APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday December 14, 2015  

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Obama: Only peace can ensure that Israel will be Jewish and democratic
• Rocket shot at communities surrounding Gaza, no injuries or damage
• The wait for public housing: Years of uncertainty
• Failure for La Penn in second round in France: Radical right lost in all districts
• Police Investigation Unit of Police interrogated the policeman who shot the 16-year-old girl who threatened with a scissors
• High Court approved preventing Duma (attack) suspects from meeting their lawyers
• Dozens of testimonies: Fashion reporters received presents worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from PR people
• Israel’s part (in the UN Climate agreement) // Haaretz Editorial
• Just like a hospital (not)
• Knesset Economy Committee expected to announce: There is no justification to approving the draft of the gas agreement

• Hamas’ cruel treatment – Published fabricated letter from soldier Sgt. Oron Shaul, whom the IDF already determined was killed. Now the mother is asking Hamas leader Haniyeh for proof and she will do everything to return her son (whose body is in the hands of Hamas)
• Defeat for radical right-wing in France
• The women who are not afraid to tell (about sexual abuse and rape)
• Red flag // Ben-Dror Yemini
• The (soldiers) who shot the camel: members of Duvdevan Unit (Hebrew)

• “Give us proof of Oron’s condition and we’ll turn the country over (to get it to make a deal for his release” – Parent’s of Oron Shaul tell Hamas 
• Hamas is under pressure // Yossi Melman
• Parting from the bird of prey – IAF parts from Skyhawk jets after 48 years in service
• Defeat for the radical right-wing in France
• Poll: 41% of Israelis fear an attack similar to the terror events in Paris

• They took down the flag – Haaretz Conference: Saeb Erekat went up to speak – Israel flag was removed
• Only weak radical left-wing would fold up its own flag // Haim Shine
• Banks will give up the credit card companies
• Family of Oron Shaul to Hamas: “Give us proof of his condition”
• Policeman who shot the 16-year-old terrorist – interrogated in Police Investigation Unit of Police
• France: Defeat for La Penn and the radical right-wing in the local elections
• Wikipedia “killed” actor Eli Dankner: Published that he died of a cardiac arrest

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News Summary:
The family of a missing Israeli soldier appealed to Hamas and Israel Police interrogate a policeman for killing a teenage Palestinian assailant with a scissors making top news in the Hebrew newspapers today. Also in the news, the HaaretzQ conference caused a stir, Jewish youth suspects in the Duma arson-murder case were still not allowed to see their lawyers and the father of one suspect made headlines. Meanwhile, another teenage Palestinian girl from Hebron reportedly tried to stab a settler near the entrance to the Hebron settlement of Kiryat Arba and a rocket from Gaza was shot into Israel with no damage, but with an Israeli response.
 
The Israeli media called it a ‘cruel’ trick by Hamas to release a ‘fabricated letter’ by Sgt. Oron Shaul, the Israeli soldier whose body went missing in the Gaza 2014 war after which Israel declared him dead and Hamas said it had him. But, Maariv’s Yossi Melman explained that the move was meant to trigger a response from the parents in order to bring the issue to the Israeli public agenda and move towards a prisoner exchange deal, which the Israeli government is trying to avoid doing, if it knows the soldier is dead. (Read more of Melman in Commentary/Analysis.) The letter ‘worked’: Shaul’s parents called a press conference yesterday and his mother appealed directly to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying she would turn the country and the world over to get a deal if Hamas would only show proof of his condition.
 
The first ever HaaretzQ Conference in New York, organized with the New Israel Fund, made headlines in some of the newspapers, but in particular in the papers of its ideological opponent, Israel Hayom, which presented the conference in a negative light over a removed Israeli flag and the presence of the ‘Breaking the Silence’ organization (See Quick Hits for more.) Appearing by video at the conference, US President Barack Obama told Israelis that peace is the only way that Israel can remain a Jewish and democratic state. Obama condemned Palestinian terror against Israel and also urged the Israeli government to bring to justice anyone who commits acts of violence against Palestinians.
 
And it just so happens that for the first time, an Israeli policeman was questioned for shooting a suspect in this current wave of violence. The policeman shot a 16-year-old girl waving a scissors at him, and was investigated in wake of ‘complaints that he shot the terrorist although she posed no danger,’ said the Attorney General. Her 14-year-old cousin was also shot dead even though she was lying motionless on the ground, as a video reveals. The officer's lawyers said he "acted in accordance to what is expected of any officer, which is to confront the attacker and end the event with no additional casualties." The injured teen was indicted Friday for attempted murder.
 
And in another move to aid investigators in the interrogation of the three Jewish youth arrested on suspicion of committing the murder-arson at the Dawabsheh home in the West Bank, the High Court authorized the Shin Bet to bar the suspects from meeting their lawyers. Yedioth reported that the father of one of the suspects published an “inflammatory post” on Facebook against President Reuven Rivlin, following his recent White House visit.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Habayit Hayehudi’s Jewish education arm in Israel's secular schools
The center for the deepening of Jewish identity, active in the public school system, enjoys close ties with members of Naftali Bennett's party. Maybe this is why its budget grows year after year. (Or Kashti, Haaretz+) 
Local friendships: Meet the ray of light of the widows of the village
The club in Reina village is the only project in the country providing employment opportunities and support to dozens of Arab widows and their children. (Carmit Sapir-Weitz, Maariv) 
Meir Ettinger: The face of Jewish terrorism
The Shin Bet describes him as a central figure in Jewish terrorism, 'a violent and dangerous ideological criminal,' while his friends tell of a quiet and pleasant young man who became a leader merely because of his writing skills; somewhere on the way, between the outposts he's been living in since he was 15, to his administrative detention following the Duma murders, Rabbi Meir Kahane's grandson has formed a radical and anti-Zionist ideology. (Oded Shalom and Yifat Erlich, Yedioth/Ynet)
Arab Cuisine Flourishes in Israel - and the Best Clients Are Often Jewish
Arab chefs are breaking out of narrow expectations of 'hummus and french fries' and embracing local ingredients. (Daniella Cheslow, AP, Haaretz) 
A night spent fighting terror
A team of Ynet reporters accompanied a Yasam (special forces) police unit on a raid in the Palestinian village of Anata, in search of a suspect thought to be involved in terrorism. Encountering the man's wife and children showed just how complex the work of these officers in the territories is. (Elisha Ben Kimon, Ynet)
Meet Miri Regev, Israel's Trump in high heels
Israel's firebrand culture minister is constantly in the media – and the more controversy she stirs up, the more popular she gets. (Danna Harman, Haaretz)


Commentary/Analysis:

The Political Lesson of Hanukkah (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) Once upon a time, the occupiers of this land decided they didn’t like Jews on the Temple Mount and decided change the status quo. 
The Verdict Is In: Left-wing American Jews Adore MK Ayman Odeh (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) Israeli Arab leader gave HaaretzQ audience a clear condemnation of Netanyahu and the Israeli right, paired with a hopeful call for a ‘shared future’ between Palestinians and Jews. 
Israel is already a binational state, and has been for a long time (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The debate must begin to shift now. No more proclaiming 'two states' and 'Jewish state.' The task now is to make it just.
We are being deceived on Iran (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Days before the deadline for implementing the deal with the West: Intelligence officials let on that Iran is not meeting its obligations to dismantle its nuclear program.
The Unknown Incentives for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (Nimrod Goren, Haaretz+) For the first time in the long history of this conflict, Israel is looking at three separate incentives for making peace, presented by key players in the international community. 
Hamas is under pressure: the "letter" sent on behalf of Sgt. Oron Shaul is a nasty trick that succeeded (Yossi Melman, Maariv) The fact that the family held a press conference is an achievement of the organization's psychological warfare. The security establishment is in a delicate situation. It wants, contrary to past precedents, that the issue of prisoners and missing persons will come up on the public agenda and in the media. It updates the families and asks them to maintain radio silence. The families are in a difficult spot: they are attentive to the request of the security establishment, but also know that in the past only public pressure led to moves and measures that led to deals (with the other side to release the soldiers).
Hamas’ ‘petition’ is part of the organization's effort to put pressure on the Israeli government through the families of the victims and to raise the issue in the Israeli discourse. Hamas has two other Israelis, the Ethiopian, Avraham Mengisto and the Bedouin from the Negev, whose names has not been published. Hamas, just like it and other organizations like Hezbollah did in the past, demands to receive something in exchange for any information about their fate. Israel’s stubborn stance towards Hamas’ demands stresses Hamas, which tries through the use of emotional manipulations to Drive a wedge between family security establishment.
Netanyahu, Aka 'Mr. War-On-Terror,' Is Busy Now (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) Netanyahu looked frightened and bleary-eyed at the beginning of the uprising, when there were attacks in Tel Aviv and Be'er Sheva and Kiryat Gat. He no longer looks like that. He sleeps well at night.
Representing them and weeping: The attack on the enforcement authorities by the attorneys of the suspects in the murder of the Dawabsheh family is unnecessary (Adv. Yechiel Gottman, Maariv) Lawyers for the suspects in the arson attack on the village of Duma must be aware of the Criminal Procedure Act, and yet chose to discredit the authorities, which won’t allow the suspects to see their lawyers. 
Otherwise Occupied A Palestinian’s Gift To an Israeli Soldier (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Artist Khaled Jarrar wants to reach the soldier who forgot something in his house during last Tuesday’s raid on Bir Zeit. 
Israel losing fight against 'Facebook jihad' (Amir Shuan, Ynet) Three months into the current wave of violence and it is clear the incitement on social media not only encourages the terror attacks, it also provides instructions on how to commit them. So why isn't Israel, the cyber superpower, using its advanced technological capabilities to stop it?
What did you want (newly appointed Mossad chief) Yossi Cohen to speak about in his synagogue if not God? (Kalman Libskind, Maariv) The discussion over the statement by the Mossad chief at the synagogue, "Without God’s help there wouldn’t be a State of Israel,” is delusional and is mainly out of fear. What we actually have here is an impressive display of modesty. 
Netanyahu's man: The Prime Minister wanted just such a head of the Mossad, one who will be able to identify the will of his master (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Yossi Cohen is a clever man, full of charm, who was a legendary Mossad agent operator, but he is narrow-minded and his courage is limited. Our Prime Minister is a cautious man, Mossad chiefs who are too bold could get him into trouble. And, Bibi does not like to get into trouble. 
They stab, we host tournaments (Eli Sahar, Israel Hayom) Amid a wave of terrorism, we should be happy that the Israel has been selected to host an important basketball tournament. 
Israeli Racists, Say Thank You’ to the Arabs! (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) Like Trump, some in Israel would prefer no Muslims in their city, but they forget every city that did not open up to Arabs went bankrupt, while those that did prospered. 
The penny finally drops for John Kerry (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Statement from the US secretary of state that Israel must choose if it is a Jewish state or a binational state should be commended, as places like East Jerusalem and Afula show that Jews and Arabs living together can be a recipe for disaster. 
Between U.S and Israel, it's all in the (dysfunctional) family (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) I heard U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Saban Forum last week. He wasn’t putting on an act. He really looked heartbroken and concerned about the peace process. 
Russia's forgotten role in the creation of Israel (Jonathan Adelman, Ynet) Without Soviet aid at the critical moment in the late 1940s, it would have been very difficult for the State of Israel to have been born. 
Why I prefer Trump's anti-Islamic rhetoric to Obama's idiotic 'Yes we can' (Benny Ziffer, Haaretz) Why are Israelis attacking Donald Trump? After all, his vision of barring Muslims has been implemented for years here. 
A president in love (with a president) (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) The look on Obama's face as he greeted Rivlin at the Oval Office gave away the difference: After years of emotionally charged meetings with Netanyahu, he finally had a relaxed meeting with a representative of the State of Israel, a meeting in which neither side had to be untrue to itself. 
Integrating Israel Arabs is a worthy cause for Israel (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Much still needs to be done to advance the conditions of Israel’s Arab citizens, but most in need are the Arab residents of East Jerusalem. 
Russia: Israel's friend or foe? (Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) Is Defense Minister Ya'alon confusing today's Russia with the Soviet Union? What has Russia ever done to us that it deserves to be placed in the same line as Iran and ISIS? 
The BDS narrative rests upon lies; telling the truth can defeat it (David Brog, Haaretz+) Most U.S. students just want to do the right thing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Facts and logic still move them. The mission of the Maccabee Task Force is therefore quite clear.
 
Interviews:
Rivlin: No other military is as moral as the IDF
In special interview President Reuven Rivlin says U.S.'s commitment to Israel's security "transcends political affiliation." Rivlin rebuffs criticism over several recent statements, says despite incitement against him he does not feel threatened. (Interviewed by Yoni Yaalon for Israel Hayom)


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