APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday May 6, 2015 

Note: News Nosh will be off tomorrow, Thursday, for the Lag B'Omer holiday.

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Bennett’s ultimatum: Demands Justice Ministry portfolio for Ayelet Shaked
• Justice Trouble-Minister (Ayelet Shaked) // Yossi Verter
• Internal dispute between Hamas and Salafi organization that identifies with ISIS
• The Islamic State will in the end save Assad // Zvi Bar’el
• (Tycoon) Nimrodi suspected of bribing in the Ronal Fisher affair
• Police internal investigation department ruled: The policeman who killed the youth in Kufr Kana will not be put on trial
• State Comptroller report – Environment Ministry fails enforce the pollution regulations
• Social Security demands at least 300 million shekels for citizens
• Medical tourism harms Israelis
• Number of female religious women who enlisted in IDF doubled since 2010
• Permit to kill // Haaretz Editorial

• (Coalition negotiations:) Till the last moment
• State Comptroller report: This is how the periphery is neglected
• The tribe’s campfire – Tonight: Lag B’Omer celebrations
• Nepal: The first smile – Israeli medical clown, gives laugh treatment to injured Nepali child
• Businessman who was arrested in Ronal Fisher affair: Ofer Nimrodi

• (Coalition) In Bennett’s hands
• (Lieberman put the political establishment in) Tailspin // Ben Caspit
• Harsh report by State Comptroller: On health system, education system, social welfare, and children at risk
• (Tycoon) Nimrodi suspected of bribing police officer
• Olmert to judges: “I have turned into a punching bag”

• (Coalition negotiations:) Arm twisting till the last minute
• Portfolios and snacks aren’t everything // Mati Tuchfeld
• The right-wing’s self-destructive mechanism // Haim Shine
• Promotion for a hero – Lt. Eitan Fund, who entered Gaza tunnel where Hadar Goldin was kidnapped, promoted to company commander in ultra-Orthodox Givati Brigade
• England presents: End to the two party era
• Ofer Nimrodi suspected of giving bribes to (Ronal) Fisher 
• State Comptroller report: “Medical tourism at hospitals hurts treatment of Israelis”
• Prosecution requesting at least two year prison sentence for Olmert
• Lecturer was fired after made racist remarks to Ethiopian-Israeli student
• Tribal bonfire: tonight is Lag B’Omer

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News Summary:
Today’s top stories were the coalition quandary Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu faces as the midnight deadline looms and the harsh report by the State Comptroller citing severe problems in the Israeli health, education and social welfare systems, among others. Also making news was the decision by the Police internal investigation unit not to put on trial the policeman who shot dead an Arab Israeli demonstrator running away from him.
 
After Avigdor Lieberman announced he and his six seats were going to the Opposition, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett gave Netanyahu an ultimatum: Either his far-right-wing party member Ayelet Shaked becomes Justice Minister or there’s no coalition. With Habayit Hayehudi, Netanyahu has only a 61-MK coalition. Without the party, he has no coalition. Netanyahu has till midnight tonight to present his new government to President Reuven Rivlin. If he fails to do so, the president then repeats the process – either by offering the mandate to Netanyahu again or giving it to someone else. If another 100 days pass without a coalition being formed, new elections are called and the entire process begins anew, Yedioth/Ynet’s Moran Azulay explains. “Bennett and Shaked want to use the Justice Ministry to introduce a series of reforms in the justice system, particularly concerning the Supreme Court's authorities and limiting its ability to reject Knesset legislation,” writes Azulay.
 
In the last few days there have been a number of reports of IDF soldiers and Israeli police being found innocent of killing Arabs, be they Israeli citizens or Palestinians from the occupied Territories. Today, the closing of the case against a policeman who shot dead Khair Hamdan, 22, got prominence. The family of Hamdan from Kafr Kana vowed to fight the police decision not to put on trial the policeman who shot to death their son in November, saying that the video of the shooting shows there was no any warning shots prior to lethal fire, Haaretz+ reported. However, the police say they shot a warning shot into the air, which all the papers state the police claim as fact, except Haaretz+, which wrote: When the incident became public, the policemen said Hamdan had tried to stab them. They said they fired a warning shot into the air and shot at Hamdan when he failed to stop, in believing that their lives were in danger. But a widely viewed video from security cameras in the vicinity suggests that the officers did not observe protocols regarding the use of fire. In the video, the young man later identified as Hamdan is seen approaching the patrol car and stabbing at it with what appears to be a knife. A police officer then emerges from the car. Hamdan is seen running away from the vehicle and the officer appears to shoot at him. Adalah Arab human rights organization said that "Even in an extremely serious case of killing that is clearly documented, the Police Internal Investigations Department finds ways to back the crime committed by the police officers, instead of conducting a professional and independent investigation." Hamdan’s father told Ynet, "They claimed that my son, the shahid, posed a threat to the policemen's lives. That is a lie. There was no danger. They murdered him in cold blood. If he were Jewish, they wouldn't have shot him.” Yedioth gave the article prominence and interviewed Hamdan’s uncle, Rafaat Hamdan, who said, “They killed the family again. The decision is very insulting and strengthens the feeling among the Arab sector of lack of trust in the police investigations unit.” (Maariv) Ynet has the video here. 

Yedioth also reported on another case of a policeman killing a young Arab man, shooting him in the back. The volunteer Border Policeman will be convicted of negligence and will be sentenced to “only six months community service” for killing Antar Shibli Mohammed Akra, 24, from Nablus in 2013. In addition, he will have to pay compensation to the family of the deceased. The plea bargain has yet to be signed, but Akra’s family received a draft of it and was furious. “A year and a half of investigation and in the end they dismiss us with ‘negligence’?” said his father. Akra was working without a permit at a cemetery in Israel, where he was shot dead. Omri Ihab and Emily Schaeffer, laywers of the Israeli legal rights organization Yesh Din, said, “It is very worrying and disturbing that very few of the investigations by the police internal investigations unit end in an indictment of suspects of violent violations, particularly death, and that in exceptional cases of putting someone on trial, the sentences are incredibly light.”

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Joint List Chairman, MK Ayman Odeh’s maiden Knesset speech, 4 May 2015  
...My fellow Knesset members, try for a moment to see life through Salem’s eyes. Look at it through the eyes of Majid, an Arab student at Tel Aviv University, who cannot rent an apartment. Try to imagine him hearing the slamming of the phone when his accent gets recognized or when they catch his name.  See life through the eyes of Imad and Amal, a young Arab couple seeking a home. 700 new towns and villages have been built by the state since its foundation – all 700 have been Jewish, and not a single Arab village or township in the Triangle or the Galilee. Most of the existing Arab communities don’t have current master plans, and I wonder: Where is an Arab couple meant to live? In the air?...Mr Speaker, I deeply identify with the suffering of the Jewish people over many generations. I do feel the pain with which the Jewish people are burdened, a pain rooted in its past. And I do understand the anxiety that many Jews feel. I do not dismiss it at all. But the suffering of the Jews does not justify injustice or discrimination against Arab citizens. (Full translation of speech by Sol Salbe can be found here. Video of speech with English captions here.)
Snapshot: Three photographers remind us of the war we’ve managed to repress
On the works of Yotam Ronen in Sderot during Operation Protective Edge, Anne Paq who focuses on Gaza, and Abbas al-Mumani, a Palestinian photographer for news agencies. (Tal Niv, Haaretz+) 
I saw the police use restraint
It was only after five hours of disturbances of the peace, after people were injured and property damaged, that the police took action. (Yehuda Shlezinger, Israel Hayom)
Reporter injured by stun grenade at Ethiopian-Israeli protest recounts escalation
It had been a mistake, CCTV's Stephanie Freid now realizes, to cover the Tel Aviv demonstration without taking along the gear she keeps on hand for hostile environments such as Syria, Libya or Ukraine. (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:

Investigate Israel's political leadership over civilian deaths in Gaza (Haaretz Editorial) Probing specific incidents of civilian fatalities in last summer's Gaza war won’t alone contribute to uncovering the truth. An external probe must be launched that examines every level of official involved, and especially politicians.
A government in thrall to backbenchers (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) A coalition based on 61 MKs can only survive thanks to prime minister's authority and fear of elections; factions making up Netanyahu's fourth government fear elections, but don't have much respect for prime minister's authority.
**Don't advocate for Israel one more day, until you've done this (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) Whatever your politics, you should know this: These soldiers and the people of Breaking the Silence are Israeli patriots. They are advocating for Israel. 
Idle allegations won't break IDF's spirit (Zvika Fogel, Israel Hayom) Those who disagree with Israel's leaders have no right to make outrageous accusations against those who are willing to lay down their lives to defend us.
A government without Lieberman is a better one (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) With Avigdor Lieberman gone, the finance minister-designate will find it easier to push through banking and other reforms. 
Netanyahu's short-term government (Eitan Haber, Yedioth/Ynet) There have been governments in Israel with a tiny majority that allowed themselves to make big moves; but Netanyahu is not Begin, he is not Sharon, and he is definitely not Rabin. 
All options are on the table: Netanyahu went from an emperor to a lame duck (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Lieberman's bombshell put the political establishment into a tailspin. Chances are that Netanyahu will announce tonight to the President that he has a government. This is a government he would wish on his enemies…This is a story about leadership. Netanyahu is a general without soldiers. In fairness, it must be mentioned that he does have voters. He got 30 mandates (in Knesset). He used unacceptable and Machiavellian means, but that doesn’t count at the polling stations. Mandates do. Netanyahu's problem is that he is terribly hated by the political establishment, and everyone, except for him, is hoping for his disappearance. These are problematic starting conditions for someone who is going to form a government with 61 hands… 
Integration? With whom? (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Police abuse of Ethiopian Israelis reflects the zeitgeist. The real threat in Israeli society is the disgust and fear that certain groups arouse in others. 
Tip of the iceberg: the Ethiopians’ protest removed the liberal mask from Israel (Nurit Canetti, Maariv) The violent protest demonstration in Rabin Square by the Ethiopians surprised many, for some reason. What is surprising is that it did not happen before. Not only because of the justified anger of these young people, who are tired of walking around in a democratic state, liberal and enlightened in its own eyes, and get the feeling everywhere that they are second-class, but mainly because for years our social narrative has solved problems with violence. We are a nation of laws, but let's remove the liberal disguise. Our society is violent, impatient and intolerant, abusive and predatory. And racist. It’s in the street, in the government services, in schools…
Melting pot miseries (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom) Damas Pakada's beating aroused national shock and sympathy. But the incident will have been for nothing if we don't take it as an opportunity to remember our own immigrant roots, and act accordingly. 
Not only Ethiopians: Israelis from the former Soviet Union also express a lack of confidence in the police (Dr. Alina at the Berdache-Yalova and Marina Gal, Maariv) Russian-speakers in the country tend to have negative attitudes toward those in blue uniform. If Police Commissioner Danino sees public confidence as a central axis in protecting democracy, than we should act to implement it.
Were the elections worth Netanyahu's new coalition? (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) It's not every day that a politician gives up the most desirable portfolio and chooses to go to the frustrating opposition; but Lieberman will now have the pleasure of watching Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was crowned king of the world only last week, struggle with a 61-MK coalition. 
Without the right to exist (Ran Adelist, Maariv) No matter how many Knesset members will be in the coalition, the Netanyahu government has no right to exist. Not morally, not economically, not politically, and it is clear that it has nothing to look for in this world. There are a lot of reasons, all of them good – in other words bad - but two of them more than the rest. The first and obvious reason is that a government whose political platform does not have a single word about the political negotiations with the Palestinians is simply irrelevant. The second reason connection to change the face of society on the way to an apartheid state. A government that plans to change the face of the country through the elimination of the justice system better not come into the world.
Sayed Kashua finds coexistence in Chicago's Hyde Park (as long as he behaves) (Sayed Kashua, Haaretz+) In Chicago's South Side, he dares to imagine an Israel where Palestinians are just part of the landscape, while making sure to keep both hands on the wheel.
Herzog should not come to Netanyahu's rescue (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) Zionist Union has a mandate from its voters to end the rule of Likud; joining the coalition would be a betrayal of that mission.
For true equality, Israel's disparate protest movements must unite (Avi Shilon, Haaretz+) The real story about the recent Ethiopian-Israeli protest in Tel Aviv was not the violence. It was the infuriating decision by the vast majority of the 2011 social justice demonstrators to stay home, in front of the TV. 
The desperate plight of Syria's army (Yaron Friedman, Yedioth/Ynet) Video of Assad's most loyal soldier pleading for ammunition has been leaked online, raising questions about the future of the regime fighting force. 
Islamist anti-Semitism: Confronting Holocausts past and potential (Qanta Ahmed, Haaretz+) In lending anti-Semitism false religious legitimacy, faith-illiterate Muslims are beguiled into to accepting anti-Semitism as Islamic creed – this is a grave distortion. 
A battle of wits on the Syrian border (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Israel has a new defense policy on the Golan Heights, where Islamist groups are taking hold and Hezbollah divides its time between fighting them and fighting Israel.
How 'Churchill' Bibi sowed the seed for Startup Nation's destruction (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) Netanyahu's capitulation to the Haredim erases years of hard work at ensuring a prosperous future for the Israeli economy. Fear has overtaken the last semblance of Bibi's principles.
Lieberman undermines the Right (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) The outgoing foreign minister's decision not to join the next government proves he was never truly part of the nationalist camp.
Lieberman’s payback, Netanyahu’s torture and Israel’s schadenfreude (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Not one to turn the other cheek, the outgoing foreign minister seems more of a Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained kind of guy.
A political Trojan horse (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) Avigdor Lieberman will be remembered as someone who turned his back on his constituents, preferring illusory personal gain over a stable government.
 

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