APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday January 7, 2015

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Haaretz poll: Lapid recovers, Kahlon steadily weakens
• Authorities on alert ahead of climax of storm today: Safed blocked, road to Jerusalem expected to close
• Police recommend putting (former MK) Ben-Eliezer on trial
• AG Weinstein decides to indict MK Haneen Zouebi on incitement
• Former Lieberman advisor disappeared and is suspect in corruption scandal
• Admission requirements to university contradict promise for wide exemption from psychometric exam
• Police Internal Investigations Dept. probing whether police commander had sexual relations with officer in exchange for her promotion
• Obama accelerating closure of Guantanamo: Most of young detainees released

• The cold and the siege – This morning: Schools closed in Jerusalem and other communities; Roads to capital to be blocked; Height of cold: Friday
• Everyone is guilty, except Netanyahu – In conversation with Channel 2, Prime Minister put responsibility for housing crisis of last six years on Olmert and Lapid; Labor: “Good thing he didn’t accuse Golda (Meir)”
• Shamelessly // Sima Kadmon
• Stopping the clock – MK Michal Biran reveals she is in process of freezing her eggs

• The storm is coming
• Netanyahu: “I was forced to appoint Lapid, he and Olmert are guilty for the high housing prices”; Lapid: “Netanyahu is panicing and leaving the country in a crisis”
• (Hatnua MK Amram) Mitzna out for justice – “(Hatnua chief) Livni doesn’t care about anyone, she denied everything she promised me”; Livni: “It wasn’t easy for me to part from him”

• The day of the blizzard – State in a storm: No school in Jerusalem and some areas of the north
• The snow of my city // Gideon Allon
• Mystery: Where did the man who was Minister Lieberman’s advisor and who is suspected of involvement in the (Yisrael Beiteinu) corruption scandal disappear to?
• Police recommend: Put (former MK) Binyamin Eliezer on trial for receiving bribes; Eliezer: “I am clean and pure as crystal”
• State Attorney and Attorney General decided: MK Haneen Zouebi will be put on trial for incitement to violence and insulting civil servant
• Alert: Israel Electricity Corp deployed emergency generators in many areas
• Where won’t there be studies because of the weather – full list
• Snow in the north, traffic jams in the center of the country and haze in the south: Due to the winds – air pollution jumped

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News Summary:
Snow was the top story of the day (despite it having yet to fall when the Hebrew newspapers went to press). Also high in the news were indictments (MK Hanin Zouebi on incitement to violence), recommendations for indictments (former MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on receiving bribes) and probes into MKs and people connected to them (former advisor to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on money-laundering). Yedioth and Maariv both stressed how Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed everyone but himself for the high cost of living and the housing crisis.

Also in the news was a report that Qatar had evicted Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal from Qatar and he left to Turkey, which Hamas denied. Nevertheless, Israel praised Qatar for the move, which is reportedly part of a deal to renew relations with Egypt.
 
However, there was little mention of the fact that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the State of Palestine will join the International Criminal Court at The Hague on April 1 or that the Palestinians have recognized ICC jurisdiction for the recent (3rd) Gaza war allowing the ICC to scrutinize offenses allegedly committed since the kidnapping of three Israeli teens. 
 
Moreover, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Israel was violating the Oslo Accords by freezing Palestinian tax revenues, a punitive action for the Palestinian’s petition to join the ICC. Nevertheless, she called on both sides to refrain from taking actions that could prevent “a rapid return to negotiations.”France also had a warning for the Palestinians: not to resubmit the UN Security Council statehood bid that France previously supported.

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Eyeless in the West Bank: When Palestinian boys play cat and mouse with Israeli police
A few weeks ago, police shot a foam-tipped bullet at the face of an 11-year-old boy. 
He immediately lost one eye and now the other is in serious danger. (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, Haaretz+) 
Dancing through the pain
Hemi Goldin was in the throes of rehearsals for a new performance when he was notified of the abduction of his soldier brother in Gaza, who was later declared fallen in action. 'Life moves on,' he says. 'I'm moving on too and taking my brother with me.' (Yedioth/Ynet) 
A "hilltop youth" opens a window to complex life in Samaria (northern West Bank)
The sense of mission in the name of the family which was murdered. The conflicts with the (Arab) neighbors. The clashes with security forces. Dealing with the authorities. For four years the film director Itzik Lerner documented the symbol of the outposts, the Gilad Farm outpost, and in particular, Itay Zar. (Maariv)

Commentary/Analysis:

Pressure won't thwart Military Police probe of Gaza war (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) IDF objections to criminal investigations of wartime acts have been voiced for years, but petitioners rejecting this inquiry don't get what they're up against. 
ICC bid a real threat to IDF fighters (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Instead of dealing with Bennett's performance as a young officer in Lebanon, we should ask ourselves how to prevent Palestinians from filing lawsuits against our soldiers in the near future.  
Being Jewish means sometimes having to say you're sorry (Rabbi Gideon D. Sylvester, Haaretz+) We owe no apology for our continued existence or for having a strong army to defend Israel, But unlike what Naftali Bennett would have us believe, passionate Jews and committed Zionists have no qualms about admitting our failures. 
The strategic failure of Operation Protective Edge (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) As the Egyptians are physically disengaging from Gaza, Israel is becoming increasingly involved in the Strip and is close to returning to the pre-disengagement days.
Just not Bennett (Uri Sevir, Maariv) Every party that has wanted a peace process should commit not to sit in a coalition with the chairman of Habayit Hayehudi. It is a necessary step for any center-left  party to morally and politically repudiate those who embody a nationalist Israel.
Has Israel's antitrust watchdog blocked Mideast peace? (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Centuries of conflict between Judaism and Islam could have ended if not for commissioner David Gilo, according to the latest spin. But it's just that: spin.
A stab to our security (Ran Tira, Maariv) When they call (for Jews) to go up to the Temple Mount or to settle in Silwan (E. Jerusalem neighborhood), (Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Naftali) Bennett, (Likud MK Zeev) Elkin and company turn Israel messianic, and our justified security arguments fade.  
DEBATE: Should Palestinian funds have been frozen? (Nechama Duek vs. Yifat Erlich, Yedioth/Ynet) Yifat Erlich argues Israel could not afford to remain apathetic in face of Abbas' appeal to ICC; Nechama Duek warns against punitive measure, as desperation is fertile ground for terror. 
Stop bugging Bennett over the Kafr Qana deaths (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Enough relevant sources insist the Habayit Hayehudi chairman was not responsible for the killing of 102 Lebanese civilians during a 1996 battle.
Israel is losing the international battle also in the Jewish arena (Michal Aharoni, Maariv) We are sure that the American Jewish community stands behind us, but the real story is of a deep rift in their relationship to Israel. The day when they stop being interested in our fate will be our day of disaster.
Israel’s far-right loons look a lot like Netanyahu's pals (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Don’t believe the sophisticated definitions — it’s hard to distinguish Likud MKs Miri Regev, Danny Danon and Yariv Levin from the ‘hill-top youth’ and other racists. 
To lead Israel, diplomatic skill required (Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) The Left cannot be allowed to lead Israel at a time like this. 
Netanyahu is the problem, his ouster is the mission (Rami Livni, Haaretz+) He more than anyone else is the individual who expresses and fosters the inertia that apparently exists somewhere in all Israelis. He brings out the bad in us.
The hourglass is ticking: Who should not vote for Bibi and the right-wing? (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) If you do not want to emigrate, but also refuse to live by the sword, or you are trying to buy an apartment (with) 3500 (shekel a month) mortgage payments, but can’t, or you live under the poverty line since birth without any chance of getting out of there, or you feel that the government invests in you, your security and your existence about a quarter what it invests in a settler and you don’t succeed to deal with the high price of living or you are furious every evening while you watch on TV about the corruption of senior officials in the government and in the economy and of their high salaries, or you are sick of the nausea of the government and its leader and you are sure that they have a better replacement. Then, ladies and gentlemen, time is running out, or as a Likud minister once warned in an Army Radio interview: “The hourglass is ticking and finishing!” How right he is.
How Israel stands to lose at the ICC, without a single trial taking place (Daniella Peled, Haaretz+) The devastating prospects of Palestine joining the International Criminal Court has less to do with the chances of prosecution of soldiers, and more to do with the impact it will have on Israel's precarious international image.
Israeli-Palestinian separation is a fool's delusion (Kobi Niv, Haaretz+) The saddest, most pitiful thing of all is that these politicians present this crazed idea of 'separating from the Palestinians' as a recipe for peace. 
Expulsion of Mashaal from Qatar is first political achievement of Operation Protective Edge (Yossi Melman, Maariv) In the months since Operation Protective Edge, Egypt and the United States put pressure on Qatar to expel Mashaal, who is staying in the Emirate with some of his aides.
Looking ahead (Amos Gilboa, Maariv) The day after the rejection of the Palestinian proposal for a resolution in the UN Security Council (to end the Israeli occupation), Abbas’ main strategy will not be negotiations, but rather a political-legal war against Israel in parallel with Palestinian popular resistance [protest marches and demonstrations with stone-throwing by youth– OH] 
An Egyptian lesson for Livni (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom) Tzipi Livni ought to have learned by now that what goes around comes around. 
What David Ben-Gurion could teach Dennis Ross about Israel, the Palestinians and the ICC (Peter Beinart, Haaretz+) Zionists didn’t win statehood by making their opponents comfortable. And the Palestinians won’t gain freedom on their knees.  
Dennis Ross gets it (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) It is a shame that due to political and electoral considerations, our own officials are making the false claim that Israel is responsible for the failed peace process.
Israel cannot allow itself another Netanyahu term (Haaretz Editorial) For three terms as PM, Netanyahu proved he has neither the ability nor the intention to solve the 47-year-old tragedy of Israel's occupation. He is unfit for the job. 
The security pose: When the prime minister markets himself as something he is not (Rami Igra, Maariv) Repeatedly Benjamin Netanyahu has proved his inability to withstand pressure and make the right decisions in times of crisis. That does not prevent him from continuing to market himself as ‘Mr. Security.’ 
For Sayed Kashua, life in the U.S. is good. But still... (Sayed Kashua, Haaretz+) What assails him every morning is that he is approaching the moment he will need to decide: Stay or go.

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