APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday December 7, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Likely: Livni will run with Labor party; Saar began drafting (Likud) activists
• UN observer reports reveal cooperation between Israel and Syrian opposition
• Elections 2015: Diskin won't run in elections, but will help the left-center bloc; Kahlon vs. Netanyahu: "I am from the Likud that knows how to give back territories"
• Out of some 100 petitions on incidents in Operation Defensive Edge, IDF ordered to investigate 13 till now
• New incitement bill: Freedom of speech will be reduced
• 3-year-old killed after falling from car, driver disappeared and was arrested
• Two POWs killed in US rescue campaign in Yemen
• Fear that (oil spill in Arava desert will reach Eilat)
• Moderate occupation // Gideon Levy
• 8 billion shekels additional budget to defense establishment

• At the last minute, Netanyahu tried to withdraw from holding elections - Political sources: PM acted yesterday to establish new coalition
• On the way to unification - (Labor party chief) Herzog and (Hatnua leader) Livni considering running on join ticket
• Don't abandon the state // Ben-Dror Yemini
• "I turned around and didn't see the little girl. And then I understood she fell from the car" - Mother of 3-year-old who fell from moving car and was killed

• Netanyahu trying to advance (Likud) primaries, Livni and Herzog toward uniting forces
• Because of early elections: 230 periphery communities won't get tax benefits
• IDF to investigate killing of Palestinian civilians during Operation Protective Edge
• Saturday night: car door opened while moving and 3-year-old fell on highway and was run over and died

• Hours to decide - Tomorrow the Knesset is to make final vote to disperse and in meantime - courting and disinformation. Herzog already crowned himself prime minister, Livni is joining im - and the keys are still in Lieberman's hands
• Saban Forum? Mainly an elections forum // Boaz Bismuth
• Left-wing attack // Haim Shine
• Tragedy: 3-year-old fell out of car and was killed
• Lessons of Operation Protective Edge: IDF to make row of criminal investigations
• And there is news: (Former news anchorman) Yaakov Eilon to present 'Mabat' news program
• US: Ashton Carter appointed Secretary of Defense

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News Summary:
The plans of different party leaders ahead of early elections, the decision by IDF Military police to investigate the killing of Palestinian civilians and the death of a toddler who fell from a moving car were top stories in Hebrew newspapers today. What was mainly overlooked in the papers were the comments by foreign leaders over the violence in Jerusalem and Israel's problematic policies.
 
**Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly tried to form a new coalition with the ultra-Orthodox yesterday, wrote some of the papers and is also trying to hold early Likud primary elections in order to keep his primary Likud opponent, Gideon Saar, from running. Fired Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is reportedly joining forces with Labor party chief Isaac Herzog, the latter who said he will be the next prime minister. Yesh Atid says it will back a center-left bloc, no matter who leads and ex-Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin is also drawing nearer to Labor. And, ex-Likudnik Moshe Kahlon declares he will give back territory to the Palestinians because the 'real Likud' knows how to make peace and that a 'diplomatic siege' doesn't do Israel any good
 
Meanwhile, former politician and general Ehud Barak also called for renewed peace talks - based on the Saudi initiative - and criticized ideas for giving Palestinian's only limited autonomy. He also slammed the nation-state bill, the anti-ISIS alliance and the vilification of US Secretary of State John Kerry for his peace efforts. (Ironically), the Habayit Hayehudi party that supports the Jewish nation-state bill that is criticized for harming Israeli democracy is demanding the justice portfolio.
 
From the US to Jordan to Hamas, leaders expressed concern for the situation in Jerusalem and Israel's policies towards Palestinians in Jerusalem. Speaking after meeting Jordanian King Abdullah in Washington Friday, US President Barack Obama said the US and Jordan were concerned by the escalation between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem and said the current "environment is not conducive for peace initiatives." At the Saban Forum, US Vice President Joe Biden was more specific in criticizing Israel and calling the demolition of homes of families of Palestinian attackers “collective punishment" and urging Israel to do more against 'vigilante justice' attacks against Palestinians. He also said  “there was no daylight between us when it comes to Israel’s security," noting that the Obama administration had provided Israel with over $17 billion in aid since it came into office six years ago. He also said the US would not let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. Speaking to Sky News, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said that the Jerusalem violence by Palestinians was fueled by despair: a "spontaneous reaction to loss of hope..."The Palestinian people no longer have anything to lose in light of the continuation of the occupation and settlements, stealing the land, the attacks on the women and children and the holy sites." Maariv's magazine supplement ran a cover story on the violence that is not making the headlines but which continues in Jerusalem between Jews and Arabs.
 
Yedioth's Tova Tzimuki reported that following increased international criticism, Israel will establish its first juvenile military courts for Palestinian children in the West Bank. Similar to the Israeli law, the detention of minors in the pre-trial period will be significantly shortened, parents will be notified of the arrest and those aged 16 will no longer be tried as adults.
 
Meanwhile, the head of the Palestinian Authority Department of Prisoner Affairs Issa Qaraqe said that 2014 was the worst year ever for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails due to "Israeli revenge policies." He listed Israel's policy of detaining minors, saying some 1,500 minors were detained in 2014, mostly in Jerusalem and Israel's move to re-arrest prisoners who were released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. There are now 550 new Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention without charge or trial this year, and that Israel had renewed administrative detention orders for 63% of administrative prisoners. Around 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, more than 2,000 of whom were arrested by Israeli forces over this summer amid heavy tensions and violence in the West Bank and Gaza. 
 
The IDF has announced that military police will open eight more criminal investigations (or six according to Ynet) probing incidents in which 50 Palestinian civilians were killed in the Gaza war, including the killing of the four children on the beach and one of the IDF shellings of UN schools in Gaza. Of the 100 incidents referred to the Military Advocate General, 85 are still under review and 13 investigations were ordered to date. (Haaretz)

Quick Hits:

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Features:

If you will it: Israeli activists envision 'autonomous state' in Galilee
What's wrong with Israel? 'The unjustified war, the readiness to kill, the difficulty in conveying ideas and the crumbling democracy,' for a start. (Roy (Chicky) Arad, Haaretz+) 
Kuwaiti Muslim discovers he is 'the Jewish enemy'
After years of being educated to hate Jews, Mumtaz Halawa was shocked to learn he is Jewish. He changed his name to Mordechai, moved to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. 'I feel like Abraham,' he says. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
Is there ever a good time to release a film with 'Arabs' in the title?
Probably not, which is why Eran Riklis thinks people need to see his new film, 'Dancing Arabs.' (Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:

Confessions of an Israeli traitor (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) While our generous king, Benjamin Netanyahu, was battling enemies from without, I myself was an enemy from within.
Sober up, President 
Rivlin, from your good intentions  (Yossi Sarid, Haaretz+) Your dream of one state for two peoples is a nightmare to both. Raise your eyes to your beloved Jerusalem, what do you see? This is what the one state will look like.
Jewish state bill debate not ideological (Avi Dichter, Israel Hayom) A short political memory and the desire for political gains have prompted MKs who supported the bill in 2010 to go back on their word.
Israelis, ditch the 'moderate' politicians - vote for extremism! (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The only ones offering real solutions for Israel’s ills are extremists on the right and left.
Israel must make Gaza reconstruction a top priority (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) After countless operations and three major battles, it's time for a different policy which will lead to a long-term, stable truce on southern border.
Israel's Druze ambassador can't defend the nation-state law (Bahij Mansour, Haaretz+) Jerusalem's envoy to the Dominican Republic says the Jewish nation-state bill sends a clear message to the Druze of Israel: You are not our allies.
Learning from history (Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom) The assertion that a Jewish state would ‎be a reliable beachhead of democracy in a critical region is as relevant to the U.S. today as it was to Britain a century ago.
A failure to see why Jerusalem matters to the other (Rabbi Marc Schneier, Yedioth/Ynet) Israeli-Palestinian conflict increasingly turning into religious war; Jews and Muslims must reach out and attempt to understand each other's religion; both must recognize Jerusalem's importance to the other. 
The Obama administration’s best move against Netanyahu: Hands off, do nothing (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) This is not the time for tougher talk or sanctions over settlements, unless, of course, you’re rooting for Bibi.
Elections 2015: This is not about right-wing vs. left-wing, but about the future of Netanyahu (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Data published over the weekend shows that anything is possible - including ousting he Prime Minister. Bibi's story is about the antipathy the public feels towards him on a personal level.  
What Israel's founding fathers never imagined (Zeev Sternhell, Haaretz+) No one ever envisioned that power would fall one day into the hands of people for whom the oppression of another nation was second nature.
This election will be a race to 20 Knesset seats (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Convinced that only one party can reach magic number required to form next government, both Lapid and Herzog are wooing Livni; meanwhile, Lieberman is making a play for center and Dov Khenin is preparing to take his leave of Knesset.
Stop Israel's political pyromaniac (Yoel Marcus, Haaretz+) Next March’s election will give Israelis the chance to deliver a vital message to Benjamin Netanyahu: Go home, you’ve done enough damage already.
Is 'Palestine' Europe's only problem? (Noah Klieger, Yedioth/Ynet) Even Abbas and his people know there will be no Palestinian state without Israel's consent. So why are European countries rushing to recognize a nonexistent state?
Indyk's insidious analysis (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom)
Equating a liberal democratic society with a terrorist-honoring Muslim-Arab entity perpetuates the lie that the war against the West is Israel's fault.
Israelis, listen to the world (Friday Haaretz Editorial) No election campaign can blur the international reality: The world has had enough of Israeli occupation.
It's not the manifesto; it's the man (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) If Netanyahu is as bad as Lapid and Livni claim, then why were they in his government for so long? And who is whispering tales of unlikely plots in the prime minister's ear, and why did he believe it?  
Netanyahu shaped a different, darker Israel: In his own image (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The darkness has emerged into the light, the margins have become the center and ultranationalism has become politically correct. This is the Israel that Benjamin Netanyahu has fashioned.

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