News Nosh 12.22.20

by APN 12/22/20
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APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday December 22, 2020

You Must Be Kidding:
“In the center of the State of Israel.”
—Settler leader Yossi Dagan described the place where the Esther Horgen, an Israeli mother of six, was murdered Sunday night while out on a run near her settlement. Reporter Amira Hass writes that Esther Horgen was murdered in a West Bank enclave created by Israel’s separation barrier, where seven Palestinian villages have been penned inside, cut off from neighboring villages and the rest of their land, and the residents need an Israeli permit to live in their own homes and cannot leave at night because Israel won't allow it.*

Quote of the day:

“If the murderer is Palestinian, is there a connection between his deed and the cumulative cruelty of Israeli policy, which has stabbed and wounded him every day since he was born? If so, it’s a cruelty that millions of Palestinian experience personally from the cradle to the grave, one that stokes wrath and disgust in every one of them. But only very few of them vent their anger and hatred on an older woman running in the forest.”
— Amira Hass writes in an Op-Ed in today’s Haaretz.*


Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • Heartbreaking: 6 children without mom - Hunt for the terrorist who murdered Esther Horgan at the Tel-Menashe community [settlement]
  • Likely: elections likely - At 1AM: Night drama at the end of the voting in the Knesset
  • (Political) Harakiri // Sima Kadmon

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

  • Exchange of accusations on the way to elections
  • Netanyahu: Gantz succumbed to pressure; Gantz: We found no partner
  • Kahol-Lavan: Mistakes of recruits // Amnon Lord
  • Gantz lost, Netanyahu did not win // Mati Tuchfeld
  • Kings’ honor for the delegation (to Morocco)
  • Battle together against the radicals // Ahmad Sharai and Boaz Bismuth
  • “Esther’s light was put out at once”
  • Cut off the wave of terror at its head // Yoav Limor


Top News Summary:
With a midnight deadline to pass the state 2020 budget and the bill to extend the deadline nixed last night, the Knesset is expected to dissolve at 12:01AM Wednesday and Israel will be going to its fourth elections in two years. Meanwhile, Israel closed its borders to foreigners and is quarantining all arriving Israelis at COVID hotels. And, an Israeli delegation led by US President Donald Trump’s advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, set off for Morocco to firm up ties with the latest country to agree to normalize relations with Israel - making the top news in today's Hebrew newspapers.

*And two settlers and one Palestinian teen were killed yesterday: A woman was murdered while out for a run in what is suspected to be a nationalist attack and a 19-year-old ‘hilltop youth’ died when his car overturned while he was being chased by police for throwing rocks at Palestinians driving their cars along the Nablus-Qalqilya road smashing their windshields and ambushing them. (Also Maariv.) Back in Jerusalem, dozens of settlers protested against the police by rioting outside Jerusalem police headquarters and trying to break in.
Barely making news, was that Jerusalem police shot dead a a 17-year-old Palestinian youth who police said opened fire with a rudimentary rifle at one of the entrances of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound/Temple Mount. Worthy of noting, Maariv called the death during a police chase of the settler youth who attacked Palestinians "a tragedy." However, when Arab-Israeli car thieves have been killed in police chases, the papers never write that it was a 'tragedy.'

And, an Israeli soldier was dismissed for not opening fire on a Palestinian who threw a firebomb at him.

 

Quick Hits:

  • Israeli settlers attack Palestinian vehicles in Bethlehem, injure man in Nablus - A group of Israeli settlers, under Israeli army protection, closed off the bypass road connecting the northern and southern West Bank and attacked Palestinian vehicles traveling near the town of Janata, east of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank. No injuries were reported. (WAFA)
  • Israeli occupation forces shoot and injure five Palestinians, detain another in northern West Bank city - They said Israeli soldiers raided in the early morning hours the eastern part of the city of Nablus, which is under full Palestinian rule, triggering confrontations with local residents. (WAFA)
  • Israeli forces order halt on construction of water well near Hebron - Israeli forces today ordered a halt on the construction of a water well east of Ad-Dhahiriya town, southwest of Hebron, close to the colonial settlement of Otniel. (WAFA)
  • Israel demolishes two Palestinian-owned houses in south of West Bank, displacing 20 people - Israeli military bulldozers today demolished two Palestinian-owned houses to the northwest of al-Samou town, south of southern West Bank city of Hebron, displacing 20 people, according to a local activist. (WAFA)
  • After triple murder, Arab-Israeli protest convoy calls on Israel to act on gun violence - Hundreds including lawmakers and public figures join convoy to Jerusalem, vowing to keep protesting 'until the government responds to the most legitimate and humane issue in Arab society – personal safety.’ 95 Arab Israelis have been killed since the beginning of 2020, the highest annual number in decades; an attempt to pass a wide-ranging anti-violence plan seems to have stalled. (Times of Israel and Haaretz+)
  • Mayor of Kafr Qassem: "Arab society cannot deal with organized crime" - Following the blocking of Highway 6 by Arab mayors and politicians, Adel Badir was interviewed and expressed his outrage over the government's inability to deal with organized crime (in the Arab sector). "Every shooting is a heinous crime," Badir declared. (103FM/Maariv + VIDEO of protest)
  • Submarine Affair Commission of Inquiry Named by Gantz Resigns - The walkout comes as the committee's work was seen as upended by anticipation of a new election, though the door has not been shut on the possibility of Gantz naming another team. (Haaretz+ and Maariv)
  • High Court Hears 15 Petitions Against Controversial Nation-State Law in Live Broadcast - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: this hearing illustrates why we need judicial reform ■ Knesset speaker and Attorney General oppose the hearing, claiming it threatens the separation of powers. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • U.S. Dollar Trades at 24-year Low Against Shekel as Israel's Central Bank Intervenes - The shekel has gained value sharply despite Israel's impending elections and the lack of political stability. In 2020, the shekel has gained 4.8 percent against key currencies. (Haaretz+)
  • Arabic inscription found under Tower of David rewrites ancient citadel’s past - A newly found inscription has forced archaeologists to rethink their dating of a fortification wall, and high-tech analysis is building a clearer picture than ever of the site. (Times of Israel)
  • Jewish Ritual Bath From Jesus' Time Found at Gethsemane - This is the first archaeological evidence found of activity at the Jerusalem site during the Second Temple period, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. (Haaretz+)
  • Pakistani diplomat: Pakistan won’t recognize Israel until Palestinian question is resolved - “Pakistan in any situation cannot establish relations with Israel until a concrete and permanent solution is found to the problem of Palestine,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters while speaking to his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Multan. (WAFA)
  • Report: Sudan revokes citizenship of former Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal - Move comes after the US formally removes Sudan from list of state-sponsors of terrorism. Mashaal, who stepped down as Hamas chief in 2017, has been living in exile for over three decades. (Israel Hayom)
  • In warning to Iran, army chief says Israel will forcefully respond to any attack - The comments by Kochavi come amid concern that Iran will respond to the killing of its nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which Tehran has blamed on Israel. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
  • U.S. Nuclear Submarine Transits Strait of Hormuz Amid Tensions With Iran - Earlier this month, the U.S. military flew two bomber aircraft to the Middle East in a display of military might. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Saudis reportedly remove anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist content from textbooks - Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education finds attitudes towards Israel are becoming "more balanced and tolerant." (Israel Hayom)
  • Decade after Arab Spring, survey finds Middle East inequality only worsened - Large number of respondents said prospects for their children worsened after 2010 wave of protests. (Israel Hayom)


Top Commentary/Analysis:
How a rebel alliance brought Israel to brink of elections (Moran Azulay, Yedioth/Ynet) Analysis: Despite best efforts of Likud and Blue & White leaders to secure a vote to extend budget negotiations and thereby avoid dissolving parliament, MKs from both parties hid, lied and plotted to ensure the bill did not pass.
Netanyahu Uses New COVID-19 Strain to Scare the Public at the Best Possible Time for Him (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The coronavirus pandemic is dangerous enough on its own – but adding the considerations of a prime minister who is a criminal defendant trying to escape justice, the result is systematic disregard for the population.
Netanyahu also set a personal example in making the culture of fake (news) normative (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) …Side effects and mutations existed even before vaccinations. Since the beginning of the investigations into the Netanyahu (corruption) affairs, we have been bombarded with an infinite number of them, inspired by the supreme director: the culture of fake (news), the lies and the alternative facts, the myths of stitched-up cases and a state within a state; the violation of the signed agreements, the spreading of crazy slander against rivals, the turning of the government and Likud MKs into a bunch of mutations who would do anything to please Netanyahu, helping Bibi's clear intention to rule alone, even without government meetings and the corona Cabinet, when responsibility for failures is thrown at his subordinates…
The Left lost the public's trust (Dan Schueftan, Israel Hayom) Even the non-radicals on the Left have lost the public's trust due to their irresponsible conduct during the 1990s and have still refuse to concede that the Oslo Accords were flawed.
Israel Is Being Dragged Into Elections Again, but This Time It's a Whole New Ballgame (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Facing rivals who will be hard to paint as left-wing, Netanyahu looks to be heading into an election campaign with his worst starting numbers in months.
For the first time in the current era, Binyamin Netanyahu is being dragged to elections, and is not being dragged into them (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Although the prime minister does not have a hermetically sealed coalition in advance and has no exclusivity and monopoly over the right-wing - it is very early to eulogize him and Israel will find itself entering a third year without a budget and a functioning government.
Gantz you see, only tricks flow in his veins (Avraham (Beiga) Shochat, Yedioth Hebrew) I believed that because of the intensity of the crisis, Netanyahu would prefer the good of the state, adhere to agreements, act responsibly and set aside his legal needs. I was wrong. The order of the hour is to dismantle this government.
Settler's murder reveals false sense of security for Israelis in the West Bank (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The fence that separates Palestinian communities from neighboring settlements has been breached for years, but this is the first case this year of a deadly attack on Israeli civilians in the West Bank.
Curb this terror wave before it swells (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) The terrorists behind both attacks on Monday must be apprehended before acting again and the security forces must nip in the bud any potential wave of copycat terrorism inspired by these attacks.
*The Israeli Settler Who Knows Where the Barbarians Are Coming From (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Every murder of an Israeli in the West Bank – and even before suspects are found – is an opportunity for the settlement dignitaries to preach their powerful victimhood and plant another partial picture of a fake reality in the mind of Israeli Jews.
Nation-state Law Essentially Establishes Apartheid Regime (Sawsan Zaher, Haaretz+) One of the attorney general’s main arguments in his responses to the petitions against the so-called Jewish nation-state law is that the High Court of Justice does not have the jurisdiction to debate the law. Avichai Mendelblit added that the “unconstitutional constitutional amendment” doctrine – which allows such judicial intervention – cannot be applied to the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People. In his opinion, the law does not contradict the basic principles and norms of the system underlying Israel’s constitutional establishment.
Police and Arab leadership must eradicate the violence (Jalal Bana, Israel Hayom) The fear in the Arab towns has reached a breaking point. There is no night without gunshots, grenades, torched vehicles.
Israel’s Gulf Coup: How Palestinians Lost Their Arab Allies (Victor Kattan, Haaretz+) For decades, Palestinians forgot a crucial mission. Focused on Western audiences and outflanked by an increasingly sophisticated Israel hasbara machine, they failed to settle in the hearts and minds of Gulf Arabs.

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

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