APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday December 1, 2020

Quote of the day:

"But what of preparing for the revenge that is undoubtedly sure to follow the brazen attack on Iran's chief nuclear scientist? Rather than brag about its success, what measures were taken to ensure the safety of Israel's embassies abroad? History has taught us that is where we are vulnerable. And what is the security situation for Jewish centers and synagogues around the world? Have we secured our airliners, our vessels at sea or the rest of our soft targets?"
--Following the assassination of Iran's chief nuclear scientist, which Israelis, Iranians and everyone else think that Israel was behind, MK Nahman Shai, a former IDF Spokesman, writes about Israeli hubris and condescension in its acts and its reactions to its own acts.*

Front Page:

Haaretz

• Netanyahu preparing to ask again for immunity from the Knesset, asserting that the judicial process was flawed
• The most interesting claim in Netanyahu’s request to cancel the indictment against him is one that isn’t even in the defense statements // Mordechai Kremnitzer
• Judicial appointment committee: Amit Aisman to be appointed as the next State Prosecutor
• Court dismissed a lawsuit on behalf of Arab (Israeli) children from Carmiel by using the Jewish Nation State Law
• The masks have been removed: The Jewish Nation State Law deepens the racial separation in Israel // Haaretz Editorial
• Weeks before the crash of the training plane, the pilots’ course training commander was dismissed due to safety violations
• Yonatan Heilo, who was imprisoned for killing his rapist and who had difficulty rehabilitating (after release), was found dead on the beach
• Moderna requested emergency approval from FDA for corona vaccine
• It’s possible to leave the yeshivas, but it’s difficult to remove it from the way of learning
• Get over it already // Noa Landau writes that the left-wing doesn’t need to be led by another general, but needs Jewish-Arab partnership
• Vaccinate from arrogance // Yossi Melman opposes Israel developing vaccine
• Bank of Israel assessment: Israel is on the way to a long economic freeze that will continue for tens of years after the corona crisis

Yedioth Ahronoth

• On the way to another election (Hebrew)
• Ten years since the disaster: The Carmel firefighter heroes: The last photo (before they burned to death in a bus) (Hebrew)
• Sorry that we abandoned you // Chen Artzi-Srur on the Ethiopian-Israeli, served prison for killing his rapist and was found dead on the beach (Hebrew)
• The judicial appointments committee recommends: Amit Aisman will be appointed State Prosecutor

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• Elections at the door
• Getting closer to a vaccine
• The designated state attorney

Israel Hayom

• Exchange of accusations on the way to the moment of truth
• (Former chief of staff) Eisenkot, go the Likud // Dr. Avishai Ben-Haim
• Gantz falls into a hole he dug // Mati Tuchfeld
• The path to elections is still long // Gideon Alon
• The next battle: Approval of the next state prosecutor
• The skies are not the limit - Saudi Arabia approved: Israeli planes can fly over its territory
• Moderna presents: Vaccine touching distance
• In Iran they are convinced: “A mole in the highest ranks led to Fakhrizadeh’s assassination”
• The 14-year-old boy photographed handcuffed at the police station sues for compensation
• Sad ending: Yonatan Heilo was found dead on a beach in Netanya

Top News Summary:
Elections are around the corner, a new State Prosecutor was agreed upon and a tormented and abandoned young man was found dead making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also the latest regarding the assassination of Iran’s chief nuclear scientist and and diplomacy. 

A number of today’s news items weave together into the bigger story of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s trial on corruption charges. Kahol-Lavan leader Benny Gantz is expected to vote to dissolve the Knesset Wednesday because Netanyahu won’t pass the 2021 budgets. Kahol-Lavan hopes that this threat will cause Netanyahu to pass the budget by tomorrow. The opposition parties Yesh Atid and Telem opposition are bringing the bill to dissolve the Knesset to a vote. Netanyahu said he opposes going to elections. With the pressure on, Finance Minister (Likud) Yisrael Katz finally presented the 2021 budget. The deadline to present it has already passed, meaning the government is violatingthe law. With elections in the offing, Kahol-Lavan is keen to pass numerous civil rights laws on social equality in the meantime. And while this drama takes place, Netanyahu is preparing ask for immunity again from Knesset lawmakers over his corruption charges.

Meanwhile, the judicial selection committee chose a new State Prosecutor and that choice could face some challenges when it goes for approval at the Knesset. Attorney Amit Aisman served in a previous position as deputy state prosecutor for special affairs, at which time he proposed to the attorney general to charge Netanyahu with breach of trust in one of three corruption cases.

Not unrelated, Yedioth Hebrew reported today on the data released following a freedom of information request by Adv. Shachar Ben Meir for a list of talks Netanyahu held with the publisher of 'Israel Hayom' newspaper and with its editor-in-chief. The list revealed increased contact before the 2015 elections. In the week before that election, Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson, the publisher of ‘Israel Hayom’ newspaper and a supporter of Netanyahu, talked six times, and a total of 42 times over two years. In 2015, Netanyahu spoke with then editor of the paper, Amos Regev, 73 times, 21 of which were in the month leading up to the election, when the front pages of the newspaper often conveyed similar messages that helped Netanyahu. Netanyahu had 17 talks in two months with Amos Regev’s replacement, Boaz Bismuth, until the documentation of calls was stopped. Adv. Ben Meir said that "the details of the conversations prove two things. The first is that ‘Israel Hayom’ is not a newspaper and has never been a newspaper, but only a propaganda tool in Netanyahu's service, which makes it the largest imaginable violation of party financing. The second is that Netanyahu is not interested - and never was interested - in anything except for his image and what will be written or broadcast about him. That is why, as is well known, he is now facing a criminal trial, and in my opinion he should also have been on criminal trial for his ties with ‘Israel Hayom.'"

The sad story in today’s Hebrew newspapers was about the Ethiopian-Israeli man, who in his life sparked debate in the country and now is sparking another one in his death. Yonatan Heilo was found guilty of killing his rapist and the case sparked debate about self-defense in instances of abuse. After he was released from jail he could not find work and could not adjust to civilian life. His death is now raising concerns about rehabilitation for ex-convicts.

Diplomacy:
Two different diplomatic trips are taking place right now in the Middle East. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is on is first diplomatic tour this year with the intention of getting a united position with Egypt and Jordan on the Palestinian problem ahead of talks with the Biden administration. He met with Jordan’s King Abdullah Sunday and on Monday he met in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who confirmed his country's firm support of the two-state solution.

Elsewhere in the region, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his team are headed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for talks. And just before Kushner’s arrival, and after some delay, Saudi Arabia gave approval to Israeli commercial planes to cross its airspace. The two countries reconciled the issue just hours before Israel's first commercial flight set off Tuesday morning to the United Arab Emirates. Without the approval the flight and many others would have been cancelled. Also, a Bahraini business and trade delegation was expected to arrive in Israel for a 3-day visit, including a minister. And the Israeli Ambassadors Club held a musical tribute to the United Arab Emirates on occasion of its 49th Independence Day marking the end of British rule. musical tribute with the renowned pianist. (VIDEO)

Assassination of Iranian Nuclear Scientist:

• Iran says Israel killed military nuclear scientist with remote devices
• Weapon used in top nuclear scientist's killing was made in Israel, says Iran's state TV
• Iran Opposition Suspected Alongside Israel in Scientist's Killing, Says Senior Iranian Official
• Iran Has a Range of Options to Retaliate Against Israel After Assassination
• US deploys aircraft carrier strike group to Persian Gulf

Quick Hits:

• Top Court Green Lights Israel Land Claim in Ruling That Could Pave Way for Legalizing West Bank Outposts - The ruling clears path for legalization of unauthorized settlement outposts of Netiv Avot and Sde Boaz, south of Jerusalem. (Haaretz+)
• Palestinians attacked a ‘lone farm’ [settlement outpost] near Ariel - Violent public disturbances including burning of agricultural equipment took place near Ariel, on the land of the lone farm Nofei Av”i, which was recently established by law on state lands. The incident developed after a group of some 150 Palestinians arrived at the location to demonstrate, burned agricultural equipment, rioted and threw rocks, and a clash broke out between them and a group of settlers. Only later did the army arrive, disperse the disruption of order and detain one of the Palestinians for investigation. An Israeli citizen was lightly wounded on the head from a rock thrown at him. [NOTE: News Nosh editor, Orly Halpern, found no mention of an outpost named Nofei Av"i anywhere. (Maariv, p. 11 and PHOTO)
• Dispute in Kahol-Lavan party over support for settlement outposts -  MKs Haimovich and Zamir to MK Yankelevich: You do not represent us - Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich, who visited Judea and Samaria (West Bank), said that Kahol-Lavan supports the legalization of illegal outposts, but MK Asaf Zamir shot her down at the faction meeting: "I do not remember a discussion that we agreed to legalize them, you are an extreme right-winger." Yankelevich: “Salt of the earth people live there." Gantz: "We will only legalize outposts in legal areas.” (Yedioth Hebrew)
• Israeli army demolishes Palestinian-owned house in al-Khader - Israeli forces raided the town and prevented local residents from entering or leaving it before a bulldozer proceeded to tear down a 200-square-meter house under the pretext that it was built without a permit. The mayor said wants the land for its settlement activities. (WAFA)
• Israel notifies to demolish three Palestinian houses under construction in Yabad - Israeli occupation forces stormed the West Bank town of Yabad and handed three Palestinian families demolition notices against their houses that are still being constructed, on the pretext they were built without a permit. (WAFA)
• ‘It’s a Jewish City’: Court Rejects Lawsuit by Arab Pupils, Citing Israel's Nation-state Law - Schoolkids asked to be reimbursed for travel outside of the city of Carmiel – because it has no Arabic-language schools; controversial 2018 law asserts self-determination in Israel is 'unique to the Jewish people.’ (Haaretz+)
• The (Bedouin) thief was shot dead, the (Jewish) resident of Arad will remain in custody following "dramatic evidence" - The court accepted the police appeal and extended by two days the detention of Arieh Schiff, 70, who shot to death Muhammad Salam al-Atrash, 36, on grounds that he was trying to break into his vehicle. The judge originally sent Schiff to house arrest, after he said he aimed at his car wheels and did not intend to hit the burglar. Police originally said Schiff was suspected of manslaughter. But following evidence - apparently security footage - that clause may change. (Maariv and Ynet Hebrew)
• In a surprise move, Israel decides to turn over the body of an alleged Palestinian attacker to his family - Israeli occupation authorities agreed today to turn over the body of a Palestinian man it claimed its soldiers have killed after he attempted a car-ramming attack to his family for proper burial. Attorney Mohammad Mahmoud said the fact that the police agreed to turn over Shuqeir's body to his family proves that he was killed by Israeli forces without reason and that he did not attempt the car-ramming attack as claimed because normally Israel withholds bodies of alleged Palestinian attackers for a long period of time and uses them as bargaining chips in any future prisoners exchange deal with Palestinian organizations. (WAFA)
• Israel detains five Palestinians during funeral of alleged attacker in East Jerusalem - Israeli forces assaulted participants in the funeral of Noor Shuqeir, from Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, whose body Israel agreed to turn over to his family after placing strict conditions for his funeral. The forces used sound bombs against the youths and prevented them from reaching the cemetery where Shuqeir was being buried before detaining five of them. (WAFA)
• Israeli Navy Opens Fire At Palestinian Fishing Boats In Gaza - Israeli navy ships fired many live roads on several Palestinian fishing boats that were 2 to 3 nautical miles from the Gaza shore, forcing them back. (IMEMC)
• Foreign ministry condemns Israeli demolition of historic stairway in East Jerusalem - he stairway leads to the historic Yusufia cemetery. The head of the Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries in Jerusalem, Mustafa Abu Zahra said the demolition is part of the Israeli authorities’ plan to establish the “Biblical garden path” inside the cemetery which contains the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as many ancient and modern graves. The stairway is also used by people visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque. (WAFA and Palestine Chronicle)
• Study: Despite more Arabs at Israeli campuses, cooperation with Jewish students remains rare - First-of-its-kind study shows that fear and barriers prevent Jews and Arabs from cooperating in coursework and research, but there’s also a reason to hope. (Haaretz+)
• Palestinian-Israeli team discussing the transfer of $1 billion tax clearance funds, says premier - Israel owes the Palestinians around $1 billion in taxes it has collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) on goods entering through its borders and which have been accumulated ever since the PA severed ties with Israel on May 19 and stopped receiving the monthly $200 million revenues. (WAFA)
• Israel to Produce 15 Million Doses of Its COVID-19 Vaccine, Research Institute Says - The third and final phase of testing on Israel's single-dose vaccine is expected to begin in April, says the director of the Institute for Biological Research. (Haaretz+)
• Elbit wins $96M helicopter training contract in Europe - Elbit said contract to supply an undisclosed European country with its Rotary-Wing Mission Training Center for military helicopter pilots and crews will be carried out over a nine-year period with an option to extend. (Israel Hayom)
• Mossad Helped Syrian General 'Escape and Get Asylum' in Austria - Khaled Halabi, wanted and accused of war crimes, was settled in Vienna by Israeli agents, according to an investigation by The Telegraph. (Maariv and Haaretz+)
• Two Beit Shemesh teens accused of sexually abusing children for years - Police say some of the abuses took place inside a local synagogue, while one of the ultra-Orthodox teens, aged 16, is suspected of persuading the children, aged 4 and 7, to commit similar offenses on one another. (Yedioth/Ynet)
• (Ultra-Orthodox) leader of cult accused of child abuse managed to escape from the country - The leader of the “Lev Tahor (‘pure heart’)” sect, Eliezer Rumpler, against whom a serious indictment was filed for child abuse, has managed to escape from Israel to Guatemala in recent days, despite a detention order against him. (Maariv and JPost)
• Report: Hezbollah chief goes into hiding after hit on top Iranian scientist - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is reportedly taking shelter amid fears that he may be next on a US-Israel hit list, according to an Israeli TV reports. (Israel Hayom)
• Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks postponed - Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz says it has been agreed with the Americans that talks would be postponed for a few weeks. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)
• Israel's ZAKA signs historic MOU with UAE counterparts - To be the first Israeli humanitarian group to sign such an agreement is “a great privilege,” says ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav. (Israel Hayom)
• Altar to Greek god Pan used as brick in Byzantine church wall in Israel - Atheneon of Antioch woz ’ere: Archaeologists make surprising new discovery at an early Christian church excavated at the Banias cultic site. (Haaretz+ and JPost)
• 'Christmas will not be cancelled' says Bethlehem, amid little comfort or joy - Mayor Anton Salman says the celebrations will be a 'message of hope' to the world, while the newly-appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem says this year Christmas in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem will be less festive than usual. (Agencies, Ynet)

Features:

Testimony of the terrorist [Palestinian man] who killed (soldier) Amit Ben Yigal: "I heard soldiers. I took a block and threw it"
The full picture of the incident in which the the Golani Brigade fighter was killed is revealed. “I was at home,” said Nazmi Abu Bakr, 49, married and a father of children. “I heard shouting, I went up to the roof and realized that the army took one of the neighbors and put him in a car. The women cried out, ‘Don’t take him.’ I saw in the corner of the roof a rock, half a block. I looked down, saw some soldiers outside the house. The cries of the the women hurt my heart and saddened me. I picked up the block and threw it at the soldiers. I did not see what the rock did.” Then, he said, "When I came down from the roof of the house, I heard gunshots, and bullets hit my kitchen window. I went into the room and acted as if I were asleep. I knew the army would come. After a while they knocked on the door. My wife opened it and the soldiers came in and started searching. After finding nothing they left. I waited a bit and went downstairs. I saw blood on the road and parts of the block. I collected the pieces of the block and threw them on the side of the road near the trees.” He then returned home, and a few hours later was arrested. The indictment, filed against him last July, attributes to him premeditated killing, an offense equivalent to murder in Israeli law. Abu Bakr’s attorneys said there were serious flaws in the investigation and raised the conflicting testimonies of soldiers at the scene. (Yedioth Hebrew)
A Visit From Gaza, Also Known as 'The Other Side of the Moon'
Opportunities for relatives to visit from Gaza are the rarest of pleasures – even if they’re often shrouded in sorrow ■ Post #25. (Umm Forat, Haaretz+)
The secret of NSO’s success in Mexico
The hunt for El Chapo, widespread corruption and Israeli cyber firm NSO’s dealings in Mexico reveal dark truth about infamous phone-hacking software Pegasus: ‘The greater the violence, the greater the business opportunities.’ (Oded Yaron, Haaretz+)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's Government Is Set to Fall. Here's How It Got There and What Happens Next (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) By Wednesday night, the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition of the damned could be over. Not that a potential compromise, if parties find one, would change anything.
Go for a compromise, Gantz. Offer Netanyahu a public, explicit and final offer (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Propose to Netanyahu as follows: Kahol-Lavan is ready to extend the deadline by one month. Netanyahu himself will set the new deadline. If he violates the decision again, we'll know he's a crook. If not - you will be Prime Minister within a year.
Blue and White's number is up (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) The calm, moderate, unifying tone Netanyahu has adopted of late is driving Benny Gantz out of his mind. It takes two to tango, and in the meantime, it seems like while one side is calm and collected, the other is threatening and incendiary and trying to force a confrontation that refuses to come. Blue and White's number is up.
Israeli Leftists, Enough With the Generals (Noa Landau, Haaretz+) After he enthusiastically promoted Benny Gantz and didn’t learn his lesson, Raviv Drucker is now once again proposing the new false messiah of the left: the next general in line, Gadi Eisenkot. Does anyone even know anything about the ideology of this discharged Israel Defense Forces soldier? In order not to end up, for example, with another “left-wing” leader who supports legalizing outposts? Who cares? The center-left’s penchant for the military brass is already turning into a parody. In spite of all the failures in the near and distant past, the members of the camp continue to choose for themselves theoretical and artificial leaders who are compressed into a mold that has been shaped in advance.
All the questions you wanted and did not dare ask Prime Minister Netanyahu (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) Why are you rushing to another elections, why are you opposing the submarine affair investigation committee, and what will you do to postpone your trial? A surprise quiz for the prime minister, or not exactly.
Sectoral tribalism is out of control (Dan Schueftan, Israel Hayom) If we do not want anarchy and tribalism to undermine the quality of life in Israel, we need to transform the police force, create a responsible legal system, and urge the government to provide political backing and appropriate budgeting.
The Basic Law on Apartheid (Haaretz Editorial) In Carmiel last week they reaped the spoiled fruit of the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. Contrary to all the false statements made by proponents of the law during its legislation – that it was largely symbolic, that it was faithful to the values of the Declaration of Independence and the principle of equality – it turns out to be its critics’ worst nightmare: a legal norm that legalizes Jewish supremacy and Arab inferiority in Israel. The Krayot Magistrate’s Court used the nation-state law to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of an Arab brother and sister, aged 6 and 10, who live in Carmiel with their family. The suit asked the court to order the city to reimburse them for the cost of transport to an Arab-language school outside of Carmiel, since there are no Arab schools in the city…
Jewish Nation State Law returned, and as an officer in IDF Intel Unit 8200, I again became a demographic threat (Fadi Maklada, Ynet Hebrew) The Jewish Nation State Law was a slap in the face, while the recent ruling by Registrar Yaniv Luzon of the Krayot Magistrate's Court in the case of two Arab pupils living in Karmiel, was already a real punch directly to the center of the abdomen. This is the story: as reported in Haaretz, these are two siblings living in Carmiel, who demanded from the municipality reimbursement of travel to schools in nearby localities, because there are no Arab educational institutions within the city of Carmiel. However, instead of dismissing the lawsuit for material legal reasons that he stated in the decision - both in the question of the authority and nature of the lawsuit and because of the essence of the Compulsory Education Law - Registrar Luzon chose, in a clear political step, to rely on "Basic Law: Israel - the nation state of the Jewish people," and particularly Article 7, which in recent years have brought to the streets hundreds of (protesting) thousands of Arabs and Druze. Registrar Luzon's decision regarding the Arab students from Karmiel reminded me, a Druze officer in the intelligence corps, that the State of Israel is racing towards a refined apartheid. The High Court remains the last hope.
Will the new administration tolerate 'pay for slay?' (Stephen M. Flatow, Israel Hayom) Through whatever financial or other pressure is available, we need to force the Palestinian Authority to stop paying terrorists, stop naming schools and streets after terrorists, and stop using their media to portray terrorists as heroes.
When 'aliens' show up at a West Bank construction site (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Vandalism and invasion of a housing project near Ramallah show that Jews are shocked by Palestinians building on Palestinian land. Security forces are doing little to catch the attackers, who've brought work to a standstill.
Has Biden received the message he was just sent on Iran? (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom) The assassination of Tehran's top nuclear scientist is a reminder not so much of Israeli and Arab rejection of appeasement as it is of the deadly nature of the Iranian threat.
*Israel's oft-repeated sin of pride (Nachman Shai, Yedioth/Ynet) From the botched false flag operation of 1950s in Egypt, to the existential threat of the Yom Kippur War and the disastrous handling of the Pollard affair, the country has all too often forgotten its place in the world and the need for humility.
Killing Iran's Nuclear Weapons Chief Was Justified. But It Wasn't Wise (Chuck Freilich, Haaretz+) When Israel weighed up the targeted killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, there are ten criteria it should have considered. Instead it appears that Netanyahu chose a strike of marginal tactical importance over far bigger strategic gains.
The mistake with Pollard must not be repeated, please let him be (Yitzhak Levanon, Maariv) Like our spy in Lebanon, my mother Shulamit Kishik-Cohen, who after liberation sought only silence, so Pollard publicly expressed his desire to be left to himself. Let's respect that.
There's No Need for an Israeli Fox News. Its Spirit Is Already Here (Eytan Avriel, Haaretz+) Israel's media industry likes popular and cheap talk shows, and the public is the loser.

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