party, which had remained stable for many years. As in America, here, too, Netanyahu’s lies have been exposed, along with his poor handling of the pandemic in terms of both public health and the economic repercussions. But even the serious criminal charges he faces for various acts of corruption don’t budge his base of support.
In the US and Israel, the left’s next battle is with the moderate right (Ariel David, 972mag) Invigorating the left in Israel might seem like a fantasy. But the U.S. progressive movement shows that with clear alternatives, a shift is possible.
'In America, Do They Hate Blacks or Jews More?': The Terrible Cost of Four Years of Trump (S. Fitzgerald Haney, Haaretz+) My daughter’s question haunted me: Our sense of safety has been deeply shaken over the last four years. That’s why, as an African-American Jew, backing Biden is one of the easiest choices I’ve ever made.
The isolated American Jews (Caroline B. Glick, Israel Hayom) American Jews today are isolated more than ever before. They are isolated within their political camp which doesn't care about them, and they are isolated within the Jewish world.
Palestinian Americans are voting in droves. But why not from the West Bank? (Henriette Chacar, 972mag) Disenchanted by U.S. politics and bureaucratic hurdles under occupation, Palestinian Americans in the West Bank struggle to mobilize for the election.
Trump will be remembered as a top politician who changed the rules of the game (Dr. Baruch Leshem, Yedioth/Ynet Hebrew) Despite the fabrications, the tricks, the wild Twitter account and the failed management of the health and economy during the Corona crisis, the roller coaster known as the "Trump tenure" was a revolution in media conduct.
Not Just a Con Artist, Trump Is Also a Genius (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) In 2017, Philip Roth called Trump “just a con artist.” The presidency of someone like Trump isn’t something that someone like author Philip Roth could have conceived of really happening. It is a political event that surpasses what he thought possible. Philip Roth, waking up in his final years to an America in which Donald Trump is president – is like the Jew who is so sure of his German identity until that conception is suddenly shaken on Kristallnacht. He is faced with a fact he thought was impossible. And doing the impossible is a trademark of genius.
Order revoked, an informant officer and two lesbians in jail (Dr. Ram Fromm, Ynet Hebrew) The 20 days in prison imposed on the unfortunate female soldiers who embraced in the private room of one of them on base are based on a primitive regulation that has not existed in the IDF for 4 years. Now Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi has to prove that he is more like former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot than former chief of staff Benny Gantz. Eisenkot stood out in his attempt to resist the religionization process that the IDF is going through. During the Eisenkot era, the military at least knew how to cancel unreasonable punishments [given by officers to soldiers on religion related issues - OH]. During Kochavi's time, a soldier was sent to prison for putting a hamburger in his personal refrigerator, which for kosher reasons was supposed to contain only dairy foods. All attempts to lighten the sentence were denied. By the way, a few months later the ordinance was changed so that even bacon can now be stored in a personal refrigerator.
Coronavirus Has Killed Economic Ideology. So What Do We Do Next? (Sami Peretz, Haaretz+) Israel has been left ideologically empty-handed to manage the recovery.
Palestinians Hit by COVID-19, but They Have Greater Things to Worry About (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) West Bank and Gaza residents have chalked up relatively low rates of illness and death, hence the noticeable complacency. But the toll the pandemic and Israel's tough policies is taking on their pockets seems incurable.
Beware of Qatari horses bearing gifts (Sarah N. Stern, Israel Hayom) With its seemingly infinite wealth, the Sunni Arab nation has become the chief patron of radical Islamists throughout the world, as it simultaneously has become the most astute influence operator in Washington and throughout Western capitals.
 

Interviews:
US envoy: Mideast 'exploding with good opportunities' under Trump
"We've done more for the cause of peace within this region than any administration in the history of the United States. And, I think those opposing us just are not seeing the situation clearly," US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman says. (Interviewed by  Alex Traiman by JNS and Israel Hayom)

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

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