APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday March 31, 2016
 

Quote of the day:

"This must be stated clearly. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the state, an abhorrent murder whose only obvious justification seems to be a hatred of Arabs and contempt for their lives, has become a heroic act."
--Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy writes about the "new peak of (Jewish) Israeli racism."

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Front Page:

Haaretz

• Fraud squad examining real estate assets of (Interior Minister) Deri
• and the political funding of Herzog in the 2013 primaries
• The tune repeats itself // Yossi Verter
• Deri, the alternative // Yair Ettinger
• (Justice Minister) Shaked intervened in order to appoint the son of the former chairman of the National Religious Party to a judicial position
• Volunteers in the police will receive authority to detain people and search homes
• Kahlon puts pressure on coalition government: It is impossible to continue in the present coalition, we failed on important votes
• IDF closed investigation into death of a (Palestinian) youth that was shot  in a demonstration in Beitunya two years ago
• State did not allow submission of asylum requests and now rejects them saying they were submitted late
• Associated Press news agency collaborated with the Nazis, Hitler himself chose photos
• Letters to the Editor – Not giving transportation to black people
• Harmful response // Haaretz Editorial
• The East German author paid the price of political censorship

Yedioth Ahronoth

• Suspicions in the political echelons (Photos of Herzog and Deri)
• “The soldier said: The terrorist won’t come out of this alive”
• War of the MKs: Who received a black car?

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• Entanglements in the (political) echelons (Photos of Herzog and Deri)
• The campaign of the transparent // Ben Caspit
• The lowest point // Tal Schneider
• The tune repeats itself // Adv. Yechiel Gutman
• Order in force // Adv. Ziva Agami-Cohen
• Senior Democratic Senator: “Examine the extra-judicial killings of terrorists with American guns”

Israel Hayom

• Double storm (Photos of Herzog and Deri): Deri on the villa in the north: “Everything is transparent”; Herzog on the primaries: “It’s all smears”
• Chief of Staff: “We will give support to every soldier, we will preserve the purity of arms”
• Netanyahu answers Congress representatives who accused Israel of violating human rights: “IDF and the security forces are not murderers”

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News Summary:
Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Camp) and once-convicted Interior Minister (Shas) Arieh Deri are being investigated in separate cases of alleged corruption,
in the wake of the storm over the ‘Shooting Soldier’ who shot a prone Palestinian assailant last week, the IDF Chief of Staff called on Israeli soldiers to maintain ‘IDF values’ or face legal action and a senior US Democratic Senator called for a probe into alleged Israeli extra-judicial killings using US-supplied weapons making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also, barely mentioned in the press, the Middle East Quartet is in Jerusalem this week meeting with Palestinian and Israeli officials to advance a two-state solution. 
 
An officer from the Kfir Brigade gave Yedioth details of the IDF investigation into the ‘Shooting Soldier’ (name still under gag order). The soldier, who also serves in the Kfir Brigade, shot dead a bleeding Palestinian assailant who was lying on the ground. The officer said there was no question of a fear of the assailant having explosives as the soldier had claimed. Moreover, the soldier said before and after he shot him that “The terrorist won’t get out of this alive.” The officer said that “It’s clear to all the soldiers of the Kfir Brigade that he made a mistake. None of the soldiers think this was a legitimate thing to do. He is an outstanding soldier, but he let his emotions take over him.” Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot clarified the rules of opening fire in a letter to soldiers and warned that anyone ‘deviating’ from “IDF values” will face legal action.

Today the military court will decide whether to extend the ‘Shooting Soldier’s detention at the request of the prosecution, Maariv reported. The autopsy of the killed Palestinian, Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, was supposed to take place today, but his family is refusing without the participation of a Palestinian coroner. So far Israel has rejected the family’s demand. Without an autopsy, it is virtually impossible to directly link the soldier's gunshot and the Al-Sharif’s death, as he had already been shot once before by other soldiers. [Note: Israel Hayom failed to say why the family refused the autopsy. – OH] The Head of Al-Quds University's Institute for Forensic Medicine, Sabir al-Aloul, said that a number of the people killed whom he autopsied were “shot in the head and the chest many times from a very close distance,” similar to incident caught on film Thursday.
 
Last week’s controversial Israeli killing of a Palestinian youth during this six-month wave of violence is only one of a number that were caught on video, leading to accusations of extra-judicial killings. Yesterday, Politico news site revealed that in February, Senator Patrick Leahy (Dem.) and 10 other Democratic members of Congress urged the State Department to investigate Israeli 'extrajudicial executions' of Palestinians in the West Bank - as well as 'gross violations of human rights' in Egypt, and reexamine military aid to the two countries. Leahy cited reports by Amnesty International and said by name five of the Palestinians listed.
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded saying, "The IDF and the Israel Police do not engage in executions” and suggested that the US investigate “violations by Palestinian terrorists.” Leahy fired back saying that “the United States does not provide weapons or other aid to Hamas” and that the probe was “only fair to US taxpayers.”

The UN expert on extrajudicial executions said, "The images shown carry all the signs of a clear case of an extrajudicial execution...Whatever legal regime one applies to the case, shooting someone who is no longer a threat is murder."
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Witness to his cousin’s shooting by the IDF, an Israeli Arab still works for coexistence
As Gazal Abu Raya marks the 40th anniversary of Land Day – when six Israeli Arabs were shot by soldiers – he continues to cultivate better relations with his Jewish neighbors. (Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Haaretz+)
See Jerusalem from 100 years ago
A new archive full of pictures of Jerusalem from over 100 years ago has been reopened. Here is a selection of some of them. (Amit Cotler, Yedioth/Ynet)
Israeli Theater Company's 'Mephisto' Invites Unwelcome Parallels to a Darker Period
Once upon a time in Nazi Germany, there was a brilliant actor who found himself collaborating with a nationalist dictatorship. Any resemblance to our present-day reality is purely coincidental. (Michael Handelzalts, Haaretz+)
From Lebanon to south Tel Aviv: Historic Torah bell comes home
IDF soldier found silver bell in Lebanese village during Operation Litani, almost 40 years ago • Recently, he was able to discover to whom it had been dedicated and bring the bell "home" to a synagogue where the man who donated it once lived. (Nitzi Yaakov, Israel Hayom)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Never Have So Many Cheered Such a Vile Murderer (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) It’s doubtful there’s another Western society whose racism is accompanied by such bloodlust. 
Medals and Models – What kind of hero (Yonatan Yavin, Yedioth) In the name of the decorated combat soldiers, who showed noble heroism, which is based on moral superiority, allow me to express repugnance towards anyone who dares to call the soldier from Hebron a ‘hero.’
Inside the Mind of the Budding Fascist (B. Michael, Haaretz+) In the neofascist Israeli consciousness, the Palestinians are like cockroaches. Even when they lie on the ground, helpless, their heads must be crushed with a slipper, or punctured by a bullet. 
What Has Happened to Us? (Ari Shavit, Haaretz+) The polar opposite responses between the Bus 300 and Hebron shooting cases cast a revealing and cruel light on the changes we’ve undergone in the past few decades.
We need silence from our politicians (Smadar Bat-Adam, Israel Hayom) The fiery public debate over the "shooting soldier" is not only unhelpful; it adds to the animosity and resentment among us, creates a chasm between the IDF and the public, and confuses soldiers.
They’re Palestinian Children in Distress, Not Terrorists (Steven Klein, Haaretz+) From what we know about the adolescent mind, none of Israel’s punitive policies will have any impact on the willingness of so many teenage Palestinian knife attackers to commit acts of violence. 
The Chief of Staff writes to his soldiers - Good intentions and a missed opportunity (Ariella Ringel-Hoffman, Yedioth) The Chief of Staff's letter does not give answers to the real problems. Therefore, it's almost certain that before the echoes of this affair (the 'Shooting Soldier in Hebron - OH) are quieted, more incidents will blow up in our faces. Not because there is a soldier who doesn't know what is right to do, but because there are thousands of soldiers who don't know how to do properly. Because they are 18 and 19 and 20 years old. Because the demands of them are not reasonable for someone of their age, because the reality puts them in changing dilemmas daily, because they are flooded with contradictory messages. Because in the homes of their parents, who are crazy with worry, they say, "I prefer my son in jail than my son dead," and it is enough to hear the heart-breaking cry of the mother whose son is the 'Shooting Soldier, "We are going through very difficult days and I want my son at home." 
Policy of Contempt for Palestinian Lives (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) The cumulative results of the establishment's actions against the Palestinians are more destructive and lethal than all the acts of the individuals.
Fact-checking Bill Maher: Are Europeans 'Assholes to Israel?' (Asher Schechter, Haaretz+) If Europeans had truly tried to be 'real assholes' toward Israel, they could. But a few softly-spoken rebukes do not an asshole make.
Habayit Hayehudi party - refreshments for the (religious Zionist) sector (Yossi Dahan, Yedioth) This week, Education Minister Naftali Bennett completed another stage in the cleansing of the education establishment from professionals who are not from the religious Zionist sector. But advancing the interests of his voters at the expense of the general population does not stop in his ministry. (Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel did not transfer funds to Israeli communities in the Gaza area because he demanded money for settlements first.)
No, anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitism (Peter Beinart, Haaretz+) Israel’s own policies are fueling the very debate it wants to quash. 
The ironies that link probed politicians Herzog and Dery (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) The 1999 Knesset elections yielded two political dramas. 17 years later, suspicions are again being raised against both politicians. 
 

 

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