APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday November 18, 2014
Quote of the day:
"The death of a bus driver threatens to ignite Jerusalem."
--Subtitle in Yedioth on article about Palestinian driver of Israeli Egged bus, found hanging dead inside his vehicle.**
--Subtitle in Yedioth on article about Palestinian driver of Israeli Egged bus, found hanging dead inside his vehicle.**
Front Page News:
Haaretz
- Netanyahu to top Likud people: "We need to prepare for early elections"
- Suspicions in the top echelons // Yossi Verter
- Decisive round of talks today in Vienna between Iran and the powers on nuclear plan
- ISIS threat could be Obama’s ace in the hole on Iran nuclear deal // Chemi Shalev
- Draft of agreement already ready, but the West is being careful // Zvi Bar'el
- Court: Police systematically violating rights of minors arrested in Kafr Kana (Israel) - night interrogations without parents present and against the law
- In the face of daily discrimination, tribalism is the natural response // Or Kashti
- Extreme obesity prevents receiving pension benefits
Yedioth Ahronoth
- The most polluted cities in the country
- Effort to find compromise that will prevent early elections
- "TV is prohibited until age 2" - Association of Pediatricians: Says can cause babies ADD, sleep problems and developmental delays
- Double-decker buses: the comeback in Tel-Aviv due to overcrowding
- The testimony is revealed - Nochi Dankner's stock manipulation affair: What did the state witness tell the prosecution?
- Began in Golani - How did Grisha go from the IDF to war against Putin alongside neo-Nazis?
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Trying to calm (the winds) - Prime Minister and Foreign Minister met yesterday to try to find way to lower tension between coalition parties
- In an incurable situation // Arik Bender
- Fear of rioting - Family of Palestinian bus driver (found hung in bus): He was murdered by Jews
- Suspicion of rape in Navy seals (Shayetet 13) - Military police investigating complaint of soldier at Atlit base
Israel Hayom
- "If you don't want (early) elections, stop fighting and undermining" - said senior Likud people
- Enough of the craze of the (political and security) establishments // Dan Margalit
- The Prime Minister is tired of the cynicism // Mati Tuchfeld
- Do you want to save (money)? Move to Petach Tikvah
- Disruptions in El-Al: Pilots made sudden strike; Court: Go back to work
- Ahead of a strike? National Labor Union (Hahistadrut) to declare labor dispute today
- For first time since attempted murder, Yehuda Glick speaks: "He said to me, 'You are the enemy of Al-Aqsa - and he opened fire"
News Summary:
THIS MORNING AT 7AM: Two Palestinians from E. Jerusalem shot and stabbed to death four Israelis praying in a synagogue in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. The attackers were killed by police. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas for incitement, Abbas condemned the attack and Hamas said it was revenge for the murder of a Palestinian bus driver Sunday night. US Secretary of State John Kerry called it an act "of pure terror."
TODAY'S PAPERS: Israeli coalition party leaders tried to lower the flames of their internal battles and avoid new elections, a Palestinian bus driver in Jerusalem was found hanging inside his bus and Palestinians say it was murder while Israel says it was suicide, and right-wing Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick told Israel's Chief Rabbi that the man who tried to kill him apologized before shooting making top stories in today's Hebrew newspapers.
Netanyahu was reportedly preparing for elections, which he and the other members of his fragile coalition apparently don't want, so attempts were made to smooth out the differences. But far right-wing Habayit Hayehudi leader, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, said he would leave the coalition, bringing about elections, if the controversial bill giving preference to Israel’s Jewish identity over its democratic character does not pass. Netanyahu is intent on passing it.
Yedioth reported that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who on Sunday thwarted the ministerial vote on the bill, suggested a compromise: a bill that states that "The State of Israel is a Jewish and democratic state whose principles were determined in the Declaration of Independence. Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people in which it fulfills its right to define itself and the democracy based on the principles of freedom, justice and peace and equality for all its citizens."
**Some of today's papers wrote they expected Palestinians to react violently after a Palestinian E. Jerusalemite bus driver was found hanging dead from a thin metal chord inside his Israeli Egged bus. The subtitle on the Maariv article read: "The death that threatens to re-ignite Jerusalem." The subtitle on the Yedioth article read: "The death of a bus driver threatens to ignite Jerusalem."
Haaretz, Yedioth and Maariv gave weight to the belief by Palestinians that Jews murdered Yusuf Hassan al-Ramouni, even though the Israeli police announced that an autopsy ruled out murder - meaning that it was a suicide. However, Haaretz quoted Maan, who reported that the Palestinian pathologist said signs on the body were inconsistent with suicide. (photo)
However, the police announcement led people to believe that the Palestinian pathologist who was present at the autopsy accepted the ruling that al-Roumani committed suicide. "At the conclusion of the autopsy at the National Forensic Institute in Abu Kabir, in cooperation with a pathologist representing the family, the police and family were told that there was no suspicion of criminal acts."
Some of the papers interviewed relatives of al-Ramouni as well as a fellow Arab bus driver, who spoke of signs of violence seen on the body and that the driver, a father of two, lived a normal happy life. The relative claimed the hanging was revenge for the stabbing of an ultra-Orthodox Jew with a screwdriver earlier in the day. Only Israel Hayom reported it as fact that the Palestinian suspicions were baseless. The title of the printed article was: False rumors of a lynch of an Arab driver caused disruptions of transportation in Jerusalem.
Some 600 hundred Arab drivers for the Egged bus company in Jerusalem did not show up for work Monday, causing the disruptions. Mahmoud al-Habbash, the supreme judge of Palestine, said the Israeli government led by Netanyahu was responsible for the "murder" of al-Roumani, due to the aggressiveness within Israel toward Arabs and Muslims "in the wake of the racist incitement by the leaders of the occupation and the protection they provide to terrorist settlers," Maan reported. Riots broke out in E. Jerusalem Sunday night and again on Monday following al-Ramouni's funeral.
A senior UN official told the UN Security Council Monday that Israel could expect more violence in light of its continued settlement activity in violation of international law, its demolition of Palestinian homes and the lack of improvement in the lives of Palestinians.
THIS MORNING AT 7AM: Two Palestinians from E. Jerusalem shot and stabbed to death four Israelis praying in a synagogue in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. The attackers were killed by police. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas for incitement, Abbas condemned the attack and Hamas said it was revenge for the murder of a Palestinian bus driver Sunday night. US Secretary of State John Kerry called it an act "of pure terror."
TODAY'S PAPERS: Israeli coalition party leaders tried to lower the flames of their internal battles and avoid new elections, a Palestinian bus driver in Jerusalem was found hanging inside his bus and Palestinians say it was murder while Israel says it was suicide, and right-wing Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick told Israel's Chief Rabbi that the man who tried to kill him apologized before shooting making top stories in today's Hebrew newspapers.
Netanyahu was reportedly preparing for elections, which he and the other members of his fragile coalition apparently don't want, so attempts were made to smooth out the differences. But far right-wing Habayit Hayehudi leader, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, said he would leave the coalition, bringing about elections, if the controversial bill giving preference to Israel’s Jewish identity over its democratic character does not pass. Netanyahu is intent on passing it.
Yedioth reported that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who on Sunday thwarted the ministerial vote on the bill, suggested a compromise: a bill that states that "The State of Israel is a Jewish and democratic state whose principles were determined in the Declaration of Independence. Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people in which it fulfills its right to define itself and the democracy based on the principles of freedom, justice and peace and equality for all its citizens."
**Some of today's papers wrote they expected Palestinians to react violently after a Palestinian E. Jerusalemite bus driver was found hanging dead from a thin metal chord inside his Israeli Egged bus. The subtitle on the Maariv article read: "The death that threatens to re-ignite Jerusalem." The subtitle on the Yedioth article read: "The death of a bus driver threatens to ignite Jerusalem."
Haaretz, Yedioth and Maariv gave weight to the belief by Palestinians that Jews murdered Yusuf Hassan al-Ramouni, even though the Israeli police announced that an autopsy ruled out murder - meaning that it was a suicide. However, Haaretz quoted Maan, who reported that the Palestinian pathologist said signs on the body were inconsistent with suicide. (photo)
However, the police announcement led people to believe that the Palestinian pathologist who was present at the autopsy accepted the ruling that al-Roumani committed suicide. "At the conclusion of the autopsy at the National Forensic Institute in Abu Kabir, in cooperation with a pathologist representing the family, the police and family were told that there was no suspicion of criminal acts."
Some of the papers interviewed relatives of al-Ramouni as well as a fellow Arab bus driver, who spoke of signs of violence seen on the body and that the driver, a father of two, lived a normal happy life. The relative claimed the hanging was revenge for the stabbing of an ultra-Orthodox Jew with a screwdriver earlier in the day. Only Israel Hayom reported it as fact that the Palestinian suspicions were baseless. The title of the printed article was: False rumors of a lynch of an Arab driver caused disruptions of transportation in Jerusalem.
Some 600 hundred Arab drivers for the Egged bus company in Jerusalem did not show up for work Monday, causing the disruptions. Mahmoud al-Habbash, the supreme judge of Palestine, said the Israeli government led by Netanyahu was responsible for the "murder" of al-Roumani, due to the aggressiveness within Israel toward Arabs and Muslims "in the wake of the racist incitement by the leaders of the occupation and the protection they provide to terrorist settlers," Maan reported. Riots broke out in E. Jerusalem Sunday night and again on Monday following al-Ramouni's funeral.
A senior UN official told the UN Security Council Monday that Israel could expect more violence in light of its continued settlement activity in violation of international law, its demolition of Palestinian homes and the lack of improvement in the lives of Palestinians.
Quick Hits:
- Palestinian detainee accuses doctor of allowing torture - No response for 18 months from Health Ministry to complaint that doctor told Shin Bet that detainee was ‘putting on show.’ (Haaretz+)
- Judge rules Israeli police broke law in arresting Arab minors during protests - Police have been interrogating minors at night and without their parents present; the court has also received complaints of police violence. (Haaretz+)
- Israeli court frees 2 Palestinian minors - Muhammad Sultan Hassan Abbasi, 15, from Silwan, was freed after he spent 14 months in different Israeli jails. Mahmoud Naim Elayyan, 17, from al-Issawiya was freed after he spent a year in Meggido jail. (Maan)
- Trial began for three charged with Palestinian teen's murder - Main defendant in murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir declines to respond to charges due to 'inability to communicate'; two other defendants deny killing was premeditated. (Haaretz)
- Israeli forces detain 6 protesting Aqsa restrictions - The detentions took place as dozens of women marched to the Chain Gate to protest Israeli restrictions on access to the mosque, while Israeli rightists toured the compound. (Maan)
- Palestinian gunman apologized before shooting, Glick tells rabbi - Right-wing activist Yehuda Glick was shot at close range after giving a speech on the Jewish right to pray on the Temple Mount. He said, ‘I’m very sorry, but you’re an enemy of Al-Aqsa, I have to.’ (Haaretz, Ynet, Israel Hayom)
- Reform leader Jacobs: Israel needs to reaffirm democracy, not Jewish character - The president of America's largest Jewish community says PM Netanyahu's proposed 'Jewish state' law 'signals the wrong shift.' (Haaretz+)
- EU foreign ministers target settlements - Brussels condemns construction beyond Green Line, hints at future labeling of settlement products in meeting of European foreign ministers on Middle East. (Ynet)
- Haaretz obtains full document of EU-proposed sanctions against Israel - Sanctions could apply to Israeli politicians opposed to the two-state solution, which could include Bennett and Rivlin; steps against European companies working in settlements; punitive measures against Palestinians over 'negative measures.' (Haaretz+)
- EU refutes report on possible Israel sanction - New foreign policy chief says Europe not planning to impose punitive measures on Jerusalem in bid to stop settlement construction. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
- U.S. says Iran deal 'difficult, but possible'; Israel believes talks will be extended - In briefing to journalists, U.S. official rejects reports about possible extension of talks, makes clear that in everything connected to a breakthrough, ball is in the Iranian court. (Haaretz+)
- Sweden not considering opening Ramallah embassy - Despite being the first major European nation to recognize Palestine, Stockholm clarifies it will maintain Jerusalem consulate as base of diplomatic mission. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Report: US warns PA of sanctions over UN statehood bid - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly warns Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that unilateral steps toward international recognition would carry dire consequences. PA official says economic sanctions by U.S. may spell PA's ruin. (Israel Hayom)
- Bilin activists ambush Israeli military jeep into ditch - Three Israeli military jeeps raided the village at 1:30 a.m. Sunday and broke into the home of mayor Basil Mansour. The mayor was not at home, but soldiers left a message threatening to take tough measures against the village if youths continue to target Israel's separation wall. (Maan)
- Gush Etzion stabbing suspect in critical condition at Israeli hospital - Injured detainee Maher Hashlamoun, [who stabbed to death a settler woman - OH], remains in critical condition at the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital. He has only been given painkillers since he was hospitalized, said his doctor. (Maan)
- Four arrested over brawl between Druze and Muslims in northern Israel - Fourteen people still hospitalized from confrontation in Abu Snan. (Haaretz)
- MKs slam police for not confiscating enough guns in Arab towns - Police have confiscated 87 pistols, 86 rifles, 106 grenades, 21 bombs, 18 explosive bricks and 22 Molotov cocktails in Israel's northern district, but MK Miri Regev isn't impressed. (Haaretz+)
- Egypt widens Gaza buffer zone - In wake of deadly attack on security personnel in Sinai, Egypt to accelerate construction of 500-meter deep security strip along Gaza border. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Save Gaza's geeks! Palestinian techies seek salvation in crowdsourcing - With the summer war causing its planned funding to dry up, Gaza's only start-up accelerator turns to crowdsourcing to stay alive past December. (Haaretz+)
- Gaza suffers from domestic-use gas crisis - While the Gaza Strip needs 400-450 tons of domestic gas every day, only 230-240 tons are being shipped, he said. About half of this quantity goes to vehicles run by gas. (Maan)
- Norwegian doctor banned from Israel, not Gaza, Foreign Ministry says - Mads Gilbert, known for being critical of Israel, is not banned permanently, Israeli Foreign Ministry adds. (Haaretz)
- Haniyeh: Hamdallah must carry out responsibilities in Gaza - Haniyeh said that Palestinians in Gaza have been disappointed with the performance of the national consensus government. "They expected the government to rebuild Gaza, pay salaries, and lift the siege," Haniyeh told Maan. (Maan)
- Sarah Silverman heading back to Israel - Three years after her first visit, Jewish-American comedian will return as guest of Jewish Film Festival, where she will receive a special award. Silverman, who delights in provocation, has always courted controversy in her work. (Ynet)
- Pay and stay: JNF honors Jewish vets without background checks - For a tidy sum of $5,000, family and friends can memorialize Jewish veterans on the Wall of Honor at Jerusalem's Ammunition Hill, just over the Green Line. (Haaretz+)
- Israel sees sharp rise in tourists from Arab states - More than 250,000 Muslim and Arab visitors from countries which have no diplomatic relations with Israel have arrived in Jewish state since 2009. (Ynet)
- UN: Islamic State commanders liable for mass war crimes - Report urges world powers to bring terror group commanders before ICC for spreading terror by beheading, carrying out mass killings, shooting and stoning civilians. (Agencies, Ynet)
Features:
Hidden links unearthed between state, settler group at Israel’s most controversial dig
Jerusalem’s largest dig in decades is also its most problematic. Internal documents reveal links between the Antiquities Authority and the right‑wing Elad group at the City of David site, next to Silwan. (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+)
Red Card
Every day they make their routine trip across Jerusalem and pray that it will end peacefully. Hundreds of Jewish and Arab Egged Bus drivers experience on their flesh the violent riots in the capital that are only getting worse. They admit: "We live in fear." (Moshe Steinmetz, Maariv Magazine, cover)
Who is Naftali Bennett, the man who could break Netanyahu's coalition?
Haaretz's top columnists weigh in on the economy (and religious services) minister, one of the major threats to the stability of Israel's governing coalition. (Haaretz)
Commentary/Analysis:
Jerusalem’s largest dig in decades is also its most problematic. Internal documents reveal links between the Antiquities Authority and the right‑wing Elad group at the City of David site, next to Silwan. (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+)
Red Card
Every day they make their routine trip across Jerusalem and pray that it will end peacefully. Hundreds of Jewish and Arab Egged Bus drivers experience on their flesh the violent riots in the capital that are only getting worse. They admit: "We live in fear." (Moshe Steinmetz, Maariv Magazine, cover)
Who is Naftali Bennett, the man who could break Netanyahu's coalition?
Haaretz's top columnists weigh in on the economy (and religious services) minister, one of the major threats to the stability of Israel's governing coalition. (Haaretz)
Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's divide-and-conquer strategy toward Arabs (Haaretz Editorial) For years, the state has been stirring the ethnic pot by making a
distinction between “good Arabs” and “bad Arabs” – portraying Christian Arabs as loyal, Muslim Arabs as a
fifth column and Druze as “flesh of our flesh.”
Rights and responsibilities of Israel's Arab citizens (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) The Israeli Arab leadership’s positions on belonging to the state and its institutions are full of contradictions, and the time has come to resolve them.
ISIS threat could be Obama’s ace in the hole on Iran nuclear deal (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) PM Netanyahu is waging a losing battle against the maxim: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' to which even his hero Churchill subscribed.
When Netanyahu changes direction, it means elections are coming (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) When elections emerge, prime minister feels an unconquerable urge to appeal to most radical voters – and to hell with reforms he supported, principles he believed in and commitments he made to his government and foreign governments.
Why this is not a third intifada (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) For all the Facebook pages heralding a new intifada, the current cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence is far from a paradigm-changing uprising.
Salah's fingerprints in Abu Snan (Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) Salah must not be allowed to import regional Islamist tensions.
By admitting pro-peace group, British Jews show more maturity than U.S. counterparts (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Sunday's acceptance of Yachad stands in contrast to the U.S. Conference of Presidents' decision to refuse J Street entry. But it doesn’t mean British Jewry is engaging with all of its issues.
Rights and responsibilities of Israel's Arab citizens (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) The Israeli Arab leadership’s positions on belonging to the state and its institutions are full of contradictions, and the time has come to resolve them.
ISIS threat could be Obama’s ace in the hole on Iran nuclear deal (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) PM Netanyahu is waging a losing battle against the maxim: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' to which even his hero Churchill subscribed.
When Netanyahu changes direction, it means elections are coming (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) When elections emerge, prime minister feels an unconquerable urge to appeal to most radical voters – and to hell with reforms he supported, principles he believed in and commitments he made to his government and foreign governments.
Why this is not a third intifada (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) For all the Facebook pages heralding a new intifada, the current cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence is far from a paradigm-changing uprising.
Salah's fingerprints in Abu Snan (Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) Salah must not be allowed to import regional Islamist tensions.
By admitting pro-peace group, British Jews show more maturity than U.S. counterparts (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Sunday's acceptance of Yachad stands in contrast to the U.S. Conference of Presidents' decision to refuse J Street entry. But it doesn’t mean British Jewry is engaging with all of its issues.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.