APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday February 15, 2016
 

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

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News Summary:
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert enters jail today, making a first in Israel’s history, a bus crashes into a truck killing six people and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu makes a precedent by testifying at the High Court to personally defend his gas agreement deal, but the High Court had a surprise for him after he left making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, a confrontation between the former Saudi intel chief Prince and the Israeli Defense Minister at the Munich Security Conference and a worrisome string of violent events in E. Jerusalem and the West Bank.
 
Former Saudi intel chief Prince Turki al-Faisal took Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon to task at the Munich Conference Sunday. In his speech, Yaalon revealed that Israel was secretly meeting with officials from moderate Sunni states, “not only Jordan and Egypt" and noted that countries which see Iran as the bad guy “are not shaking hands with Israelis in public, but we meet in closed rooms.” When Yaalon ended his speech, Prince Faisal stood up, looked Yaalon straight in the eye and said that handshakes never helped the Palestinians much. “At the last Munich Conference, everyone was pleased that I shook the hands of a senior Israeli official (then-Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz). But that handshake did nothing to help the Palestinian issue,” said the Prince with a bitter smile as the crowd chuckled. “Mr. Minister, you are right,” he said to Yaalon. “We are really angry at the Syrians, at the Russians, at the acts of Hezbollah and Iran – which all perpetrate terrible crimes. But we are also angry at you, the Israelis, that you don’t end the occupation and that you act so aggressively against the Palestinians… Why should the Arabs feel friendship to you when you do that?" This was quoted in full only by Yedioth Ronen Bergman, who called Faisal’s impromptu speech “one of the climactic moments of the closing session of the Munich Conference. Most of the other Arab representatives at the conference had left the hall when Yaalon stood up to give his address. Yaalon responded saying there was no connection between the events in the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian problem. [NOTE: Al-Faisal didn’t say there was.  – OH] Yaalon blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the lack of negotiations saying, “"Who closed the door to President Obama last year? The Palestinians said 'no' to the Kerry proposal.” Nevertheless, Al-Faisal shook Yaalon’s hand in front of cameras when Yaalon stepped down.  Netanyahu also noted that Israel maintains 'discreet' ties with many Arab states, telling a visiting delegation of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that major Arab countries view Israel as an ally in the battle against militant Islam. Meanwhile, the new Mossad chief Yossi Cohen secretly visited Washington, Haaretz+ reported.

 
Note: Haaretz English and Hebrew have been vacillating over how to call Palestinians who shoot at Israelis. The Hebrew long called the Palestinians who shot at Israeli security forces ‘armed Palestinians,’ as they are defined by international law, and not ‘terrorists.’ The English version, however, began calling any Palestinian who shoots any Israeli a ‘terrorist.’ Now it appears they tables have turned. Today’s Haaretz Hebrew referred to the two Palestinian teens who fired at Border Policemen in E. Jerusalem as ‘terrorists,’ while the English Haaretz simply referred to them as ‘gunmen.’
Also worthy of note, the Palestinian violence against Israelis is no longer a top story. Despite three different attempted attacks on Israel civilians and security forces yesterday, Yedioth and Maariv did not mention it on their front pages.
 
10AM: Funeral of 18-year-old Hebronite, Kilzar al-Uweiwi, who reportedly tried to stab a soldier the day before. A Palestinian law official said that an autopsy revealed she could have survived had she not been left by Israeli soldiers to bleed to death, Maan reported. 
11AM: Israeli soldiers shot and killed two 15-year-old Palestinian boys who allegedly opened fire at them near Jenin. (Maan)
1PM: Border Police shoot dead a 17-year-old youth near Bethlehem. Police said he was spotted running towards them at checkpoint near Har Homa and that they spotted a knife and shot him. (Maariv and Maan)
Early afternoon: Jewish Israeli woman in Jerusalem on possible stab intention attack. She said a young Arab boy, about 14 years old, tapped her shoulder on Moshe Baram Street, which borders the Arab Beit Safafa and Jewish Talpiot neighborhoods in southern Jerusalem. She said he ran away with a knife when she turned around. 
5:30PM: Border Police in Hebron shoot and seriously wound 14-year-old Yasmin A-Tamimi or Yasmin Rashad al-Zarou, near the Cave of the Patriarchs. Israeli police say she drew a knife at them. Palestinians say she was walking with her sister and had already passed the check when she was shot.
Graphic videos taken by settlers and by Palestinians show the girl bleeding, conscious and writhing on the ground. A search on Shehab News Agency Facebook page shows video clips of her bleeding and writhing were posted for the rest of the day and a post saying, ‘She is your sister.”

Haaretz wrote that A-Tamimi "was rushed to the Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem."  A Border Police spokesperson said that the Justice Ministry department for the investigation of police officers has launched an investigation into the Border Policeman who threw the handicapped man out of his wheelchair. Oddly, Ynet Hebrew reported that ‘it received information’ that a few days ago, “Yasmin Tamimi’s fiancé informed her that he canceled the wedding.” According to the report, Tamimi is 20-years-old. There was no information given about where this information came from.
9PM: Shots fired at Beit El settlement, no casualties. The shots apparently came from a passing vehicle from the direction of Jalazun and damaged a house window. The Beit El local council "We demand that the defense minister act immediately to complete the separation wall." (Maariv)
11PM:  Two Palestinians shot dead after opening fire at Border Police outside E. Jerusalem Old City, using home-made rifles. No Israeli injuries. Maariv reported today that one of the gunmen was a Palestinian policeman from Hebron.
In a separate incident, IDF scouts found a small remote-controlled explosive device on the road leading up to Mount Ebal near Nablus. An IDF bomb disposal unit neutralized the explosive. No Israeli forces were hurt. (Also Maariv)

Meanwhile, Israel charged a 12-year-old Palestinian girl with 'attempted voluntary manslaughter' after being caught with a knife at the entrance to Karmei Tzur settlement, adjacent to her town of Halhoul. And the Palestinian who was accused by Israeli papers of a car-ramming attack (i.e. murder) two days ago is now accused only of trying to evade Border Police because he was transporting two illegal Palestinian workers [as News Nosh said is likely what happened. - OH]
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Givati's terrorist neutralizers
The three of them were targeted in terror attacks and faced death. The three of them managed to shoot the terrorists and prevent a graver attack. And for all three of them, the attack had a significant impact on their lives. (Anat Midan in Yedioth/Ynet)
"Our countries are enemies, we aren't" 
The farthest possible from the bleeding Middle East, five young film directors, Israelis and Lebanese, meet at the FIPA festival in France and talk about music and food, shattering preconceptions and turning into the best of friends within days. Shir-Lee Golan was with them when they made this moving connection and when the sadness fell on them at the end with the return to reality. "We can stay in touch on Facebook. It's a pity that's our only option." (Shir-Lee Golan, Yedioth's '24 Hours' supplement, pp.10-11)

Commentary/Analysis:

Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Mothers Feel the Same Pain (Robi Damelin, Haaretz+) Israel has been in uproar since a radio presenter dared suggest both Israeli and Palestinian families mourn their dead children - soldiers or terrorists - equally. My son's killing has taught me that grief knows no borders.
Who's for destroying democracy? (Yoel Esteron, Calcalist, Yedioth/Ynet) The prime minister's 'big plan' is to weaken the political system, debilitate the civil servants and gatekeepers and destroy free press. This is not a delusion thought up in the state of Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu finally realizes there are worse options than the EU (Barak Ravid, Haaretz+) After three months in which his spat with the European Union achieved nothing other than damaging Israel’s image, the prime minister recognizes it is time to put away 'national pride.' 
The West doesn’t care anymore – Iran? Boring. The Palestinians? Yuck (Ronen Bergman, Yedioth) Bergman writes from Munich that the Munich Conference had good and bad news for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The good news is that except for a a few Arab representatives who felt obligated, no one tried to claim that Israel is tied to the general crisis – Daesh, Russian aggressiveness in Ukraine and in Syria and the refugee crisis – which threaten the world order. Israel is relevant to those on the sidelines, if at all. The Palestinian issue was not defined as part of any of the issues at the conference, and wasn’t mentioned at all except in Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon’s speech. If the Munich Conference is an index for what is happening in the diplomatic and international affairs world, one can rule that in 2016, the Palestinians don’t interest anyone. But, because of the colossal failure of the foreign policy of Europe and the US in regards to Russia and in Syria, it created bad news for Israel: The need to highlight the successes, specifically the Iran nuclear agreement.
Otherwise Occupied: Palestinian Hunger-striker Is Dying of Starvation in an Israeli Hospital (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Mohammad al-Qiq silently cries out in pain in an Afula hospital, yet refuses to resume eating in his strange status as a suspended detainee. 
I’m Not a Terrorist, I’m a Baking Student (Samah Masarwa, Haaretz+) In Jerusalem, a knife in my bag and a headscarf are a combination that could cost me my life in these crazy days. 
Cease-fire? Only between bombings (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) Moscow's endgame is to have only two camps in Syria: Assad and ISIS.  
How to Handle Some Israeli Arab Lawmakers' Shameful Behavior (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Although many Israelis are appalled by the recent actions of three Balad MKs, they should not be expelled from the current Knesset - but their party should be barred from running in future elections. 
Thunder and lighting, but no rain: Who supports the Balad party (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth) I met Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin in Knesset last week. Elkin is considered the mostly highly intelligent minister in the government. Throughout the week he tried to advance the bill that will allow suspending MKs from serving. When I met him he was sure the victory was on the way. “Get used to it,” he told me. “The right-wing are legislating.” Despite his sharp mind and his parliamentary tricks, Elkin didn’t understand that the bill would not pass. Too many MKs in the coalition fear that the law would be used against them. They worked very hard to get into the Knesset and they don’t have any reason to put their service in question. Netanyahu was the one who advanced the bill as a response to the meeting of the Balad MKs with relatives of terrorists. Elkin claims that members of the Joint List, which Balad is a part of, told him secretly to do something about the Balad MKs because it is harming the Joint List, the Arab sector that they represent and in this case, the families asking to bury the bodies of their loved ones. If Balad didn’t exist, the Israeli right-wing would have had to invent it. I met Balad MK Bassel Ghattas and I asked him, why did you go to the meeting? For humanitarian reasons, he said? Why did you stand for a moment of silence? Because we always stand, he answered. Why did you make a big issue of the meeting on your Facebook page, I asked. Ghattas said the post was a mistake. We intended to act quietly, but we have a volunteer, a young man, who saw our photo on one of the social networks, he got excited and added it to our Facebook page without asking anyone…Only a naïve person would believe that only humanitarian motives brought the Balad MKs to the meeting. Provocations are their life force. That said, they didn’t break the law. “Whoever stands in silence for martyrs is in my view aiding terror,” said Elkin. According to that method, it’s possible to accuse any provocation maker of aiding terror, including Elkin himself, when he visits the Temple Mount. The filmed meeting with the terrorists’ families will return to the agenda ahead of the next elections. The heads of the Joint List will have to decide whether to include the party. In the meantime, one draconian bill of the right-wing will follow the next draconian bill of the righjt-wing and will won’t know whether it’s another exercise in diversion or another move on the way to the loss of democracy.
A Trojan horse named Gideon Levy (Labor MK Hilik Bar, Haaretz+) The Haaretz writer’s savage attack on the Labor Party showed his disdain for a two-state solution and desire to kill the Zionist dream. 
American Orthodox Jews Will Miss Scalia, Their Great Defender (Seth Lipsky, Haaretz+) Religious Americans of all creeds will feel the loss of The Great Scalia, but his passing is a blow for the Orthodox Jewish community, who saw the justice as protecting their right to stand apart.
The real winner (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) The only victor so far in the Syrian civil war is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Obama and Merkel Should Hang Their Heads in Shame as Syrian Tragedy Enters Sixth Year (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz) While Western leaders are not criminally responsible for the deaths of 470,000 Syrians, it has happened on their watch and to a large degree through their inaction.
Saudi Arabia cooking up strategic move against Russia (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Saudi-Turkish threat to invade Syria points to the gap between the desire for a cease-fire agreement and reality. Judging by Russia’s conduct so far, Riyadh and Ankara might want to reexamine what could be a dangerous gamble. 
 

In Friday’s News Nosh, the name of the director of Army Radio, who apologized to the bereaved Jewish Israeli parents for journalist Razi Barkai's the comparison of bereaved parents of killed Jewish-Israeli soldiers and bereaved parents of Palestinians who killed Israelis, was incorrect. The director is Yaron Dekel, not Yaron London (the latter is a well-known journalist who has a news program on Channel 10 News and writes Op-Eds for Yedioth).
 

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