APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday August 3, 2015 
 

Quote of the day:

---

Front Page:

Haaretz

---

 

News Summary:
A teenage girl stabbed at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade dies of her wounds, the Shin Bet reveals an extremely dangerous Jewish terror organization while the Israeli security cabinet approves new measures against suspected Jewish terrorists, and the police investigates threats against Israeli President Reuven Rivlin following his Facebook post expressing guilt and sadness over the murder of the Palestinian toddler, Ali Dawabsheh, making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. And, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is willing to talk to any Israeli minister “even Bennett.”
 
Both Yedioth’s Alex Fishman and Haaretz+’s Amos Harel reveal details of a radical group of young Israeli Jews aiming to bring down the Zionist state and replace it with a holy kingdom by murder and arson. Their frightening operational doctrine can be found in a document authored by Moshe Orbach of Bnei Brak, who belongs to the group that torched the Church of Multitudes, write Fishman and Harel in today’s papers. But, an online search in Hebrew reveals that Walla News Hebrew website reported that Orbach was indicted Thursday for incitement to terror, just hours before the arson that killed Ali Dawabsheh and critically injured his family members. Orbach is from Bnei Brak and lives in the hills of the West Bank. Walla Reporter, Amir Buchbut, already wrote Wednesday about the guidebook found with Orbach on how to “burn a mosque and be silent (in interrogations), which is exactly what he was suspected of doing at the Latrun Monastery in September 2012. He remained silent during interrogations and was released and the case was closed for lack of evidence in December 2014. (NRG Hebrew) [It is possible that the indictment of Orbach was the latest trigger to the attack in Duma. – OH] Another person connected to Orbach is Meir Ettinger, the grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the latter whose political party, Kach, was declared a terror organization, Walla reported. The day after the arson attack, Walla’s reporter Shabtai Bendat quoted a Yesh Din report and wrote that “This is not the first case of arson of private (Palestinian) homes in the territories. This is a trend that only increases in recent years, when in almost every incident, the residents were luckily not present at the time. Also, according to Yesh Din, not a single indictment has been in any of the incidents. 
 
It is for that reason that yesterday, the Israeli security cabinet gave Shin Bet permission to put Jewish suspects in administrative detention (prison despite lack of evidence to make charges), but only with the approval of the Attorney General [which is not required for Palestinians. – OH]. The Justice Ministry team recommended changing the classification of so-called 'price tag' perpetrators to 'terrorists'.
 
The family of slain Palestinian toddler, Ali Dawabshe, remains in 'critical condition' and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to show that Israel is better than its neighbors because it “condemns murderers, while the Palestinians names squares after them.” However, not all Israeli Jews are “condemning the murderers.” Israeli police are investigating threats against the life of President Reuven Rivlin and a bomb that exploded in the car of the mayor of Kiryat Yam after they expressed shame for the acts of terror by Jews and called for tolerance on their Facebook pages. Also, the police are investigating the claim by an Israeli-Arab man, Amad Abu Sharah, 56, that those who attacked him Sunday leaving him to bleed at the entrance to his home in Lod were three Jewish men motivated by racism.
 
Separately, President Abbas said he did not support the boycott of all of Israel, only of settlements, Maariv reported. In a meeting with members of the Meretz faction, Abbas expressed his despair with the present political situation and said: "Sometimes I dream I wake up in the morning and find a settlement in the Muqata’a (Palestinian Presidential HQ in Ramllah). He also said he was "ready to meet with anyone, even with (far right-wing Habayit Hayehudi leader, Naftali) Bennett"
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

“Don’t worry Ahmed, you are in good hands. You don’t have anything to fear”
A monotone beep screams from the monitor. Ahmed lays calmly, sedated and on a respirator. “Now we will remove the bandage from your head,” says the doctor and the nurse next to her gently draws liquid that are filling his lungs. Dr. Rubinstein puts gloves on and begins to remove the bandages. Ahmed’s injured and charred skin is revealed. “He is trembling from pain,” she explains and inserts morphium into his infusion. Noam Barkan spent a chilling day by the bedside of Ahmed Dawabsheh, 4, at Sheba Hospital. (Noam Barkan, Yedioth’s ’24 Hours’ supplement, pp. 4-5)
Studying Iraqi in Tel Aviv: "I want to go back to my identity which the melting pot erased"
In a small classroom where lessons are held in conversational Iraqi-Arabic, young people are trying to learn the language of their grandparents, but also much more. "This is the awakening of the third generation," says one student. (Eyal Levy, Maariv Magazine supplement) 
“I leaned on the metals near the traffic light and cried. I thought about Udi, I thought about Ruti, I thought about Yoav, I thought about Elad, I thought about Hadas. I thought about the murderers, who feed from hatred, who make a living from it, who live off of it”
Moti Fogel, who lost his brother and his brother’s family in the terror attack in Itamar, saw Shira Banki stabbed to death before his eyes at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem and is terrified by the murder of Ali Dawabsheh in Duma village. He wrote a first person piece for Yedioth. “...We all speak against violence, sometimes we call it ‘taking the law into your hands,’ because more than us opposing violence, we are busy in categorizing it, justified murder and unacceptable murder. Barbaric murder and understandable murder. Every murder has a connection and each person has the connection that is close to his heart. There are murderers who think that gays are endangering Judaism, there are murderers because they are under occupation, there are murderers because their blood boils over the murder of Jews and there are murderers in order to protect Israel. Every murderer and his reason. Every murderer and the people who understand him. But the widest connection is love and hatred – who do we love and who do we hate…The war on hatred must be as wide as possible. Bu the war on hatred is a political war. It is impossible to separate the murderers from the education they received, the lessons they were taught, what they learned. The murder is the continuation of the hatred in different ways. Few murderers, but too many haters. It’s foolish to say that there is no justification for murder. Every murder has a justification. That is the reason people are sent to jail and not to insane asylums. Therefore, it is not enough to speak against the murder, one needs to understand where it comes from, where are its roots. Maybe the murderers are psychopaths, but there is a reason why the murderers of my brother and his family, and those who burned Ali and his family think their acts are desirable. I think about what foments hatred and feeds it. I think abou poetry, I think about Hadas, I think about Ali…I think about those who are laying in hospitals and fighting for their lives. I don’t know what to do.” (Yedioth’s ’24 Hours’ supplement, cover)
Knesset officer starts another term: "There is an escalation of threats on MKs'
Yossi Griff is responsible for the safety of the 120 elected officials. In an interview he tells what is the main danger standing at the door of the Knesset ("Complacency. Complacency is the biggest enemy. Routine can deceive, and we must have 100% of alertness and vigilance throughout the year so we can thwart any threats and so that none of the scenarios we talked about – like in 1949 when Moshe Dweik threw a hand grenade inside the Knesset severely injuring Minister Moshe Shapira and lightly injuring David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir - will happen”), how threats to politicians on social networks are dealt with (their number has risen significantly, “We receive about 30-40 death threats a month”) and what is his worst nightmare (Arik Bender, Maariv magazine supplement – July)

Commentary/Analysis:

Under Netanyahu's rule, all racists feel at home (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Someone who wins power through racist incitement should not be surprised that he is drowning in a sea of incitement, both in his government and among his supporters. 
Jewish Terror Attacks Tighten the Noose Around the Palestinian Authority (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) During the first intifada, settlers didn't dare enter the village of Duma, the site of last weekend's deadly arson attack. But for two decades the locals have been unprotected. In the hours after the murder in Duma and during the funeral of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, the shocked residents of the village were divided into two camps: those disgusted by the appearance of members of the Palestinian security forces, armed and in uniform, and those who pitied them. With their shiny vehicles, they couldn’t travel on Allon Road and enter the village (which is in Area B, under full Israeli security control) without coordinating with the Israel Defense Forces. 
It takes courage to deal with Jewish terrorists (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel must turn every stone, catch the people who burned Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh alive, prosecute them and destroy their homes. Unless our side makes a real move after they are caught, there will be fire.
Israel's education ministry: brainwashing under the cover of privatization (Avirama Golan, Haaretz+) Privatization in state schools has long since ceased to be a mere economic or administrative matter. It's ultra-nationalist brainwashing under the cover of privatization. 
No longer will we be silent: the right-wing is not afraid anymore. You want a confrontation? We will confront (Kalman Libskind, Maariv) The media and the left-wing went on a hunting expedition against the entire nationalist camp even before the body of the infant, Ali Dawabshe, cooled. Twenty years have passed since they succeeded in doing it, blaming a whole camp for the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. No more. We are finished with being silent.
The town square is empty (Etgar Keret, Yedioth) "Tell me, Daddy," asked my son when we stood on the steps of the Tel-Aviv municipality at Rabin Square, "This is nothing. More people are coming, right?" It was already 9PM, an hour and a half after the official opening of the 'Stop the Violence, End the Incitement' protest rally (Saturday night). He isn't 10-years-old yet, but already he has gotten to see the square filled from demonstrations that dealt with important things, yet less important than this. He is certain like in every good western film, the cavalry is on the way. That at this very moment, tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of citizens, shocked from the horrible events that Israel passed last week, are galloping on the way over here. Because, it's not possible that to a demonstration against the murder of children and innocent will come fewer people than to one that deals with housing prices or that against the freezing of construction in settlements. The next day, they will write [and they did - OH] in the papers, "thousands arrived at the demonstration," when the word 'thousands' is there only to hide the enormous bald spots in the city square. Practiced photojournalists will publish for the front pages photos in which the relatively small group that came looks like an enormous mass. This sad attempt to enlarge slightly the size of the demonstration won't be made from hidden political motives, but rather from the collective shame. Because the embarrassing truth is that the demonstration against the murder of Palestinian babies and stabbing of marchers in the Gay Pride Parade does not succeed in getting many people out of their homes these days, certainly not in an incredibly hot month of August. And the truth is, that's not nice for anyone (to admit)...
Let the Shin Bet work (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Jewish terrorism has spun out of control and requires a new type of response.
A milestone in the decline of state: The sane Israel sought rest and didn’t find it (Alon Ben-David, Maariv) This weekend was one of the saddest in our history. Some of the people tried to deal with the meaning of the threatening acts, while the other part continued on inciting. It is necessary to demonstrate zero tolerance in the face of expressions of hatred on the Internet and to side with those who suggest an alternative.
Israel's future as a democratic and pluralistic society is at stake (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) Israel today is not the same country that we lived in from 1992 to 2012. The danger to be expected today from the new right, loud and self-righteous, is different.
No dark secrets, just a propaganda film (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The creators of 'Censored Voices,' a documentary based on recordings of intimate conversations with IDF fighters after the Six-Day War, are trying to instill the myth of Israel's brutal censorship; the truth is that all the material has already been published.
Oppressing Israeli Arabs won't subdue them - it will only make them stronger (Ron Gerlitz, Haaretz+) The peak of this phenomenon was seen on Election Day, when Arabs won their greatest-ever electoral victory, and the prime minister incited against them.
Thou shalt not kill (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) We must not stand indifferent before those who desecrate God's name by claiming to act on his behalf. Not when Jews, or Palestinians, are being murdered.
Welcome to the country known as Israeli Securityland (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Fasten your seatbelts and brace yourselves for a tour of this self-declared independent state’s three diverse areas. Warning: The cost is prohibitive. 
No majesty and no splendor: The inflammatory upheaval of the Likud is passing on to the State (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Logic is retreating from the madness, the glory from the vulgarity and the ignorance, respect from the hatred. And where is Benny Begin when you  need him? Why doesn’t he say a word in support of President Rivlin? 
Netanyahu's anti-Iran campaign doesn't consider disastrous effects on U.S. Jews (Haaretz Editorial) It's important for Washington to know that many Israelis object to Netanyahu's maneuvers. We must remind everyone over and over that Netanyahu isn't Israel.
Time for calm, not hate (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) The Israeli media has responded in a hysterical and inflammatory manner to last week's grave events.
The Palestinian bubble and the burning of toddler, Ali Dawabsha (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) Despite Israeli political theater and statements of condemnations following Abu Khdeir's grisly murder, Israeli violence against Palestinians is part and parcel of Israel's Occupation policy, draped in numerous crimes gone unpunished. Little Ali is no different from the 490 Palestinians killed in Israel's last summer war on Gaza, which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians. The Dawabsha family home, which was completely burnt was no different from the 20,000 Gaza homes which, according to the UN, were destroyed during the Israeli carnage in the Strip.
Israel must accept a U.S.-Iran entente in the Middle East or risk total isolation (Reza Marashi, Haaretz+) If Israel shows greater flexibility, it can still influence the post-nuclear deal agenda between the U.S. and Iran. If Israel digs in its heels, it will increasingly become a liability rather than a strategic asset to the U.S. 

Interviews:
Israeli legislator makes no apologies for ‘bulldozer’ remark about the Supreme Court
Haaretz puts Moti Yogev from Habayit Hayehudi on the spot in this Q&A. (Haaretz+)
 

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