APN's daily news review from Israel - Monday December 21, 2020 

Number of the day:

64.
-- Number of seats out of the Knesset's 120 of MKs in parties that have pledged not to join a government led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu if elections were held now.*

Front Page:

Haaretz

• Gantz agreed to curb (Justice Minister) Nissenkorn’s powers to assure the (prime minister) rotation (and stave off elections)
• Giving a hand // Yossi Verter writes that Gantz is helping Netanyahu
• The vaccine campaign was launched: Ministers decided not to impose more restrictions
• The new version of corona, which is suspected of infecting faster, is spreading quickly across Britain
• Eitan Maharato was arrested at a protest of Ethiopian-Israelis and is expected to be jailed. His sentence was signed when he was 13-years-old
• Justice Ministry: Tracking after students harms their privacy (rights)
• The gas agreement // Zvi Bar’el on how the East Mediterranean gas forum may delineate the first recognized border of Palestine

Yedioth Ahronoth

• This is how the entrance to Israel was abandoned - Government ignored the warnings and at Ben-Gurion Airport a row of infected planes landed (Hebrew)
• Postponing the end - Likud and Kahol-Lavan agreed to advance bill to postpone deadline to pass the budget (Hebrew)
• The virus of political weakness // Nahum Barnea on Alternative Prime Minister Benny Gantz (Hebrew)
• Dream that came true: I was vaccinated against corona // Prof. Galia Rahav (Hebrew)
• The critical question: Does the mutation withstand the vaccine?
• Vaccine party at Ichilov Hospital

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• Vaccinating on the way to a lockdown
• World following with concern the new and concerning mutation of the virus: Israelis returning from UK, Denmark and S. Africa must be quarantine
• Looking for a delay - Netanyahu and Gantz will ask to pass a bill to postpone passing the budget

Israel Hayom

• Third lockdown dilemma
• The mutation infects faster, but the vaccine works well
• Agreement at the last minute: The budget will be postponed
• Good chance that the elections will be postponed // Amnon Lord
• “The goal - opening embassies in Morocco and in Israel”
• Cyberattack: Israel is not immune
• Miss Provence revealed her Israeli roots - and suffered an anti-Semitic attack
• Likely: Third stage of testing of Biological Institute’s vaccine won’t be held in Israel
• Historic achievement: Gymnast Lihi Raz, 17, won a bronze medal at the European championships

Top News Summary:
The corona vaccination campaign began causing medical center hotlines to crash as Israelis tried to get an appointment ASAP. Questions rose over the vaccine efficacy against the new virus mutation and over the government's slow reaction in blocking people from England from entering the country. Meanwhile, Kahol-Lavan leader and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz agreed to a bill to postpone yet again the deadline for passing the state budgets (2020 and 2021), which most saw as another surrender to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu [see Commentary/Analysis below] - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

*Also, Gantz reportedly agreed to curb Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn’s powers in exchange for Netanyahu promising to uphold the rotation agreement [which, in essence, he already promised to uphold as part of the coalition agreement - OH]. Gantz’s party, Kahol-Lavan, denied the report. But the possibility of elections still looms because if the 2020 budget is not passed by Tuesday night and a bill to postpone that deadline is not passed, then the Knesset will dissolve on Wednesday. Gantz met with Netanyahu’s rival, MK Gideon Sa’ar. A Channel 13 News poll showed that Sa'ar's new party is in second place, while Gantz's Kahol-Lavan is dropping towards the minimum threshold to enter Knesset. Yamina sources said that Likud invited the party, led by Naftali Bennett, into the government. Likud denied the report.

Corona Quickees:

• Coronavirus Israel Live: Israel to Bar Foreigners, Quarantine Returning Israelis in COVID Hotels - 10,000 medical staff received COVID-19 vaccine Sunday. ■ Israel deliberates sending all arrival passengers in quarantine. (Haaretz and Israel Hayom)
• Netanyahu unveils TikTok account, promotes COVID-19 vaccine - Israeli leader used newly platform to share his thoughts from Saturday, when he became the first Israeli to be vaccinated against the disease. (Israel Hayom)
• Just 3 vaccine sites for Israel's Arab communities - The four health maintenance organizations are set to open 57 vaccination centers in all, with just a small fraction in Arab localities, despite the extremely high coronavirus infection rate in a sector that makes up 20% of the population. (Ynet)
• Concern among Muslims over halal status of COVID-19 vaccine - As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products raise concerns immunization campaigns may be disrupted. Spokespeople for Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca say their vaccines do not include pork products. (Israel Hayom)
• Iran, Despite U.S. Sanctions, Has Routes to Vaccines - While U.S. sanctions do have specific carve-outs for medicine and humanitarian aid to Iran, banking and flight restrictions could complicate efforts to vaccinate the Middle East's worst hit country. (Agencies, Haaretz)
   

Quick Hits:

• 'US, Israel will work together to address common threats'   - Defense Minister Benny Gantz meets with visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley to discuss various regional challenges, particularly Iran. (Israel Hayom)
• Right-wing livid with Gantz for saying Jerusalem has 'room' for Palestinian capital - In rare interview to Saudi new outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, Blue and White leader and Defense Minister Benny Gantz says he does not envision "full" Middle East peace without the Palestinians. (Israel Hayom)
• Israeli Settlers Escalate their Crimes Against Palestinians - A large crowd of illegal Israeli settlers, on Saturday, under the protection of occupation soldiers, led an assault on Palestinian civilians in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. (IMEMC)
• IDF arrests Palestinian suspect in firebombing of IDF soldier who didn’t respond - Military says suspect taken in for questioning a day after incident in northern West Bank that sparked right-wing anger. (Times of Israel and VIDEO and Ynet Hebrew and IMEMC)
• Trying to curry favor with next US administration, PA urges Israel to resume peace talks - "We are ready for cooperation and dealing with the new US administration, and we are expecting that it would redraw its tie with the state of Palestine," says Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki. (Israel Hayom)
• European parliamentarians call for ending Gaza s siege, allowing COVID-19 medications in - The MEPs expressed their concern about the latest spike in COVID-19 cases in the Gaza Strip, noting that the exceptional situation in Gaza "requires immediate action to allow medicines, protective gears, masks, and ICU-units into the territory." (WAFA)
• Occupation forces briefly detain PLO official north of Jerusalem - Israeli forces stopped Major-General Bilal Natsheh, Secretary-General of the National People's Congress for Jerusalem – a security body affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)  in his car at a checkpoint near while on the way to work, north of Jerusalem. (WAFA)
• Female soldiers poised to sue if not allowed to try out for elite undercover unit - Cpl. Sapir Agiv says that she should be allowed the same opportunities as men who are dropped from naval officers training, including the chance to make the cut for the IDF's Duvdevan Unit. (Israel Hayom)
• A third of Israeli youths avoid IDF service, report finds - According to data presented to the Knesset State Control Committee, the number of exemptions issued to potential recruits is consistently on the rise, most of which are given on mental health grounds. (Israel Hayom)
• Israeli Minister Seeks to Delay East Med Gas Forum Citing Climate Concerns - Environment minister says regional group must also address climate change issues, a demand which Energy Minister Steinitz dismissed as 'ridiculous.’ (Haaretz+)
• Spike in violence in Arab sector claims 111 lives since early 2020 - The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee called an emergency meeting over the weekend over the spike in violence in the sector, which has seen 111 murders take place since the beginning of the year. (Israel Hayom)
• Dozens of Al-Jazeera journalists targeted by Israeli NSO's spyware, watchdog says - NSO’s spyware has repeatedly been found deployed to hack journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and dissidents. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• Rivlin meets with leaders of Euro-Asian Jewish Congress - At event last week, Israeli leader notes the "unique literary and lyrical talent" of Revisionist Zionism founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky. (Israel Hayom)
• Report: Potentially imminent US strike worries Hezbollah - Members of terrorist group tell Guardian they worry Trump or Israeli government would "use the weeks before Joe Biden's inauguration to act decisively against Iran and Hezbollah." (Israel Hayom)
• Iranian hacker group claims to have penetrated IAI - Iranian hacker group Pay2Key says it successfully breached Israel Aerospace Industries' subsidiary company Elta, reportedly leaking sensitive data on the dark web. (Haaretz, Israel Hayom and Ynet)
• European politicians urge Biden to promote Palestine-Israel peace based on international law - A group of European parliamentarians from national parliaments of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden and the European Parliament have written to US President-elect Joe Biden urging him to work with Europe to promote Palestine-Israel peace based on international law. (WAFA)
• Pakistani cleric: We should recognize Israel - Pakistani political and religious leader Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani announced Saturday at a conference that he supports the normalization of his country with Israel, according to a report by British-Pakistani writer Noor Dahri. (Israel Hayom)
• Jewish contestant faces slurs after Miss France pageant - April Benayoum, who won Miss Provence before competing in national event, suffers onslaught from haters after she calls herself Italian-Israeli. (Israel Hayom and Ynet)
• Iraqi Army Says Eight Rockets Targeted U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - U.S. Embassy confirms that rockets targeting the heavily-fortified Green Zone activated its anti-missile defense system as assassination of Qassem Soleimani draws near. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• Kuwait's Key Reformer, Son of Late Emir, Dies at 72 - Sheikh Nasser championed bold plans to diversify Kuwait’s economy by building up a business hub with a free zone and deep sea port in the country’s north. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Features:

The English Channel Backchannel Exploited by Israeli Spy-tech Firm
Guernsey offers tourists fields, villages and historic sites. But companies like Rayzone Group come there for a very different reason – access to a cellular network that enables them to help customers spy on targets. (Ran Bar-Zik, Haaretz+)
The Demonstrations Photographer Exposing Israel's Political Tensions
Haaretz photographer Tomer Appelbaum talks about photojournalism in an era of protest in the digital age. His works can be seen in new Jerusalem exhibition. (Daniel Tchetchik, Haaretz+)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
Deal or No Deal, Gantz’s Surrender to Netanyahu Guarantees His Political Demise (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Kahol Lavan members have felt that their leader is starting to deteriorate, and on Sunday they understood the dimensions of the humiliation and disgrace that Gantz has wrought upon them.
The tragedy of Benny Gantz (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Political weakness is a deadly virus, and the moment Blue & White showed even a hint of it, the PM launched a relentless attack, humiliating his political partners to the point of total internal collapse and looming electoral wipeout.
Gantz Has Shamefully Surrendered to Netanyahu (Haaretz Editorial) The compromise agreement proposed by Haim Ramon to resolve the coalition crisis between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan chairman Benny Gantz is a letter of surrender. According to it, the authority of Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn would be eviscerated in exchange for ostensibly carrying out next year’s planned rotation for prime minister. Essentially Ramon has given Gantz a recipe for self-abnegation; a recipe that might satisfy Ramon’s desire to take revenge on the prosecution and the courts, but not the interests of Gantz, his party or his voters.
Naive, humiliated, but he will make sure Netanyahu goes to trial (Dr. Baruch Leshem, Ynet Hebrew) Benny Gantz has established himself in the public image as the ultimate sucker who lets Netanyahu step on him all the way to canceling the rotation. And yet, his conduct ensured that the prime minister would not evade trial.
Politics today are empty and noisy. It’s no wonder that you miss the past (Yossi Ahimeir, Maariv) A great void prevails in our sick political system. So what's the wonder that you miss the old Labor Party a little, that it will pose a real challenge to the right-wing, and together they will bring back ideology, logic and purpose to our arteries?
Is window closing for Israel to extend sovereignty to Judea and Samaria? (Josh Hasten, Israel Hayom) A new campaign has been launched by Israel's Sovereignty Movement to encourage the application of Israeli law over those areas by the government, starting with the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area, before Donald Trump's presidency comes to an end.
Towards the Jewish Nation State Law: The High Court is the driver on duty (Dr. Matan Guttman, Ynet Hebrew) Oh, the irony: the MKs who change Basic Laws for transient and changing political needs, are the ones who oppose the court  fromserving as a responsible adult and, God forbid, protecting Israel from a serious constitutional disease.
The betrayed Druze are going to Jerusalem tomorrow (to protest) (Adv. Shakib Ali, Ynet Hebrew) Fifteen petitions have been submitted to the High Court with the aim of stopping the Jewish Nation State Law, which disgraces the State of Israel and harms minorities that are an integral part of it. What do we (minorities) want? An equality clause in the law.
When Revocation of Palestinians' Residency Really Means Expulsion (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) In 1994, amid intense negotiations with the PLO, Israel removed 25,000 Palestinians from the population registry. An order from above? A local initiative? We don't know.
Training a castrated infantry (Akiva Bigman, Israel Hayom) Citizen-soldiers are pacifists by nature, despite common belief to the contrary. Burdening soldiers with algorithmic regulations to follow ensures that we, not the enemy, will pay the price.
After Countless Failures, Could Natural Gas Power a Breakthrough in Israel-Palestine Relations? (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) As the Middle East awaits the inauguration of President-elect Biden, offshore Mediterranean natural gas could play a role in forging cooperation in the region.
Benny Gantz's dangerous position (Amir Avivi, Israel Hayom) In an interview with the Saudi press, Israel's defense minister reiterated past failed paradigms that put the country's national security at risk. He should retract or resign.
American Jews not only did not vote for Trump, they even despise him (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) More than 75% of American Jews voted in the last election for Biden. So one must be careful when apologizing to Trump on their behalf. When did the simple Israeli meet a Jewish American? A response to Meir Uziel's Op-Ed.
The Saudi dilemma (Shahar Klaiman, Israel Hayom) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still cementing his rule and cannot openly defy King Salman's conservative position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But normalizing ties with Israel may be used as leverage by both the prince and the new US administration.
With Turkey, interests talk and sentiments walk (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Although Erdogan will never be a true friend, Israel shouldn't ignore Turkey's outstretched hand.

Interviews:
Braving raging controversy, Muslim Indonesian woman hopes for peace with Israel
"I was raised as a Muslim but have always been curious about Judaism," says Azka Daulia, who thinks it's high time "to step up to fight for the diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel." (Interviewed by Hila Timor Ashur in Israel Hayom)

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