APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday July 21, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"I’ve already raised the white flag. I’ve stopped searching the dictionary for the word to describe half of a boy’s missing head while his father screams 'Wake up, wake up, I bought you a toy!' 
--Haaretz's Amira Hass expresses her frustration at sharing stories from the Palestinian side that no one hears and about 'analysts' and 'experts' who don't understand the people on the ground.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

• 13 soldiers and more than 60 Palestinians killed in Shajiyeh; Obama to Netanyahu: You must advance an immediate ceasefire
• From an operation to a campaign and on the way to a war // Amos Harel
• The hardest two days for Golani Brigade // Gili Cohen
• Looking for relatives among the corpses // Amira Hass and Jacky Khoury
• Public in shock at the price of combat // Yossi Verter
• The enormous distance between Cairo and Egypt // Zvi Bar'el
• Kerry recorded criticizing the operation: "We must fly there tonight"
• Court rescinded gag order: Central suspect in Abu Khdeir murder: Yosef Ben David, 29, from Geva Binyamin (settlement)
• High Court rejected appeal for protective cover for Bedouin villages: There aren't enough means to cover everyone
• 1/4 page ad: To IDF combat soldiers and their commanders, We are with you, From former Golani combat soldiers

• "We will destroy the tunnels within two to three days"
• Golani's difficult day: 13 killed
• Preventative strike // Nahum Barnea
• The face of war // Sima Kadmon
• A look from above // Alex Fishman
• Moral dilemma // Yossi Yehoshua
• We will win // Hanoch Daum
• Hamas boasts: We kidnapped a solider; IDF: Doubt it, but we're checking

• Country under fire - Golani's difficult day; Sources in brigade: "Their deaths were not in vain"
• Wipe a tear and continue // Ben Caspit
• Kibbutz Nativ Ha'asara: The residents complained, the soldiers located an explosive tunnel
• First five soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge were laid to rest
• Suspect in murder of Shuafat teen, Abu Khdeir: Yosef Haim Ben David

• 13 courageous brothers - 18 combat soldiers killed since beginning of ground invasion of Operation Protective Edge, 13 of them from Golani
• David's lament and continuing the campaign // Dror Eydar
• About our beloved souls // Dan Margalit
• To win, and be what will be // Amos Regev
• Golani is always at the top // Yoav Limor
• Just come home, my love // Sharon Umrad-Goeta
• Five IDF soldiers laid to rest: "We won't ever forget you"
• Obama in a call with PM (Netanyahu): "Kerry will go to Cairo to advance an immediate ceasefire"
• The shooting is lessened, but continues: Shrapnel hit a kindergarten in Rishon L'Tzion
• IDF set up field hospital at Erez Checkpoint to treat Palestinians

The deaths of 13 Golani Brigade soldiers who fought with Palestinian militants in the Shujaiyyeh neighborhood of Gaza Saturday night were the top story of today's Hebrew newspapers. What some papers did not even mention was the cost of those battles on the Palestinian side: over 100 people killed in 24 hours including many women, children. The IDF was also investigating a Hamas claim that Hamas had kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

More than 65 people were killed in Shujaiyyeh alone, putting the Palestinian death toll at 433 yesterday, but that was almost nowhere to be seen in the Israeli newspapers. Sunday morning, Hamas requested a temporary ceasefire for a few hours to remove the corpses from Shujaiyyeh - and Israel agreed [at the hour it was to begin]. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning following the IDF operation in Shujaiyya. Residents from the neighborhood told Al Jazeera that the IDF was bombarding the neighborhood day and night, and called on Hamas not to reach a cease-fire agreement with Israel.

Not realizing he was being recorded when he criticized Israel's operation, US Secretary of State John Kerry said sarcastically, "That's one hell of a pinpoint operation."  He also said the US must go to the Middle East immediately to take care of that. Indeed, US President Barack Obama is sending Kerry to Cairo now "to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,' [which is part of what Hamas had asked for. - OH] Obama also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and called for an immediate ceasefire, according to Yedioth and Haaretz. 
 
The Israeli commentators and analysts discussed the IDF goals of destroying tunnels and rocket launches and how long, in light of the Israeli casualties, Israel should continue its offensive. For the most part, they agreed, 'wipe away the tears and keep fighting.'

The papers also discussed the subject of 'terror tunnels,' which Israel and the IDF said they were meant to attack civilians. One paper quoted the IDF saying the tunnels might also be meant to attack Israeli military forces. They all said that discovering them prevented a major massacre against Israeli civilians. [NOTE: None of the papers asked, if the intention of the tunnels were to kill Israeli civilians and by finding them Israel had prevented an 'Israeli 9/11' and the tunnels had existed for some time, why had the Palestinians not made a massacre until now? The answer appears to be that the tunnels leading into Israel - others are only within the Gaza Strip for underground travel - are possibly meant for military operations like this: to attack Israeli forces from behind the enemy lines, and thus turn Israeli public opinion against an offensive in Gaza. -OH]

Ynet's Elior Levy gave fascinating details about the tunnels. The IDF says it "In less than 24 hours, Hamas lost 13 tunnels. They are the apple of its eye. We are carefully talking about depriving it of its tunneling abilities." Ynet also has video of how the IDF destroys tunnels.

Haaretz has an excellent review of the events of Day 13 of Operation Protective Edge and it is running a list of the fallen Israeli soldiers.

Quick Hits:

• Chief suspect named in Abu Khdeir murder - Yosef Chaim Ben David is a resident of Adam settlement who owns a shop in Jerusalem selling spectacles. He will plead temporary insanity. (Haaretz and Ynet)
• Right-wingers beat Haifa deputy mayor during anti-war protest - Counter-demonstrators supporting the Gaza war shout 'Death to Arabs' and throw bottles and stones. (Haaretz)
• MK Zoabi: "There is in Israel incitement, rising racism and rampant fascism" - Balad MK responded to MK Kirshenbaum's proposal to revoke her citizenship following her remarks: "If racists do not like what I do that's fine." (Maariv)
• Man arrested in stabbing attempt: "Because of the terrible images from Gaza" - The perpetrator, a (Palestinian) resident of Dheisheh (south of Hebron), managed to only slight harm Beitar Illit resident who was in Husan village in Area A. West Bank. Hebron District detectives and an IDF force captured the suspect, on whose body was found a knife with which he tried to carry out the attack. (Maariv) 
• IDF sets up field hospital to treat wounded Palestinians - The hospital will provide basic medical services and will have a maternity ward. Decision based on recommendation made by Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai. (Israel Hayom)
• High Court rejects petition seeking rocket shelters for Bedouin villages now - The state notes that rocket fire at this part of the south is relatively rare; still, the court orders the government to provide a more detailed response. (Haaretz) 
• J-Street pulls sponsorship from pro-Israel rally in Boston - The left-wing organization complained there was 'no voice for our concerns about the loss of human life on both sides, or the acknowledgement of the conflict’s complexity.' (Haaretz) 
• Israel freezes plans for new Turkish air link, citing security fears - Norwegian Air Shuttle becomes second international carrier to suspend flights to Israel, following Korean Air last week. (Haaretz)
• 2 US citizens among 13 dead Golani Brigade soldiers - Max Steinberg, 24, and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, immigrated from the US. Steinberg's father said Max decided to join the IDF after he visited Israel for the first time in June 2012 on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip. (Israel Hayom)
• 'Hamas leaders are in hotels, not on the battlefield' - The war of words between Cairo and Hamas is not dying down, and Gaza's rulers are now coming under criticism from Saudi Arabia. After a senior Hamas source confirmed late Saturday reports on Al-Jazeera that its political leader Khaled Mashal had been invited to Cairo, Egyptian officials said the reports were untrue. (Ynet)
• Sudanese editor beaten unconscious after calling for ties with Israel - Attack comes at end of day with especially bloody images from Gaza, but victim's newspaper was also targeted by gov't for its anti-corruption articles. (Haaretz)
• Ramadan dispute leads to SodaStream dismissals - Company denies it fired Muslim workers who complained about receiving insufficient food to break the Ramadan fast. (Haaretz)
• Swearing-in ceremony for president-elect to be toned down - "At a time when IDF soldiers are in combat and Israeli citizens are under rocket fire, we determined that the ceremony should be carried out in a modest, scaled-down way," President-elect Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein say. (Israel Hayom)
• Jerusalem light rail’s flying robots keep tabs on would-be vandals - A hundred meters above the trains, the small gadgets used by police and Jerusalem municipality, have an eye on stone-throwers. (Haaretz) 
• Woody Allen: Israeli-Palestinian conflict won’t be resolved anytime soon - Jewish-American filmmaker says the Arabs weren’t ‘nice’ in the beginning, and mistakes on both sides have led to the current tragic situation. (Haaretz)
• When fighting stops, battle to rescue damaged economy will begin - Leading economists warn that only half of lost output will be retrieved, while Israel risks lower credit rating. (Haaretz) 
• IDF spent NIS 1.3 billion in training leading up to Protective Edge - Security forces have been preparing for years for the next ground operation; training focused on another Lebanon war but is relevant for Protective Edge as well. (Ynet)
• How long has it been since the last rocket strike on Israel? - U.S. immigrant to Israel designs online clock timer to show world how much time has passed since the last rocket was fired; 'Sadly, this counter never really gets above an hour,' he says. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:

What does Hamas really want? (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) Read the list of conditions published in the name of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them. 
How Gaza became an underground monster (Elior Levy, Ynet) IDF has unearthed 13 tunnels as part of its ground operation in Strip in past two days, dealing Hamas both a financial and a serious blow. 
Kick Naftali Bennett out of the cabinet (Tal Niv, Haaretz) Netanyahu should bring the Labor Party into his coalition, remove Habayit Hayehudi from it and create a national unity government that would cooperate with Abbas in rebuilding the Gaza Strip. 
Mowing the grass in Gaza (Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shamir, Israel Hayom) A war of attrition against Hamas is probably Israel's ‎fate for the long term. 
The IDF met Hamas combat soldiers in Shujaiyyeh  (Yossi Melman, Maariv) In the crowded Shujaiyyeh  neighborhood of Gaza City, the army was confronted by a Hamas that it did not recognize from previous operations, when most of ran away or avoided contact. The Hamas battalion located in the neighborhood fought bravely and was undeterred by the technological superiority and by the firepower of the IDF. Eventually the IDF achieved its mission in Shujaiyyeh and deployed as planned on the outskirts of the neighborhood. The battle in Shujaiyyeh was the hardest the IDF fought since the battle at Wadi Saluki in the Second Lebanon War.
Poison permeates to the core (Oudeh Basharat, Haaretz) Now, as evil takes to the streets, it seems that the spirit of pro-settler journalist Uri Elitzur is hovering over the country. 
Hamas, not Israel, is running the conflict (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Shift to ground warfare pushed aside Israel's huge advantage thanks to Iron Dome system. All weapon systems Hamas specializes in are now being used against IDF soldiers. 
Under fire, Israel must still stand up for human rights (Brian Lurie, Haaretz) Israel's human rights community and their supporters are committed democrats and also patriots – even when they must implicate or criticize the Israeli military's abuses of power. 
Israel must grit its teeth and keep going in Gaza (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Israelis must endure the suffering and growing casualty list – or the country will be back in the same place very soon. 
Despite war, Israel must act with magnanimity (Sunday Haaretz Editorial) Israel must strive for a cease-fire that would allow Gazans to live honorably and prevent another violent round in the near future.
The goal: A weakened Hamas (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) If Israel's cease-fire terms fail to materialize, it should prepare to invade all 139 square miles of the Gaza Strip. 
The war is lost in the foreign media (Haim Isrovitz, Maariv) If, in the first few days of the operation, most of the media outlets tried to maintain a certain balance, the ground operation began to change that picture. And even if it ends, the images the whole world will remember will be of the destruction in Gaza. 
Moshe Dayan’s enduring Gaza eulogy: This is the fate of our generation (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) Dayan’s graveside speech on the 'sea and hatred of revenge' beyond the border ring true today: either as an immutable reality or as a prophecy that fulfilled itself.
When the Gaza operation became a war (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) Hamas' demonstration of the murderousness of its tunnels provided Israel with the consensus required to go to war.
Netanyahu, the reluctant warrior (Alan M. Dershowitz, Haaretz) Hamas deliberately places its tunnel entrances in hospitals, schools and mosques: Israel has no choice but to use ground forces to shut them down.
Gaza: More negotiations (Elliott Abrams, Israel Hayom) Hamas cannot be permitted to ‎improve its situation by putting millions of people at risk and causing day after day of death and destruction.‎
Missing: An Israeli foreign minister (Uzi Baram, Haaretz) Nowhere in the world except Israel is there a foreign minister who every single day undermines the status of his or her country in the family of nations. 
Race against the clock (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) The IDF is trying to find all of the tunnels before Hamas uses them.
**Reaping what we have sown in Gaza (Amira Hass, Haaretz) Those who turned Gaza into an internment camp for 1.8 million people should not be surprised when they tunnel underneath the earth. 
Israeli police force must tackle hate crimes (Amir Oren, Haaretz) If the police force does not tackle hate crimes and politically motivated attacks, the violence could escalate to a deadly level. 
Now is the time for unity (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) Only a month ago, we prayed together for the kidnapped boys. Can't we do the same for the soldiers fighting to restore our lost security?
As casualties mount, the Gaza operation threatens to become a war (Amos Harel, Haaretz) In view of the stiff resistance put up by Hamas, the level of destruction, if fighting continues, may reach that of Beirut in 2006. 
What if Iron Dome is a bluff? (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz) That's what two prominent missile experts assert. Could the Israel Defense Forces and the government be lying to us? 
A war of necessity (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) Only when it became clear that it was unavoidable was the IDF sent into action.
Stop the war from 'going all the way' (Haaretz Editorial) The reoccupation of the Gaza Strip must not become a goal, and we must not wait for that imaginary 'victory image' before ending the war. 
Hamas won't become more moderate (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Once a radical organization, always a radical organization. 
Netanyahu says terror is terror, but distinguishes between Jewish and Arab blood (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz) The Israeli government demolishes the homes of murderers of Jews, but wouldn’t dream of demolishing the houses of Jewish terrorists. 
In midst of Gaza strife, now's the time for Israel to seek a treaty with the Palestinians (Zeev Sternhell, Haaretz) We must fight the prevailing notion that all Israel can do is either wait for the next crisis or reoccupy the Gaza Strip. 
Hamas, the mouse that roared (Moshe Arens, Haaretz) Caring nothing for the lives of Palestinian civilians and knowing Israel would go to great lengths to avoid harming civilians, Hamas judged that this moral asymmetry might outweigh its military asymmetry vis-a-vis Israel. 
In Israel or Gaza, declaring sympathy for the other side is a no-go zone (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz) Concern for Palestinians does not mean lack of concern for Israelis. But my Facebook 'friends' thought otherwise.
 

Interviews: 

A view from above: helicopter squadron commander tells about the recent days
International criticism is intensifying and the world is washed with violent protests against IDF operations in Gaza. But Lt. Col. A., commander of an attack helicopters squadron, promises that Israel is doing its utmost to avoid harming innocent people. In an interview he explains what we learned from the Lebanon War II and why the argument that "most moral army in the world" is not a cliche.
"We are working in a surgically. The surgical manner of the attacks are absolute. There is no place for mistakes. We don't hurt whoever does not need to be hurt." (Interviewed by Aviram Zino in Maariv)


 

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