APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday July 15, 2015

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Negotiations completed: Iran and the world powers signed a nuclear agreement
• Equal among equals // Zvi Bar’el
• Risk and chance // Barak Ravid
• The answer to the threat // Amos Harel 
• Till the last chip // Yossi Verter
• Signed and locked // Chemi Shalev
• Strategic fiasco // Amir Oren
• State Prosecutor allows police to conduct searches on phones of suspects without a warrant
• Severe indictment against Or Yehuda Mayor: “Serially took advantage of women”
• Artists protest against Beersheva Mayor because of cancellation of screening of film on Gaza
• Plan to establish three towers in central Tel-Aviv sparks opposition
• Quickly closed // Ravit Hecht
• The end to opportunism // Avi Bar-Eli and Zvi Zerachiya

• The world surrendered to Iran
• Netanyahu to Obama: Historic mistake
• Above our heads // Nahum Barnea
• Teheran celebrates

• A new Middle East – Historic agreement: Iran won’t produce bomb but will be threshold nuclear state
• Collapse of the concept // Ben Caspit
• Nuclear kernel of truth // Udi Segal
• In the eyes of the beholder // Yossi Melman
• The day after // Prof. Meir Litvak
• (Israeli) Prophets of rage // Shlomo Shamir
• On the day of the bomb // Dr. Ofer Yisraeli
• Mayor of Or Yehuda named a street after the nickname of his lover 

• Agreement of eternal shame
• Israel rejects agreement between Iran and the West: “We aren’t binded by it”; Netanyahu: “The world powers gambled on our future”
• History won’t forgive // Boaz Bismuth
• Obama turned Iran into a world power // Dan Margalit 
• The little that was achieved – was due to Israeli pressure // Dror Eydar
• Iran will become economically and militarily stronger // Yaakov Amidror
• We have who to talk to: the Arab states // Reuven Berko
• Or Yehuda Mayor accused of sex crimes and a street named after his lover 
• ‘August recruits’ – a new project; And this time: Why join the Intelligence Corps

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News Summary:
The historic nuclear agreement with Iran conquered the Hebrew Israeli newspapers today as the politicians, the diplomats, the analysts, the former generals and the common people shared their views across the pages. With the exception of Israel Hayom, the printed mouthpiece of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which named yesterday as the ‘Day of Infamy’ in which the ‘agreement of eternal shame’ was signed, the Hebrew papers were surprisingly open-minded regarding the agreement that will remove the harsh economic sanctions from Iran.
 
Netanyahu told US President Barack Obama in a phone call that Obama initiated, that the agreement was ‘a historic mistake’ and that that the deal threatens the security of Israel and of the entire world. And after a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that Israel wasn’t bound by the agreement. [In other words, if Israel wants to bomb Iran it will. –OH]
Despite it’s front-page headline, Yedioth’s top commentators disagreed with Netanyahu. Some said it was ‘bad, but not the end of the world.’ Others said it wasn’t that bad. The analysts in Maariv and Haaretz+ also did not write in doomsday-terms. [I highly recommend reading the Commentary/Analysis section below. The views and ideas expressed were the most interesting thing in today’s papers. – OH]
 
Netanyahu said that besides allowing Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons, the deal “will pump billions of dollars to the Iranian terror and war machine, which threatens Israel and the entire world." Maariv’s political affairs correspondent Dana Somberg believes that the line about the ‘billions for terror’ was the opening salvo in the battle Israel will fight against the deal in Congress. A number of Israeli politicians were quoted using the same line, saying that the extra money in the Iranian coffers will go to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
 
Obama said Israel and the world are now safer. He made clear that he will veto any legislation that prevents the agreement's successful implementation and he said that Netanyahu cannot stop the deal. The Israeli analysts also think that Netanyahu can’t get 13 Democrat Senators to vote against their President and that even if they did, Europe will still do business with Iran.

The Zionist Camp and Yesh Atid parties both slammed the nuclear agreement, joining analysts in blaming Netanyahu for the agreement's faults. But Netanyahu said his relationship with Obama had no bearing on the nuclear deal. "The political claims being made that my personal relationship with President Obama had any bearings on the nuclear agreement - are baseless," Netanyahu said. 
  
Despite the criticism, Netanyahu met with Zionist Camp chief MK Isaac Herzog to discuss forming a 'unified stance.’ The unity has already begun. As part of the desire to present a united front to the world on the nuclear deal issue, the opposition decided not to give its "speech of 40 signatures," which requires the Prime Minister to listen and answer the arguments of the MKs, Maariv reported. Meretz party chief Zehava Gal-On said that this was a sign that Zionist Camp would join the government in the coming weeks. Moreover, Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid volunteered “to join the hasbara (advocacy) efforts in the world against the agreement,” Maariv reported. The Joint List expressed support for the agreement and hoped that Israel would join. The Meretz party expressed reservations till more was known.
 
The Hebrew papers splashed photos of Iranians celebrating in the streets of their country last night after the iftar. The papers noted that Rouhani said, “All the efforts of the Zionist regime to undermine the nuclear agreement were defeated.” He also called the deal “A first step to becoming a friend with the world.” Yedioth ran two first-person pieces by young Iranians in Teheran, one who was happy about the deal, which would help the unemployed youth, and the other, who opposed the deal because he was sure the Ayatollahs would secretly develop a nuclear bomb, which would destabilize the region. 
 
Among the nearby Muslim countries, the nuclear deal was received with mixed reactions. Palestinians welcomed it and expected that similar international pressure would be put on Israel. Iran's ally Syria and it’s trade partner Turkey praised the deal. Egypt, Pakistan and the Emirates cautiously welcomed it and the Syrian rebels and the Saudis expressed concern, the news agencies wrote. Haaretz noted the different reactions of Jewish-American groups.

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:

Netanyahu is misleading: There is no such thing as a good deal with Iran (Barak Ravid, Haaretz+) The Vienna accord is flawed in many ways, but it will compel Iran to take steps that are hard to imagine it would take under any other scenario. 
Israel will survive nuclear deal (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) In the next two months, the Senate will serve as an arena of a violent battle between Netanyahu and the Obama administration. In order to break the veto, Netanyahu needs 13 Democratic senators. He will get some of them, mainly those who depend on Jewish voters and Jewish funding. His chance of reaching 13 is not big…by providing services to the Republican billionaires, Israel is weakening the Jewish lobby and losing the support of the majority of Jews. Netanyahu is acting like a person convinced that this is a battle over Israel's actual existence. He is wrong: Israel will continue to exist. We are not facing another Holocaust. The fact that Israel failed to thwart the agreement with Iran, and didn't even influence its content, is a total failure. But instead of giving Israelis a realistic account of what happened, Netanyahu is informing them that a holocaust is on the way.  
The Israeli military justice system — an assembly line for mass detentions (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) It’s also an integral part of the mechanism for quashing a people’s desire and ability to win back its land and freedom.
The collapse of the concept: Even if the nuclear agreement fails in the Senate, it’s already a done deal (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Although the (Israeli) cabinet has rejected the agreement, the Europeans have already announced that they won’t wait for the US. They will jump en masse into Iran's economy upon hearing the gong. If Netanyahu does the unbelievable and convinces 13 Democratic senators to vote against their President and to override Obama’s veto it will cause much more damage than bring advantages. 
Netanyahu prepares to double down on losing hand (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) The destruction and devastation he avoided inflicting on the nuclear facilities scattered throughout Iran, he now wants to wreak on what’s left of U.S.-Israel relations. 
Agreement of the brave (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth) Yesterday the US returned to the spotlight of the world: It proved that its creative diplomacy can win. That it’s possible to reach a ground-breaking agreement and change a historic move without bunker-busting bombs and without smart-guided missiles. President Roosevelt said about the art of conducting diplomacy, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” That what Obama did with Iran. In one hand, severe strangling sanctions, in the other hand a long-awaited admission ticket to the family of nations.
After nuclear fallout, Obama will be waiting for Netanyahu, checkbook in hand (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Though full of loopholes, the accord with Iran, is almost a done deal. An attack is not an option, and Israel’s response depends on achieving closer ties with Washington.
Hot Blood: Is the ethnic identity of the killer really that important? (Natan Zahavi, Maariv) There are Jewish killers. Many, even. Not just the ones who burned to death the Arab youth (Mohammed Abu Khdeir) in Jerusalem. When will you understand that our revolting people are as repulsive as their sickening people?  
With nuclear deal, Islamic Revolution wins international recognition (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) The nuclear deal with world powers has broken a taboo and Iran has gained even more than its nuclear capabilities would have provided.
Losing battle (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth) This is a bad agreement. Maybe even a strategic terror attack. But that’s it. The agreement is a fact. There was good reason to wage a battle against the agreement as long as it was possible to change something. Except when you’re talking about a losing battle. There is not chance at all to change the evil decree. The battle against the agreement won’t harm the agreement. It will harm Israel. And therefore, we must change our direction.
A kernel of truth (Udi Segal, Maariv) Is this the end of the era of imperialistic abuse of Iran, as Rouhani declared, or will he light up the terror in the region and lead Iran to being a terror power?...The truth about the nuclear deal with Iran is not known…Now, it is correct to say that Israel is isolated in the face of a global agreement and that Netanyahu misses being the head of the opposition.
Give the Iran nuclear agreement a chance (Haaretz Editorial) Israel shouldn't give up the role of watchdog over Iran, but it must give a fair chance to Iran and the world powers to inaugurate a new path.
Where did you go wrong? (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth) If Netanyahu is right in his ruling that the agreement is a historic mistake by the world powers and an amazing victory for Iran, what we have left to ask the Prime Minister is: Where did you go wrong?
Iran is on its way to become a great power, and Israel is left with the crumbs (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) Iran and Israel could have been twins, if they weren't sworn enemies, but now that the former has cast away its 'irrational country' mantle, Israel will have to figure out how to undergo its own makeover.
After Iran deal, the Gog and Magog war between Obama and Netanyahu begins (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Republicans want to use nuclear deal in campaign against Hillary Clinton and the Democrats but they might overplay their hand. 
Iran deal puts military option back on table (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) The Vienna agreement does delay Iran's construction of a bomb by a year or more, but if Iran chooses to violate the deal, it could get the bomb within a few weeks; Israel must prepare for a potential pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and on Hezbollah.
Iran nuclear deal – neither historic nor catastrophic (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+)  The U.S. president was going to make this accord happen no matter what, and if it fails Israel still has recourse to military and other options. 
Post-agreement politics (Zalman Shoval, Israel Hayom) With an Iranian nuclear deal in place, Israeli policy makers will now face new considerations.
Netanyahu is waging a losing battle against Iran (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) There is no military option, neither Israeli nor American, because there is no effective military operation without boots on the ground. 
Reading into soldiers' intentions (Giora Eiland, Yedioth/Ynet) Decision whether to prosecute IDF troops accused of wrongly opening fire should only reflect situations with clear malicious intents. 
Israel and Palestine need a joint truth commission (M. Cherif Bassiouni, Haaretz+) My experience chairing UN commissions of inquiry has led me to conclude that there is no peace without justice. Israel and Palestine need to work together toward this goal. 
Left on the margins: the agreement with Iran is a pleasant surprise (Yossi Melman, Maariv) The agreement is surprising because almost every aspect of the situation has worsened the situation of Iran's nuclear program. Like in love, the feelings towards the nuclear agreement between the Western powers and Iran are in the eye of the beholder. No detail in the pages of the agreement will convince the convinced. The Israeli leadership which opposed it at all costs comes out of this battle right, possible, but not wise.
From robust and intrusive to 24/7: Obama’s changing lexicon of Iran inspections (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz+) There's a marked difference between April's Obama and July's Obama, and it's no coincidence that two key words disappeared from the latter's vocabulary. 
Nowhere, no-time supervision (David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom) Iran gets to keep its nuclear facilities, and ‎there will be no true international supervision of what goes on inside ‎them.‎ 
Nuclear deal will allow Iran to continue interfering in Syria (Ari Heistein, Haaretz) The Obama administration may have written off Iranian regional interference as inevitable, but that's not necessarily the case. Freeing Iranian billions will have repercussions for one of the region's bloodiest civil wars. 
10 comments on lonely Israel, a done Iranian deal and Obama’s Nobel Prize (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Will American business leaders allow European and Asian companies get a head start in exploiting a lucrative, sanction-free Iran?

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