APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday January 11, 2015

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Leaders of Europe to come today to mass support rally in Paris after a string of attacks
• To vaccinate against fear of the Other // Bernard Henry Levi
• Cracks in the wall // Dov Alfon
• Shouting “I’m Jewish” // Sefi Hendler
• The next attack is on the way // Amos Harel
• Not a religious war // Zvi Bar’el
• A feeling of siege // Anshel Pfeffer
• Boku Haram took control of 11 towns in northern Nigeria and massacred hundreds of civilians
• 0 degrees Celsius, but Israel Prison Service prevented heating in rooms at Holot detention facility
• Der Spiegel: Assad is trying to build a new nuclear facility in Syria
• Third resignation from Yisrael Beiteinu party: Minister Aharonovich leaves

• In daddy’s arms – Michael, who escaped with his little son from “Hyper Kosher” tells: “The terrorist said there will be a massacre here”; French Jews in shock, hundreds preparing to emigrate to Israel
• Double terror attack in France: While Al-Qaeda brothers barricaded themselves in a printing house, a terrorist murdered four Jews at a Kosher supermarket in Paris
• The terrorist: Amdi Kulibali, who joined Al-Qaeda with his wife, was in a (terrorist) cell with the brothers and murdered “In the name of Muslims in Palestine”
• The hero: Lasana Batili, Muslim employee at “Hyper Kosher” supermarket tells Yedioth how he hid Jewish shoppers in the refrigerator
• The wanted one: From bikini to jihad – this is how Hayat Bumadein, the partner of the terrorist hiding in Syria, became #1 wanted suspect
• The French blunder // Alex Fishman
• Europe is in denial // Sever Plocker
• A community in fear // Ben-Dror Yemini
• Frozen land: After the storm, where is it possible to still see snow

• The terror
• The shock
• The local hero: Muslim worker who saved seven Jews, including a baby, from the massacre at the supermarket
• Manager of the supermarket: “Despite the heavy fear in the community, we won’t put guards at the entrance to the store”
• The intel blunder: Algeria warned of an attack in Paris – but the warning was not properly taken care of
• France mourns: Today the “million march” to take place with participation of world leaders

• “The terrorist shot him and he died in front of us” – Correspondent Boaz Bismuth with the survivors of the attack in Paris
• Jews, come home // Haim Shine
• Anti-Semitism? Global terror // Dan Margalit
• Resounding French fiasco // Yoav Limor
• The naivete of the West // Dror Eydar
• Assad doing his own thing? “Secretly building underground facility for nuclear enrichment”
• Another dismissal in Yisrael Beiteinu? Minister Aharonovich also resigns from political life
• State in freeze: Snow fell in north, Jerusalem and even Mitzpeh Ramon; After great cold wave, tomorrow a respite expected

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News Summary:
The second terror attack, in which four people were murdered at a kosher supermarket in Paris, was today’s top story in the Hebrew newspapers. Testimonies from people who survived, interviews with the Muslim employee who saved at least six Jews, analyses on how the French intelligence services failed [see Commentary/Analysis below] and fear in the French Jewish community, some of whom are planning on emigrating. The freezing cold weekend was the other top story, but there was no mention of the Palestinian infants who died of cold in Gaza.
 
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who called on French Jews to come ‘home’ to Israel, decided to attend the mass rally today in Paris against terrorism after all, after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced that they were attending. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will also participate in the rally against terrorism and in solidarity with the victims of the recent Paris attacks, as well as stress the peaceful nature of the Islamic faith, Maan reported.The Palestinian Liberation Organization will hold a rally in Ramallah in solidarity with France today.
 
The Hebrew papers noted that both Hamas and Hezbollah condemned the Charlie Hebdo attack, although they wrote that Hamas fell short of condemning the attack on the Jewish supermarket, but insisted: “Difference of opinions cannot justify murder.” Hamas also dismissed Netanyahu's comments, in which he connected between the terror attacks and Hamas' firing rockets at Israel, calling the former ‘global terrorism’ and the other ‘the resistance of our people.’ Israel Hayom reported that Al-Risala website, which IH says is a Hamas website, praised the three murderers in Paris – but that it was removed within hours. On Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said terrorist groups have caused more offense to the Prophet Mohammed and to Muslims than any book, cartoon or film or anyone else in history. In the US, ‘Average Mohamed’ is countering terror message with cartoon videos. The four victims of the Kosher supermarket attack will be buried in Israel. 

Three babies and a young fisherman died in Gaza from the freezing weather over the weekend. Delays in reconstruction in Gaza left tens of thousands of Palestinians without shelter following the summer war and and the Israeli siege that limits the fuel for electricity left them with limited heating. However, there was no mention of that in most of the Hebrew newspapers. Haaretz, Maariv and Ynet all reported on it online. A two-month-old living died of cold in her partially destroyed home in Khan Younis. Due to lack of alternative shelter, many of the nearly 110,000 Palestinians left homeless by Israeli bombardment remained in partially destroyed homes, many live in just tents. Another two-month-old baby died of cold in a shelter she lived in with her family in Beit Hanoun. And a one-month-old baby died of cold in his home in Khan Younis. Due to the eight-year Israeli siege on Gaza, the vast majority of those displaced by the war have been unable to rebuild their homes. The situation is aggravated by the lack of fuel for electric power and heating, which is also result of the Israeli siege, which limits Palestinians' ability to import fuel for the electric power station in Gaza.
(VIDEO) On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians were forced to evacuate their homes due to rising water levels from the storm. Palestinian medics worked 'around the clock' in most of the affected areas in the West Bank and Gaza.

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:

Bibi’s vulgarity: Using the Paris shooting to justify Israeli colonialism (Roy Isacowitz, Haaretz+) Making Israel the focal point of his message of condolence was crass and vulgar. Sure, he correctly stated that the Charlie Hebdo massacre was an attack on the values of Western civilization, but he was wrong in assuming that Israel is a shining beacon of that civilization.
When it comes to its morality, Israel prefers not to be tried (Asher Schechter, Haaretz+) For a country that insists it has done nothing wrong, Israel sure acts like it has something to hide. 
Paris shooting won’t garner European sympathy for Israel (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Europe is becoming increasingly vulnerable to terror attacks, but anyone who thinks Europeans will now feel we are all in the same boat is liable to be disappointed.
Israel's splendid isolation (Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom) Despite the conventional claim that Israel is becoming ever more isolated, the world's business with Israel is actually booming.
Ya'alon must not interfere in Gaza war probe (Haaretz Editorial) A real investigation of suspicions of criminal acts committed during the war, and above all the use of disproportionate force, is essential for the IDF and the State of Israel. 
The terrorist defense force (Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror, Israel Hayom) 2015 will see Islamist terror groups in the Middle East gain power.
Meanwhile, Gideon Levy receives a death threat (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) A menacing letter mailed to Haaretz shows that it's not only Islamic extremists who seek to blunt press freedom with violence.
**When Paris mourns (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) The French are not grieving the murder of four Jews; they are grieving the murder of their values, afraid of losing something which is very important to them. The Jews are only marginal players in this affair.
Beilin, my friend: Your ideological path has reached its end. Let's try something else (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) The Hadash party is the only one that proposes a different kind of Israeli partnership. 
Cuffing punch-drunk Palestinians (David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom) Israel must flex some muscle to disabuse Abbas of the notion that he can demand the sky and coerce Israel by appealing to international courts.
Herzog’s mission: Give Israelis a concrete plan for hope (Ari Shavit, Haaretz+) The Zionist Camp leader must devise a peace initiative if he wants to win the election.
France has belatedly woken up to the jihadist threat (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) The 2012 attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse were the writing on the wall, but France did not legislate for surveillance of terror suspects; protection of Jewish institutions in the republic has also been a failure. 
Publish the cartoon, screen the film (Peter Beinart, Haaretz+) Instead of redefining the enemies we fight, the Sony and Charlie Hebdo magazine attacks redefine who among us is doing the fighting.
Homegrown terrorism (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) The massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine committed by Islamist radicals has been a brutal wake-up call for the French people. How will the powers that be face the new reality of terrorism committed by their own?
Who in France will shout, 'I am a Jew'? (Sefy Hendler, Haaretz+) Thousands of Parisians took to the streets after the massacre at Charlie Hebdo last Wednesday. Where were they after Friday's deadly anti-Semitic attack?
The forces of darkness are winning (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Jihadi extremism is becoming more powerful and the free world is simply not coping; the far-right is not the answer, but neither is surrender.
Israelis are waiting for the world to save them from themselves (Eran Rolnik, Haaretz+) Only 'involuntary treatment' of Israeli rejectionism, executed with sincere concern for the country’s fate, will demonstrate to its citizens that there is no correct way to live an incorrect life. 
The fund and the fury (Emily Amrousi, Israel Hayom) The New Israel Fund has its sights on increasing its influence, and they are trying to do it in the Knesset • How? By donating to Labor Party politicians and, it seems, trying to insert senior fund members into centers of power in government. 
Only Lieberman will bring peace (Eyal Megged, Haaretz+) Why Israelis must seriously consider voting for Yisrael Beiteinu and its leader, whose peace proposal is both radical and revolutionary.
After Charlie Hebdo attack, France’s Churchillian moment (Bernard-Henri Lévy, Haaretz+) France needs governance that will not fall into the traps in which the United States., after 9/11, nearly lost its way.
French losing control over their country (Noah Klieger, Yedioth/Ynet) France is paying the price for failing to act against a large minority taking advantage of authorities' helpless.
Freezing the Palestinian funds and Netanyahu's distorted vision (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) The decision to freeze the PA’s funds is part of the cynical policy of fulfilling Netanyahu’s vision of a new Middle East – one where Islamic State, not democracy, is the dominant force.
The Muslim occupation of Europe (Eitan Haber, Yedioth/Ynet) Paris attack should become a milestone in the war against Muslim terror; but it won't, because the Western world is not physically or mentally prepared to fight the enemies rising up to destroy it.
The French Jewish exodus to Israel: for many, the Mideast now feels safer (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) French Israelis were as saddened over the Paris attacks as Americans were about 9/11, but they weren’t surprised at all.  
Islam vs. West: An ongoing clash of civilizations (Sever Plocker, Yedioth/Ynet) Journalists murdered in Paris were not victims of a battle over freedom of press; they were victims of a war between radical Islam's world view and Western liberalism's world view.
We non-religious Jews are cultured enough - no need to 'strengthen our Jewish identity' (Yossi Sarid, Haaretz+) All those trying to press a religious way of life on non-religious Jews have nothing to offer us. 
Military advocate general is swept up in populism over Gaza war (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) The military advocate general is undermining the most basic values by which generations of combat soldiers have been educated.
Charlie Hebdo attack is a wake up call for Israel, too (Haaretz Friday Editorial) Freedom of the press is a key component of freedom of speech, without which there is no democracy. Israel must ensure that threats on reporters don’t become actions.

Two years after leaving politics, Ehud Barak recalls the wasted time and lost opportunities of the Netanyahu government he served in from 2009 to 2013. He also does not rule out his return. (Interviewed by Gidi Weitz in Haaretz+)
 

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